7 AI Podcast Production Systems That Automate the Entire Workflow
- The Dawn of Fully Automated Podcasting
- The Podcasting Bottleneck: Why You Need an Automated Workflow
- The Hidden Cost of “Doing It All”
- What to Look For in an End-to-End AI Podcasting System
- The Non-Negotiable Core Features
- Beyond the Basics: The Ecosystem and Experience
- The Contenders: 7 End-to-End AI Podcast Production Systems Reviewed
- Descript: The All-in-One Video and Audio Powerhouse
- Riverside: The Quality-First Remote Recording Specialist
- Adobe Podcast: The Audio Enhancement Virtuoso
- Alitu: The Podcast Maker for Absolute Beginners
- Podcastle: The Collaborative Storyteller’s Dream
- Captivate: The Growth-Focused Podcaster’s Engine
- Auphonic: The Set-and-Forget Audio Post-Production Genius
- System 1: Descript
- The Power of a Comprehensive Toolkit
- System 2: Riverside.fm
- The AI-Powered Post-Production Suite
- System 3: Adobe Podcast
- The Magic of “Enhance Speech”
- A Transcription Service That Actually Gets It
- System 4: SquadCast
- From Setup to Sound Check: Automated Post-Production
- System 5: Alitu
- The One-Click Polish
- System 6: Podcastle
- The AI Co-Host and Your Digital Voice Double
- System 7: Captivate.fm
- Your AI-Powered Episode Prep Assistant
- Creating Promotional Gold with Magnetic Quotes
- Head-to-Head Comparison: Choosing Your AI Co-Producer
- Finding Your Perfect AI Match
- Implementing Your Chosen System: A Step-by-Step Workflow
- Your Automated Production Pipeline
- Best Practices for Working with Your AI Partner
- The Future of Podcasting: How AI is Reshaping the Audio Landscape
- Beyond Automation: The Rise of Intelligent Audio
- The Synthetic Co-Host and the Ethics of Voice
- The Irreplaceable Human Element
- Conclusion: Reclaim Your Time and Amplify Your Voice
The Dawn of Fully Automated Podcasting
You’ve poured your heart into recording a brilliant podcast episode. The conversation flowed, the insights were sharp, and you’re buzzing with creative energy. Then reality sets in. Now comes the real work: hours of tedious editing, cleaning up audio, writing show notes, crafting social media posts, and manually hunting for the perfect clip to promote. For many creators, this administrative wall is where great ideas go to die.
What if you could eliminate 90% of that post-production grind? Imagine a workflow where you simply hit record, have a fantastic conversation, and a sophisticated system handles the restpolishing the audio, transcribing it, generating summaries, and even creating promotional assets, all while you’re still riding the high of creation. This isn’t a distant fantasy; it’s the new reality of AI-powered podcast production.
We’re now witnessing the dawn of fully automated podcasting. A new class of end-to-end AI systems is emerging, designed to manage the entire production pipeline from a single dashboard. These platforms are game-changers, automating the technical heavy-lifting that has traditionally required a small team or a massive time investment. They handle the unglamorous but essential tasks with startling efficiency:
- AI Audio Enhancement: Removing background noise, balancing levels, and making guests sound crystal clear.
- Automatic Transcription & Chapter Markers: Creating accurate, searchable transcripts and intelligently splitting your episode into segments.
- AI-Generated Show Notes & Summaries: Distilling key takeaways and crafting compelling copy for your episode pages.
- Promotional Clip Creation: Automatically identifying the most engaging, shareable moments and turning them into formatted videos for social media.
This article is your curated guide to the seven most comprehensive platforms making this possible. We’ve evaluated each one on its quality, speed, and how truly “end-to-end” its workflow is. If you’re ready to stop being a part-time audio engineer and administrative assistant and get back to being a full-time creator, you’re in the right place. Let’s explore the systems that are putting the focus back on what you do best: creating incredible content.
The Podcasting Bottleneck: Why You Need an Automated Workflow
You hit the stop button on your recorder after a fantastic, energetic conversation. The content is gold. But instead of excitement, a familiar sense of dread creeps in. You’re not at the finish line; you’re staring down the barrel of a 5 to 8-hour administrative marathon. This, right here, is the podcasting bottleneck. The magic of creation collides with the grueling reality of production, and it’s where far too many great podcasts falter.
Let’s break down where those hours actually go. For every single hour of finished audio, you’re likely spending:
- 2-4 hours on audio editing: This is the silent killer. You’re meticulously removing “ums,” long pauses, coughs, and background noises. Then you’re balancing audio levels, adding your intro/outro music, and stitching segments together.
- 1+ hour on transcription and show notes: Manually transcribing is out of the question, so you bounce the file between a transcription service and a document, painstakingly editing the AI’s mistakes. Then you stare at a blank page, trying to summarize a 60-minute conversation into a compelling, SEO-friendly description.
- 1-2 hours on marketing and promotion: This involves scrubbing through the entire episode again to find those 30-second viral-worthy clips, then manually creating subtitles and reformatting the video for Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts.
This isn’t just busywork; it’s a direct path to creator burnout. The constant context-switching from creative host to technical editor and social media manager fractures your focus and drains your passion. It’s why release schedules slip from weekly to “whenever I can find the time.” That inconsistency is a silent audience killer, as listeners who can’t rely on you will inevitably find a podcast that they can.
The Hidden Cost of “Doing It All”
The consequence of this bottleneck isn’t just personal exhaustion; it’s a stunted show. When you’re buried in post-production, you sacrifice the activities that actually make a podcast grow. You don’t have time to book bigger guests, to strategize your content calendar, or to engage deeply with your community. Your podcast becomes a relentless taskmaster instead of a platform for growth and connection. You’re working in your business, not on it.
“The most successful podcasters aren’t the best editors; they’re the best systems architects. They build workflows that free them to focus on what only they can do: connect with an audience.”
So, what’s the alternative? It’s not about working harder; it’s about working smarter by embracing an automated, AI-powered workflow. Imagine a system where you upload your raw audio file and, not long after, you receive a polished episode, a accurate transcript, engaging show notes, and a handful of pre-cut social video clips. This isn’t a distant fantasyit’s the new reality of podcasting. The core benefits are transformative:
- Massive Time Reclamation: Slashing 8 hours of work down to 30 minutes of oversight gives you your week back. That’s time for another episode, a new blog post, or simply remembering what free time feels like.
