If you wondered what we've been up to since our last blog post: wonder no more! Podlove Publisher 4 is coming soon to all users and we are very happy with this release. We worked on many features that hopefully will make your workflow quicker and easier. To ensure this promise we want to hear from you before we release the new version to the wild.

You can join our beta program (https://docs.podlove.org/podlove-publisher/join-the-beta/) and start using and testing Podlove Publisher 4 and all its features right now. There's also a short video explaining the installation process of the Beta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMHFyHPMn4Q

The biggest change you might notice right away when you try it out is the complete overhaul of the episode page where you enter all the crucial data for a new episode. Our goal was to streamline this process and the steps to create a new episode. It's now possible to start an Auphonic multitrack production directly from this page (single track also still works, of course!) and you can add new contributors right there as well. You don't have to leave this page to finish assembling your episode. We think this will make a big difference in your podcasting routine. The interface for choosing related episodes now shows you better which episodes have been selected and there are a lot of small and not so small improvements to the way you enter the data for your podcast episodes.

When testing we want you to check if your workflows still work and if not, what's broken. We – of course – want to hear form you too if you enjoy the new version and please let us know what you like. Please share your findings and reports at https://community.podlove.org/c/podlove-publisher – no matter how small the issue seems to you: we want to make sure no bug hides in the Publisher's latest iteration.

Be aware that you'll need PHP 8 or higher running on your server and that it's called beta for a reason: Don't jeopardise your crucial projects that run on a deadline. We're here to help if anythings goes wrong, but please be aware that it may take a while to fix the bug you encountered.

With that out of the way: Enjoy and have fun. You may be one of the first podcasters to experience the new Publisher. A more complete change log and another blog post explaining some of the new features will follow as well as a Podcast (in German) where we talk about the development and the new shiny version.

But for now: Happy testing!