My first experience using Anchor.FM was mostly pleasant. All the basics worked more or less as intended: the site was easy to navigate, its features were intuitive, and it walked me through the podcasting process as I went. For me, Anchor's biggest draw is its surprising simplicity. It has the most attractive learning curve of any podcasting tool I've encountered so far.

I did hit a snag, though, which I mentioned in the podcast: all of the audio I recorded through the desktop site was hellishly loud, with a lot of clicking and popping. To rule out hardware problems, I tried three different microphones with Anchor after doing a few test recordings with Windows' Voice Recorder app. The problem remained, and editing the audio through Anchor wasn't helping things.

Thankfully, since I own a smartphone, I had an easy workaround. I downloaded the app, logged in, and re-recorded all my audio. The app was just as intuitive as the desktop site, if not more so. When I got back on my PC to wrap things up, I was pleased to see that all the content I created in the app had been automatically (and quickly) uploaded. The rest of the process was a walk in the park.

Also, as a constant Spotify user, I really have to say that there's something so cool about seeing your own dumb podcast on Spotify.

My Recommendation
There are always access barriers to consider while implementing teaching technology, and this is no exception. The experience I had with Anchor will be different from the experience of someone who doesn't read English, someone who is deaf, or someone who doesn't own a smartphone. While I can't say what Anchor should be worth to anyone in particular, I can say that Anchor has the potential to help a lot of students meet ISTE's Empowered Learner Standards.

All in all, I wouldn't hesitate to use Anchor.FM in my classroom, especially to introduce the podcast as a legitimate format for student work. To be frank, Anchor can take a lot of the work out of teaching students the podcasting process—meaning it's a viable option for helping students quickly build a valuable proficiency. And once they've gotten started, Anchor's simple, effective design can really free students up to do the kind of learning, thinking, and creating that our schools are supposed to be for.

From a high school English standpoint, the second most exciting thing about technology (next to spell check) is that it offers a variety of ways for students to create and share their work. There are plenty of folks who would rather record a podcast than write a five-paragraph essay by hand. Introducing them to Anchor could be the start of something beautiful. It may not be the lifelong companion for a podcasting perfectionist, but I don't know that you can do much better for a starting point.

TL;DR
Making a podcast with Anchor.FM is easier and more fun than reading an article like this one.