Rephonic
Artwork for Better Offline
Elon Musk
Musk Foundation
Openai
Google
Apple
Bluetooth Keyboards
Vision Pro
Venture Capital
Meta
Technology
Rot Economy
Starlink
Flint, Michigan
Bastrop, Texas
St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital
Spacex
Texas
UNICEF
Ad Astra School
Google Docs

Better Offline is a weekly show exploring the tech industry’s influence and manipulation of society - and interrogating the growth-at-all-costs future that tech’s elite wants to build.

Combining narrative-form storytelling, one-on-one interviews and panel-based discussions, Better Offline cuts through the buzzwords and obfuscation of the tech industry, investigating and evaluating the schemes an... more

PublishesDailyEpisodes221Founded2 years ago
Number of ListenersCategory
Technology

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Artwork for Better Offline

Latest Episodes

In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron talks about the end of tech’s hypergrowth era, generative AI’s failure as a business model, and why we need to stop looking to the past to prove that the future will work out.

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Better Offline’s “Hater Season” - an ongoing roundtable with tech’s greatest haters - continues as Ed is joined by Henry Zebrowski of Last Podcast on the Left to talk about Business Idiots, the metaverse, and the beauty of the human mind.

ww... more

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Better Offline’s “Hater Season” - an ongoing roundtable with tech’s greatest haters - continues as Ed talks with Corey Quinn, Chief Cloud Economist at Duckbill, about the realities of LLMs and the chaotic world of Amazon Web Services.

Please support... more

YouTube

In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through the "analyslop" phenomenon of speculative, lie-ridden fan fiction that gets framed as meaningful research and promoted by the mainstream media.

Free newsletter tie-in: www... more

YouTube

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Recent Guests

Corey Quinn
Chief Cloud Economist at Duckbill
Duckbill
Episode: Hater Season: Corey Quinn
Matt Rosoff
Editor-in-Chief of The Register
The Register
Episode: Working In The Dot Com Bubble ft. Matt Rosoff
Karissa Bell
Senior Editor at Engadget
Engadget
Episode: CES 2026: Part Five (Wednesday)
Jared Newman
Writer for Advisorator Newsletter
Advisorator Newsletter
Episode: CES 2026: Part Five (Wednesday)
Chloe Radcliffe
Stand-up comedian and actress
Is This Thing On?
Episode: CES 2026: Part Five (Wednesday)
Robert Evans
Host of Behind the Bastards
Behind The Bastards
Episode: CES 2026: Part Five (Wednesday)
Adam Conover
Stand-up comedian and host of Factually Podcast
Factually
Episode: CES 2026: Part Five (Wednesday)
Scott Stein
Tech reporter from CNET
CNET
Episode: CES 2026: Part One (Monday)
Lisa Eadicicco
Tech Journalist at CNN, providing insights into consumer technology trends and gadgets.
CNN
Episode: The State of Consumer Tech with Lisa Eadicicco

Host

Ed Zitron
Host of Better Offline; tech industry commentator and communications professional.

Reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars from 2.5k ratings
  • Go off King

    Cathartic AND informative

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    ArmadilloChris
    United Statesa month ago
  • Impossible to take seriously with the amount of advertisements on every episode. Unsubscribing after I counted about a total of 8 minutes of ads. Unlistenable. iHeartMedia is a curse.

    Podchaser
    1
    name
    a month ago
  • Sanity

    Truly love this show and love it even more when he gets angry or fired up. Makes me feel less alone in my anger and disgust.

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    GAmethyst
    United Statesa month ago
  • Not for the easily offended

    The reviews claiming that Ed is “too angry” and “too ranty” are missing the point of the show entirely. Emotions like anger are valid and necessary to incite action in the face of extreme political upheaval, and playing it calm and cool to increase listenability only works to dilute the message, not amplify it. Listeners who love to ‘both-sides’ it: avoid. There’s softer shows out there for you.

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    p.romanski
    Australiaa month ago
  • Perceptive on financial aspects but let down by Zitron's ranting and expletive filled diatribes, his black and white thinking and Cassandra complex. For those who dislike Zitron's style there are *many* more measured commentators who discuss the AI bubble and the need for it to pop or for a stock market "correction", such as Dean Baker without going into angry rants. Although none are as focused on the AI bubble as Zitron is on it.

