Amazon will add podcasts to its Amazon Music and Audible services, according to a confidential email obtained by The Desk.
Amazon said in the email that it would soon allow Amazon Music and Audible users to subscribe, download, and stream free podcasts on the services. Podcasts will also be available to customers of Amazon Music's ad-supported free tier, in addition to its premium paid service. The launch date of podcasts in Amazon Music and Audible was not stated in the email.
The email was reportedly sent to some podcast producers on Monday, with the offer to submit a podcast feed before the feature becomes publicly accessible. This is needed to allow the new podcasts feature to launch with popular shows already available.
During submission of a podcast feed, producers are required to agree to terms and conditions. Strikingly, one term in particular stated that podcasts on the platforms could not include comments that disparage Amazon or its products.
Podcast features would allow users of Echo smart speakers and Fire TV devices to stream podcasts through Amazon's default apps, rather than via third party apps. Amazon Music had 55 million subscribers as of January, just five million less than Apple Music's 60 million.
Earlier this year, it was reported that Apple is working on original podcasts that will be exclusive to its Podcasts app. Podcasts are increasingly becoming an area of competition between major tech companies, with Apple, Spotify, Google, and now Amazon heavily investing in the sector.
Monday October 27, 2025 7:55 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more.
Below, we outline key details about iOS 26.1.
Release Date
Given that Apple has yet to seed an iOS 26.1 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, the...
Friday October 24, 2025 2:30 pm PDT by Juli Clover
In the fourth iOS 26.1 beta, Apple added a "Tinted" option that reduces the translucency of Liquid Glass for those who prefer a more opaque look. I saw some comments wondering whether the setting might preserve battery life, so I thought I'd do some testing.
Test Settings
I did four separate tests using the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and I kept the parameters as similar as possible. Here are the...
Apple Maps could feature integrated ads as soon as next year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.
In his latest "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that Apple's plan to bring more ads to iOS is moving "gaining traction," with the Maps app being next in line. The project will apparently give restaurants and other businesses the option to pay to have their details featured more prominently in...
Monday October 27, 2025 4:51 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple is designing an updated version of the Apple TV 4K, and rumors suggest that it could come out sometime in the next couple of months. We're not expecting a major overhaul with design changes, but even a simple chip upgrade will bring major improvements to Apple's set-top box.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
We've rounded up all the latest Apple TV rumors.
...
Wednesday October 22, 2025 6:15 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more.
iOS 26.1 is currently in beta testing. The update will likely be released in the first half of November, and it is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer, but some...
Monday October 27, 2025 9:15 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple this month refreshed the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, and higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are expected to follow in early 2026. However, these machines will represent the final update to the current design, with Apple reportedly developing a completely new version of the MacBook Pro packed with next-generation hardware...
Apple's upcoming iPhone 18 could feature 50% more memory than its predecessor, according to Korea's The Bell.
With its latest iPhone lineup, the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max feature 12GB of memory. This is a significant increase of 4GB more their predecessors, largely driven by the demands of on-device artificial intelligence processing.
The iPhone 17 is the only new...
The first preview release of the Swift SDK for Android was published this week, allowing developers to build Android apps in Swift with official tooling and making it easier to share code across iOS and Android.
The SDK enables Android apps to be built in Swift using officially supported tooling rather than community workarounds. In June, it was announced that Apple's Swift programming...
Monday October 27, 2025 7:41 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
You will "soon" be able to add a digital version of your U.S. passport to your iPhone, according to Jennifer Bailey, vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet.
Bailey reiterated that the feature is coming soon during her keynote at the Money20/20 USA conference in Las Vegas on Sunday.
On its iOS 26 page, Apple says the delayed feature will be "coming later this year."
Apple's...
I always felt like podcasts, even after being named for the iPod, never got the level of respect they deserved from Apple. It seemed like a movement they should have supported more strongly. I'm not sure how exactly, but at least a better app to manage them and more public mentions and support for podcasters.
Trying to tie podcasts exclusively to Apple, or making it feel like an Apple only medium would have doomed them, so there's a line to walk, but it feels like a revolution that didn't get the attention it should have. I hardly ever listen to live radio anymore.
Of course, with so much less driving these days, I hardly ever listen to podcasts anymore either...
I always felt like podcasts, even after being named for the iPod, never got the level of respect they deserved from Apple. It seemed like a movement they should have supported more strongly. I'm not sure how exactly, but at least a better app to manage them and more public mentions and support for podcasters.
Trying to tie podcasts exclusively to Apple, or making it feel like an Apple only medium would have doomed them, so there's a line to walk, but it feels like a revolution that didn't get the attention it should have. I hardly ever listen to live radio anymore.
Of course, with so much less driving these days, I hardly ever listen to podcasts anymore either...
The only problem I have with Apple is that I dislike their podcast app. Other apps like Pocket Casts and Castbox are so much better for management.
I do like that podcasting is an open platform but that is now dying with podcasts now commonly becoming exclusive to platforms. In hindsight, the podcast market was Apple's to lose. They could have developed a subscription service where ads were removed or helped podcasters monetize their work. They started the podcast scene and they could have become the dominant platform.
The open platform was a good ride while it lasted.
If podcasters don’t like the amazon term about disparaging it’s products, at least there are plenty of other competitors like Spotify for podcasters to turn to
