Put chapters in your podcast!!!!

[celerityfm]

I did it! I finally got it done, I converted my latest podcast over to the new chapters format, with images and links INSIDE the podcast, displayed as the podcast is playing, just like podfinder! Check it out at my iTunes podcast feed here: http://www.k9cast.com/k9cast.xml !!

I'm going to writeup a tutorial on how to do it and post it in this thread, but for now I've got to record my third podcast!

Cheers

[theFerf]

EXCELLENT! cant wait to see it :)

[no1slistening]

Just viewed it. That's pretty slick. It's only for Mac users (as of now), right?

[Charles]

I did it! I finally got it done, I converted my latest podcast over to the new chapters format, with images and links INSIDE the podcast, displayed as the podcast is playing, just like podfinder! Check it out at my iTunes podcast feed here: http://www.k9cast.com/k9cast.xml !!

I'm going to writeup a tutorial on how to do it and post it in this thread, but for now I've got to record my third podcast!

Cheers


Yes it is for Macs only, works only in the deep geek Terminal Code Mode and I believe is for only AAC(mp4) which plays in iPods & iTunes.

-

[celerityfm]

(EDIT)-- THIS TUTORIAL HAS BEEN SUPERCEDED BY THIS ONE (http://www.voxmedia.org/wiki/PodcastChapterTool)-- I've posted it on a wiki here: http://www.voxmedia.org/wiki/PodcastChapterTool and with pzarquon (http://www.podcastalley.com/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=377)'s help made it much, much better!

I'm leaving the original post intact though for posterity so here goes:

(edit) Added suggestions from EFEley and also ... heh.. spellchecked :) (/edit)

Ok I'm typing this up as my 3rd podcast renders... and yes you need a mac to do this, but AAC only works on iPods so you'll have to create a special feed for these files, as other podcasters like IT Conversations (http://www.itconversations.com/rss.html) and myself (http://www.k9cast.com) have done. Check out the tutorial:

How to:

First a caveat: You need a Mac that meets their system requirements (OS X 10.3.8 or later and Quicktime 6.5.2 or later) to pull this off right now. Secondly the new feature only works in podcasts encoded in Apple's AAC audio format. So if your podcasting in mp3 right now you'll need to either create a second feed special for this, which I recommend, or just change over your current mp3s and feed to AAC. Several podcasts have been doing dual MP3 and AAC feeds for a while now, like IT Conversations, because AAC used to be the only bookmarkable format, now with iTunes 4.9 and iPod updater 3.2 all podcasts no matter what the format are bookmarkable. Its just the ones with AAC now get this excellent chapters, chapter image and chapter link technology.

So. To start you'll need a Mac and the newly released podcast chapter tool that you can download here: http://homepage.mac.com/applepodcast/podcasts/Resources/static/podcast_chapter_tool_beta.dmg

Secondly you'll need iTunes 4.9 if you don't have it already: http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

Thirdly I HIGHLY recommend you grab a copy of Adam Curry's Podfinder or the iTunes New Music Tuesday podcast and check out how the chapters/artwork work in those podcasts. Its really, simply amazing. Put it on your iPod and check out how browsing between each chapter works. Awesome? You bet!

Lastly you'll need your podcast in AAC format. If it is not already in AAC format then you *must convert it using iTunes 4.9*. So download the upgrade to 4.9 if you haven't already. Here's how: in iTunes choose the "edit" menu, then preferences, and then click on the "importing" tab. Choose to import using "AAC Encoder" and choose the setting to be "Podcast" if your doing a mostly talk podcast, or choose high quality or custom if you have music or would like an even lower bitrate then "podcast" . Leave all the other options as default and click ok. Then right click on your podcast and choose "Convert to AAC", and it will convert the file. Once it is done it will place the converted file in your Music Library, not your Podcasts folder. You'll need to know the location of the file for later so right click the file and choose "get info" to see where the file has been saved. Now you are ready to proceed. Tip: if you can get a WAV or AIFF format file from your sound editor, convert from that instead of the MP3. It'll sound better, since you're not compressing twice.

So, download the chapter creator and extract the image and copy the folder out onto the mac desktop. This program is not very user friendly, so if you haven't ever opened the terminal before on your mac then this guide may be difficult for you. I'll answer as many questions as I can though after posting this so please feel free to reply with a question.

Now, inside the ChapterTool folder that you've extracted you'll see a text file called "About Chapter Tool" that contains the instructions for how to actually use the tool. Read that, read it twice. Also there is a good audio file tutorial, that we'll work with later, that you should listen to in the sample directory called Enhanced Audio Guide.m4a. Listen to it, listen to it twice if you can :) It's a tutorial in and of itself. Make sure you've got the artwork viewer enabled in iTunes while your listening to it to get a good demo of what this new technology can do for YOUR podcast.

So after reading that lets go ahead and test the system by using the ChapterTool on an example podcast they include with the software.

Navigate to the ChapterTool directory using terminal. Then change directories into the Sample directory. Then type the following:

../ChapterTool -x audioguide.xml -a "Enhanced Audio Guide.m4a" -o mytest.m4b

NOTE THE THE QUOTATION AND UPPERCASE/LOWERCASE LETTERING!!!!! copy and paste this if you need to :)

You might get an error about your XML library being too old to validate, but if the program finishes OK then you are probably fine. Now, try to play mytest.m4b in iTunes. Does it look/sound the same as the other one you just played? Are the links working aok/etc? Good! Now we can make your OWN!