- Elevated Production Quality: AI doesn’t get tired. It applies noise reduction, leveling, and filler word removal with a consistency that’s hard to match manually, giving your show a professional sheen that builds listener trust.
- Accelerated Audience Growth: Automation enables consistency. A reliable release schedule is key to audience retention. Furthermore, by automatically repurposing your content into multiple formats (audio, text, video), you meet your audience where they are, dramatically increasing your discoverability.
The goal is to break the bottleneck. It’s to remove the technical friction that stands between your great idea and your audience’s ears. By automating the repetitive, time-consuming tasks, you reclaim your role as the creative heart of your show. Let’s dive into the systems that make this not just possible, but incredibly efficient.
What to Look For in an End-to-End AI Podcasting System
So, you’re ready to hand over the technical reins and let an AI handle the heavy lifting of podcast production. Smart move. But with several platforms vying for your attention, how do you choose the right one? It’s not just about which system has the most features; it’s about which one has the right features working in seamless harmony to support your unique workflow. Think of it as hiring a production assistant; you need to know what skills are non-negotiable.
A truly comprehensive system should feel like a well-oiled machine, taking your raw audio and pushing it through a pipeline that polishes, packages, and promotes it with minimal intervention from you. To separate the truly all-in-one solutions from the ones that just do one or two things well, you need to evaluate them against a core set of essential criteria.
The Non-Negotiable Core Features
First and foremost, let’s talk about the foundational pillars any worthy platform must have. If a system is missing one of these, it’s not truly “end-to-end.”
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AI Audio Enhancement and Noise Removal: This is your baseline. The AI must be able to take your raw recordingwhether it’s a solo episode or a multi-guest interview with varying microphone qualitiesand deliver broadcast-ready audio. Look for features that go beyond simple noise gates. The best systems offer leveling, de-reverb, mouth sound reduction, and the magical ability to isolate and enhance voices from a messy background. The output should sound like you recorded in a professional studio, even if you were in a slightly echoey home office.
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Automatic Transcription with High Accuracy: This is the unsung hero of the entire workflow. A highly accurate transcript (aim for 95%+ accuracy) isn’t just for accessibility. It becomes the searchable backbone of your content. It’s the raw material for your show notes, your blog posts, your social media quotes, and most importantly, for the next critical feature.
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AI-Generated Show Notes and Summaries: This is where the magic of automation truly pays dividends. The platform should analyze your pristine transcript and automatically generate a coherent summary, extract key takeaways, and draft engaging show notes. The best ones will even suggest relevant keywords and timestamps for major topics. This single feature can save you hours of tedious administrative work per episode.
Beyond the Basics: The Ecosystem and Experience
Once you’re confident a platform has the core features down, it’s time to look at the surrounding ecosystem that will make your life easier in the long run. These factors often determine whether a tool becomes a beloved part of your kit or just another piece of software you tolerate.
Integration capabilities are a huge time-saver. Does the platform connect directly with your hosting service, like Buzzsprout or Captivate, for one-click publishing? Can it push your transcript to Rev for final polishing or your video clips to Dropbox? A system that forces you to manually download and upload files between different apps is creating the very friction it’s supposed to eliminate.
You also need to be realistic about the learning curve and user experience. Is the interface intuitive, or does it feel like you need a pilot’s license to operate it? The whole point is to reduce your workload, not to add a complex new software to master. Look for a clean, logical dashboard that guides you through the process from upload to publication.
Finally, take a hard look at the pricing model. Is it a simple monthly subscription, or are you billed by the hour of audio processed? Does “unlimited” truly mean unlimited, or are there hidden caps on features like transcription? An affordable entry-level plan can quickly become expensive if you’re a prolific podcaster. Your ideal system should scale with your output without causing budget anxiety.
The goal isn’t to find the platform with the most bells and whistles, but the one that automates your specific bottlenecks most effectively.
By keeping these criteria in mindthe non-negotiable core features and the practical ecosystem considerationsyou can cut through the marketing hype. You’ll be able to identify the AI podcasting system that doesn’t just promise a streamlined workflow but actually delivers one, letting you focus entirely on what matters: the conversation.
The Contenders: 7 End-to-End AI Podcast Production Systems Reviewed
We’ve moved past the theoretical and into the practical. The following seven platforms represent the current vanguard of AI-powered podcast production, each offering a unique approach to automating your workflow. I’ve put them through their paces, evaluating not just their flashiest features but their day-to-day reliability and how seamlessly they connect every step from recording to promotion. Here’s the head-to-head breakdown you need to find your perfect production partner.
Descript: The All-in-One Video and Audio Powerhouse
If you could only use one tool for your entire multimedia operation, Descript would be a top contender. It’s built on a revolutionary concept: editing your audio by editing the text transcript. This “word processor for media” approach means you can cut out “ums,” awkward pauses, and even entire sentences just by deleting text. Its recent acquisition of SquadCast solidifies its position, offering studio-quality remote recording directly within the platform. The AI features are deeply integrated, including filler word removal, automatic leveling, and an AI voice clone (Overdub) that can generate new, natural-sounding speech.
- Pros: Unmatched text-based editing; fantastic for video podcasts; industry-standard remote recording integration.
- Cons: The interface can feel overwhelming for pure audio podcasters; the full feature set requires a higher-tier subscription.
- Ideal For: Video-first creators, interview-heavy shows, and anyone who is more comfortable editing text than wrestling with a complex audio waveform.
Riverside: The Quality-First Remote Recording Specialist
Riverside built its reputation on one thing: flawless, separate-track remote recording. While others have caught up, it remains a leader in reliability. Its AI suite, Riverside Magic, is a powerful addition that automates the post-production. It automatically transcribes your episodes and uses that transcript to generate chapters, short-form video clips, and a blog post. The magic here is in the quality of the source recordingbecause each participant’s audio and video are recorded locally, the AI has a pristine file to work with, leading to superior results.
