Comments on: Podcast Expert: Podcast Sites, Feeds Are Garbage

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 01:05:57 +0000

Info, they’re important, but not entirely gospel. Feedburner bells and whistles are an example of that. I personally get cautions because I sometimes add hyperlinks into my descriptions. Just because it’s not the norm, it doesn’t make it “garbage.” My opinion is, as long as the feed validates, and it works, then that’s the end of the discussion. The rest is just aesthetics or personal preference.

Naturally, a lot of what he says is spot on, and to an experienced podcaster, something that should be obvious. Not always, but still should be. Unfortunately, I see questions all the time from people who think that just because they put an MP3 or a video on their site, they’re podcasting. That’s the problem with the buzz-word mentality. No one bothers to figure stuff out or even understand it on a rudimentary basis.

By: info

info — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 00:13:37 +0000

If your feed validates, you should be good.

Todd’s comments about podcast sites are very important, in my opinion. How many times have you tried to subscribe at a podcast site, and they don’t have a @#$# feed link?

By: Timwise_97

Timwise_97 — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 18:16:46 +0000

I guess the real question is, “Who cares?” other than Todd Cochrane. If the feeds work with the agrigators and people are getting it…does it matter that there is some piece of the code that is in CAP’S which isn’t a part the standard? Todd…get a life.

By: Eric

Eric — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 19:29:57 +0000

Tokyo Dan,

Yeah, Feedburner adds a lot of stuff. A lot of the stuff it adds, though, are things you have to activate.

Did you use the term “Talk Radio” for any of the descriptions you used when setting up or activating features at FeedBurner? Also, in HTML style scripts, keywords should be separated with a comma (not to be confused with the “tags” that YouTube and the like use which can be separated by a space).

By: Tokyo Dan

Tokyo Dan — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 01:03:01 +0000

When I run my native RSS (before FeedBurner) feed though Feed Validator, there are no errors. Then after I resync my feed in FeedBurner, and run it though Feed Validator again, I get two non critical errors. One error is that “Talk Radio” is not a valid iTunes category (there is no “Talk Radio” text anywhere in my native feed). The other error is that keywords should be separated with commas.

So feedburner is adding things.

By: Eric

Eric — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 17:42:11 +0000

FeedBurner allows people to add features to their feeds that aren’t quite standard issue. This results in some errors from Feed Validator, but many of those don’t affect the function of a podcast feed (ie — don’t prevent downloading of the enclosure), only the appearance of it in a feed reader. So if cosmetics are important you, and you use FeedBurner, be selective of the features of you activate. Otherwise, have fun with the bells and whistles.

Eric