Escapepodder - automatic podcasting

After not being pleased with a number of RSS generators, here is a free version of a simple podcasting RSS generator that I wrote, called Escapepodder. All you do is edit the escpod.cfg file to supply your feed's settings, put this config file and escpod.exe file together in the same directory with all the mp3 files that are in the current feed, and run escpod. The RSS file will be generated in the same directory. You can then simply upload the mp3 files and the rss file to your server as appropriate. When it's time to broadcast a new mp3 file, just put the mp3 file in the directory and re-run escpod.exe. The RSS feed will be regenerated. If you are a bit clever with scripting, you can use the normal FTP clients to upload your podcast to your web server automatically.\nNote that escapepodder only does mp3 files, and does not read any of the titles or other information about them (i.e. id3 tags). However, if all you are interested in is generating an RSS feed (which people don't generally read anyways), it seems to be working OK.\nIf you have any bugs, please send me a note. This is not yet GPLed software, but if I get enough push and energy, I will clean it up and release it to the world. For now, though, it's freeware. Enjoy!\nHere's a sample config file:\n# Escape podder configuration file # # Due to laziness, exactly ONE space between parameter name and value # # Supported parameters: # link_path: Path to the podcast directory on the server. Ends with / # channel_title: Name of the channel # rss_name: Name of the rss filename # description: Description of the channel # language: The language\nlink_path http://www.domain.com/podcast/ rss_name mypodcast.rss channel_title Your title description Your description. language English\n# End of file

Added all_files, source_dir parameters.

Added the time_zone parameter. Default value is GMT. Also fixed a bug where "&" would be sent directly to the RSS and HTML streams, causing issues. Replaced them with {{{&}}}.

Major bugfix for source_dir not working correctly.

Added GUID. Unfortunately, this may cause podcasts to be re-downloaded.

Added Itunes Image.

Added basic MIME types for video podcasts.

* Made mp3 extention case insensitive\n* Fixed buffer overrun issue with long tags

Updated Escapepodder to support id3 1.0, 1.1 tags. I included the software source code so you can build it yourself. License is GPL. Please let me know any changes you may want or have!

Just released Escapepodder 0.3. Sorry for the quick releases, but release early, release often! Features include:\nFixed wrong description (should be same as ID3 tag)\nOrdered mp3 files by newest first\nFixed a few minor bugs\nAs before, the source is included!\nClick the following link for the Escapepodder entries.

Released Escapepodder 0.4. This removes the link item, and makes the RSS human readable. Now all I need is another podcast to test with.

Released Escapepodder 0.5. Features include:\nConfiguration files no longer just one space between name and description (can use tabs, etc.).\nCan automatically coralize mp3 files.\nBroke up functions to ease maintainability.\nMade header even more readable (for humans, that is).\nPlease link to this page for all Escapepodder information.

\nReleased Escapepodder 0.6. This version can automatically generate an html web page at the same time, if desired. Also includes escpod.css, a style sheet for the web page and generated RSS file.

* Minor CSS Fixes\n* Added HaloScan commentary\n\nhttp://www.ghofulpo.com/escpod/escpod_0.7.zip

Added replace_spaces option based on a comment from EastonRoyce:\n\nI just found your site and this great tool! Excellent! I also think your podcast show is pretty nifty too. I currently have one little burning issue with escapodder though. I am not much of a coder, so I figured this feedback would be a better way to go. Can you make the script, deal with spaces in file names? I guess what I mean is, if it encounters a file name with a space in it, can you get it to fill the spaces in the file name section of the enclosure section in the xml file, with %20 for example? Most web browsers and things can deal with this, but I in particular want to create a podcast that can be listened to on the PSP. Your tool does the job just fine for files that don't have spaces. However, unlike the PSP browser, the RSS tool on the PSP, won't automatically convert a space to a %20 to get the rest of the file name, thus it just gives a 404 error. Any help would be great. I am sorry if I posted this in the wrong place. I couldn't workout how to leave this message on the Escapepodder website.

Added ignore_id3 option

Escapepodder was written by James Ghofulpo (http://www.ghofulpo.com/mail.php?user=James) and is used for the Your Freaky Life podcast (http://www.ghofulpo.com/yfl/yfl.html). It was originally written for William and Johanna's Julkalender 2005 podcast, as I got tired of coding RSS by hand and trying to use other RSS generators.

[[Welcome to Escapepodder]]

\nHere are a few random notes about Escapepodder. Hopefully the search engines will pick up on this entry.\nEscapepodder automatically generates an RSS feed for your podcast. All you have to do to run it is set up a configuration (one time only), then copy the mp3 files that you want to have as part of your podcast to that directory, and run escpod. When it runs, an RSS feed is generated with the mp3s that are in that directory as enclosures.\nEscapepodder is GPLed code, but includes a Windows binary (command line only). You can just click on the executable to run it. It will exit fairly quickly, and the RSS feed will be ready. The code is written in C. I compile it with DJGPP.\nEscapepodder is written in C code, so you may wish to tweak it for your needs. I see it as a sort of companion piece to Bashpodder, a simple, command line piece of code that can easily be scripted. You could write an easy script to copy your mp3 files to a directory, run escpod, then FTP all the mp3 files and the RSS feed to a server.

