- But it also has a wide selection of podcasts about comedy, politics, science, parenting, and of course, music. We scoured the Spotify podcast archives and chose the best ones, ranging from the funny to the educational to the thought-provoking that you can add to the mix next time you fire up the app on your Android, iPhone, iPad, or desktop.
- 100% free hosting & distribution. No storage limits, no trial period, no catch. Automatically distributed to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and all other major listening platforms.
- But now I cannot download any podcasts there doesn't seem to be an option for it to be downloaded. I have the latest update on my phone, latest update on Spotify. I have also uninstalled and reinstalled the app but still no lick.
I did it 3 times actually and I'm still sitting with multiple new episodes I want to download but which refuse to do so. Maybe the best idea is to use a different podcast app. Can't believe someone from Apple is not on here helping with this. You might not be able to put them in playlists, but you can download them. You do so by first following them and then as long as your premium a download symbol should appear. Then click it and your podcast will download.
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In this post: How you might be using data when listening to podcasts, how to download podcasts to your podcast app, how to change the settings in your podcast app to avoid using data (tutorials for Apple Podcasts, PocketCasts, Overcast & Spotify).
Podcast Friends: we need to talk.
It’s come to my attention that some of you are burning through your cell phone’s data plan because your podcast settings aren’t set up properly.
If you follow me on Facebook, you saw this post recently:
I also got a text from a friend recently, who asked if the reason she went through her data for the month was due to a podcast subscription. My answer: Probably.
But not because she’s subscribed to the podcast. It’s because the settings in her podcast player need to be adjusted.
I subscribe to HUNDREDS of podcasts, and I don’t use data from my cell phone plan.
I also I listen to dozens of podcast episodes every week – usually while I’m in the car, or at the park or gym – and I still don’t use data. I don’t use much storage on my phone with all these podcasts, either (although that was a problem I had, once upon a time).
Over the years, I’ve learned to adjust the settings in my podcast app(s) properly, and I’ve avoided all of the above mentioned problems.
Now, it’s time for you to learn. First, I’ll tell you the big-picture stuff you should know, and then I’ll drill down into tutorials (with screenshots) for how to change your podcast settings.
The Most Important Podcast Settings To Avoid Using Data
The most basic part of all of this comes down to WiFi. When your phone is on WiFi, it doesn’t use data.
There are certain apps that make sense for using off WiF, like maps and navigation, ride share (Uber & Lyft), and weather apps. These are all apps that require your location to provide accurate information, and that requires data.
Apps that you use for music, videos, or podcasts? Those also use data when you use them off WiFi, but since the content isn’t location dependent, you can plan ahead and choose not to use them when you’re not on WiFi.
Here are the most important settings to adjust in your podcast app:
(Download or Stream) Only On WiFi
To avoid all scenarios in which you might use data by accident, you need to set your podcast player to download or stream episodes only when your phone is on WiFi. Apk spotify no ads.
For some apps, this setting is right inside the player, while others require you to go to the phone’s general settings tab. Be sure to read the tutorials below to learn where your player’s WiFi setting is.
SIDEBAR: You can avoid a ton of headaches by not only managing your podcast settings, but also by NOT STREAMING PODCASTS.
Remember my Facebook post? If there’s any potential of you wandering away from WiFi (like when you leave the gym and drive home), you’ll start to use data without even realizing it. If you do this every day, you’ll be nibbling away at data.
Just don’t stream. Download episodes ahead of time, and only when you’re on WiFi.
Auto Downloading
Each podcast player or app calls this setting something different, but they all have their own version of auto downloading.
Auto downloading means that, when you are subscribed to a podcast, the app will automatically download the latest episode to your device when that episode becomes available.
The problem: the latest episode of your fave podcast might become available every Wednesday while you’re driving the kids to school. Unless your car has WiFi, that download will be using your cell phone data every Wednesday. This adds up when you’re subscribed to more than one podcast.
I recommend turning off Auto Download altogether. Instead, turn on the notification setting for new episodes. This means that your phone will tell you when a new episode of your subscribed podcast(s) is available, and then you have the choice to download it when you want (and are on WiFi).