- Pros: Unbeatable recording reliability; local recording prevents dropouts; creates high-quality video clips and social media snippets.
- Cons: The editing suite is less robust than Descript’s; it’s primarily a recorder with AI features, not a full digital audio workstation (DAW).
- Ideal For: Podcasters who prioritize interview audio/video quality above all else and want a simple, reliable path to creating promotional content.
Adobe Podcast: The Audio Enhancement Virtuoso
Adobe has entered the ring with a focused set of AI tools that are, frankly, stunning. While not a full recording platform yet, its AI-powered audio enhancement is some of the best available. The star of the show is “Enhance Speech,” a tool that can salvage poorly recorded audio, removing reverb and background noise to make it sound like it was recorded in a professional studio. It also offers a web-based recorder and AI-powered transcription. It feels like a glimpse into the future of audio cleanup.
- Pros: Best-in-class audio enhancement; intuitive, web-based interface; powerful transcription.
- Cons: Not a complete end-to-end workflow yet (lacks automated show notes and social clip generation); requires an Adobe subscription for full access.
- Ideal For: Creators who already have an editing workflow but need a miracle worker for cleaning up subpar recordings or for achieving studio-quality sound with minimal equipment.
Alitu: The Podcast Maker for Absolute Beginners
Alitu’s entire philosophy is simplicity. It calls itself “The Podcast Maker” and lives up to the name by removing every conceivable technical barrier. You upload your raw files (or record within the app), and Alitu automatically cleans up the audio, adds your music beds, and compresses it into a final, polished file. It also generates transcripts, show notes, and publishes directly to your host. There’s no complex editing interfaceit’s a linear, guided process.
- Pros: The most beginner-friendly option; automates the entire technical process from cleaning to publishing; flat monthly fee is great for solo creators.
- Cons: Offers less creative control; not ideal for creators who want to fine-tune every edit.
- Ideal For: New podcasters, solo commentators, and anyone who wants to record, upload, and be done without ever learning the intricacies of audio editing.
Podcastle: The Collaborative Storyteller’s Dream
Podcastle shines with a beautiful, intuitive interface and robust collaboration features. It offers high-fidelity remote recording, AI-powered audio enhancement (including a fantastic noise removal tool), and automatic transcription. Where it stands out is in its AI-driven content repurposing. Its “Magic Clips” feature intelligently identifies the most engaging moments in your episode and turns them into vertically formatted videos, complete with animated captions and speaker frames, in a single click.
- Pros: Excellent user experience; strong collaboration tools for teams; one of the best automated social clip generators.
- Cons: Some advanced features are locked behind higher paywalls; the audio editor, while clean, isn’t as powerful as Descript’s.
- Ideal For: Creative teams, storytellers, and content creators who heavily rely on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels for promotion.
Captivate: The Growth-Focused Podcaster’s Engine
While many platforms focus solely on production, Captivate is a full-fledged podcast host with powerful AI features baked in. Its “AI Assist” tool hooks into your uploaded audio to instantly generate transcripts, episode summaries, blog posts, and even promotional copy and social media posts. This makes it incredibly efficientyou upload your final audio, and within minutes, you have a complete suite of marketing assets ready to go, all while leveraging Captivate’s excellent analytics and growth tools.
- Pros: Deeply integrated with a powerful hosting platform; generates a wide array of marketing copy; built-in audience growth and monetization features.
- Cons: You need to be a Captivate customer to use it; it doesn’t handle the recording or primary editing stage.
- Ideal For: Established podcasters who already have an editing workflow but want to automate the administrative and promotional tasks from their hosting dashboard.
Auphonic: The Set-and-Forget Audio Post-Production Genius
Auphonic is the quiet workhorse of the podcasting world. It’s not a recorder or an editor; it’s an intelligent audio post-production engine. You upload your edited audio file, and Auphonic’s algorithms perform a series of magic tricks: it applies loudness normalization, levels speech, reduces noise, and can even identify multiple speakers for chapter markers. It’s incredibly affordable and can be integrated into almost any existing workflow via its API.
The Bottom Line: Auphonic is the ultimate quality-control final step. For a few dollars a month, it ensures your audio meets broadcast standards, saving you hours of manual tweaking.
- Pros: Unbeatable for automated audio mastering; extremely cost-effective; integrates with virtually everything via API.
- Cons: Only handles post-production, not recording, editing, or content generation.
- Ideal For: Every podcaster, honestly. But especially those with a established editing process who want to guarantee professional sound quality with zero extra effort.
Choosing the right system ultimately comes down to where you need the most help. Are you struggling with recording, editing, or promotion? The beauty of this new landscape is that there’s a tailored solution ready to take that burden off your shoulders, so you can get back to the microphone.
System 1: Descript
If you’ve ever felt that editing audio was like performing surgery in the dark, Descript is the tool that finally turns on the lights. Its core innovation is so brilliantly simple it feels like magic: you edit your podcast by editing text. Imagine deleting an awkward pause or a verbal stumble not by hunting for it on a complicated waveform, but by simply highlighting and deleting the corresponding text in a transcript. This text-based editing philosophy fundamentally rethinks the entire production process, making it accessible to anyone who can use a word processor.
At the heart of this system is Descript’s automatic transcription. You upload your audio or video file, and within minutes, you get a near-perfect transcript synced to your media. This transcript becomes your timeline. Want to remove an entire paragraph? Just cut it. Need to rearrange a conversation? Drag and drop the text. It’s incredibly intuitive, but don’t let that simplicity fool youthis is a professional-grade editor under the hood. The “Word Gap” removal feature alone can automatically trim all those pesky “ums,” “ahs,” and long silences with a single click, saving you what could be hours of manual editing.
The Power of a Comprehensive Toolkit
Descript’s magic doesn’t stop with text-based editing. It bundles a suite of AI-powered features that tackle the most common podcasting headaches, making it a true all-in-one workstation.
- Studio Sound: This is arguably one of the most impressive audio cleanup tools available. With one toggle, it uses AI to remove background noise, eliminate reverb from a bad room, and apply a professional-grade EQ and compression. The result is studio-quality audio that makes it sound like you recorded in a treated booth, even if you were actually in a closet.
