# Why don't podcasts make it easy to start with the oldest episode? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** radio-podcast\ **Created:** [April 29, 2021, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-podcasts-make-it-easy-to-start-with-the-oldest-episode/941058 "2021-04-29T19:42:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-podcasts-make-it-easy-to-start-with-the-oldest-episode/941058/21 "2022-11-08T21:18:40Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > Am I really the only person in the universe who defaults to listening to a podcast in chronological order? No, but I’m imagining that the majority of people don’t listen to podcasts through the particular podcast’s website. They listen through a podcast app which easily allow sorting. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-podcasts-make-it-easy-to-start-with-the-oldest-episode/941058/22 "2022-11-08T22:39:09Z")
So they’re trying to punish people who are visiting the web site? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-podcasts-make-it-easy-to-start-with-the-oldest-episode/941058/23 "2022-11-08T22:52:24Z")
No, they’re just not going out of their way (and incurring expense) to offer content in a form easily accessible and satisfying 99% of their audience. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-podcasts-make-it-easy-to-start-with-the-oldest-episode/941058/24 "2022-11-08T22:59:23Z")
Yes, most podcast websites are built to just deliver that RSS feed. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-podcasts-make-it-easy-to-start-with-the-oldest-episode/941058/25 "2022-11-08T23:03:11Z")
If they’re just built for utilitarian purposes, then why do they have so many pictures on them? (Thinking of Ear Hustle, Distillations, This American Life, Planet Monday, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-podcasts-make-it-easy-to-start-with-the-oldest-episode/941058/26 "2022-11-08T23:07:22Z")
It’s actually pretty easy to add pictures to an RSS feed. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-podcasts-make-it-easy-to-start-with-the-oldest-episode/941058/27 "2022-11-10T12:08:25Z")
I was about to complain that my gripe is it is harder and harder to download podcasts as a file but I see I wrote that a year ago. It’s only gotten worse. The option to download has disappeared from all but a handful of hosting services (Shout-out to Spreaker for making downloading easy) and in many cases I have to dig through the RSS feed page to find the Embedded URL to download the file. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2022, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-podcasts-make-it-easy-to-start-with-the-oldest-episode/941058/28 "2022-11-12T04:30:16Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > They listen through a podcast app which easily allow sorting. Except that they don’t. Every podcast app I’ve tried lets you choose to play oldest-to-newest or newest-to-oldest, but none that I’ve found lets you start at episode 1 and automatically download the next few episodes as you go, so you always have some podcasts to listen to. Which is frustrating, as it seems like SUCH an obvious feature. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-podcasts-make-it-easy-to-start-with-the-oldest-episode/941058/29 "2022-11-13T21:33:40Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Except that they don’t. Every podcast app I’ve tried lets you choose to play oldest-to-newest or newest-to-oldest Uh, I was responding to the question regarding sorting from oldest to newest. Also, while not automatic, it’s pretty easy with Pocketcasts to download the next few episodes you want to listen to. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-podcasts-make-it-easy-to-start-with-the-oldest-episode/941058/30 "2022-11-14T05:09:12Z")
Yes, but then you have to do it manually. I don’t know of a podcast app which lets you subscribe to an existing podcast, with 200+ episodes that already exist (or whatever), start at episode 1, and automatically always have the next 5 or so downloaded for you. Which seems like a super-easy and super-obvious feature. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-podcasts-make-it-easy-to-start-with-the-oldest-episode/941058.md?page=1)