This is the hard part. Open up the sample.xml file and read it. Read it twice. Read it.. again! Do you understand it yet? :) Seriously this is key. Now, here a concept that I don't think has been revealed yet that becomes apparent after reading through the sample.xml file a few times: You can change the images and links displayed in the artwork viewer without having to make it a whole new chapter! This is especially helpful if the concept of "chapters" doesn't really apply to your podcast, but you'd like to still show different images as your podcast plays, and also display links on the screen at the same time.

So. Grab your shownotes and start creating chapters in the sample.xml file as described inside the sample.xml file's comments. In the end you'll need to delete all of those comments for your XML file to pass muster with the ChapterTool though, but leave them in for now so you can reference them as you type up your podcast's xml file. Remember that <link>, <image> and <title> tags "carry over"/"inherent" from the previous chapter, meaning that if you put an image in at one point and then create a chapter, that your image will still remain unless you specify otherwise. Same with links, if you put up a link in a chapter it will keep displaying until you place an "empty link" in a chapter as described in the sample.xml file. Also remember that EVERY chapter file must start at 00:00!! After you are done you'll need to delete all the comments in the .. here is my XML file for my second K9Cast as an example.. there is probably some line breaks introduced by the forum that will make this file hard to copy/paste so you can also download it here (http://k9cast.com/podcast02.xml) though bear in mind that your web browser will probably "mark up" the XML and make it so that it won't validate. For best results right click and save that link and open it in notepad...

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<chapters version="1">
<chapter starttime="00:00">
<title>Introduction</title>
<picture>k9cast.jpg</picture>
<link href="http://www.k9cast.com">K9Cast Homepage</link>
</chapter>

<chapter starttime="00:10">
<link></link>
</chapter>

<chapter starttime="00:15">
<title>The Story of Mr. Sheep</title>
<picture>mrsheepincar.jpg</picture>
<link></link>
</chapter>

<chapter starttime="03:27">
<picture>microchip.jpg</picture>
</chapter>

<chapter starttime="04:03">
<picture>mrsheepincar2.jpg</picture>
</chapter>

<chapter starttime="05:55">
<picture>mrsheepanimalservices.jpg</picture>
</chapter>

<chapter starttime="10:03">
<picture>mrsheepincar3.jpg</picture>
</chapter>

<chapter starttime="12:28">
<picture>petpalrescue.jpg</picture>
<link href="http://petpalrescue.com/">Pet Pal Rescue</link>
</chapter>

<chapter starttime="13:33">
<picture>mrsheepanimalservices.jpg</picture>
<link></link>
</chapter>

<chapter starttime="14:38">
<link href="http://www.petfinder.com">Petfinder.com</link>
</chapter>

<chapter starttime="15:00">
<link></link>
</chapter>

<chapter starttime="15:33">
<title>Next time on K9Cast</title>
<picture>k9cast.jpg</picture>
<link href="http://www.k9cast.com">K9Cast Homepage</link>
</chapter>
</chapters>


For your first time I'd recommend starting SIMPLE at first. Just try to create a beginning chapter with a picture. And remember what the chaptertool guide said- keep em small! 300x300 pixels is recommended!

Now, you've got your newly created file, lets save it as podcast.xml under the CHAPTERTOOL directory (NOT the sample directory). Now remember your AAC file that we created earlier? Get that file and copy and paste it into the same directory as your podcast.xml file and open up a terminal and prepare to work magic:

Type ./ChapterTool -x podcast.xml -a "mypodcast.m4a" -o mypodcast.m4b

NOTICE that this time we did ./ instead of ../ -- this is because we are actually typing this from the dicectory that the ChapterTool program is located in.

CROSS FINGERS. No errors!?!? Try launching the mypodcast.m4b file.... SUCCESS??? :) If no post here and I'll try to help you.

Now try making more complicated xml files and remerging them with the chapter tool program. Keep doing this until you are satisfied with your work and then move onto the next part.

Now you'll need to upload your new m4b file.. feedburner/et al will already take care of this for you if you are going to just publish your podcast in your existing feed, but if you are going to hand create another feed the enclosure code for m4b looks like this:

<enclosure url="http://www.k9cast.com/k9c-2005-06-30.m4b" length="15895057" type="audio/x-mpeg" />

Note that I called mine m4b, if you name your file m4b then your file will be "bookmarkable" on non-clickwheel ipods because that is the filename used for audiobooks, however clickwheel iPods with the new firmware installed will be able to bookmark m4a files too and also view chapters/chapter art/chapter links in m4a files as well. I recommend you name your file m4b so that even the nonclickwheel iPod listeners will get the added benefit of being able to bookmark where they've left off in your podcast. In addition, the new iTunes 4.9 treats m4a files the same as m4b files but older iTunes listeners will not get the bookmark functionality unless you name your file m4b. Also note that your existing podcasts in mp3 are now bookmarkable in the new iTunes and on clickwheel iPods with the latest firmware upgrade, but chapters/chapter art/chapter links are not included in mp3s at this time.

