When we talk about email tools, we typically talk about apps or services that help you tame the wild jungle of your ever-overflowing inbox.
Today’s tool is a twist. It’s about email, through and through—but it’s actually a smart new service that adds something to that environment.
And as counterintuitive as that may sound, it’s become one of the best and most useful additions my rusty ol’ inbox has seen in ages.
Psst: If you love these types of tools as much as I do, check out my free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. You’ll be the first to find all sorts of simple tech treasures!
No listening required
All right—so, see if you can relate to this:
In theory, I enjoy podcasts.
I reality, I rarely have the time to keep up with all the interesting-seeming podcasts I encounter—both regular shows I enjoy for pleasure-based listening and random audio interviews I run into that seem like they could be enlightening in some way.
The problem, for me, is I generally find it to be faster, more efficient, and all-around easier to read something than to listen to it. Listening is a luxury. I like it—I just rarely have the time to do it, especially considering the endless mountains of material I’d ideally want to beam into my ears.
➜ And that, m’dearie, is precisely where a tastily named service called PodSnacks comes into play.
PodSnacks has actually been around for a while. I remember looking at it a couple of years back, when it was a simple newsletter with handpicked snippets from different podcasts each week.
I lost track of the service for some time and then recently rediscovered it—and discovered it had pivoted to a whole new focus within that same general domain.
✨ Now PodSnacks relies on AI to programmatically generate summaries of the specific podcasts you’re interested in—and then email those summaries to you each and every time a new episode arrives.
It’s one of the rare cases when artificial intelligence is actually being used in a thoughtful way that adds something valuable to a product instead of just awkwardly being tacked on for the sake of marketing.
⌚ And it couldn’t be much easier to use, either. In fact, you’ll need only about two minutes to get your personal PodSnacks menu up and running:
- First, open up the PodSnacks website in any browser, on any device you’re using.
- Click or tap the Get Started for Free button at the top of the screen.
- Select whatever podcasts you want to keep up with—either by tapping them in the selections that show up initially or by using the category chips or search box at the top of the screen to find exactly what’s on your mind.
Once you’ve got everything you want selected, click the Confirm button at the top of that same screen.
You’ll then have to enter your email address, so the site can send you the summaries you want as they become available. And you’ll have to look for and click on a onetime verification email to confirm your address.
From that point forward, anytime one of the shows you selected has a new episode available, you’ll get a simple, single email with all the high points from the entire episode—along with a link to scan, search, or read through a complete transcript, if you’re so inclined.
It’s a handy way to keep up with all sorts of info you’d otherwise end up missing. Even when you do find the time to listen, it’s a nice little preview and heads-up of what’s on the way.
- PodSnacks exists primarily over email, with the initial sign-up and setup taking place on the web. You don’t download or install anything, and it works in a completely device- and platform-agnostic way.
- The service is free for up to 25 podcasts per email address—which oughta be plenty for most people. If you want summaries for even more different shows, you can bump up to 50 for $10 a month.
- PodSnacks does inevitably require your email address in order to do what it needs to do, but the company doesn’t share or sell info in any shady-seeming way. In all the weeks I’ve been using it, I’ve yet to receive a single email beyond the show-specific summaries I requested.
Hungry for more efficiency-elevating goodness? Check out my free Cool Tools newsletter for an instant introduction to an AI-powered supertool that transcribes your brain—and a new off-the-beaten-path gem every Wednesday!
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