* Supports id3 1.0, 1.1 tags\n * Configure one time only (edit escpod.cfg file), run as many times as necessary\n * Automatically creates coralized links\n * Automatically creates an HTML file with the appropriate links\n * Human readable RSS feed via escpod.css\n * GPL\n\nThe latest Escapepodder information and download links can be found in on [[this page|http://www.ghofulpo.com/james/archives/cat_escapepodder.html]] of my blog. I also provide links to the latest software there as well. The source is also available at the [[project on Sourceforge|http://sourceforge.net/projects/escpod]]. I'll probably have more details here, though.

You can sign up for a free HaloScan account and get comments added to your podcasts. Go to http://www.haloscan.com to get one of these accounts.

[[Welcome|Welcome to Escapepodder]]\n[[Features]]\n[[Parameters]]\n[[Version Notes]]\n[[About the Author]]\n\nTiddlyWiki © [[osmosoft|http://www.osmosoft.com]] 2005\n\n<<newTiddler>>\n<<newJournal "DD MMM YYYY">>

For your podcast to be created, you need the following files:\n* escpod.exe (to run)\n* escpod.cfg (configuration)\n* Your mp3 files\n\nAfter your podcast has been created, copy or FTP the following files to your server:\n* escpod.css (stylesheet)\n* The generated RSS/XML file\n* The generated HTML file\n* Your mp3 files\n\nThat's it!

|!Parameter |!Meaning |!Default |\n|link_path |Path to the files of the podcast. For example, http://www.domain.com/podcast/ |BAD |\n|rss_name |Name of the XML/RSS file to be generated |BAD |\n|channel_title |Name of the podcast |BAD |\n|description |Description of the podcast. |BAD |\n|language |Language of the podcast (us-en, for English podcasts, for example). |us-en |\n|coralize |Set to "yes" (no quotes) if coralized links are desired. This will save you bandwidth as the coral servers are used. |n |\n|haloscan |If you have a HaloScan account, set to "yes" if you want Haloscan type comments to be added |n |\n|web_page |Name of the HTML file to be generated. |y |\n|replace_spaces |Set to yes in order to replace spaces in the filename with %20. |n |\n|ignore_id3 |Set to yes to use the filename instead of any information found in the id3 tags. |n |\n|source_dir |Set to the directory to use for all podcast entries |. (current directory) |\n|all_files |Set to yes to use all files for the podcast, instead of just .mp3 files |n |\n|time_zone|Set the the local time zone. This is used if the normal time zone cannot be located.|GMT|\n|max_rss_files|Maximum number of files to have in the RSS feed. 0=all.|0 |\n|max_web_files|Maximum number of files to include in the web (html) page. 0=all.|0 |\n|guid_prefix|Prefix to use in the GUID to distinguish the files from other files.|escpod_ |\n|itunes_image|Link to an image to use for iTunes. If the link is not used, this is not populated.|(none) |

automatic podcasting

Escapepodder

http://www.tiddlywiki.com/

displayArea {background-color: #ffccff; }\n mainMenu {border: 1px solid #ffff88; }\n commandPanel {background-color: #ffffff; }\n\n

Click on links for each version's information.\n\n[[0.8]]\n[[0.7]]\n[[0.6]]\n[[0.5]]\n[[0.4]]\n[[0.3]]\n[[0.2]]\n[[0.1]]

Escapepodder is a command line tool that automatically generates an RSS feed and HTML page for your podcast. All you have to do to run it is set up a configuration for your podcast (one time only), then copy the mp3 files that you want to have as part of your podcast to that directory, and run escpod. When it runs, an RSS feed is generated with the mp3s that are in that directory as enclosures.\n\nEscapepodder is GPLed code, but includes a Windows binary (command line only). You can just click on the executable to run it. It will exit fairly quickly, and the RSS feed will be ready. The code is written in C. I compile it with DJGPP.\n\nEscapepodder is written in C code, so you may wish to tweak it for your needs. I see it as a sort of companion piece to Bashpodder, a simple, command line piece of code that can easily be scripted. You could write an easy script to copy your mp3 files to a directory, run escpod, then copy all the NecessaryFiles to a server.\n\n[[Download here|http://www.ghofulpo.com/escpod/escpod_0.17.zip]] Latest version updated 2007 Mar 31\n\n[[Click here|http://www.ghofulpo.com/mail.php?user=James]] to send me questions/comments/suggestions.