It’s going to be a constant battle to keep podcasting open. But we’re kicking serious ass in that battle so far, and we’re not letting up. Our chances are much better this time, in part from different conditions, and in part because we saw what happened to news and blogs.

To me podcasts that don't have a public feed simply don't exist, I'm not going to bother with multiple apps just to listen to podcasts...

Same with me, websites, and RSS, but I guess I’m old-fashioned

Agreed. The “cast” part is from broadcast. If it’s not a public feed it’s like cable. Podcable. Podable. Pable.

I think the proliferation of Podcast was made by the fact on how easy they are to find and listen. Having the user jump through hoops just to listen to them would definitely kill this platform.

Does an open aggregator for public podcast RSS feeds exist? Unless you can break the dominance of iTunes for podcast listings and offer an alternative, it seems like the battle is already over. Where does Overcast get its podcast listings?

My understanding is it crawls iTunes. Any chance Overcast, Pocketcasts, Castro, etc. can run a public directory?

I love that you are vocal about this. Thank you. (No skin in the game for me. I only occasionally guest and run no podcast.)