RSS/XML Creation

[gregleck]

Hi,

Sort of new to this, but is there a script out there that will assist in the creation of RSS/XML which would be compatible with podcast alley, yahoo, itunes, etc?

If anybody has a tutorial on this stuff that they can point me to, I would be very appreciative.

Thanks

Greg Leck

[crabcast]

If you have a Mac, and don't want to spend any money, AND have time to make a couple of templates, I'd suggest the following:

1. Download the trial version of Feeder. It's a great RSS tool that has iTunes compatible options as well.
2. Once you have run all your MP3's through Feeder (assuming you already have hosting and a front-end site, of course), find the XML file where Feeder saved your feed script.
3. Applekey-Click (or Right-click for the Mighty Mouse or two-button) and open the file in TextEdit or some other word processor.
4. Copy what's between the <item></item> tags into a separate document, and fill that out every time you post a new episode.

If you want really simple work done for either Mac or Windows, just go to Feedburner.com. It requires that you have a feed already, but if you use something like Blogger, it is extremely simple.

[kickasspodcast]

You might also want to check out the Podcast411 tutorials. He's pretty much
got everything covered. Link: http://www.podcast411.com/howto_1.html

He has a really easy RSS file you can use to start with.

Here is the link to the "Podcast on How to Create MP3 and RSS / XML feed"
http://www.podcast411.com/podcasts/411_31dec04.mp3

You won't go wrong with Rob from 411
http://podcast411.com/

Best of luck

[Hittman]

A good place to start is with FeedForAll. http://www.feedforall.com/ You can download a trial version that works for 30 days, which is enough to get you started. They have a beta version that they say works with iTunes, but I haven’t tried it out yet.

It’s not a great program – for instance it doesn’t let you drag and drop files, and won’t automatically enter file sizes – but it’s not bad for starters. Use it to create your first XML file, and continue to use it until the trial runs out. (At $40, it’s overpriced.) By then you should be comfortable enough to be able to edit the file manually when you add new shows.

When you reach that point, grab the free PHP script dircaster.php. Upload it into the directory where you keep your podcast files, then run it. It will provide you with a rudimentary rss feed, not good enough to use, but good enough to cut and paste new items from, (into your existing RSS file), which you can then pretty up by hand.

[Brandon Buck]

For Windows, I use RSSeditor (http://www.rss-info.com/), which is free and works flawlessly for just creating the xml code (the recording, mixing and compression you do elsewhere; if you want to include anything on the mp3 file, like a picture logo or author, that also must be done elsewhere [like iTunes]).

Free and easy: <http://www.rss-info.com/en_rsseditor.html

[gregleck]

Thanks to everybody who responded to my question. All of the posts were really helpful and I'm well on my way to creating a proper xml file.

Again, thanks for demystifying the whole process for me!

[TheBigFish]

You can try using http://switchpod.com. It hosts your files for you also. All you have to do is select the file you want then hit upload, and a feed is automaticly generated for you.

[Hittman]

I just tried RSSEditor, and every time I tried to use it, it wanted to install something from the Microsoft Office disk. (I have no idea where mine is.) A reboot didn’t help.

One huge shortcoming I’ve noticed in a lot of these generators is that they won’t import existing feeds, but insist that you create a new one from scratch. Dumb dumb dumb.

[tnettekoven]

Check out http://podcasts.yahoo.com/publish

-tnettekoven