[heisenzombie]

I understand the audiobook server, but what’s the use case for the podcast part? You replicate a podcast on your own server, in case the original goes away?

[TheAceOfHearts]

It can be configured to automatically fetch podcasts and keep a local copy. If you have a workflow for listening to audiobooks then it allows you use that same workflow for podcasts. With the mobile app you can "check out" audiobooks or podcasts and have any listening progress tracked between platforms.

[dspillett]

> You replicate a podcast on your own server, in case the original goes away?

Or, as a couple that I've listened to and might re-listen later have, they later start injecting adverts where they were not previously present, or start piling more in where they were reasonable before.

[erinnh]

You can use it as that.

I use it as my podcast app.

I mostly only have the last 2-5 Episodes on my server for each Podcast. (you can automatically remove episodes if there are more than X)

Though I do keep all Episodes for 3 of my favourite Podcasts.

[heavyset_go]

Some podcast feeds only list the last N episodes, so if you want to listen to episode N+1, you either have to have it already downloaded locally or cache the feed and hope the audio file's URL is valid when you go to listen to it later.

[bubblethink]

If you subscribe to a paid podcast, you can mirror and share your own rss link with friends, which is better than sharing credentials or your private link, and it won't trip some shared password flag at the upstream server.

[theshrike79]

Yes, pretty much. You can also post-process them to remove ads etc. because you have the files on your own server.

Some podcasts remove all of their backlog when they "sell out" and go behind a paywall, having them backed up prevents that. (How did this get made?[0] being one example)

Also some podcasts (BBC ones I think) add ads while you download, based on your country. Some of my No Such Thing As A Fish[1] episodes have Christmas themed ads in them because that's when they we're cached :)

[0] https://www.earwolf.com/show/how-did-this-get-made/ [1] https://www.nosuchthingasafish.com

[walthamstow]

I recently pulled the back catalogue of the Acquired podcast. All the older episodes going back as far as 2016 have adverts for Claude!

[unsnap_biceps]

I mirror all my podcasts locally as shows do disappear before I listen to them. Wondery has a ton of shows that if you miss the few week window, they're being a wondery+ paywall.

[lawn]

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History do this too.

When I setup Audiobookshelf a week ago I also bought the rest of his entire collection from his site, getting a complete library for his show.

[walthamstow]

The BBC does this too.