I Tried Luminary Podcasts’s Premium Service for a Month. Here’s My Review.
Is the $100 million startup “Netflix of podcasts” worth it?
What is Luminary?
Deemed “the Netflix of Podcasts” by The New York Times, Luminary Podcasts is a subscription podcast-streaming service where listeners have the option to pay $7.99 per month for ad-free original content. You also have the option to listen to shows for free, but are unable to stream any of the said Luminary Originals.
There has been a lot of skepticism about how the service will compete against other major podcast providers, such as Spotify, iTunes, and Stitcher. Luminary, which was funded by an outstanding $100 million, also does not host some of the popular shows, like The Daily from The New York Times. It really narrows down to the question of should we have to pay for our audio stories, and if ads are so easy to skip, is it really worth it? I decided to find out for myself.
Luminary currently has over 600,000 free podcasts and over 40 Luminary originals. The service’s main profits are coming through their Luminary Premium subscriptions. Subscriptions are becoming especially common today, whether that be in the form of our news or our food delivery. Just like Netflix’s original TV series and movies, Luminary is using its original podcasts to persuade people to join in on the party. The most advertised originals are hosted by known stars, such as Trevor Noah’s On Second Thought and Conan O’Biren’s Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. One of the marketed shows was Anthem: Homunculus, written by Bryan Weller and John Cameron Mitchell. Anthem is a podcast musical with 31 original songs, a cast with 6 Tony Award recipients, and stars including Patti LuPone, Glenn Close, and Mitchell himself. As intended, Luminary’s advertising for Anthem is one of the reasons why I, a sucker for musicals, Mitchell’s creations, and story-telling podcasts, decided to try Premium.
The Website and App’s Features
Luminary is available on both web and app platforms. Both have an incredible user interface that is easy to navigate. As you can see in the images above, even the app settings are comprehensive. I like how you are able to see which shows are being automatically downloaded all on one menu, rather than having to search through each podcast in your library’s settings.
The web and app have the usual features of a podcast streaming service: saving shows to a library, downloading them for offline listening, and an explore page for browsing new shows. However, I found one of the features especially useful, which are available for both the free and premium accounts. Luminary’s bookmark tool allows you to save episodes for later. I think this is very useful for when you’re looking through a new series and want to save that one eye-catching episode for later. You also have the setting to automatically download your bookmarks when connected to WiFi.
An important feature to a lot of people is an automated recommendation system. The provider has advertised that they have one, but if they do, it’s just not that great. So far, I don’t think Luminary has had enough time to collect a sufficient amount of data to develop a decent predictive software. For instance, I have been listening to a lot of story-telling and news podcasts, but my recommended ones are all true-crime stories. I’ve tried listening to them, but they aren’t exactly my thing.
Not to mention, though, is that Luminary has been constantly adding new features. For example, on the home page, the shows that are only for Premium subscribers now have a yellow box saying “PREMIUM.”
The company also quickly responds to customer feedback. In my case, I had issues with the “Continue Listening” section. Just like Netflix’s “Continue Watching” section, Luminary lists the shows that you haven’t finished. However, sometimes I just listen to an episode of a podcast and end up not liking it, and it stays in the “Continue Listening” section. This is a bit annoying, especially since I know that I will never actually continue listening. I sent a feedback form to Luminary, and within a day, received an email response back. One of the Luminary support members informed me that they have acquired similar feedback and to “keep an eye out for updates” as they continue to build on the app.
Is Luminary Worth It?
Before I answer, I want to clarify something that may be misinterpreted for future subscribers. When Premium promises ad-free content, this does not include the non-Luminary Originals. Having Premium grants you access to the other free podcasts of a normal account, but those will still have ads. Luminary can’t control the content of shows that are not theirs, and those artists need money to keep their stories going.
To answer the question if Luminary Premium is worth it, it really depends on which and how many podcasts you regularly listen to. If the stories you listen to are not supported on the platform, then I would not recommend subscribing. You simply won’t get as much use from the service than you would with your current one. That said, if most of your podcast series are here and you are interested in the Luminary Originals, try it out. There are many great shows on the service, including the aforementioned On Second Thought and Anthem.
As for money, how much you are paying per episode depends on how many Originals you are listening to. For instance, if you are only binging one or two Originals, remember that the episodes still upload at their set pace. Say your favorite podcast updates weekly. This means that you will be paying $7.99 for 4 episodes in one month. If you are paying for Premium, you have to make it worth it. You’re paying for over 40 pieces of original content, so you might as well give them a listen. Plus, it’s a good chance to expand your horizons in the genre world.
As mentioned before, the streaming service has drawn a lot of uncertainty, if not, negativity. But, after using Luminary, I personally think that the backlash is too harsh, and that the media over-exaggerated the premium subscription. You do not need to have Premium in order to enjoy and use the site. That said, I would definitely use Luminary’s free option. I love the website’s and app’s simplistic design and easily navigable interface. The provider has many of my favorite shows that I used to listen on other services like Spotify and iTunes, along with a whole lot of new ones that I’ve never heard of. Having Luminary is just a very user-friendly resource for me where I can quickly listen to podcasts on-the-go.
Overall, it comes down to personal preference, but I’d love to hear what podcast apps/services that you use. Let me know in the comments your answer, thoughts on Luminary, podcast suggestions, or whatever else you would like me to know.
