VLC in advanced, uncheck timestretch and audacity can do this. Youtube, spotify and others will keep pitch which is called timestretching. This is what gives that choppy effect. I use it even for podcasts when something is said quickly. So with “regular” speed reduction, it defeats the purpose of slowing down as it makes it much harder to hear what is being said. Without timestretching, it sounds just like slowing down a 12" record or tape, allowing a slower speed to figure oit what was said. There was one episode a few years ago about vintage mice brands and I couldn’t find ih even a few years ago (I download my podcasts, still couldn’t figure out which one it was), but I would have liked to slow it down because so many different varieties of mice were mentioned. I think most people don’t need new peripherals, and used hardware with a good cleaning will work just as well. That’s way off the topic of this thread, but an example of why I might slow down a podcast.
I enjoy listening to (and I’m glad it has been mentioned on the show) Bone Thugs, I have both the LP of art of war, and a digital flac album of it, and I slow down the speed for both heavier bass and to keep up with the lyrics.
Even listening to Fleetwood Mac Gypsy at a lower speed is great, different tempo and the guitar solos last a bit longer.
What are some artists that you play at slower speeds?