Pinecast changelog
Pinecast changelog
pinecast.com

Set speaker names in transcripts

 

New

  

If you visit an episode transcript in your dashboard, you can now provide names for the speakers.

A screenshot of the Transcript tab for an episode, showing a transcript with two speakers with custom names set

When you click the name (or placeholder for the name) of a speaker, you'll be prompted to provide a name. We'll automatically suggest names you've provided for your podcast in the past, along with other names used in transcripts from other podcasts on your account.

These names will appear on your podcast website (if configured) and in the transcript link from your feed.

Better messaging for one-month tip jar subscriptions

 

Improvement

  

When users choose to support your podcast for one month, we now make it more clear that the subscription they create will cancel at the end of the billing period.

Subscriptions are listed as "one month auto-cancel subscription" in the sidebar

The sidebar listing the price shows the subscription as "One month auto-cancel subscription" instead of "Podcast Subscription". We'll also note "At the end of the first month, your subscription will automatically cancel without charging you again." just above the button to confirm payment.

Automatic episode transcription

 

New

  

We're really excited to announce the availability of automatic episode transcription for all paid customers. Automatic episode transcription creates a transcript of your episodes using artificial intelligence.

Transcripts are disabled by default, and can be enabled by visiting the Settings > Transcripts tab on your podcast dashboard.

We're also pleased to announce that we're currently transcribing the most recent episode for all eligible podcasts, free of charge. On your podcast episode list, you'll see a "Transcribed" label for episodes that are transcribed. We expect transcription to complete within 24 hours of this announcement.

For full documentation, please see the Transcripts article on our knowledge base.


Transcripts can be viewed on the episode dashboard under the Transcript tab.

The Transcript tab on the episode dashboard

If an episode hasn't been transcribed yet, the Transcript tab will show options for kicking off transcription or purchasing transcript credits.

Transcripts are visible to your listeners in a number of places. Most episode players and the podcast playlist player include transcripts as captions while playing:

The episode player showing captions

Transcripts are also visible on Pinecast podcast websites:

image.png

If you're using a Pinecast podcast website, transcribed episodes will show a Transcript dropdown below the player on the episode page.

If you've already customized your podcast website, we won't have changed your site's design. You will need to add the new Transcript module by visiting the site builder, switching to the Layout view, choosing the Episode Pages tab, and adding one of the Transcript modules.

The Pinecast site builder showing the transcript modules that are available.


All Starter customers receive four hours of free transcription every thirty days (in a rolling thirty day window). Customers subscribed to the Growth add-on can transcribe up to eight hours of content. If you'd like to transcribe more content than is included in your paid plan, transcription credits can be purchased at a rate of $0.03/minute.

At any point, you can trigger the transcription of any episode if you have remaining minutes of transcription included with your plan or if you have transcript credits available that you've purchased.


Please send any questions, comments, and feedback to our customer support chat, or by emailing support@pinecast.com.

OPML feeds for Networks

 

New

  

If you use the Networks feature available with the Crew add-on, you can now publish an OPML feed of the shows in your network.

Settings tab of the network dashboard, showing the new OPML settings section" data-size="100%" />

An OPML feed is a "feed of feeds" that lets your listeners subscribe to your feeds in bulk. OPML feeds are supported by many popular podcast apps.

You can enable OPML feeds from the Manage tab on your network dashboard.

Open Podcast Prefix Project (OP3) support

 

New

  

On the Settings > Analytics tab of your podcast dashboard, you can now forward analytics data to the Open Podcast Prefix Project.

Screenshot showing the Open Podcast Prefix Project option selected on the Settings, Analytics tab of the podcast dashboard.

Analytics custom timeframe improvements

 

Improvement

 

Fix

  

First and most notably, we're pleased to announce that the Top Episodes analytics view now supports custom timeframe ranges. If you're looking for the episodes that received the most listens within an arbitrary time window, you can now do that with Top Episodes. Top Episodes is included with the Pro Analytics add-on. This change applies to both podcast and network analytics.

A screenshot showing the Top Episodes view with the new custom timeframe option

Across the rest of your Pinecast analytics, you'll find that the date range selectors are (hopefully!) much easier to use. We've improved how we handle clicks in the individual date pickers. We've also made it so that if you choose an end date too far from your start date (or vise versa), we'll automatically clamp the date range how we think you'd expect.

Switching from Intercom to Help Scout

 

Change

  

We're switching our customer support platform away from Intercom to a service called Help Scout. We'll continue to monitor our Intercom inbox for the coming months, but eventually all customer support will be handled through Help Scout exclusively.

What this means for you:

  • In addition to chat support, you will be able to contact us via email directly at support@pinecast.com.

  • The knowledge base is now at https://help.pinecast.com (instead of https://pinecast.support). We believe that the new knowledge base is better-organized and makes it easier to find relevant information.

Submit your podcast to JioSaavn

 

New

  

JioSaavn is a music and podcast app with over 100 million users. You can now submit your podcast to their directory with a single click from your podcast dashboard.

The JioSaavn directory listing under the Distribution tab on a podcast dashboard

To get started, simply visit the Distribution tab for your podcast (or select Distribution from the blue dropdown on your phone) and flip the switch to the "on" position. Within about an hour, your show will be live.

2FA notifications

 

Improvement

  

If your account has 2FA enabled (and you should!), we'll now send you email notifications when an incorrect or already-used 2FA code is entered. We'll also let you know when 2FA has been turned on, and also when it's been disabled (or someone tries to disable it but fails).

2FA on its own is a great way to protect your account, but if a bad actor is at the point where they're able to get your 2FA code wrong, it's a sign that your password has been compromised. If you get an email like this, it's an important flag that you should change your passwords ASAP.

UI improvements

 

Improvement

  

We've launched a myriad of tiny improvements to the UI, and wanted to call them out.

  • The New Episode page is cleaned up, with the draft and auto-save features being moved into cleaner banners.
  • Text boxes with links, like the URL of your podcast website or short link, all now have a button to open the link in a new tab and a button to copy the link to your clipboard.
  • The Distribution tab on podcast dashboards has been simplified, containing fewer visual elements. It should be easier to scan.
  • Lots of UI text has been updated to be easier to understand.
  • Lots of small typos have been cleaned up. Thanks to everyone who wrote in! If you ever notice a typo, please don't hesitate to let us know.
  • If you've loaded a page with the rich text editor, other pages that display rich text content (like the Episode dashboard) will load faster, and vise versa.
  • The My Subscription page now loads more quickly, having to fetch less information on load.
  • The tip jar settings' status items have appropriate rounded corners.
  • Settings pages, like the Feedback settings page, now load more quickly. Parts of the page that don't need to be reloaded do not reload.
  • If you no longer have the Starter plan or Growth add-on, the Listener Feedback tab will still show comments that were left before you downgraded.
  • The tip jar dashboard homepage has been updated to look more like the rest of Pinecast. There's now one fewer click required to sign in.

We've also made some changes to the tip jar dashboard (that is, the one your paid subscribers access). While the old design had one page for each podcast, the new design breaks information out into pages for payment info, listening to episodes, leaving feedback, and subscription receipts.