Another note, and this will probably be fixed in the next iPod firmware update so its really just a small issue- there is a bug in the new iPod firmware that makes the iPod display EVERY SINGLE chapter marker, even if you are just switching images or displaying a URL! As opposed to iTunes that only displays chapter markers for chapters with a title tag. This makes it so that people listening on their iPod can't easily skip between chapters and instead have to use the scroll wheel to fast forward/rewind through your podcast. To minimize this consider leaving the same image on the screen for as long as possible, and not taking down a link unless you begin talking about a different link. Or you could just throw caution to the wind and go all out like I did on my third podcast :P See how THAT looks in your iPod and you'll see what I mean about how insane the number of chapter markers can get with this current firmware issue.

Hope this helps guys! Please post any additions/comments/questions and I'll incorporate them into this post and ALSO post your podcasts after enhancing them for everyone to see!

Good luck!

(EDIT) Special thanks to SFEley (http://www.podcastalley.com/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=1904) of the Escape Pod podcast (http://escape.extraneous.org/) for his contributions! (/EDIT)

[Bitz of Brin]

I did it! I finally got it done, I converted my latest podcast over to the new chapters format, with images and links INSIDE the podcast, displayed as the podcast is playing, just like podfinder! Check it out at my iTunes podcast feed here: http://www.k9cast.com/k9cast.xml !!

I'm going to writeup a tutorial on how to do it and post it in this thread, but for now I've got to record my third podcast!

Cheers

Wow! Cool! 8) How'd you figure it out? I couldn't find any info in the Apple Music Tuesday podcast. I figured this was an .m4a thing, right? I've been thinking of releasing as .m4a because it's bookmarkable...but now mp3s are bookmarkable too in iTunes, right? Anyway, congrats! Can't wait to read your tutorial.

[celerityfm]

Wow! Cool! 8) How'd you figure it out? I couldn't find any info in the Apple Music Tuesday podcast. I figured this was an .m4a thing, right? I've been thinking of releasing as .m4a because it's bookmarkable...but now mp3s are bookmarkable too in iTunes, right? Anyway, congrats! Can't wait to read your tutorial.

Hehe just posted the tutorial :) Just above your post somehow hehe. It wasn't impossible to figure out, but Apple hasn't made it very user friendly yet :( Just a will to get it done I guess hehe.

To answer your questions: yes its m4a and yes its bookmarkable. Annnd yes mp3s are bookmarkeable too but not just in iTunes, on all clickwheel ipods too!!

Hope the tutorial helps!

[no1slistening]

Celerityfm,

Was there anything special you did for the jpg? I see your logo for the show and for the 1st podcast. My iTunes xml feed looks like yours, but mine isn't showing up. Any suggestions?

[Bitz of Brin]

Wow! Cool! 8) How'd you figure it out? I couldn't find any info in the Apple Music Tuesday podcast. I figured this was an .m4a thing, right? I've been thinking of releasing as .m4a because it's bookmarkable...but now mp3s are bookmarkable too in iTunes, right? Anyway, congrats! Can't wait to read your tutorial.

Hehe just posted the tutorial :) Just above your post somehow hehe. It wasn't impossible to figure out, but Apple hasn't made it very user friendly yet :( Just a will to get it done I guess hehe.

To answer your questions: yes its m4a and yes its bookmarkable. Annnd yes mp3s are bookmarkeable too but not just in iTunes, on all clickwheel ipods too!!

Hope the tutorial helps!

LOL :D Yeah, I think I would have noticed that entry before posting if it had been there. Weird.

Anyway, great work! I can't wait to try this out. I have several section in my podcasts and sometimes I want to skip around to specific parts when I relisten to them. (Is that weird that I listen to my own podcasts? heh)

[celerityfm]

I think you are talking about album art in iTunes, which is different then the chapters and iTunes podcast directory images. To setup album art for your podcast simply open the podcast in iTunes and drag an drop your album art into the artwork viewer in iTunes, then reupload your podcast! Test it out to make sure but thats all I had to do to get mine working :)

[no1slistening]

I think you are talking about album art in iTunes, which is different then the chapters and iTunes podcast directory images. To setup album art for your podcast simply open the podcast in iTunes and drag an drop your album art into the artwork viewer in iTunes, then reupload your podcast! Test it out to make sure but thats all I had to do to get mine working :)

Sorry for the confusion. Yeah, that's what I was talking about, the album art. I got my iTunes podcast directory image working, but I had noticed your logo when I played your podcast #1 and when I clicked on your podcast name.

It's really so simple (banging head on desk).

Thanks!

-- JV

[no1slistening]

Celerityfm,

Actually, I guess it's not so simple. I added the artwork for one of my episodes, but I can't seem to get the artwork up for the actual podcast name when it is highlighted. And when you say upload, what exactly do you mean? Do you mean update the podcast or resubscribe?

I'm stumped.

[celerityfm]

I think its not just highlighting the podcast but actually playing it to see the album art.. also there is an option in the artwork viewer that toggles between the "chapter art" and the "album art", it'll say "selected song" or "now playing" -- make sure yours says "selected song" when you are testing the album art feature.

