tfw you get flooded with one-star reviews 🚑

Well hello again.

This week I’ve been living without a hob or an oven. I broke my hob mere hours before last week’s issue went out, and so I’ve been living on whatever I can air fry. By the time you read this, a grownup will have come and looked at it, probably tutted, and either flicked a tiny hidden switch or replaced the entire unit. We’ll see.

So that’s the small-talk portion of the newsletter out of the way. Now let’s get into redeeming the promise of the subject line. 😉

Overcast is a podcast listening app for iPhone, iPad and the Mac. You might not be aware that people listen to podcasts outside of the Apple Podcasts and Spotify apps. Like, a lot of people. Overcast is actually one of the OG dedicated iPhone apps for podcast playback, having turned 10 this year.

The app is built entirely by one man, Marco Arment. He’s been working on a ground-up rebuild of the app, which has meant ditching some features and making some design decisions.

It has not been a smooth process. Here’s just one example of a recent one-star review:

The dev intentionally removed the ability to stream directly which in my opinion is a core identity to podcasts (it's literally in the name). You now have to download entire episodes each time before you can start listening, which is an awful experience. Will be moving to a different podcast app.

Despite the commenter being entirely wrong about how podcasts are consumed, this shows you how pissy and entitled users can be.

Which brings us to this week’s minute – from his wildly popular and extraordinarily nerdy Accidental Tech Podcast – in which Marco describes how his business is “on fire” in the wake of the redesign.

All three contributors to ATP are developers, and are – as far as I can tell – all honest about when things go well and when things don’t.

I don’t think I’ve ever known a time when being candid and vulnerable on one of my shows hasn’t resulted in some level of positive regard. As a listener, you still want to know that the person behind the mic has got a handle on things – is, in Seth Godin’s parlance, a professional – but that doesn’t prohibit you from being open when things aren’t going your way… even while you accept responsibility.

Now before I leave you, next week begins the Make Marketing Less Summit. This is the last time I’ll bring it up, so if you haven’t already bagged your free ticket, do it now! It’s got lots of smart people talking about how they market their businesses without using social media.

And with that, I’ll leave you to the rest of your Sunday.
-Mx