Data Usage Warnings
Not every podcast player has this setting, something I just don’t understand. It’s important.
Data usage warnings are different from those texts you get from your mobile carrier telling you that you’re close to going over your monthly data allowance.
In a podcast player, the warning comes up when you try to stream or download an episode using data. Deleting song from playlist amazon spotify android app store. It reminds you that you’re not on WiFi, and asks if you still want to stream or download (which would mean using data).
Tutorials for Changing Podcast Settings
Changing your podcast settings is actually super quick and easy, regardless of the phone or podcast app you’re using. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to change your podcast settings for the following podcast players:
1. Apple’s native Podcast app
2. PocketCasts (my preferred podcast player, available for Apple & Android)
3. Overcast (Apple only, works with Apple Watch)
2. PocketCasts (my preferred podcast player, available for Apple & Android)
3. Overcast (Apple only, works with Apple Watch)
Plus: I’ve added a few words about listening to podcasts on Spotify.
If you use a different player from the 3 mentioned above, don’t worry: the basic instructions are the same, you’ll just need to find each setting in your app.
A bonus: when you poke around in your podcast app, you might find other settings that you didn’t even know about. The reason my podcast listening is so trouble-free is because I’ve explored and adjusted the settings in my player.
To learn more about the podcast apps in this tutorial, read The Best Podcast Apps for Apple & Android.
How to Change Podcast Settings to Listen Without Using Data
Tutorial: Apple’s Native Podcast App
I’m gonna be honest: Apple Podcasts is a uniquely complicated app. I do not personally use it (I’ve deleted it from my phone), even though it’s where I first discovered podcasts years ago, and even though I’m an Apple products user in all other ways. Adjusting your settings in Apple Podcasts is tricky, but well worth your time.
Step 1: Open Your iPhone’s general Settings tab
Scroll down until you see the Podcasts app.
Step 2: Tap on the Podcasts app
Step 3: Turn off Cellular Data & Turn on Only Download on Wi-Fi
To turn off Cellular Data, tap the toggle switch to turn it to white (which indicates that the setting is turned off).
To turn on Only Download on Wi-Fi, tap the toggle switch to turn it to green (which indicates that the setting is turned on).
To turn on Only Download on Wi-Fi, tap the toggle switch to turn it to green (which indicates that the setting is turned on).
Step 4: From the same screen, select the Notifications setting (above Cellular Data)
Step 5: Turn on/off notifications for new episodes (per-podcast basis)
This screen will show you all podcasts to which you are subscribed. Tap the toggle button to turn notifications on or off.
Now you’re all set to download podcasts on your iPhone without using data.
Step 6 (optional): Further adjust settings on a per-podcast basis from inside the Podcasts app
To make more adjustments to individual podcasts to which you are subscribed, go into the Podcasts app (from your iPhone’s home screen) and tap on a show (not an episode). Within each show, you have more settings options.
I’m not going to walk you through the steps for this option, since these are the personalized settings that don’t have to do with data/Wi-Fi. I’m including the screenshots though, because I know that a lot of Apple Podcasts users don’t know that these individual show settings exist, let alone where to find them!
Tutorial: PocketCasts
Step 1: Open PocketCasts and tap on the Settings gear icon (top right)
Step 2: Make your Auto-Download setting “Only On WiFi”
There’s a whole setting just for Auto Download. Go into the setting and tap the toggle switch to make sure it’s green (this indicates that the setting is on).
Step 3: Turn on Data Warning settings
This is located in the Storage & Data Use setting.
Step 4: Turn on New Episode notifications
This is located in the Notifications setting. Tap the toggle switch to make sure it’s green, which indicates that the setting is on (the setting is NOT turned on in this screenshot).
Tutorial: Overcast
Step 1: Open Overcast and tap on the Settings icon (top left)
Step 2: Under the New Episodes setting, select Download on Wi-Fi.
Overcast makes this an either-or – you can either stream or download, but not both. Once you’ve changed this setting, you’ll always download episodes. Avoid the bottom setting, which allows you to use cellular data.
Step 3: Turn on Notifications for New Episodes
Find this setting under Notifications for New Episodes. This is a per-podcast setting, which means you can turn it on only for the podcasts you really want to know about (using the toggle switch to the side of each show). You can also turn the setting on for all or none in bulk, using the orange text buttons at the top of the screen.
