<sarcasm>I'm sure that everyone who listens to podcasts can figure out how to do this.</sarcasm>
The obfuscation of RSS from podcasts (or completel disconnection from it) is a problem. I'm in the "if it doesn't have a feed it isn't a podcast" camp personally. I have no problem with there being login-only feeds for paid subscribers, or even feeds that are only teasers to sign up, but RSS is a core feature of podcasts. If there's no feed, then it's a subscription channel not a podcast.
Exactly. There's an implicit promise to Apple's sandbox and theirs and Jobs' statements about how they're protecting users from Internet scaries (including porn and other "offensive" content) has given users an incorrect impression that data on their phones is safer than data on their computer. Add to that the fact that most adults remember an era when cellphones had no connectivity, or only USB or serial connections, and its not hard to see how people missed this.
Now the platform owners (Apple, Tootle, Microsoft, etc) must respond to keep the promise they've made, whether stated or implied, or eventually users will rebel. But until the response or rebellion happens, how much damage will be done?
The platforms will adapt, and users will eventually upgrade or move to competitors, but it will take months or years.
The obfuscation of RSS from podcasts (or completel disconnection from it) is a problem. I'm in the "if it doesn't have a feed it isn't a podcast" camp personally. I have no problem with there being login-only feeds for paid subscribers, or even feeds that are only teasers to sign up, but RSS is a core feature of podcasts. If there's no feed, then it's a subscription channel not a podcast.