In order for your users to find your podcast you must, as with any online resource, provide a link to it.

Look here (http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/kermode) to see some examples of different types of links to a podcast. On the right-handside you will see several links including RSS, iTunes and Zune.

Open up the link and hover your cursor over (don’t click) the different hyperlinks to the podcast. On the bottom left of your browser you will see the actual link. You can see that the first part changes from itpc to http to zune and so on.

Try that out before continuing to read this post.

As you can see there are several ways of doing this. We will cover two of the most generic here. These are:

1. Creating a special type of link which tells a computer to open iTunes and subscribe to the podcast
2. Linking directly to the file and allowing your computer to decide what to do with the file.

There are advantages to both.

The first, the ITPC link, has an obvious appeal in that it is much easier for your end-user. They don’t need to do anything more than click on a link and follow the on-screen instructions. However some websites (for example, wordpress.com) will not allow the use of the ITPC link. Also not all of your users will use iTunes.

The second, the HTTP link, is a normal weblink and carries no information about what it is linking to. Each computer setup will do something different with it. Firefox, for example, will open the full RSS feed in a useful and accessible way. Internet Explorer, on the other hand, will display the actual code of the RSS in a manner completely bewildering to most users. However, the HTTP link, does allow your user to choose what they want to do with the link. They could, for example, copy and paste the link into iTunes to suscribe.

We would suggest including both on your website. Though please note that including all the options included in the example BBC page is very easy and you would go through exactly the same process; just changing the first section of the link. For example “itpc://mypodcast.qmul.ac.uk/rss.xml” would change to “zune://subscribe/Put in the title of your podcast here=http://mypodcast.qmul.ac.uk/rss.xml”.

How do you do it?

Well, it’s exactly the same as any hyperlink. You enter some text or an image and wrap some HTML code around it. In the example below I am going to borrow the link to Mark Kermode’s film reviews on the BBC website (always a good listen) and use that as an example.

The RSS file is located here http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/fivelive/kermode/rss.xml.

You can see me making a copy of a normal http link and turning it into a itpc link in the video below.

The HTML code I used for the normal HTTP link to the RSS feed is:
{a href=”http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/fivelive/kermode/rss.xml” }This is a link to my podcast.

The HTML code I used for the ITPC link to the RSS feed is:
{a href=”itpc://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/fivelive/kermode/rss.xml”}This is a link to my podcast using ITPC.

Hopefully that covers what you need to know but, if not, you can as always get in touch with your questions.

If you’re not sure what RSS is please read this post (http://www.esddelu.org.uk/introducing/what-is-rss/) before continuing here.

This is remarkably easy to do – even if the amount of XML will look intimidating at first.

What will you need?

So, in order to create your feed, you’ll need a few things:

• An mp3 file online already
• Access to some web space to save your files
• A basic knowledge of HTML
• An image to use for your podcast that is a JPEG sized at 300×300 pixels at 72dpi

Once you have those things then keep reading.

What will this post cover?

What we’ll cover here is:

1. A look at an empty RSS feed with no episodes in it
2. What you need to do to start off
3. An example of the XML to make a very basic podcast episode
4. That’s it!
5. A list of recommended links to read if you’re interested in continuing to podcast

A look at an empty RSS feed with no episodes in it>

Below you will see a lot of XML. It will look off-putting at first but remember that all you need to change is the text in capitals. (I have taken this example from a very helpful post here: http://homepage.mac.com/rfwilmut/notes/podcast.html)

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
<rss xmlns:itunes=”http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd” version=”2.0″>

<channel>
<title>THE NAME OF YOUR PODCAST</title>
<link>THE URL OF THE WEB PAGE ABOUT YOUR PODCAST</link>
<language>en-us</language>
<copyright>YEAR, AND YOUR NAME (OPTIONAL)</copyright>
<itunes:subtitle>A SUBTITLE</itunes:subtitle>
<itunes:author>YOUR NAME</itunes:author>
<itunes:summary>A PARAGRAPH DESCRIBING THE SUBJECT OF YOUR PODCAST</itunes:summary>
<description>A BRIEF SENTENCE ABOUT YOUR PODCAST</description>
<itunes:owner>
<itunes:name>John Doe</itunes:name>
<itunes:email>AN EMAIL ADDRESS FOR VISITORS (OPTIONAL)</itunes:email>
</itunes:owner>
<itunes:image href=”URL OF AN IMAGE FOR THE PODCAST” />
<itunes:category text=”CHOOSE A CATEGORY FROM THE APPLE LIST (SEE BELOW)”>
<itunes:category text=”CHOOSE A SUB-CATEGORY”/>
</itunes:category>
<itunes:category text=”ANOTHER CATEGORY (OPTIONAL)”/>

<item>
<title>TITLE OF THE EPISODE</title>
<itunes:author>YOUR NAME</itunes:author>
<itunes:subtitle>A SUBTITLE FOR THE EPISODE</itunes:subtitle>
<itunes:summary>A DESCRIPTION OF THE CONTENTS OF YOUR EPISODE</itunes:summary>
<enclosure url=”THE FULL URL OF THE MEDIA FILE FOR THE EPISODE” length=”FILE SIZE IN BYTES” type=”FOR AN MP3 FILE – audio/mpeg” />
<guid>THE FULL URL OF THE MEDIA FILE FOR THE EPISODE</guid>
<pubDate>DATE, E.G. Wed, 15 Jun 2005 19:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<itunes:duration>DURATION H:MM:SS</itunes:duration>
<itunes:keywords>ENTER KEYWORDS FOR SEARCHING</itunes:keywords>
<itunes:explicit>yes IF CONTAINS ADULT MATERIAL, OTHERWISE no</itunes:explicit>
</item>

</channel>
</rss>

What you need to do to start off

Now we will move your mp3 file into a public folder and create the basic XML of your podcast.