- Overdub: Ever record a great take only to discover you mispronounced a word or flubbed a sentence? Instead of re-recording the entire segment, Descript’s Overdub lets you type the correction, and its AI will generate the audio in your own voice. You first create a voice clone by reading a training script, and the result is a digital voice double that can seamlessly fix mistakes or even generate new content.
- Filler Word Removal: Beyond basic pauses, this feature actively identifies and can bulk-remove your specific verbal crutches, like “you know” or “like,” polishing your delivery post-recording.
What truly elevates Descript into an end-to-end system is its seamless integration of publishing tools. You can record multi-track audio and video directly within the app, edit with your team, and then use the AI to generate chapters, a full transcript, and even draft your show notes. When you’re done, you can export the finished product in any format or publish it directly to platforms like Spotify and YouTube.
Of course, no tool is perfect. The initial learning curve involves trusting the text-based process, and heavy, multi-layered sound design for narrative podcasts might still require a dedicated DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) like Pro Tools. However, for the vast majority of podcastersespecially interview-based and solo showsDescript isn’t just a tool; it’s a paradigm shift. It transforms the tedious, technical chore of editing into a creative, writing-like process, giving you back the one resource you can’t get more of: your time.
System 2: Riverside.fm
While Descript revolutionized the editing process, Riverside.fm tackles a problem that plagues every remote podcaster from the very start: capturing pristine, studio-quality audio and video before you even think about editing. In the world of remote recording, where internet connections are unpredictable and guest audio can be a gamble, Riverside’s core promise is one of absolute reliability. It’s the platform that ensures your raw material is as good as it can possibly be, setting a high-quality foundation for everything that comes next.
The platform’s standout feature is its local recording capability. Unlike a typical video call that compresses your audio into a low-quality stream, Riverside records each participant’s audio and video tracks directly onto their local device. This happens simultaneously in the browser, with no software download required. The magic happens after you hit stop: these high-fidelity WAV audio and 4K video files are then seamlessly uploaded to the cloud. What does this mean for you? Even if your guest’s Wi-Fi cuts out mid-sentence, their entire side of the conversation is preserved in perfect quality on their own computer, safe and sound. It completely eliminates the dreaded robotic voice, dropouts, and sync issues that can ruin an otherwise brilliant interview.
The AI-Powered Post-Production Suite
Once you have this flawless raw footage, Riverside’s integrated AI tools kick into gear to handle the heavy lifting of post-production. The workflow is impressively streamlined:
- Automatic Transcription: As soon as your recording is uploaded, Riverside’s AI generates a highly accurate transcript. This isn’t just a text file; it’s an interactive editor where you can click on any word to jump to that exact moment in the audio or video, making it incredibly easy to find and clip your best moments.
- AI-Generated Show Notes & Summaries: Building on that transcript, Riverside’s AI can automatically create a structured summary of your entire episode. It identifies key topics and speakers, providing a solid first draft of your show notes. This single feature can shave an hour or more of tedious administrative work off your post-production schedule.
- Effortless Social Media Clips: This is where the platform truly shines for promotion. You can simply highlight the text of a compelling quote in the transcript, and with one click, Riverside will create a polished video clip complete with animated captions, a branded backdrop, and the speaker’s video. No need to manually scrub through a timeline or use a separate app.
The beauty of Riverside is that it builds its AI features on top of an uncompromising recording foundation. You’re not using AI to fix poor quality; you’re using it to enhance and distribute a product that was already professional-grade from the moment you started recording.
So, who is Riverside.fm for? It’s the undisputed champion for podcasters and interviewers for whom audio and video quality are non-negotiable. If your show features high-profile guests who may not have a professional setup or a perfect internet connection, Riverside is your insurance policy. It removes the technical anxiety from remote recording, allowing you to focus entirely on the conversation, confident that the technology won’t let you down. While its editing capabilities aren’t as granular as a dedicated tool like Descript, its seamless integration of AI-powered transcription and clipping creates a powerful, end-to-end workflow that turns a complex recording and promotion process into a surprisingly simple one.
System 3: Adobe Podcast
When a company with Adobe’s legacy in professional creative software enters the podcasting arena, you sit up and take notice. This isn’t a startup trying to find its footing; it’s a creative titan applying decades of audio and imaging expertise to solve podcasters’ biggest pain points. Adobe Podcast represents a fascinating play: leveraging the company’s formidable AI research, known as Adobe Sensei, to deliver a suite of web-based tools that feel both incredibly sophisticated and surprisingly accessible. It’s a system built for the modern creator who demands professional-quality sound but doesn’t have the time or desire to become a full-time audio engineer.
So, what makes it stand out in a crowded field? While other platforms focus on the entire workflow, Adobe Podcast initially zeroes in on two of the most critical and time-consuming aspects: getting your raw audio to sound pristine and transforming that audio into editable, searchable text. Its approach is less about being an all-in-one studio and more about being the world’s most powerful cleanup and preparation tool, seamlessly integrating with the broader Adobe ecosystem.
The Magic of “Enhance Speech”
Let’s talk about the flagship feature that has everyone buzzing: Enhance Speech. We’ve all been there. You conducted a brilliant interview, but your guest was on a scratchy laptop microphone or recording from a noisy room. Traditionally, this would mean hours of painstaking work with noise reduction and EQ plugins, often with mixed results. Enhance Speech is Adobe’s answeran AI tool so effective it can feel like witchcraft.
You simply upload your raw, messy audio file, and the AI goes to work. It doesn’t just apply a generic filter; it intelligently separates the speaker’s voice from all the background clutter. The result is a shockingly clean vocal track, as if it were recorded in a professional studio. It tackles everything from constant air conditioner hum and keyboard clicks to the subtle reverb from an empty room. For podcasters who frequently record with remote guests of varying technical setups, this single feature is a game-changer. It turns audio you might have considered unusable into broadcast-ready quality in minutes.
A Transcription Service That Actually Gets It
Beyond cleaning up audio, Adobe Podcast offers a powerful, AI-powered transcription service. But this isn’t just any transcription. The accuracy is notably high, adeptly handling industry-specific jargon and conversational speech patterns. The real power, however, lies in its integration. The transcript is not a separate, static document; it’s a dynamic tool. You can easily edit the text to correct any errors, and because the transcript is word-by-word accurate, those edits can be used to clean up the audio itself, removing “ums,” “ahs,” or entire sentences with a few keystrokes. This text-based editing philosophy, reminiscent of tools like Descript, makes rough cutting an episode incredibly fast.
