Our Mission
Over the past year we've been working on the first version of Vocal, a new podcast app for Linux that features built-in video playback, smart library management, offline support, automatic downloads, and a slew of other features. We have been focused on making it as user-friendly and beautiful as possible. We're proud of what we achieved with the first release, but we want to make Vocal the absolute best podcast app on any platform, and to do that we need your help!
Planned Features
-
A
remarkable new directory browsing experience, with built-in iTunes
podcast store listings
-
Multiple
device sync (including up-to-the-second episode position sync)
-
Mobile
device sync, including Android and iOS
-
Background
feed updating and downloading
-
A
new playback queue
-
A
sleep timer
-
Better
native experiences across multiple distributions
New search functionality and better filters
-
Full
HTML show notes
-
Support
for password protected feeds
-
Variable
playback speeds
and much more!
How We Will Use the Funds
We plan to use the funds raised from this campaign in several ways. Until now, all costs associated with the project (hosting, domain registrations, etc.) have been funded out of pocket. All development has also been done in Nathan's spare time, when he's not working one of two other jobs and attending college as a full time student.
If the campaign gets funded, Nathan will quit his primary job to work on Vocal on a regular basis. This means working full-time for four months in the summer and one month in the winter, and a couple days per week throughout the rest of the year. The funds will be used to pay for his living expenses for at least one full year since he will be giving up his primary source of income, and will also cover the costs of maintaining the project.
We also want to use the funds to pay other contributors, whether they be developers, designers, artists, or anyone else. We think everyone deserves to be paid for the work they put into the project.
Why Fixed Funding?
Several people have asked why we went with a fixed funding campaign instead of using flexible funding. There are two main reasons we decided to do it this way:
-
The
$14,000 goal represents that absolute minimum Nathan would need to
pay for living expenses for a year. If we don't reach that goal,
full-time development simply isn't possible.
-
We
think that sometimes flexible funding is viewed less seriously and
used by projects and people to bring in money without a guarantee of
a final product. We want to make it clear that we are very serious
and passionate about our work.
Stretch Goals
$20, 000 - Chromecast support
We'll add support to let you cast both video and audio episodes to your Chromecast directly from
within the app.
$25, 000 - Unofficial elementary OS podcast
We'll do an unofficial elementary OS podcast on a regular basis (weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly).
$32, 000 - SCALE 14x or 15x
We'll attend SCALE in Southern California! We want to meet everyone and be able to say thank you in person. We'll go to SCALE 14x if Nathan's college schedule allows, or fallback to 15x if there's no way around it.
If we reach $40, 000 we'll have enough to fund two years of development for Vocal!
$50, 000 - To Be Announced
$60, 000 - To Be Announced
Other Ways You Can Help
If you can't contribute financially there are many other ways to help out! Please consider sharing this campaign on social media and sending it to as many people as possible. I'm convinced that with your help we can make something really spectacular.
