> You can already find the podcast by name using the normal internet method of searching for it.

You could, but I suspect most people search in their podcast app. Which is where apples directory comes in.

A lot of smaller podcasts don't have much web presence outside of their RSS feed, and often have pretty generic titles to boot.

sure, you can use google or a search engine, look in the results for the actual feeds url (vs just a website or something), and copy paste it in your podcast player. Or you can just search from it directly in your podcast app.

The UX on the latter side is clearly superior.

not to mention that unless the podcast has an official site, a Google search for the feed will turn up 10 different mirrors of the feed, without any clarity about which one's the canonical source.

in the past i've subscribed to a dead feed this way i think because the author changed who they syndicate through. i assume Apple's directory is maintained in a way that largely avoids this (simply by it being the canonical directory).