And when I meant upload I meant to actually update the podcast for your listeners to download the album art :)

[no1slistening]

I think its not just highlighting the podcast but actually playing it to see the album art.. also there is an option in the artwork viewer that toggles between the "chapter art" and the "album art", it'll say "selected song" or "now playing" -- make sure yours says "selected song" when you are testing the album art feature.

And when I meant upload I meant to actually update the podcast for your listeners to download the album art :)

Aaahh, you know what it is? If you download just one episode and or all, when you highlight the actual podcast name the album art shows up. I only downloaded one of my three podcasts. The album art was showing up for the the specific episode I added it to, but not when I highlighted my actual podcast name. So I cleared the other two episodes I had not downloaded yet and now it shows up when I click my show name. Sheesh. All that for nothing.

[celerityfm]

Woot! Glad you figured it out! :)

[no1slistening]

Yeah, I had a brain lapse.

Are you in the directory yet, Celerityfm?

I've been making changes to my xml feed, but iTunes hasn't been updating it to reflect the changes. It used to be immediate. But now it doesn't do anything. I'm not in the directory yet. I've been checking my subscription manually.

[celerityfm]

no1slistening not in the directory yet, but like you I noticed that its now saying "your feed has already been submitted", which is comforting to know that yes they do have our feeds and yes, they are working on it :)

Not sure about the iTunes xml update situation.. I just delete and readd my feed every time to see the changes to it because I am impatient :)

[no1slistening]

I can't believe it took me this long to figure out why my album art wasn't taking. Somewhat of an iTunes novice, but I found Craig's tutorial on how to put in artwork into the ID tags. I used WMP. But man, what a chore this was. What does Ockham's Razor state? All things being equal, the simplest answer is preferred.

It's way too late. This has been a wonderful vacation.

[mesoed]

Do you have a link to Craig's tutorial on album art? I've been trying to figure out how to do this for some time now...

[SFEley]

Great work, Celerity! A few minor notes, not on how you did it (which was great) but some of the surrounding details:

Ok I'm typing this up as my 3rd podcast renders... and yes you need a mac to do this, but AAC, I believe, will play on other mp3 players besides iPod I think, but there is a workaround for that... check out the tutorial!
The AAC format will not play on any MP3 player except the iPod. This is mostly due to the marketing war between Apple and Microsoft. AAC is an open sound format, but it's championed by Apple, and all the other device makers have banded together in the Windows WMA camp.

That's why, if you create chapters and changing art in your files this way, you'll need to have two feeds: one for iTunes and the iPod, and one with plain MP3s for everybody else. Otherwise you'll exclude your entire non-iTunes audience. (You already said this, but I thought it was worth repeating.)


Thirdly I HIGHLY recommend you grab a copy of Adam Curry's Podfinder and check out how the chapters/artwork work in his podcast. Its really, simply amazing. Put it on your iPod and check out how browsing between each chapter works. Awesome? You bet!
I've been trying, but his feed appears to be hosed. Another one worth looking at for examples is the iTunes New Music Tuesday podcast.


Choose to import using "AAC Encoder" and choose the setting to be "Podcast" (unless you want a higher quality).

FYI, I wouldn't use the "Podcast" setting unless your podcast is all voice with no music at all. Even then, it's an unusually low bit rate. It'll make for much smaller files, but with noticeable signal loss unless your entire show is in a fairly narrow frequency range.

Another tip to consider: when you import, if you can get a WAV or AIFF format file from your sound editor, import from that instead of the MP3. It'll sound better, since you're not compressing twice.

Note that I called mine m4a ... I dont know what the difference is but Podfinder calls theirs m4a, but the tutorial says m4b and IT conversations uses m4b as well so hmm!
The difference is that m4a is the default AAC format; m4b flags the file as "bookmarkable," and is mostly used for audiobooks. Simply naming your file with that extension means iTunes and the iPod will save bookmarks when you stop listening and resume. But with the new 4.9 podcasting support, bookmarks are built into all podcasts anyway, so it really isn't that important.

To answer your questions: yes its m4a and yes its bookmarkable. Annnd yes mp3s are bookmarkeable too but not just in iTunes, on all clickwheel ipods too!!
Clarification here: "bookmarkable MP3s" only applies to podcasts under iTunes 4.9. Prior to this, there was no way to save a bookmark in an MP3 file. And there still isn't, for files in iTunes's standard music library (as opposed to the new podcast library.)

Again, great tutorial! Implementing chapters sounds like a lot of work, which means I won't likely do it on Escape Pod (http://escape.extraneous.org) immediately (it already takes me hours to postproduce each file) but for those who are willing to put in the effort, this could be a great attention-getting enhancement for your podcasts.

I'm sure within the next few weeks, someone will design a nice graphical tool for this (and a few weeks after that it'll actually work) >8-> but in the meantime, this tutorial here is the best around.

[celerityfm]

Great work, Celerity! A few minor notes, not on how you did it (which was great) but some of the surrounding details:...

*SNIP*



Thanks! And thanks for the additions to the tutorial, I'm going to edit the post with your points and clarifications... and yes, it takes so long to produce a podcast as it is, its just breaking the ol timebank to have to do these bookmarks by hand, but I can safely say that it was a much faster process the second time around :)

[celerityfm]

Went ahead and put the tutorial into a wiki page, the most appropriate place for it, here: http://www.voxmedia.org/wiki/PodcastChapterTool

Enjoy!

