Creating a Feed

Help! How do I create a Podcast XMl/RSS file?

Easy--cheat! copy one!

Sometimes the easiest way to do something is to just do it. And for that purpose, we are pleased to offer you a sample RSS/XML file that you can use for your podcast. Simple copy the file below and save it as a text file with a name like mypodcast.xml. Then, go through and switch out the details that are in bold with your details and upload it to your webserver.

BLUE STUFF--replace

BOLD BLACK--remove

<rss version="2.0">



<channel>

<title>My Podcast</title>

<link>http://www.mywebsite.com</link>

<description>THIS IS WHERE YOU PUT IN A DESCRIPTION OF THE PODCAST / BAND, ETC.</description>

<generator>My Text Editor</generator>

<docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>

<language>en-us</language> Of course, you can put in a different language

<copyright>This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License - Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/</copyright>OPTIONAL--you may not want this language

<managingEditor>myemail@mywebsite.com </managingEditor>

<webMaster>myemail@mywebsite.com </webMaster>

<pubDate>Thu, 1 Dec 2005 18:17:37 -0800</pubDate>

<lastBuildDate>Thu, 1 Dec 2005 18:17:37 -0800<</lastBuildDate>

<category>Rock</category>

<ttl>720</ttl>



<image>

<url>http://www.mywebsite.com/podcastimage/144.jpg</url>This is your logo.

<title>My Podcast</title>

<link>http://www.mywebsite.com</link>

<width>300</width>

<height>300</height>

</image>

Using special tags:

Now, once you do all that, you go through and do it again with "special tags" for iTunes



<itunes:author>My Name</itunes:author>

<itunes:subtitle>THIS IS WHERE YOU PUT IN A SHORT TITLE OF THE PODCAST / BAND, ETC.</itunes:subtitle>

<itunes:summary>THIS IS WHERE YOU PUT IN A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE PODCAST / BAND, ETC.</itunes:summary>

<itunes:keywords>rock band music punk techno etc etc etc... </itunes:keywords>

<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>Put YES if you use language or sex or naughty things.



<itunes:image href="http://www.mywebsite.com/podcastimage/144.jpg"/>

<itunes:owner>

<itunes:name>My Name</itunes:name>

<itunes:email>myemail@mywebsite.com</itunes:email>

</itunes:owner>

<itunes:category text="Rock">

<itunes:category text="Music"/>

</itunes:category>

What's next?

OK, that is all that you need for the PODCAST, now you need to do the stuff for each show. Every time you add a new show, you'll need to copy the stuff below and paste it into your RSS/XML, editing it to reflect the details of the new show.



<item>

<title>Podcast 1: The Show at CBGB</title>

<link>http://www.mywebsite.com/mp3/show1.mp3</link>

<description>We played CBGB last night eventhough it has now turned into yuppie condos.</description>

<author>myemail@mywebsite.com</author>

<pubDate>Sun, 27 Nov 2005 18:17:32 -0800</pubDate>

<category>Rock</category>

<enclosure url="http://www.mywebsite.com/mp3/show1.mp3" length="110039585" type="audio/mpeg"/> This is a VERY important line as it tells the listeners' software where to find your mp3s. Please be sure to fill it out with the link to the mp3, the length (mbs x 1000 basically) and the type, which is usually audio/mpeg).

And then we do it again for iTunes...

Each episode of your podcast is defined as the items between the <item> </item> tags. To create a new listing, copy everything from <item> to </item> and paste it in your RSS (usually above the previous show but below the basic / <channel> information).

and don't forget this as the last line of your file...

</channel>

Now upload the file to your webserver (remember the exact address) and check the file by running it through the free XML validation programs that are on the net.