Here are some Feeder tips for Libsyn users (updated for Feeder 2.0 and later).

Where to Host Your Feed

As a relatively small file, there’s typically no need to host your feed on the same server as your media files and you can have more flexibility by hosting the feed on your own web server. However, if you do wish to host your feed on Libsyn, you need to be aware of the Libsyn feature to automatically move files from their high performance servers to slower archive servers after a month, which returns the space taken by the archived files to your allocation.

While this works for media files, this means the media folder is not a good place to host your feed, because the feed will also be moved to Libsyn’s archive servers after a month and uploading new versions will have no effect because Libsyn will redirect to the archive server where the old copy is kept.

Instead you should upload your feed to the _static folder to prevent it from being archived. The URL for your feed will be http://libsyn.com/podcasts/username/_static/feedname.xml

How to Set Up Publishing

Feeder can be set up to publish different kinds of files to different locations, here is how to set Feeder to publish your feed to the _static folder and your podcast’s media files to the media folder.

These instructions can be used to set up any kind of publishing where different kinds of files exist on different servers.

Step 1 – Create the Libsyn Media Server

The first step is to create the Libsyn FTP servers. You need two separate servers because the web URLs for the media and static folders are different.

• First, open the Servers window by choosing Window > Servers from the menu.
• Click the + button and choose New FTP Server from the menu.
• Enter the following details to create the Libsyn Media server for your media files:

  Name: Libsyn Media
  Website: http://media.libsyn.com/media/yourusername/
  FTP Address: ftp.libsyn.com
  User Name: your username
  Password: your password
  Site Folder: leave blank
  Protocol: Standard FTP

Step 2 – Create the Libsyn Static Server

Next you can create a duplicate of the Libsyn Media server to use as the static server:

• With the Libsyn Media server selected, choose File > Duplicate from the menu.
• Change the details as follows:

  Name: Libsyn Static
  Website: http://libsyn.com/podcasts/yourusername/_static/
  Site Folder: _static

You can now close the Servers window.

Step 3 – Set the Feed to Use the Servers

Now all that remains to be done is to set up the feed to use the servers

• With the feed selected, choose File > Publish from the menu.
• If publishing is already set up for this feed, click the Settings button. If it is not, you won’t see the Settings button and can skip this.
• Select the Libsyn Static (FTP) server from the Feed Server pop-up menu.
• Expand the Enclosure section and select the Libsyn Media (FTP) server from the Enclosures Server pop-up menu.
• Click Continue then click Publish.

Thanks to Don McAllister of ScreenCastsOnline for help with these tips.

PodcastUser Magazine has published its first issue, which is available as a free PDF download. New issues of the monthly magazine can be delivered automatically via enclosures in the magazine’s RSS feed. The first issue includes news, equipment and podcast reviews and other thoughtful articles.

PodcastUser Magazine is edited by Paul Nicholls (aka Podcast Paul), and features contributions from a number of well known British podcasters, including Mark Hunter of the tartanpodcast.

The magazine looks very well put together and is produced on an iMac with the very cool Writely used for online collaboration.

(Via Podcasting News).

Transistr is the new name for iPodderX, which had to be changed following Apple Legal’s intervention.

That’s pretty good, considering Thunderstone Media‘s own requirement not to have “pod” in the name, even if it does remind one of Flickr. They don’t even need to change the Bryan Bell-designed icon.

Maybe I should rename Feeder to Feedr, so I can have Technorati tags that don’t bring me hundreds of posts on bird feeders.

(It’s OK, I’m not going to do that!)

Via TUAW.

If you keep an eye on Adam Curry’s Weblog, this won’t be news.

PodShow are launching a number of new web services, and have set up a developer-oriented blog and podcast at developer.podshow.com where developers can find out more about PodShow’s upcoming technology initiatives including developer APIs, a mailing list and more.

In the inaugural podcast, Andrew Grumet and Scott Johnson discuss PodShow’s plans to create podcasting-related software and services and how PodShow will open these up to other developers.

It’s great to see PodShow getting off to a good start in being open about their services and getting developers involved from the beginning.

So what of Macworld and its impact on yours truly?

The Intel Macs look good. Their release comes much sooner than originally expected and it’s going to take me a little while to build my apps as universal binaries so they’ll run natively on Intel. I never got the Developer Transition Kit because by the time I was ready to order the web was thick with rumours of these real Macs coming and I don’t have money to throw around on computers I have to give back. (Update: Apple is running the DTK Exchange program now – damn!)

So it’s going to take me as long as it takes to get an Intel Mac, build my apps and test them all out. Feeder also uses third-party frameworks for functionality such as FTP, so they could cause some problems, but I don’t really expect any. The point is that I’m committed to doing this ASAP.

Then there is iLife ’06, which has lots of new stuff to do with podcasting. Garageband has tons of neat features to make putting a show together easy and to help with audio production. It can also create enhanced podcasts (i.e. in AAC format with chapters) and post them to .Mac with iWeb. iMovie does much the same with video podcasts. All this will be great for beginners, but as I see it, there are plenty of limitations.

I’m just going on what’s on the web but it seems that while Garageband can record and encode AACs, for MP3s you’ll still need to encode your recording with iTunes (or something like LAME) and add the tags, artwork, etc. Most podcasts are in MP3 format, because AACs only really play in iTunes and on iPods. Fine if you’re sure your listeners have these, but MP3 is truly ubiquitous.

Secondly, iWeb’s blog is lacking in interactivity. This is a major part of podcasting (and indeed, blogging), where listeners feed back through comments, etc. Not everyone uses Garageband either, preferring more professional apps such as SoundTrack Pro, Peak, etc, although maybe these features will change that.

So, I think iLife ’06 provides an excellent way to get started in podcasting, but for those who want a proper blog, already have their own web site and / or existing podcast then they will still need tools to help them with their podcasts and that’s where apps like Feeder and Podcast Maker come in. Same goes for RapidWeaver and Sandvox with respect to iWeb – RealMac Software and Karelia can go places Apple won’t go, because Apple relies on integrating its own products with .Mac to make things as simple as possible.

Now, which Intel Mac should I buy?