[beejay]

hello,

i need a lil help, if anybody can.

i've tried all day long to create an m4b but terminal always told me this:

ERROR: Couldn't make xml file spec 'pod.xml'
(-43)
status: failed
code: -43

what does it mean?

I do everything correct (xml, images, m4a)

can anybody help?

Thanks

[celerityfm]

beejay - could you post a link to your pod.xml file? I'd like to take a look at it.

If you try opening it in firefox or safari what does it look like?

Thanks

[Illinoise]

Heya, folks.

Just letting you know that I put up a new podcast utilizing the chapters/artwork/links, thanks in part to Celebrity's nice little "how-to" here. It's a clunky system (the Apple ChapterTool application, that is), but once you do it once or twice, you get the hang of it. Ch-ch-check it out!

The Bored-Again Christian
WEB: http://www.BoredAgainChristian.com
ITUNES FEED: http://www.boredagainchristian.com/itunes.xml

We decided to run a dual feed (using MoveableType 2.6), one with MP3 and one with M4B. By the way, Celebrity, your trick to outputting a M4B file (bookmarkable AAC!) was ... remarkable! Great idea, I highly recommend doing it.

Cheers!

[beejay]

beejay - could you post a link to your pod.xml file? I'd like to take a look at it.

If you try opening it in firefox or safari what does it look like?

Thanks

http://www.beejay.it/audio/pod.xml

i run into panther, so with safari it looks with no sense.

i think the xml is right...

let me know and thanks to you.

:)

[celerityfm]

Heya, folks.

Just letting you know that I put up a new podcast utilizing the chapters/artwork/links, thanks in part to Celebrity's nice little "how-to" here. It's a clunky system (the Apple ChapterTool application, that is), but once you do it once or twice, you get the hang of it. Ch-ch-check it out!

The Bored-Again Christian
WEB: http://www.BoredAgainChristian.com
ITUNES FEED: http://www.boredagainchristian.com/itunes.xml

We decided to run a dual feed (using MoveableType 2.6), one with MP3 and one with M4B. By the way, Celebrity, your trick to outputting a M4B file (bookmarkable AAC!) was ... remarkable! Great idea, I highly recommend doing it.

Cheers!

Excellent!!!!! Thanks, I'm so glad to see other podcasters implementing this technology! I really like how you've done it, including links to the artists websites of the songs your playing and such :) One suggestion- I think you should consider adding chapter titles to each of the songs you play, like the way the iTunes New Music Tuesday podcast does it, that way iTunes users will be able to use the chapter menu button and select the different parts of your podcast, instead of only the intro and outro. Though that works fine too :)

Also, If any of the music you play is in ITunes you can link directly to the iTunes Music Store url as well.

Again great job and I'm glad that you found it useful! Though I can't 100% credit for the m4b/m4a thing, podcasts like IT Conversations pioneered that before the whole iTunes 4.9 thing even showed up :)

And one final note, its "C E L E R I T Y (http://www.answers.com/celerity&r=67)" not celebrity ;) But don't sweat it, happens all the time :)

[celerityfm]

http://www.beejay.it/audio/pod.xml

i run into panther, so with safari it looks with no sense.

i think the xml is right...

let me know and thanks to you.

:)

Sir the URL provided to your xml file doesn't work, can you try uploading it again?

What version of panther are you on? I believe you have to be at atleast version 10.3.8 to run the ChapterTool program :)

[beejay]

I've done it,

now there is anotha problem.

On itunes the xml didn't find the m4b, that is on the server.

could you try it?


http://www.beejay.it/audio/podcast/podcast.xml

thanks.

PS:i've deleted the previous pod.xml posted to you, because fixed that problem.
10,3,9
:wink:

[celerityfm]

I've done it,

now there is anotha problem.

On itunes the xml didn't find the m4b, that is on the server.

could you try it?


http://www.beejay.it/audio/podcast/podcast.xml

thanks.

PS:i've deleted the previous pod.xml posted to you, because fixed that problem.
10,3,9
:wink:

Glad that you got it working! Good job!

I had the same problem you did, "On itunes the xml didn't find the m4b, that is on the server" and I've found that the file that the XML file points at, http://www.beejay.it/audio/podcast/sgpodcast.m4b is unavailable even when I visit it with a web browser. Try reuploading the file again and check to make sure that the filename, sgpodcast.m4b matches the name of the file referenced in the podcast.xml file :)

[Bert Hughes]

I am a complete newbie to terminal, and I do not understand it in the least (Unix, right?). I could talk for days about audio and macs, and that is what got me into podcasting. Anyway, here are some concepts I do not understand:

Navigate to the ChapterTool directory using terminal.

type the following command from within the ChapterTool folder...

What am I missing? I get an error that says " No such file or directory" when enever I try to do anything. Do I need to layout the file path? I have tried that, and it still is not working for me. What has to be in the same folder as what? Do I need to lay out the file paths of the XML files and the AAC files? If so, relative to what? The location of the ChapterTool program? Terminal? Here is an example of what I have tried in trying to "chapterize" the sample:

Mac/Applications/Utilities/ChapterTool/ChapterTool/ChapterTool -x sample.xml -a sample.m4a -o enhanced_sample.m4a

[Bert Hughes]

OK, I think I am getting closer. Now using \ instead of /

[Bert Hughes]

Ok, so mabe part of my problem was that the ChapterTool folder was not in the Music folder.