Listening to Podcasts on Spotify
As of the writing of this tutorial post (September 2019), Spotify has yet to add custom podcast settings within its app. I have a Premium Spotify account, which I use for music only.
While it’s easy to discover, stream, and download podcasts using the Spotify app, you can’t select download settings (“only on WiFi”) or notifications for new episodes.
If you really want to customize how you download and listen to podcasts – and avoid using data when on-the-go, I recommend one of the apps above.
Got something to add about listening to podcasts without using data?
Write a comment below to share with the rest of us!
Read This Next:9 Tips & Tricks to Help You Listen to More Podcasts (in Less Time)
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Spotify is definitely the go-to music streaming app for most people. With Spotify you can build your favorite playlists from a collection of 35 million songs, select artist radios to hear what you love, and get a sneak peek at new tracks. What’s more, it also has a wide selection of awesome podcasts, covering a range of topics from sports to politics to pop culture to identity to everyday life. These podcasts have enriched our life and became another excellent way to entertain oneself while commuting, traveling, or working out. However, for some people, having too little free time to find podcast that suits their taste can be a frustrating thing.
Don’t worry though, we’re here to help you. In following article, we’ve compiled a list of the best 10 podcasts on Spotify, covering a variety of topics, and will share you an easy way to download these podcasts to computer with Spotify Free account for offline playback.
Directory
Part 1: Top 10 Hot Podcasts on Spotify
1. Stuff You Should Know
- By: HowStuffWorks
- Updates: Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday
- Length: 20–80 minutes
- Introduction: If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, Satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
2. The Daily
- By: The New York Times
- Updates: Five days a week
- Length: 20~40 minutes
- Introduction: This is what the news should sound like. The biggest stories of our time, told by the best journalists in the world. Hosted by Michael Barbaro. Twenty minutes a day, five days a week, ready by 6 a.m.
3. Science Vs
- By: Gimlet Media
- Updates: Quarterly
- Length: 20–60 minutes
- Introduction: There are a lot of fads, blogs and strong opinions, but then there’s SCIENCE. Science Vs is the show from Gimlet Media that finds out what’s fact, what’s not, and what’s somewhere in between. We do the hard work of sifting through all the science so you don't have to. This season we tackle sex addiction, nuclear war, Lyme disease, and serial killers.
4. How it Began: A History of Modern World
- By: Brad Harris, Historian of Science and Technology
- Updates: Quarterly
- Length: ~90 minutes
- Introduction: A thrilling podcast about the History of the Modern World. Humanity has been hard at work for centuries to empower itself with better tools and insights, from science and surgery to electricity and the Internet, and this series celebrates the history of those triumphs. Compared to our ancestors, we live like superheroes and sorcerers, endowed with powers they could never have imagined. But how did we achieve all this? Historian Brad Harris tackles that question head on, revealing how the most important scientific, technological, and cultural advancements in history began, and inspiring us to keep reaching for new historical triumphs along the way.
5. Welcome to Night Vale
- By: Night Vale Presents
- Updates: The first and fifteenth of every month
- Length: ~90 minutes
- Introduction: Twice-monthly community updates for the small desert town of Night Vale, where every conspiracy theory is true. Turn on your radio and hide. Never listened before? It's an ongoing radio show. Start with the current episode, and you'll catch on in no time. Or, go right to Episode 1 if you wanna binge-listen.
6. The Adventure Zone
- By: Griffin, Justin, Travis, and Clint McElroy
- Updates: Bi-Weekly
- Length: ~90 minutes
- Introduction: Justin, Travis and Griffin McElroy from My Brother, My Brother and Me have recruited their dad for a campaign of high adventure. Join The McElroys every other Thursday as they kill a nauseating number of gerblins in .. The Adventure Zone!
7. Popcast
- By: The New York Times
- Updates: Friday
- Length: ~90 minutes
- Introduction: The Popcast is hosted by Jon Caramanica, a pop music critic for The New York Times. It covers the latest in pop music criticism, trends and news.
