I am proud to announce the first edition of the enhanced version of the MacCast, the eMacCast. I am in the process of submitting the new feed to iTunes, but until then you can use this feed URL to manually add the subscription in iTunes (see instructions below). The eMacCast will be release a couple of days behind the regular feed. It contains the same content, but has chapters so you can quickly jump to specific parts of the show. It also features changing album art and hyperlinks to allow you to quickly reference relevant content. This special version of the MacCast is being produced my MacCast listener Mitch (thanks Mitch). We hope you enjoy this new addtion to the growing MacCast family.
How to subscribe to the eMacCast
1) Get iTunes 4.9*
2) Copy this URL https://www.maccast.com/erss.xml
3) In iTunes 4.9 go to the ‘Advanced’ menu, Select ‘Subscribe to Podcast…’, paste in the URL and click ‘OK’.
4) That’s it the new eMacCast should begin downloading to iTunes. Enjoy!
*You may subscribe with any podcasting client, but will need iTunes 4.9 or a supported iPod to view enhanced content.
or if you highlight the address and drag it into iTunes while you are in The Podcast Part of your iTunes program it will automatically add it
Awesome! thanks Mitch, and Adam for your consideration.
A simpler way to Subscribe to the eMacCast
:
1) Get iTunes 4.9
2) Drag this URL http://www.maccast.com/erss.xml into iTunes.
iTunes is not required to download this podcast, by the way. I am currently downloading it with iPodderX. iTunes is required to take advantage of the enhanced features, however.
Thanks for making this available!
Cool – great work!
Well done
I had a feeling when you mentioned these capabilities in iTunes 4.0 last week that you would be thinking about taking advantage of them yourself. I would caution against creating a new brand however, especially if it comes under a different link on the iTunes podcast directory. – you don’t want to divide your listenership number ratings. Though i’m sure you’ve already addressed that.
There is one word to describe your cast – quality – the effort you put into preparing it comes through. Well done, and thank you
Conrad
Conrad,
I had the “dividing the listenership” conversation with Mitch just before posting this today. I decided that this show is about the listeners and the MacCast community more than ratings and rankings. Several people have asked for the enhanced podcast and since I can do it I decided to go for it. The subscriber numbers and rankings will take care of themselves, although it would still help if you all went and voted at Podcastalley.com ;)
Hi,
Is anyone else having problems downloading this episode? I can not download it from iTunes or even directly from this site. The network connection just times out
Thanks,
JBI
I didn’t have any issues pulling it from the feed, and I know that others didn’t. Are you still unable to get it?
Maybe you could put it in the same feed?
I tried making an enhanced version of my weekly news show at YankiDank.com, but it wouldn’t quite work properly. Maybe Apple could release a version of ChapterTool with a GUI soon?
What didn’t work? The Terminal script works fine, as long as you have the XML file written properly. Also, if it is in the same feed, that could cause problems for users, since they would be getting something they didn’t want. People have limited space on their iPods (IF they have a shuffle for example.) So I think Adam decided it was easier just to have a seperate feed. Also, you can always subscribe to both feeds if you want both.
Wow! This is cool Adam. How long did it take?
By the way, the ChapterTool will spit out error codes if you have one little problem in the XML File, so you have to be really careful, and look over it if it is giving you an error. Took me an extra hour the other day to get the eMacCast out to Adam, because I had a little error in the XML file.
Frank, if you are asking about the eMacCast, it took me a few hours from start to finish. Between 2 and 3.
Mitch, do you think that in time it will take less than an hour. I relly like that feature – it seems like that is the only podcasting feature that my 15GB 2.3 iPod supports. This is going to come in handy for those longer (an hour plus) podcast in which you want to replay something without having to search back and forth.
I hope as time goes by it takes less time so other publishers would be willing to use this new feature.
Love it!
Georgia
Caribbean Free Radio
http://www.caribbeanfreeradio.com
Hey, check this out!!!! this might help you, (it’s a script to work iwth chapters easily)
http://scriptbuilders.net/files/podcastenhancer0.3.html
Well Frank, the only thing that is going to cut down on the time at this point is if I stop making stupid mistakes in the XML code :p For the most recent one (The 9th) The XML file had exactly 200 lines of code, so there won’t be any cutting down on that, unless I take shortcuts. I think the time may cut down just a bit, but I expect the process to take between 1 and 2 hours. (Don’t forget, I need to listen to the entire show once all the way through before I do anything!)
I would think that Apple will make this easier for people to do in the future, but who knows!
~Mitch
I have seen Apple Scripts and such that make the process “Easier” but I actually prefer to do it this way with the plain old XML file, and 200 lines of code. It is easy for me to go back, and make a correction or something like that if anything goes wrong. It is also nice to have a record of everything available to me…And it isn’t that hard to do it, so no need to use a GUI :) I think that using a GUI would make it more complicated for me, but it was a nice idea by the developer.
Adding to my previous comment:
I am also sure that this will open up new options for podcasters that didn’t want to try the enhanced thing because it was complicated to setup, so I do think in the future, these scripts will help people like that.
If anyone is interested in doing this for your OWN podcast there is a handy guide that I’ve written available here: http://www.voxmedia.org/w/index.php?title=PodcastChapterTool
It includes links to programs that assist in the creation too, so have at it!
I had make a gui for the Apple ChapterTool named ChapterToolMe :
http://www.rbsoftware.net/?page=ctm
i wait for yours feedbacks
Romain, I am going to try it out on the next eMacCast, and see if it is something I want to switch to from my hand coded xml file.
That tool won’t work for the MacCast, because I need to change images and URLs during chapters, without creating a new chapter in the selection area.
Mitch
other than that it is a nice app!
Hi —
Just wanted to add that osx 10.4 finally, finally, finally syncs with most functions of my sony ericsson p910i, a sorely neglected “supported” device which had remained unsupported until the update, with no sign of help from either company.
Whew…
was listening to the lastest maccast and you said there was no shortcut in spaces i use cntl arrow to move between them