Tips for Libsyn Users
February 23rd, 2006 by Steve HarrisThese instructions are now defunct. See How can I publish my feed to Libsyn? in the Feeder FAQ instead.
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.
Feeder