Podcasts are an outstanding source for finding new interesting technologies and ideas for work and life. What I love most about them though is that you can do it in moments where you literally have no other option, say in the car or metro or by walking your dogs.
Has it ever happened to you that you are listening to a podcast and you get bored or it just isn’t fast enough. I sure know this feeling. Podcasts very often have a fairly high signal to noise ratio and very often only a small part is interesting. Skipping parts is very tedious and somewhat negates the advantages of this hands free activity. Another favorite productivity hack of mine is how to speed up YouTube videos.
Listen to a podcast at 2x speed to the rescue
Enough intro, let me show you my setup to listen to Podcasts at 2x speed on Android. Here is what you will need:
DoggCatcher (Free/Premium/~ 3 USD)
Presto Sound Library Open Beta (~ 6 USD)
It isn’t quite straight forward what you have to do so setup your Podcast for 2x speed listening, so I will walk you through it.
Setup Listening to a Podcast at 2x speed
- Install DoggCatcher via Google Play Store
- Install Presto Sound Library Open Beta via Google Play Store
- On your Android device: Setup Custom variable audio speed in DoggCatcher
Go to: DoggCatcher -> Settings -> Audio Player -> Variable Speed enabled and tick the box - Setup your custom speed in DoggCatcher -> Settings -> Audio Player ->Custom variable speed to 2.0
- Set your player to 2x speed
Setup Listening to a Podcast at 2x speed visual setup
- Install DoggCatcher via Google Play Store
- Install Presto Sound Library Open Beta via Google Play Store
Tips
- If the variable play speed doesn’t show up, you may need to restart your phone
- I personally prefer 1.8 speed. At 2.0 some guests on podcasts are a bit too fast for me while driving
Bonus Tip – Watch Videos at 2x speed
Here is a cool tool to watch Videos at 2x speed: http://www.enounce.com/ via @Koprowski
Edit: I have since written a separate tutorial on how to speed up YouTube videos.
This is it. Do you know of a better way to listen to a Podcast at 2x speed? Please share it in the comments. If you run into problems or this isn’t clear, feedback is welcome in the comments.