I recently felt the urge to separate English content from Japanese content in my digital life. As a result, I've started using multiple apps, such as an RSS reader, a reading list, and a podcast client, to achieve this separation. This article discusses the methods I use to split these apps and the reasons behind my choices.

Although I have been a long-time user of Inoreader, I hadn't opened it in two years, primarily because I was content with social media and focused solely on Japanese articles. However, my interest in revisiting news media in English—such as The Verge, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal—prompted me to exclusively dedicate Inoreader for English media by removing all Japanese media subscriptions and transferring them to Feedly. This approach effectively segregates English and Japanese media within my RSS reader.

I have been using Instapaper as my reading list, where I indiscriminately saved both Japanese and English articles. However, I also utilized Reeder, an app that excels in article reading on iOS and iPadOS. I discovered that I could save articles for later reading in Reeder directly from Safari using the "read later with Reeder" action. I now use this feature for Japanese articles, while continuing to use Instapaper for English articles, thereby separating my article saving spaces by language.

In terms of sound quality, I find many Japanese podcast shows to be inferior to their English counterparts. In my view, few Japanese podcasters manage their show's gain effectively. Consequently, I primarily use PocketCast for its volume boost feature, which enhances the listening experience.

Conversely, I turned to Spotify for Japanese podcasts, especially for those produced by individuals less acquainted with professional radio show standards, which are not available on more niche apps like PocketCast.

I am dissatisfied with having to use Spotify for certain purposes, such as watching video podcasts like All-in, which are not available on PocketCast. If I want to watch their videos without using Spotify for English podcasts, I'm forced to resort to YouTube, which I prefer to avoid.

The way I utilize podcast clients remains a matter of uncertainty for me, and my approach might evolve over time.

I acknowledge that fretting over such matters might seem trivial. Yet, once something starts bothering me, I find myself compelled to address and rectify it.