    Podcast Addict
    3
    ojs99
    2 months ago

Listeners Say

Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.

Balanced, data-driven critique with sharp delivery; injects humor without losing rigor.
Ads-heavy episodes are a recurring critique impacting listening experience.
Frequently seen as a strong counterpoint to mainstream AI hype; trusted by skeptical listeners.
Polarizing but insightful; fans appreciate the candor and practical takeaways.

Chart Rankings

How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

Working In The Dot Com Bubble ft. Matt Rosoff
Q: What was the aftermath like post .com bubble?
The burst had significant effects, with many losing their jobs and retail traders being wiped out.
Working In The Dot Com Bubble ft. Matt Rosoff
Q: Was there any kind of AI dissent?
Yes, there were concerns about fraud and regulation, but not much outright skepticism that the internet would take off.
Working In The Dot Com Bubble ft. Matt Rosoff
Q: What were you doing in the .com Bubble era?
I moved to San Francisco in 1992 and started at a small startup called CNET as an editorial assistant.
CES 2026: Part Three (Tuesday)
Q: How many of these products seem absolutely useless?
Many seem to actually be unnecessary and represent a kind of tech overreach that lacks real utility.
Cory Doctorow and Ed Zitron on Enshittification and the Rot Economy
Q: If you had to guess, what is the timeline we're looking at for the AI bubble to pop?
No later than Q2, 2026.

Audience Metrics

Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.

Listeners per Episode
Gender Skew
Location
Interests
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Age Range
Household Income
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Frequently Asked Questions About Better Offline

What is Better Offline about and what kind of topics does it cover?

A provocative tech-leaning show that challenges the industry's money-first mindset and its effect on society. Listeners are likely drawn to sharp, data-driven critiques of cloud infrastructure, AI hype, venture capital dynamics, and media coverage, delivered with a mix of reporting, analysis, and candid ranting. The program stands out for its fearless, skeptical stance, willingness to debunk buzzwords with numbers, and frequent, topic-spanning dives into platform monopolies, governance, and the economics of scale. It's probably attractive to tech professionals and business audiences who want hard-earned takes on whether tech's growth-at-all-costs trajectory pays off for enterprises and society alike.

Where can I find podcast stats for Better Offline?

Rephonic provides a wide range of podcast stats for Better Offline. We scanned the web and collated all of the information that we could find in our comprehensive podcast database. See how many people listen to Better Offline and access YouTube viewership numbers, download stats, audience demographics, chart rankings, ratings, reviews and more.

How many listeners does Better Offline get?

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What are the audience demographics for Better Offline?

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How many subscribers and views does Better Offline have?

To see how many followers or subscribers Better Offline has on Spotify and other platforms such as Castbox and Podcast Addict, simply upgrade your account. You'll also find viewership figures for their YouTube channel if they have one.

Which podcasts are similar to Better Offline?

These podcasts share a similar audience with Better Offline:

1. It Could Happen Here
2. Weird Little Guys
3. Behind the Bastards
4. Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff
5. Knowledge Fight

How many episodes of Better Offline are there?

Better Offline launched 2 years ago and published 221 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

How do I contact Better Offline?

Our systems regularly scour the web to find email addresses and social media links for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the contact information that we could find in our podcast database. But in the unlikely event that you can't find what you're looking for, our concierge service lets you request our research team to source better contacts for you.

Where can I see ratings and reviews for Better Offline?

Rephonic pulls ratings and reviews for Better Offline from multiple sources, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, and Podcast Addict.

View all the reviews in one place instead of visiting each platform individually and use this information to decide if a show is worth pitching or not.

How do I access podcast episode transcripts for Better Offline?

Rephonic provides full transcripts for episodes of Better Offline. Search within each transcript for your keywords, whether they be topics, brands or people, and figure out if it's worth pitching as a guest or sponsor. You can even set-up alerts to get notified when your keywords are mentioned.

What guests have appeared on Better Offline?

Recent guests on Better Offline include:

1. Corey Quinn
2. Matt Rosoff
3. Karissa Bell
4. Jared Newman
5. Chloe Radcliffe
6. Robert Evans
7. Adam Conover
8. Scott Stein

To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.

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