1. The first thing you will to do is to put your mp3 file into a public folder. Upload it into a folder on your webiste called ‘podcasts’.
2. The XML will look like what’s below. I have included a copy of this file below for you to use in this exercise. Right-click here and save the file to your local computer. Open the file in Notepad (PC) or TextEdit (Mac) to edit it.
   
   <?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
   <rss xmlns:itunes=”http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd” version=”2.0″>
   <channel>
   <title>THE NAME OF YOUR PODCAST</title>
   <link>THE URL OF THE WEB PAGE ABOUT YOUR PODCAST</link>
   <language>en-us</language>
   <copyright>YEAR, AND YOUR NAME (OPTIONAL)</copyright>
   <itunes:subtitle>A SUBTITLE</itunes:subtitle>
   <itunes:author>YOUR NAME</itunes:author>
   <itunes:summary>A PARAGRAPH DESCRIBING THE SUBJECT OF YOUR PODCAST</itunes:summary>
   <description>A BRIEF SENTENCE ABOUT YOUR PODCAST</description>
   <itunes:owner>
   <itunes:name>John Doe</itunes:name>
   <itunes:email>AN EMAIL ADDRESS FOR VISITORS (OPTIONAL)</itunes:email>
   </itunes:owner>
   <itunes:image href=”URL OF AN IMAGE FOR THE PODCAST” />
   <itunes:category text=”CHOOSE A CATEGORY FROM THE APPLE LIST (SEE BELOW)”>
   <itunes:category text=”CHOOSE A SUB-CATEGORY”/>
   </itunes:category>
   <itunes:category text=”ANOTHER CATEGORY (OPTIONAL)”/>
   </channel>
   </rss>
   
3. Fill in the details of your podcast for title, link, copyright,subtitle, author, summary, name, email.
4. Now fill in the categories. Look here (http://www.feedforall.com/itune-tutorial-tags.htm#category) for a list of iTunes categories and sub-categories. Choose the ones you want your podcast to be a part of
5. For the image attribute, enter the URL of an image that you want to use as the ‘shop-front’ for your podcast.This image must be a JPEG sized at 300×300 pixels at 72dpi
6. Save your file onto your web folder with a name you will remember (no spaces or special characters). Make sure the file extension is .xml

Okay, now you’ve got your basic xml online and waiting for content.

An example of the XML to make a very basic podcast

Now you will make your first episode. The XML below needs to be copy-and-pasted before the line that says </channel> in your XML file.

1. So, paste in this code (leaving out the {}):
   {
   <item>
   <title>TITLE OF THE EPISODE</title>
   <itunes:author>YOUR NAME</itunes:author>
   <itunes:subtitle>A SUBTITLE FOR THE EPISODE</itunes:subtitle>
   <itunes:summary>A DESCRIPTION OF THE CONTENTS OF YOUR EPISODE</itunes:summary>
   <enclosure url="THE FULL URL OF THE MEDIA FILE FOR THE EPISODE" length="FILE SIZE IN BYTES" type="audio/mpeg" />
   <guid>THE FULL URL OF THE MEDIA FILE FOR THE EPISODE</guid>
   <pubDate>DATE, E.G. Wed, 15 Jun 2005 19:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
   <itunes:duration>DURATION H:MM:SS</itunes:duration>
   <itunes:keywords>ENTER KEYWORDS FOR SEARCHING</itunes:keywords>
   <itunes:explicit>yes IF CONTAINS ADULT MATERIAL, OTHERWISE  no</itunes:explicit>
   </item>

   }

2. Fill in the details of your podcast for title, author, subtitle, summary, the URL of your mp3 file in both places it is mentioned, the pubdate (publication date), duration, keywords, a note as to whether or not you consider the contents to be of an explicit nature.
3. Save your file
4. Note down the full URL to your XML file

That’s it!

That really is it.

Try opening your XML file in Firefox and seeing how it works.

Then go to iTunes and select ‘Advanced > Subscribe to Podcast’ and enter in the URL of your XML file.

When you have more episodes just copy-and-paste one of your earlier ones and enter in the new details.

A list of recommended links

Below are a list of the links that I have used to make this post and some further reading.

• How to make a podcast: http://homepage.mac.com/rfwilmut/notes/podcast.html
• A list of all the attributes that iTunes uses and what they mean: http://www.feedforall.com/itune-tutorial-tags.htm
• The full page from Apple about iTunes and how to make more complex RSS feeds: http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/specs.html
• A really useful page that breaks down all of the XML above into bite-size chunks with an explanation of each: http://www.danfergusdesign.com/classfiles/generalReference/rssFeedSample.html