Posted on - October 13, 2004 [at] 6:39 pm by Brad
Tagged in - blogging, tech
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So I was complaining about how annoying setting up multiple Podcast / RSS enclosure feeds was last night. I want to Podcast all the remixes people do of my songs but I really don’t want to make blog posts for all of them or maintain a whole other blog just for that.
We came up with an idea and my pal Ryan whipped up a PHP script called dirCaster. Basically you drop this script into a web directory full of mp3s and it makes a Podcast feed of them sorted by file date, with data extracted from the ID3 tags. As you add new files to the directory, the feed will be updated dynamically. Quick, dirty and easy. My remix feed using it is here.
It has some pretty obvious limitations but seems to get the job done with minimum fuss. It should work for the usual talk radio-ish use of Podcasting, but I also like the potential of using it to share small feeds among friends. Like I can set up a directory of my current favorite songs I want to force my friends to listen to and they subscribe in iPodder or jPodder or what have you. Then they’ll automatically download any new songs I throw in that directory. Pretty neat.
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8 Comments on this post
Dave on Easy MP3 podcasting with dirCaster
October 16, 2004 at 10:09 am
Brad, this is really cool. On my blog, I mentioned you podcasting remixes as a potential use of the technology a few weeks ago. I think this is really a cool application of the technology.
Dave Pentecost on Easy MP3 podcasting with dirCaster
October 17, 2004 at 12:49 am
Hey Brad
(posted this comment originally on Ryan’s site, where I first found the link to your feed)
Hey, nice job on the script. But you (guess this actually goes to Brad) need to change the parameters on your own feed. When I use iPodderX to subscribe to it, the title comes up generic – “dirCasted Podcast” – and if you double click on the title, it tries to find myWeblog.com instead of your site. Edit your php and you’ve got it.
I’m not a programmer so other than that I can’t offer any useful feedback. Except…
Can you do one for the video bloggers out there (looks for .mov files) and one for the bittorrent posters (looks for the .torrent files)? Don’t need the ID3 tags.
Or one that checks for any of a range of media file formats? Take a look at MT-Enclosures, a plugin that Brandon Fuller made. Of course yours is more generally useful, doesn’t require MT.
Brad on Easy MP3 podcasting with dirCaster
October 17, 2004 at 12:57 am
Ah right, I updated it when something got changed and forgot to change those fields. Thanks for letting me know!
Dave Pentecost on Easy MP3 podcasting with dirCaster
October 17, 2004 at 1:06 am
No problem. That was a quick fix. Have you submitted your feed to the directory at ipodder.org? There’s a guy keeping the music category node. I volunteered for the “Travel” node but there’s not much there yet, other than my funky podcast.
Brad on Easy MP3 podcasting with dirCaster
October 17, 2004 at 1:14 am
I haven’t submitted that feed anywhere yet, I was hoping for confirmation that it actually fully worked before I went out and pushed it on anyone. I’m also a little worried the reliance on file dates will bite me in the ass eventually and piss off any subscribers, but we’ll see.
Brad on Easy MP3 podcasting with dirCaster
October 17, 2004 at 1:20 am
Also (to the first) Dave: that’s cool that you were thinking of the Brad Sucks remixes and Podcasting. Drop me a line if you have any other ideas, I could have been way ahead of the curve!