Now by entering /Users/me/Music/ChapterTool/ChapterTool it says
-bash: /Users/me/Music/ChapterTool/ChapterTool: is a directory

Yea! Progress! Help me out here, people.

[beejay]

I've done it,

now there is anotha problem.

On itunes the xml didn't find the m4b, that is on the server.

could you try it?


http://www.beejay.it/audio/podcast/podcast.xml

thanks.

PS:i've deleted the previous pod.xml posted to you, because fixed that problem.
10,3,9
:wink:

Glad that you got it working! Good job!

I had the same problem you did, "On itunes the xml didn't find the m4b, that is on the server" and I've found that the file that the XML file points at, http://www.beejay.it/audio/podcast/sgpodcast.m4b is unavailable even when I visit it with a web browser. Try reuploading the file again and check to make sure that the filename, sgpodcast.m4b matches the name of the file referenced in the podcast.xml file :)

:shock:

it's true!!!

With safari seems that the m4b is not on the server, but, sure, it is!!!!

I've upload it again, and same story....

How that can happen? What's wrong with this file?

How did you fix the problem? Just reuploading once (i did, but... :roll: )

Thanks 4 now, if you have some other suggestions, please post it.

:)

[Bert Hughes]

OK, I think I got it! Here is how you "navigate to the folder."

Open Terminal (not the ChapterTool program). The enter this:

cd /Users/yourusername/Music/ChapterTool/ChapterTool
cd means "change directory" for you fellow Unix newbies. So you are telling the system to change directories to the file path listed above. The xml files, m4a files, and the folder with your pictures must be in the same directory as the ChapterTool program. Next press enter. it will now display yourusername$
Now past in the ChapterTool command:
./ChapterTool -x sample.xml -a sample.m4a -o enhanced_sample.m4a
Next, hit enter.
yeah!

[beejay]

Ok, so mabe part of my problem was that the ChapterTool folder was not in the Music folder.

Now by entering /Users/me/Music/ChapterTool/ChapterTool it says
-bash: /Users/me/Music/ChapterTool/ChapterTool: is a directory

Yea! Progress! Help me out here, people.

hi bert, i had your problem, coz i didn't know terminal.

i solved putting the m4a, the xml and the pictures folder into my home directory.

So terminal understand the shell: ./ChapterTool -x sample.xml -a sample.m4a -o enhanced_sample.m4a

try

:wink:

[celerityfm]

(edit) Hey looks like you did it! Great job! (/edit)

I am a complete newbie to terminal, and I do not understand it in the least (Unix, right?). I could talk for days about audio and macs, and that is what got me into podcasting. Anyway, here are some concepts I do not understand:

Navigate to the ChapterTool directory using terminal.


What is meant by this is to open the terminal utility and use the cd command to change directories to the folder that the ChapterTool program is located in. If it is still inside of the DMG image file that you've downloaded its best that you copy the files out of the mounted image drive and onto the desktop for easy access within the terminal.

Once you've done that then you can actuall just type the letters cd and then put a space after cd with the spacebar and then drag and drop the folder that ChapterTool is located in onto the terminal window. This will automatically "paste" in the full pathname of the folder that the ChapterTool resides in into the terminal window. Then press return and you should be changed to that directory.

type the following command from within the ChapterTool folder...

Now that you've changed to that folder's path you can simply type this to merge the sample:

./ChapterTool -x sample.xml -a sample.m4a -o enhanced_sample.m4a

Try that out and also check out this excellent tutorial on how to use the terminal program: http://www.atomiclearning.com/macosxterminalx.shtml

[celerityfm]

:shock:

it's true!!!

With safari seems that the m4b is not on the server, but, sure, it is!!!!

I've upload it again, and same story....

How that can happen? What's wrong with this file?

How did you fix the problem? Just reuploading once (i did, but... :roll: )

Thanks 4 now, if you have some other suggestions, please post it.

:)

Hmm. BeeJay can you try uploading the file to a different location on the server?

[beejay]

:shock:

it's true!!!

With safari seems that the m4b is not on the server, but, sure, it is!!!!

I've upload it again, and same story....

How that can happen? What's wrong with this file?

How did you fix the problem? Just reuploading once (i did, but... :roll: )

Thanks 4 now, if you have some other suggestions, please post it.

:)

Hmm. BeeJay can you try uploading the file to a different location on the server?

yep...

same story....

Strange.....every file is working on my server

maybe the lock appeared on the file icone means something...

Is it normal?

i mean this: http://www.beejay.it/images/host/screenshot.tiff

[celerityfm]

yep...

same story....

Strange.....every file is working on my server

maybe the lock appeared on the file icone means something...

Is it normal?

Hmm. Yeah the lock is normal indeed. Try uploading a different file to your server, an image or something and seeing if you can then go back and see it through safari.

[beejay]

the image works, just uploaded.

the m4b, not (in local in iTunes the m4b works perfectly)

:cry:

[beejay]

i've tried also to move the file into /public.

no change...


mmmhh. i try to remerge the m4a to m4b from the beginning.

