Newbie in need of advice

[lwoods]

Hi,

I am an experienced web designer and have created RSS feeds but I am now being asked to create a feed that will link directly to audio files.
Now, the really dumb questions:
1. If I include links to audio files, is this "podcasting?" Reason for question is the word "pod" which implies Apple format only.
2. Where can I find the spec for creating an RSS XML file that defines audio files? I know how to create non-audio ones.
Sorry for the trivial questions but I can't seem to find the answers thru Google.

TIA,

FRUSTRATED!

[WildeGeek]

1. If I include links to audio files, is this "podcasting?" Reason for question is the word "pod" which implies Apple format only.
The difference between plain web-audio, and podcasting, is in the way the audience receives the content. If it's a podcast, your media files are available as RSS enclosures so that podcatcher software (including but not limited to Apple iTunes) can periodically poll and automatically download those files to your audience member's local storage. The originaly intent, and the way many of us use this feature, is to have our podcatcher software automatically load those media files into our portable player (such as an iPod or it's competitors).

If your media files can't be collected by podcatcher software (which requires RSS 2.0 with enclosures) and can't then be loaded into a portable player, I wouldn't call it a podcast.

2. Where can I find the spec for creating an RSS XML file that defines audio files? I know how to create non-audio ones.

The RSS-XML doesn't define an audio file, it just points to it as an enclosure. You can read Apple's Specification (http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/techspecs.html), or go to the more cryptic RSS Specification (http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification).

Many blogging packages can be set up to create this RSS-XML rather automatically. There are other editing tools to create it statically.

[lwoods]

Thanks for you very good explanation. I was able to find a couple of good tutorials on the use of EXTENSIONS so I see how to create an XML file using these. The files that I will be pointing to will be mp3 files. Does an iPod, or rather a podcatcher, recognize these? Or if I am just using one of the desktop RSS Feed readers (lets assume that they can handle audio files) then they will be able to recognize my mp3 EXTENSIONS, right?

Thanks, again.

[WildeGeek]

The files that I will be pointing to will be mp3 files. Does an iPod, or rather a podcatcher, recognize these?Yes. If the enclosure includes the parameter (known as an "entity") type="audio/mpeg".

Or if I am just using one of the desktop RSS Feed readers (lets assume that they can handle audio files) then they will be able to recognize my mp3 EXTENSIONS, right?The file extension isn't enough. You have to label the enclosure type="audio/mpeg". Also, there's a slight chance, depending on your web server, that it might not be set-up to identify the .mp3 extension with the mime-type of audio/mpeg when delivering your file. This is something your ISP or system administrator would have to fix.

[lwoods]

Thanks.

Got it on the "audio/mpeg". Now about your comment on the server. I upload the mp3 files onto my hosting service server. I can also "execute" the mp3 files directly by referencing them as a URL. In my case, QuickTime starts automatically, etc. So, could you explain more about your comment about making sure that my server can handle the "audio/mpeg"?

Thanks for your patience...

[WildeGeek]

I upload the mp3 files onto my hosting service server. I can also "execute" the mp3 files directly by referencing them as a URL. In my case, QuickTime starts automatically, etc. So, could you explain more about your comment about making sure that my server can handle the "audio/mpeg"?
If your media player is starting automagically, then the server is presenting the mime-type of your .mp3 file as audio/mpeg. You're all set.

If your server wasn't set-up for this, then your browser would probably just ask you where to save the file.

[lwoods]

I think I finally have the understanding that I need.

Thanks MUCH for your help.