Here’s a quick look at what the core Adobe Podcast system excels at:
- Professional-Grade Audio Enhancement: Transform poor recordings into studio-quality audio with the “Enhance Speech” tool.
- Highly Accurate Transcription: Generate precise transcripts that are synced to your audio for easy editing.
- Text-Based Editing: Edit your podcast by simply deleting or editing words in the transcript.
- Seamless Adobe Workflow: For Creative Cloud subscribers, it integrates beautifully with tools like Audition and Premiere Pro, fitting into an existing professional pipeline.
The beauty of Adobe Podcast is its focus on quality first. It solves the two problems that can make or break a listener’s experience: bad sound and poor organization.
Of course, it’s important to note that as of now, Adobe Podcast is a powerful feature set rather than a complete, end-to-end publishing platform. You won’t find built-in music libraries, direct publishing to hosting sites, or automated social media clip generation here. Its strength is in its specialization. It takes the hardest technical tasksaudio repair and transcriptionand executes them with an level of quality that is, frankly, hard to match. For the podcaster already invested in the Adobe ecosystem or for anyone who prioritizes crystal-clear audio above all else, this system is an indispensable weapon in your production arsenal. It does the heavy lifting so you can focus on the content that matters.
System 4: SquadCast
If you’ve ever lost a brilliant interview to a glitchy internet connection or spent hours trying to sync garbled audio from a remote guest, you already understand the core problem SquadCast was built to solve. While other platforms focus on flashy post-production, SquadCast’s philosophy is simple: the best editing in the world can’t fix a fundamentally bad recording. This system has earned its sterling reputation as the go-to for serious podcasters by guaranteeing that your raw audio and video files are captured in pristine, broadcast-quality condition from the start. It’s the digital equivalent of building a house on a rock-solid foundation.
So, how does it achieve this legendary reliability? The magic lies in its local recording and cloud-backup model. Unlike a typical video call that compresses your audio into a low-quality stream, SquadCast records a separate, high-fidelity WAV or video file directly on each participant’s local device. These files are then securely uploaded to the cloud. This means your guest’s spotty Wi-Fi might cause their video feed to pixelate temporarily during the call, but it won’t touch their recorded audio track. You’ll still get their crystal-clear, uncompressed file at the end, perfectly synced with your own. It’s a safety net that lets you conduct your interview with complete peace of mind.
From Setup to Sound Check: Automated Post-Production
Once you’ve captured that perfect raw footage, SquadCast’s integrated AI tools step in to streamline the next steps. The platform isn’t just a recording studio; it’s a growing production hub. Before you even hit record, its automated sound check analyzes your microphone levels and internet connection, proactively guiding you to fix potential issues. After the session, the platform offers a suite of one-click enhancements. Its proprietary audio processing can clean up background hum, normalize volume levels between speakers, and reduce plosives, delivering a polished master file with minimal effort on your part.
But the automation doesn’t stop with the audio. One of the most significant time-savers is SquadCast’s AI-generated transcription. Shortly after your recording is processed, you receive a highly accurate transcript that’s not only invaluable for creating show notes and blog content but is also fully integrated into the platform’s video editor. This allows you to:
- Search your conversation for specific keywords and jump directly to that moment in the video.
- Identify key soundbites quickly to pinpoint the most shareable moments of your episode.
- Create accurate captions for your video podcasts or social media clips without starting from scratch.
As one veteran interviewer put it, “SquadCast is my insurance policy. I can book a high-profile CEO and know that no matter what happens with their connection, I’m walking away with a professional-grade recording. That confidence is priceless.”
Who is the ideal SquadCast user? If you prioritize guaranteed, studio-quality recordings with remote guests above all else, this is your system. It’s the trusted choice for interview-heavy shows, professional productions, and anyone who can’t risk a technical failure with a hard-to-book guest. While its editing suite is more streamlined than a dedicated tool like Descript, its powerful combination of bulletproof recording, integrated transcription, and a new, AI-powered clip generator for social media is creating a truly compelling end-to-end workflow. SquadCast handles the technical heavy lifting, freeing you to be fully present in your conversations and build your show with unwavering confidence.
System 5: Alitu
While other platforms offer powerful tools for audio professionals, Alitu carves out a different niche entirely. It proudly positions itself as the “podcast maker” app, and that distinction is crucial. This isn’t a complex digital audio workstation you have to learn; it’s a guided, automated factory for your podcast episodes, designed from the ground up for the absolute beginner. If the technical side of podcastingthe editing, the leveling, the exportingfeels like a daunting barrier, Alitu is the system that tears that barrier down.
So, how does it work? The magic of Alitu lies in its step-by-step, browser-based workflow. You’re not staring at a confusing waveform; you’re following a simple checklist. You start by uploading your raw recordingswhether it’s a solo monologue, a remote interview, or a combination of tracks. From there, Alitu’s automation takes the wheel. With a single click, it runs its proprietary cleanup process, removing background noise, mouth clicks, and those annoying long pauses. It then automatically balances the volume levels of all speakers, ensuring your co-host doesn’t sound like they’re whispering from another room while you’re shouting into the mic.
The One-Click Polish
The automation extends beyond just cleanup. Alitu understands that a professional touch often includes music, and it bakes this directly into the process. Its built-in library lets you easily add intro/outro music and transition stings, and the app automatically applies fade-ins and fade-outs so it doesn’t sound jarring. Think of it as having a patient audio engineer by your side, handling all the fiddly bits you might not even know exist. The entire process is designed to take you from a raw, messy recording to a polished, publishable audio file with minimal technical effort.
But the automation doesn’t stop when the final mix is exported. Alitu is truly an end-to-end system, and that includes getting your show out into the world. Its built-in publishing tools are a godsend for newcomers who might find the concept of an RSS feed confusing. The app integrates directly with all major podcast hosting platforms, like Buzzsprout, Captivate, and Podbean. Once you’ve set up the connection, publishing a new episode is as simple as filling in your show notes, adding your artwork, and hitting “Publish.” Alitu handles the file upload and communicates with your host, pushing your episode live without you ever needing to leave the app.