:roll:

[celerityfm]

i've tried also to move the file into /public.

no change...


mmmhh. i try to remerge the m4a to m4b from the beginning.

:roll:

If the m4b file is working fine in iTunes the way you want it then I do not think the problem is with the file. I think it is with the uploading the file to the host instead.

Do you have another website you can upload the file to so we can test to make sure the uploading process works ok?

[beejay]

i've tried also to move the file into /public.

no change...


mmmhh. i try to remerge the m4a to m4b from the beginning.

:roll:

If the m4b file is working fine in iTunes the way you want it then I do not think the problem is with the file. I think it is with the uploading the file to the host instead.

Do you have another website you can upload the file to so we can test to make sure the uploading process works ok?

yes, i'm uploading to http://web.tiscali.it/famigliabenetti/beejay/sgpodcast.m4b

i've updated also the xml with the new link

6 minutes left from now.

:wink:

[beejay]

:shock:

it works...

so the format m4b goes in conflict with my server?

why?

however i've posted the problem to my host admin, monday i hope he will fix the problem telling me why.

thanks 4 all celerity.

bye

[celerityfm]

however i've posted the problem to my host admin, monday i hope he will fix
the problem telling me why.

Aww man. Gotta wait till Monday. Please let us know how it goes :)


thanks 4 all celerity.

bye

Anytime sir. Looking forward to seeing your podcast after you get your issues worked out, though since I don't speak italian I may not understand it very well :)

[celerityfm]

Started a thread over here (http://www.podcastalley.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2817) about a tool I created to help automate this process. Posted it seperately to help organize discussion about adding chapters to podcasts in general and discussion about that tool specifically.

[sql4umitch]

I am always getting this error, how do I fix it?

ChapterTool 2.0b8 (4)
Copyright (C) 2005, Apple Computer, Inc., all rights reserved.
ERROR: Couldn't add chapters to movie (-43)
status: failed
code: -43

I have tried so many things, and nothing has worked. I took all special characters out of my XML file thinking that it was causing the problem, but did nothing. Any ideas?>

[celerityfm]

I am always getting this error, how do I fix it?

ChapterTool 2.0b8 (4)
Copyright (C) 2005, Apple Computer, Inc., all rights reserved.
ERROR: Couldn't add chapters to movie (-43)
status: failed
code: -43

I have tried so many things, and nothing has worked. I took all special characters out of my XML file thinking that it was causing the problem, but did nothing. Any ideas?>

Could you post a link to the XML file you are using for this? If I could take a look at it I might be able to help :)

[beejay]

I am always getting this error, how do I fix it?

ChapterTool 2.0b8 (4)
Copyright (C) 2005, Apple Computer, Inc., all rights reserved.
ERROR: Couldn't add chapters to movie (-43)
status: failed
code: -43

I have tried so many things, and nothing has worked. I took all special characters out of my XML file thinking that it was causing the problem, but did nothing. Any ideas?>

hello.

This problem happens when you launch ChapterTool from Terminal from your home directory, usually on terminal: namehd:~username$

So, you have to write on terminal cd(press space bar once) and drag the ChapterTOol folder into terminal

After this, write the tutorial line and you'll see it will work.

:wink:

[beejay]

however i've posted the problem to my host admin, monday i hope he will fix
the problem telling me why.

Aww man. Gotta wait till Monday. Please let us know how it goes :)


thanks 4 all celerity.

bye

Anytime sir. Looking forward to seeing your podcast after you get your issues worked out, though since I don't speak italian I may not understand it very well :)

my hosting is on win 2003, which does not support the m4a/m4b format.

i have to switch to linux.

For now i've moved my podcast to a temporarly linux host

Enjoy (in italian) : http://www.beejay.it/audio/podcast/podcast.xml

[celerityfm]

my hosting is on win 2003, which does not support the m4a/m4b format.

i have to switch to linux.

For now i've moved my podcast to a temporarly linux host

Enjoy (in italian) : http://www.beejay.it/audio/podcast/podcast.xml

Ahh. Well I'm sorry you had to move your podcast around but I'm glad you've got it figured out now.

Unfortunately I don't speak Italian, not as well as you speak english anyways, but pictures work in ANY language :) I did check out your podcast and I liked what I saw, those were great pictures :P It sounded good too. Great use of this new technology, congratulations on a job well done.

[SlidesNow!]

When I run ChapterTool I get a bunch of lines like this:

## Component Manager: attempting to find symbols in a component alias of type (imdc/MP43/MSFT)
## Component Manager: attempting to find symbols in a component alias of type (imdc/MP4S/MSFT)
## Component Manager: attempting to find symbols in a component alias of type (imdc/MPG4/MSFT)
## Component Manager: attempting to find symbols in a component alias of type (regR/carP/x!bt)
## Component Manager: attempting to find symbols in a component alias of type (sdec/MM11/FhG )
## Component Manager: attempting to find symbols in a component alias of type (sdec/MM12/FhG )
## Component Manager: attempting to find symbols in a component alias of type (sdec/MM13/FhG )
## Component Manager: attempting to find symbols in a component alias of type (sdec/MM14/FhG )
## Component Manager: attempting to find symbols in a component alias of type (sdec/MM15/FhG )
## Component Manager: attempting to find symbols in a component alias of type (sdec/MM16/FhG )

Then it fails with this error:

ChapterTool 2.0b8 (4)
Copyright (C) 2005, Apple Computer, Inc., all rights reserved.
WARNING: XML validation disabled b/c XML library on the system is too old.
ERROR: Couldn't add chapters to movie (-43)
status: failed
code: -43

Is there some way of updating my libraries? I have iTunes 4.9, repaired permissions, and restarted. No luck.

