Simplecast

These days, it feels like I'm one of the few people on the internet who hasn't yet started a podcast. Since my personal site runs on Squarespace, it would be a trivial matter to have a show hosted there, but I've never been one to put all my eggs in one basket. For example: the images are hosted off-site, my RSS feed is provided by FeedPress, I don't use the built-in commerce system for this thing, etc.

So where would I host my show, should I ever start one? Right now, one of my top choices would be Simplecast. Co-made by one of the members of The Great Discontent (an absolutely awesome interview blog), Simplecast is podcast hosting platform that provides all the tools one needs to get started with this stuff.

Like Squarespace, they take the burden of storage and bandwidth costs off your shoulders by giving you an unlimited amount of both. They track stats for you as well, but not so many stats that you'd become overwhelmed by the numbers. You can embed your episodes anywhere with Simplecast's audio player, easily transfer existing shows into their system from elsewhere, and soon you'll even be able to host your show's website on Simplecast with a custom domain.

I don't know enough to say if this service is the right solution for the large-scale podcast empires out there, but for individuals it sounds perfect. You can sign up for a 14-day free trial, and after that you only pay $12/month. Simple.