Alitu’s greatest strength is its clarity of purpose: it exists to remove the technical friction of podcasting, allowing you to focus entirely on your content and conversation.
So, who is Alitu for? It’s the perfect launchpad for:
- First-time podcasters who feel overwhelmed by audio editing software.
- Solo creators or co-hosts who want a consistent, “set-it-and-forget-it” sound.
- Educators and business owners who see podcasting as a tool, not a technical hobby.
- Anyone who values their time and wants to spend it creating, not compressing.
While power users might eventually crave the granular control of a Descript or Adobe Podcast, Alitu serves its target audience flawlessly. It makes a powerful promisethat you can create a professional-sounding podcast without being a technical expertand it delivers on that promise with a straightforward, almost therapeutic simplicity. In a world of complex tools, Alitu is a refreshingly simple on-ramp to the podcasting highway.
System 6: Podcastle
While many platforms focus on perfecting the recording or streamlining the edit, Podcastle takes a different approach. It asks a more ambitious question: what if your entire production studio lived right inside your web browser? Podcastle is a comprehensive, web-based platform that merges a professional-grade recording studio with a suite of genuinely clever AI tools, making it one of the most accessible and innovative systems for creators of all skill levels. You don’t need to be a tech whiz to sound like one; you just need a browser tab.
The magic of Podcastle begins the moment you hit record. Its multi-track editor is intuitive enough for a beginner but powerful enough for a seasoned pro. But where it truly shines is in its AI-powered post-production. With a single click, you can deploy tools that feel like they’re from the future. The AI Silence Remover doesn’t just cut dead air; it intelligently finds and eliminates those awkward pauses and filler gaps, tightening your conversation’s pace without you needing to manually scan the entire waveform. Then there’s the AI Audio Enhancement, which automatically balances levels, reduces background noise, and gives your audio that coveted “studio” sheen. It’s like having a professional sound engineer on retainer, working for free in the background.
The AI Co-Host and Your Digital Voice Double
Perhaps the most futuristic features in Podcastle’s arsenal are its conversation and voice tools. For remote interviews, the AI Co-host is a game-changer. You can pre-load it with questions, and it will join your call as a separate participant, reading your script in a natural, human-like voice. This allows you to be a more engaged, present host while the AI handles the heavy lifting of moving the conversation along. Even more impressive is Revoice, their voice cloning technology. You can train a digital model of your own voice and then use it to generate new, synthetic speech or even fix mistakes in your recording by typing the correct sentence. The ethical implications are worth considering, but the practical application for fixing flubs without re-recording is undeniable.
So, what does a typical workflow look like inside Podcastle? It’s remarkably fluid:
- Record: Capture crystal-clear audio and video directly in your browser with guests, or use the AI Co-host to run an interview.
- Edit & Enhance: Drag and drop your files into the multi-track editor. Use the one-click AI tools to remove silence, enhance audio, and clean up the track.
- Transcribe & Repurpose: Generate a near-instant, highly accurate transcript. From here, you can edit the audio by editing the text, a la Descript.
- Publish & Promote: Use the transcript to easily create show notes and then leverage the built-in social media clip generator to pull engaging snippets for promotion.
Podcastle’s browser-based nature is its superpower. There’s no software to download or update, and you can start a professional-grade recording session or edit a project from any computer, anywhere.
Who is Podcastle for? It’s the ideal all-in-one solution for the podcaster who values flexibility and a low barrier to entry without sacrificing power. If you’re intimidated by complex desktop software but still want access to cutting-edge AI features, this is your playground. It effectively demystifies the entire production process, wrapping it in a clean, user-friendly interface. While a pure audio purist might still lean towards Adobe Podcast for its enhancement specialty, and a video-focused team might prefer Riverside, Podcastle stands out as the most holistic and forward-thinking web-native platform. It doesn’t just automate tasks; it reimagines what’s possible from a single browser tab, empowering you to focus on your message, not your software.
System 7: Captivate.fm
While many platforms focus on automating the technical side of productionthe audio cleanup, the transcription, the clip generationCaptivate.fm takes a different, and frankly, more strategic approach. As a podcast host first and foremost, its integrated AI tools are designed to automate the entire workflow that happens after you’ve uploaded your final, polished audio file. Think of it less as a production studio and more as your intelligent podcast operations manager, handling the administrative and promotional heavy lifting so you can get back to what you do best: creating content.
Your AI-Powered Episode Prep Assistant
The moment your audio file lands in Captivate, the AI gets to work, but not in the way you might expect. Its first job isn’t just to transcribe; it’s to understand. The platform’s AI engine analyzes your entire episode to help you prepare it for publication. This starts with one of the most underrated time-savers for any podcaster: automatic transcript generation. The accuracy is impressive, creating a solid foundation not just for accessibility, but for all the other smart features that follow. But the real magic is what it builds from that transcript.
The AI then uses this deep understanding of your content to generate a complete set of AI-powered episode prep materials. With a single click, it can draft:
- A compelling episode title and subtitle
- A detailed, structured summary of the key discussion points
- A full set of SEO-optimized show notes
- A list of potential keywords and categories for your episode
This isn’t just about saving you an hour of typing; it’s about giving you a professional-quality first draft. You’re not starting from a blank page anymore. You’re starting from an 80% complete framework that you can simply refine, add your voice to, and publish. It fundamentally changes the administrative burden of podcasting from a chore into a quick polish.
Creating Promotional Gold with Magnetic Quotes
Here’s where Captivate’s strategy truly shines. Every podcaster knows they need to promote on social media, but who has the time to re-listen to a 60-minute episode to find that one perfect, shareable soundbite? Captivate solves this by automatically scanning your transcript for the most engaging, punchy, and insightful moments. It surfaces these as **“Magnetic Quotes”**ready-made, visually designed quote cards for social media.
You don’t have to guess what will resonate. The AI identifies the key takeaways and emotional high points, presenting them to you in a sleek, brandable template. It’s like having a social media manager who has already done the hard work of clipping and identifying the best content. You just review, customize the design to match your brand, and hit share. This transforms promotion from a time-consuming scavenger hunt into a five-minute task, ensuring your show maintains a consistent and professional presence across all channels without eating into your week.