[celerityfm]

When I run ChapterTool I get a bunch of lines like this:

## Component Manager: attempting to find symbols in a component alias of type (imdc/MP43/MSFT)

Then it fails with this error:

ChapterTool 2.0b8 (4)
Copyright (C) 2005, Apple Computer, Inc., all rights reserved.
WARNING: XML validation disabled b/c XML library on the system is too old.
ERROR: Couldn't add chapters to movie (-43)
status: failed
code: -43

Is there some way of updating my libraries? I have iTunes 4.9, repaired permissions, and restarted. No luck.

Doh! You said you have iTunes 4.9- but whats your quicktime version? Also, could you post a link to your XML file that you are using?

Thanks

[SlidesNow!]

I got an email from the ChapterTool support guy at Apple. His reply was right on and I was able to create an enhanced podcast using ChapterTool:

Patrick:

The XML validation message you are getting is just a warning that is shown to Panther users because the XML library in Panther doesn't do full XML validation. This is harmless and we have removed the message for the next version of ChapterTool.

The actual error you are getting is due to ChapterTool's inability to locate your source audio file or one or more picture files you have specified in your XML file. The simplest way to create an enhanced podcast is to throw a copy of ChapterTool, all of your picture files, your audio file, and the XML file into a folder and then open Terminal to this folder and issue the following command:

./ChapterTool -x <SampleFileName> -a <AudioFileName> -o MyPodcast.m4a

Replace <SampleFileName> with the name of your XML file containing the chapter information and replace <AudioFileName> with the name of your input audio file. Note that case is very important when using Terminal. ChapterTool will create a new audio file in this same folder called MyPodcast.m4a. Drag this file into iTunes to view the finished product and verify the chapters are as you want them. If you want to make changes to the chapters, delete MyPodcast.m4a, edit the XML file, and issue the above command again.

[celerityfm]

The XML validation message you are getting is just a warning that is shown to Panther users because the XML library in Panther doesn't do full XML validation. This is harmless and we have removed the message for the next version of ChapterTool.

Doh! I hadn't even considered contacting them for help with stuff.. Good job! And great info about a new tool coming out. BTW what contact information did you use?

Cheers

[SlidesNow!]

I got the contact info from the About Chapter Tool Sample file that came with Chapter Tool:

If you would like to provide feedback about Chapter Tool Sample to Apple Computer, send an email with your comments to "chaptertool@apple.com."

Who says men don't read the directions?

[celerityfm]

I got the contact info from the About Chapter Tool Sample file that came with Chapter Tool:

If you would like to provide feedback about Chapter Tool Sample to Apple Computer, send an email with your comments to "chaptertool@apple.com."

Who says men don't read the directions?

Ahhhh. Man. It was very late at night when I read through that file and I guess it shows :)

As a side note - stop what your doing right now and check out this awesome applescript that was sent to me that makes putting chapters in podcasts MUCH easier! I've been given permission to distribute it so I put it up here: http://www.celerityfm.com/podcastenhancer/ go go go!

[SlidesNow!]

This is most excellent. Takes the pain out of it for sure. Kudos to Gijs van den Heuvel for writing it and thanks for making it available!

BTW, my enhanced podcast works great now. I did it with ChapterTool, but will be using this script in the future. People can even download my shareware at the end of the presentation: http://www.slidesnow.com/media/slidesnow.xml

I didn't even realize you could drag the iTunes album cover area to make it wider. The slides are very readable once you do that!

Thanks again for the heads up!

[celerityfm]

This is most excellent. Takes the pain out of it for sure. Kudos to Gijs van den Heuvel for writing it and thanks for making it available!

BTW, my enhanced podcast works great now. I did it with ChapterTool, but will be using this script in the future. People can even download my shareware at the end of the presentation: http://www.slidesnow.com/media/slidesnow.xml

I didn't even realize you could drag the iTunes album cover area to make it wider. The slides are very readable once you do that!

Thanks again for the heads up!

Hey! Great job with the chapters in your 'cast! And yes thats a hidden feature (being able to make the artwork viewer bigger). For maximum presentation experience try opening the cast in quicktime :)

This is definitely the first time I've seen chapters used in this manner, very innovative. Keep it up!

[SlidesNow!]

Thanks. Your K9Cast was most inspiring. I think if you're gonna podcast, this is the only way to fly.

[Bert Hughes]

Has anyone noticed that the Podfinder has a notes section you can read when you press the select button on the iPod? Has anyone figured out how to add this?

[celerityfm]

Has anyone noticed that the Podfinder has a notes section you can read when you press the select button on the iPod? Has anyone figured out how to add this?

My understanding is that it's automatically added based off of the information in your RSS feed cos it works for my podcast too :)

Should work with yours as well! Try it out!