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[IlPadrino]

Has anyone heard of podcasting?  If so, I wonder what your thoughts are.  If you've never heard of it, take a look at http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,65237,00.html?tw=rss.TOP.  My favorite RSS aggregator (FeedDemon) will be adding this functionality soon (see http://nick.typepad.com/blog/2004/11/coming_soon_pod.html for details).

Is this something JRiver would consider adding to MC?  I think the concept is fantastic!  And it's all quite "standard" fare...

[Berg]

I have just started playing with podcasts. I think the idea is very interesting !

Integrating it within MC would be great, but I can't imagine it would be very much involved, unless we are looking for MC to actually list, download, etc. podcasts. I can easily use another application to obtain the podcasts and place them in a folder that is part of my media library. I is then just a matter of having MC update the library content with the new podcasts.

That sounds rather easy, right ? I will be trying that over the weekend.

So, the question is - do we want MC to include a podcast client ?

[bjsolem]

I've only heard of this a little, and have heard criticisms that it is hard to get set up.

What kind of content is out there that people are loading onto thier ipods?

Is it talk radio type of stuff, daily news, special interest etc.......?

[SteveG]

Podcasters,

I took a look at this and would like to clarify what y'all are after in terms of integration with MC. Are you looking for MC to auto import from the podcast download directory? Something more?

Steve

[IlPadrino]

Podcasters,

I took a look at this and would like to clarify what y'all are after in terms of integration with MC. Are you looking for MC to auto import from the podcast download directory? Something more?

Steve

The concept of podcasting is rather simple:  RSS feeds can have <enclosure> elements and these enclosures can be downloaded and synched to portable media players.  MC already has a download manager, so full podcasting support requires the addition of a way to parse RSS feeds for the media enclosures (mp3, avi, etc.) and then a function to download the media enclosures and add them to the library.  Synching with the portable device already seems straightforward in MC.

So my short answer to the question, "Something more?" is "Yes."  The long answer:  full support where we just enter in an RSS feed URL and MC takes care of the rest.  All this in the vane of Media Center's moto:  "All media - One Interface"

[IlPadrino]

Here's a "Rich Media Feeds" provider that tracks RSS feeds with enclosures:  http://feedster.tv/

I'm starting to think this is going to be a very useful concept.  Here's Nick Bradbury's "Aha Moment":

Last night I wanted to test FeedDemon's podcasting code, and while it's still very rough around the edges, it worked. I told FeedDemon to automatically download enclosures from ITConversations, and configured it to perform the download at 3AM and then sync with my iPod mini. When I woke up this morning, my iPod mini showed a new "FeedDemon Podcasts" playlist, so I disconnected it at brought it with me when I drove my 5yr-old son to school.

I was going to listen to it as we drove, but my son and I got involved in a great round of fart jokes, and let's face it, those are special times. But on the way back, I donned the headphones and listened to the downloaded MP3s. For me, that was an "Aha!" moment. I didn't care what was on the radio - I had already chosen what to hear, and it wasn't something from Clear Channel.

Cool, huh?

[SteveG]

Thanks for the links. We will check into it further.

Steve

[Bill Kearney]

We run Syndic8.com so if you need any RSS help let me know.  There's more to RSS than only text items or podcasting.  There are also possibilities with syndicating playlists and more.  

[SteveG]

wkearney99,

Thanks for the offer.

Steve

[RobOK]

<bump>

I would be very interested in this.

I think a Right Click context item (in Firefox of course) that allows you to "add a Podcast To Media Center" and then Media Center subscribes.  Basically you would have to have an internal RSS reader that saves the files into a particular directory, creates a playlist in MC.

[daltonrooney]

I find the idea of podcasting absolutely brilliant, but where's the content?  I've been checking out different RSS feed sites Feedster TV and the like, but I haven't seen anything compelling at all.  

What are people downloading onto their portable device and enjoying?

Dalton

[RobOK]

Here are a list of feeds...

http://www.ipodder.org/

EDIT:  also, the new version of ipodder software comes with a directory of content feeds.  THis is really taking off!

[RobOK]

Does MC have a concept of a Watch folder, that it monitors and looks for new songs or files?  I have seen "Automatically Import" but I think that means Import any file that is played.

A Watch folder could watch for any new Podcasts that iPodder retreives.

[Skeet]

Was any progress made on podcasting compatability? Apparently, it's the future.

[SteveG]

Not yet.  It is on the list of things to explore.

Steve

[IlPadrino]

Just thought I'd add another two cents to the topic...

I've been using FeedDemon's "FeedStation" which allows you to automatically (immediately or at a prescribed time like midnight) get the podcast to a local folder and then synchronize to your removable device.  It even appends a playlist in WMP with the latest additions, but unfortunately it doesn't synch the playlist to the device.  Expect for a lack of automatic tagging, I'd say the functionality is just about everything I need or want.

But I still use MC to synch to the device because I can change the tags (especially genre and album) before synching - and that's essential to finding the media on the device.

I hope JRiver decides to add RSS (with enclosures) functionality to MC someday soon - preferably before March 2005 when I'll start spending six months in an Iraqi sandbox!  Something tells me I'll need much more content on my player in order to pass the time.