“Captivate’s AI doesn’t just automate tasks; it automates strategy. It identifies what’s important in your content and packages it for the world, letting you focus on the conversation instead of the logistics.”
So, who is the ideal Captivate user? If you’re a podcaster who is serious about growth and already has your recording and editing workflow down pat, this is your system. It’s for the host who understands that publishing the episode is only half the battlethe real work begins with promotion, accessibility, and SEO. Captivate seamlessly integrates that entire post-production universe into your hosting platform. You’re not just parking your audio file; you’re deploying a complete, AI-optimized content asset. It’s the final piece of the automated workflow puzzle, handling the business of podcasting so you can master the art of it.
Head-to-Head Comparison: Choosing Your AI Co-Producer
You’ve now seen the incredible capabilities of these seven AI podcast production systems. Each one brings a unique flavor to the table, but the real question is: which one is the right partner for your podcast? Choosing an AI co-producer isn’t about finding the “best” tool in a vacuumit’s about finding the best tool for you. Your specific needs around recording style, technical comfort, and post-production goals should steer this crucial decision.
Let’s break down the core decision-making factors. Are you primarily recording solo, conducting remote interviews, or a mix of both? Do you need an all-in-one solution that holds your hand from concept to publication, or are you looking for a powerful specialist to slot into your existing workflow? Your answers will immediately narrow the field. Budget, of course, plays a role, but think of it as an investment in your most precious resource: time. The right system pays for itself by giving you hours of your week back.
To make your choice easier, here’s a direct comparison of how these platforms stack up across the key criteria that matter most to podcasters.
| Platform | Best For | Ease of Use | Audio Quality & Enhancement | AI Feature Set | Price (Approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SquadCast | Interview-heavy, professional shows | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Mid to High-Tier |
| Alitu | Beginners, non-technical creators | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ | Budget to Mid-Tier |
| Podcastle | All-in-one flexibility & voice cloning | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Freemium to Mid-Tier |
| Captivate.fm | Growth-focused podcasters (post-production) | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | N/A (Hosting Focus) | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Mid-Tier |
Finding Your Perfect AI Match
Now, let’s translate that table into a clear path forward. Use this guided analysis to pinpoint your ideal system.
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If your top priority is flawless, studio-quality recordings with remote guests: Your choice is clear. SquadCast is the industry standard for a reason. Its proactive sound checks and robust recording infrastructure are designed to eliminate technical anxiety, making it the trusted choice for professional productions and anyone who can’t afford a failed interview with a high-profile guest.
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If you’re a beginner who wants the simplest path to a polished show: Look no further than Alitu. It’s the ultimate on-ramp, transforming raw, potentially messy recordings into a publishable episode with a few clicks. It handles the technical fiddly bitscleanup, leveling, adding musicwith a therapeutic simplicity that lets you focus entirely on your content.
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If you want the most cutting-edge, all-in-one creative toolkit in your browser: Podcastle is your playground. It’s for the podcaster who is excited by possibility, not intimidated by it. The AI Co-host and Revoice voice cloning features aren’t just gimmicks; they’re genuinely futuristic tools that can fundamentally change your workflow, all wrapped in an incredibly user-friendly interface.
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If your recording/editing workflow is solid but you dread the administrative grind: Captivate.fm is the strategic addition to your toolkit. It attacks the bottleneck that comes after the audio is finished. By automating show notes, chapters, and promotional copy, it handles the “business” of podcasting, freeing you up to focus on growth and promotion.
Don’t get caught in the “feature trap.” The most powerful AI tool is the one you’ll actually use consistently to make your podcasting life easier and more enjoyable.
Ultimately, the best way to choose is to take them for a test drive. Most of these platforms offer free trials or generous free tiers. Record a short five-minute test episode, run it through the AI enhancements, and see which workflow feels most intuitive. Your ideal AI co-producer shouldn’t feel like another piece of complex software to learn, but like a genuine partner that gets out of your way and lets your voice be heard.
Implementing Your Chosen System: A Step-by-Step Workflow
You’ve picked your AI co-producerfantastic. Now, let’s roll up our sleeves and integrate it into your creative process. The real magic happens when you stop thinking of these tools as separate applications and start treating them as an extension of your team. This isn’t about adding more steps; it’s about redesigning your workflow so you can focus on what you do best: connecting with your audience.
Here’s a concrete, step-by-step guide to take you from a raw recording to a fully published and promoted episode, with your new AI system handling the heavy lifting.
Your Automated Production Pipeline
Let’s walk through what a typical episode cycle looks like once your AI system is in the driver’s seat.
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Record & Capture: This is your one non-negotiable, hands-on step. Whether you’re using your platform’s built-in recorder or a separate tool, your job is to deliver the best possible raw audio. Pro tip: Record in a quiet environment and use a decent microphone. AI can work wonders, but it can’t perform miracles on a recording filled with background noise and echo. Think of it as giving your AI assistant high-quality ingredients to cook with.
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Upload & Enhance: Drag and drop your audio files into your chosen platform. This is where the automation truly begins. The system will likely analyze and process your audio, applying noise reduction, leveling, and potentially even removing awkward pauses or filler words. For many, this step alonewhich used to take hours in a DAWnow happens with a single click while you grab a coffee.
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Generate & Refine: Once your audio is polished, the AI gets to work on the written content. It will automatically transcribe the entire episode and, from that transcript, generate a first draft of your show notes, chapter markers, and a social-media-ready summary. This is your foundation. Your role shifts from creator to editor, refining the AI’s output to match your unique voice.
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Publish & Distribute: With your polished audio and vetted written assets ready, you hit publish. Your hosting platform takes over, pushing the episode to all major directories like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The key here is to use the AI-generated title suggestions and episode descriptions you refined in the previous step to maximize discoverability.
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Promote & Repurpose: The workflow doesn’t end at publication. This is where you leverage the AI to amplify your reach. Most systems can automatically identify the most engaging, shareable moments from your episode. Use these to create short video or audio clips for social media, complete with auto-generated captions.