8. Revisionist History
- By: Malcolm Gladwell
- Updates: Weekly
- Length: 30-60 mins
- Introduction: Revisionist History is Malcolm Gladwell's journey through the overlooked and the misunderstood. Every episode re-examines something from the past—an event, a person, an idea, even a song—and asks whether we got it right the first time. From Panoply Media. Because sometimes the past deserves a second chance.
9. Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
- By: Dan Carlin
- Updates: Approximately every four to seven months
- Length: 3~5 hours
- Introduction: Was Alexander the Great as bad a person as Hitler? What was the greatest army of all time? Which U.S. President was the worst? Hardcore History discusses the issues and questions history fans love.
10. Sleep With Me
- By: Dearest Scooter
- Updates: Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday
- Length: ~90 minutes
- Introduction: Insomnia? Mind racing at night? Worries keeping you up? Tune in for a bedtime story that lets you forget your problems and progressively gets more boring until you fall to sleep. So get in bed, press play, close your eyes, and drift off into dreamland.
Part 2: Download Best 10 Podcasts from Spotify with Free Account
Spotify offers thousands of fantastic podcasts, and lets users listen to them by using two main plans: Free and Premium. While both plans let you access a giant library of streaming music or podcast, there are several major differences between them, among which the biggest one is that Spotify Free users are not allowed to save songs or podcasts to their devices for listening when they're offline. That’s a huge pain for those Free users who don't want to run up their mobile data bill or need to listen to podcast during an air travel for making the travel seem a little shorter.
Fortunately, things changed thanks to the coming out of NoteBurner Spotify Music Converter. It is an all-in-one smart Spotify music DRM removal solution that can help both Spotify Free and Premium users completely record Spotify music and converts them to MP3, AAC, WAV, or FLAC format with lossless quality kept. What's more, NoteBurner Spotify Music Converter currently is the first and only program which supports downloading podcast from Spotify. With the help of this powerful app, even the Spotify Free users are capable of downloading any song, playlist or podcast from Spotify for offline playback.
Seeking a way to save songs from Amazon Music Unlimited as well as Prime Music forever? Amazon Music Converter is all you need, which carries the best audio recording core, able to download any Amazon songs to MP3/AAC/WAV/FLAC format.
Features of Spotify Music Converter:
- Convert Spotify music to plain MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC.
- Record songs at 5X faster speed with 100% lossless quality.
- Keep ID3 tags after conversion.
- Burn Spotify music to CD easily.
- Upload music to iTunes / OneDrive.
How to Download Spotify Podcast without Premium
NoteBurner Spotify Music Converter supports both Windows and Mac OS. But currently only the Mac version supports downloading podcast from Spotify, the Windows version with this function is under working and will come soon. The following is a detailed tutorial about how to download Spotify podcast on Mac with Spotify Free. Please download this useful tool on your computer first before getting started.
Step 1 Run NoteBurner Spotify Music Converter on Mac
Launch NoteBurner Spotify Music Converter on Mac. Spotify will be open automatically. You will see the intuitive interface of Spotify Music Converter.
https://dvujico.weebly.com/blog/spotify-free-country-settings. Step 2Drag Podcasts from Spotify to NoteBurner
You can add Spotify podcast files by clicking '+' button on the top-left corner. Then choose the podcast you would like to convert in Spotify and drag them to the add window.
Spotify Podcast Video
Step 3 Choose Output Format and Set the Parameters
Click the menu bar 'NoteBurner Spotify Music Converter > Preferences' or directly click Setting button on the top-right corner to choose output format. In Convert settings, you can choose output format (MP3, AAC, FLAC or WAV), output quality (High 320kbps, Medium 256kbps, Low 126kbps). In the output settings, you could change the output folder as you prefer.
Step 4 Start Downloading Podcast
After customization, click the 'Convert' button to start conversion. After conversion, you can find the converted podcast files by clicking history button.
Spotify Podcast Application
Now all the podcast files have been downloaded to your computer, you can transfer them to any of your devices for offline listening.
Note: The free trial version of NoteBurner Spotify Music Converter allows you to convert the first 3 minutes of each song. You can buy the full version to unlock the limitation.
What's next? Download NoteBurner Spotify Music Converter now!
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