Best Practices for Working with Your AI Partner
While these systems are powerful, they work best when guided by a human expert. Here’s how to get the most out of your new workflow without sacrificing quality.
Always remember: AI is a brilliant assistant, but you are the director. Your judgment and unique perspective are what will make the final product truly shine.
First, fact-check everything. AI summaries and show notes are excellent for capturing the general flow of a conversation, but they can occasionally misinterpret specific facts, names, or statistics. I always skim the generated content against the original transcript to ensure accuracy. It takes five minutes and saves you from potential embarrassment.
Second, infuse the content with your personality. The AI gives you a clean, professional draft, but it won’t have your signature wit or the inside jokes your audience loves. Take that 80%-complete show notes draft and add your personal flaira quirky observation, a link to a related past episode, or a call to action that feels authentic to you.
Finally, be strategic with auto-generated clips. Don’t just post every clip the AI suggests. Review the options and ask yourself: “Which one would make someone stop scrolling and actually listen?” Often, the most technically “clean” moment isn’t the most engaging. Choose clips that tease a compelling story, offer a surprising insight, or pose a provocative question.
By following this structured yet flexible workflow, you’re not just automating tasks; you’re building a more sustainable and scalable podcasting practice. You’re reclaiming hours each week, not to work less, but to invest more energy into the creative work that only you can do.
The Future of Podcasting: How AI is Reshaping the Audio Landscape
The automation we see today in podcast production is just the opening act. We’re on the cusp of a transformation that will fundamentally alter not just how podcasts are made, but what a podcast can be. The current tools that handle editing and show notes are impressive, but they’re merely the foundation for a much more dynamic and personalized audio future. So, what’s waiting in the wings?
Beyond Automation: The Rise of Intelligent Audio
The next wave of AI won’t just be your editor; it will be your creative collaborator and distribution strategist. We’re moving from static audio files to intelligent, adaptive audio experiences. Imagine a podcast that can dynamically adjust its content based on who is listening. This isn’t science fiction; the underlying technology is already being developed. Key trends on the horizon include:
- Hyper-Personalized Dynamic Ads: Instead of the same host-read ad for a meal kit service, an AI could swap it out for an ad for a local gym if it knows the listener is interested in fitness, using synthetic versions of the host’s own voice for seamless integration.
- Real-Time Language Translation and Dubbing: Your podcast could instantly be available to a global audience, not just through subtitles, but with a naturally dubbed audio track that preserves the speaker’s tone and cadence. The language barrier in podcasting could effectively vanish.
- Adaptive Content Lengths: Listeners could choose their experience: a “deep dive” full episode, a 10-minute “executive summary,” or a 2-minute “key takeaways” version, all generated automatically from the same source audio.
This shift turns the one-size-fits-all podcast into a fluid, personalized media stream. It’s the difference between broadcasting and narrowcasting on an individual level.
The Synthetic Co-Host and the Ethics of Voice
We’ve seen voice cloning for error correction, but the logical next step is the development of fully AI-generated hosts or permanent co-hosts. These wouldn’t just be pre-programmed question readers; they would be large language models trained on a podcaster’s entire back catalog, able to contribute to conversations in real-time with the host’s unique style and knowledge base. Think of it as an always-available, incredibly well-read interview partner that sounds exactly like you.
This raises profound ethical questions. Where do we draw the line between tool and talent? The industry will need to establish clear norms and disclosures for when synthetic voices are used, ensuring listeners are never deceived.
The key will be transparency. An AI co-host could be a brilliant creative tool, but audiences must know when they are listening to a human thought and when they are listening to a machine’s interpretation.
The Irreplaceable Human Element
With all this talk of AI domination, it’s tempting to wonder if the human podcaster becomes obsolete. The opposite is true. As the technical and administrative burdens lift, the human elements become more valuable, not less. AI can replicate patterns, but it cannot replicate:
- Genuine Connection: The raw emotion in a storyteller’s voice, the spontaneous burst of laughter between friends, the vulnerability of sharing a personal failurethese are the moments that build loyal audiences.
- Unique Creative Vision: An AI can suggest topics, but it can’t have a truly original idea born from a lifetime of unique experiences. Your perspective is your superpower.
- Instinct and Improvisation: The best podcast moments are often unscripteda follow-up question asked on a gut feeling, a witty off-the-cuff remark. This human spontaneity is impossible to algorithmically plan.
In this new landscape, your role evolves from audio engineer and show note writer to creative director and community builder. Your job is to provide the heart, the soul, and the strategic vision. The AI handles the rest, freeing you up to do what you do best: connect with your audience on a human level. The future of podcasting isn’t about humans being replaced by machines; it’s about humans and machines working in concert to create audio experiences that are more powerful, more accessible, and more personal than ever before.
Conclusion: Reclaim Your Time and Amplify Your Voice
From AI-powered recording studios that clean up your audio in a single click to platforms that automatically generate show notes, transcripts, and promotional clips, the seven systems we’ve explored are fundamentally changing the podcasting game. Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or just pressing record for the first time, these tools offer a clear path forward: one with less technical friction and more creative freedom.
The core promise here isn’t just about saving a few hours each weekit’s about a fundamental shift in your role as a creator. By automating the tedious, time-consuming tasks of editing, transcribing, and marketing, you’re free to reinvest that energy into what truly moves the needle for your show. Imagine what you could do with an extra 5-10 hours per episode. You could:
- Dive deeper into research for a more compelling narrative.
- Secure and prepare for that “dream guest” interview.
- Actively engage with your community on social media and in comments.
- Simply rest and recharge, preventing burnout and keeping your content fresh.
Your most valuable asset isn’t your microphone or your hosting platform; it’s your unique perspective and the time you have to share it.
The future of podcasting is intelligent, efficient, and, most importantly, human-centric. These AI co-producers handle the heavy lifting of production so you can focus on the heart of your podcast: your voice, your ideas, and your connection with your audience. The tools are here, proven, and ready to use. Don’t let administrative workload be the bottleneck that holds your show back. Choose one platform that resonates with your workflow, take it for a test drive, and start your journey toward a more sustainable and impactful podcast today. Your audience is waiting to hear more from you.
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