Unhappy with current state of Linux podcasting receivers

[gorkon]

Bashpodder will not re-download a file that has already been downloaded - *unless* the URL of the feed changes. The difference between BashPodder and the rest is that BashPodder is a PodCatcher, meaning that it does just that - downloads them or whatever is included in the enclosure of an RSS feed. It does this automatically.
The rest of the programs you guys keep referring to are PodBROWSERS. They let you have a picklist of things you can look through and choose what to download when you want to do it.
They are two similar but different things.

Did I not say that?? Actually your right.....most of the ones listed are browserish. Rhythmbox does this. In my book, the only time that it should download a new file that happens to be a old file is when the filename changes. That way if a URL changes in the feed (say moving from a fast server for the new shows to a not so fast server for the old shows....something libsyn seems to get right), it won't download it. Maybe I might look at the code tonight and see if I can hack at it and get that to work. Most people don't change the filename, but the URL changes do happen often. LUGradio even does it.

On my Linux partition on my work laptop though, I don't need a catcher so much as I need a browser. I don't have enough drive space to download alot of podcasts since my work laptop drive only has a 40 GB drive split into two. I do have enough to be selective and I must be selective or my drive space gets ate up quick.

[schotty]

iPodder on Ubuntu and Juice on windows both had the same problem....trying to import a OPML feed did nto work properly.

Hmm, thats odd. I have never run into any issues sofar. Thats in what ... 2 years of usage (give or take).

[Gomer_X]

How is this a problem with people managing their feeds? I disagree with that point. Actually, this is where Bashpodder's behavior can be good. For example, if one wanted to grab every show that has ever been done and they have every show in a ever growing RSS feed...in this cash, bashpodder is good. However, in normal every day use where you usually get rid of the files you have already listened to, then it fails miserably.

It is the responsibility of the server manager/podcaster to maintain their own RSS feed. It is a bad idea to have every show in your feed. You're just asking for trouble by giving new listeners the default of downloading every episode since the beginning of time. Sure, lots of clients will limit the number of enclosures in a feed, but it's a hack to compensate for bad behaviour.

As far as hacking bashpodder to not download a file it's already downloaded, it's already been done numerous times. Look at the bashpodder site in the user contributed versions. Again, if you don't have anything but your most recent episodes in the RSS, it won't matter when you move the old episodes to another server.

I like bashpodder the way it is because there's no guarantee that a file with the same name at a different URL is not a different podcast. I'll make the decision myself. If I'm wrong the person who broke their feed so I had to download the whole archive again gets to pay for the bandwidth.

[Patrick]

It is the responsibility of the server manager/podcaster to maintain their own RSS feed. It is a bad idea to have every show in your feed. You're just asking for trouble by giving new listeners the default of downloading every episode since the beginning of time.

Agreed. A lot of people are guilty of this including the 'big' names. It's ok if you're just starting out but not a good idea if you've been doing it longer than 6 months.

[Chess]

It is a bad idea to have every show in your feed. You're just asking for trouble by giving new listeners the default of downloading every episode since the beginning of time.

This is a tough one. I go back and forth on this for my podcast. Right now, I have all the episodes in the feed, but a few weeks ago, I changed it so only the last 10 episodes were in the feed and I got complaints. So, I changed it back and nobody has complained since that all the episodes are in the feed.

Still, I tend to agree with you. I am thinking about trying to come up with a master feed of all the episodes, and a "recent" episodes feed so everyone's happy.

[Gomer_X]

Still, I tend to agree with you. I am thinking about trying to come up with a master feed of all the episodes, and a "recent" episodes feed so everyone's happy.

There are a lot of issues involved, but I think having only recent episodes in the RSS is the least brain-dead option. How many blogs have every episode in their feed?

Really it's just a failsafe to keep one bad user agent from trying to download all your content repeatedly.

We once had a broken proxy that was hitting the LUGRadio RSS repeatedly and downloading everything over and over. Not pretty.

[gorkon]

I think this could go either way Gomer. It all depends on your size. If you have unlimited bandwidth or a big wallet then the best thing to do in my humble opinion is to put all of the shows in the feed. It makes it incredibly easy to pull all of them off the server and put it on another.

On the other hand, if your like most of us and are broke, then your right....the best thing would be only the last 10.

Either way, I see it as bad form for a podcatcher or podbrowser to just go out and grab everything in the feed in my opinion. Some (not all) Podbrowsers get around this in they will download the rss and only grab the top file and then make it incredibly easy to get the other shows. Other programs like Bashpodder just go and grab everything in the feed. It all depends on the show. TLLTS would be fairly safe for most people downloading the last 10 but if it's a video cast, you'd want to have only the last 5 or even as low as the last 2. All of a sudden having 200-300 or more MB of drive space per show adds up to GIGS....no matter if you have every show in the feed or just the last 10.

Right now, the biggest thing is there really isn't any standard for a Podcatcher is there? Has a RFC been written up? Is there a standard for podcatcher/browser behavior?? Probably not. Do we need one? Yeah maybe.

This is all just my humble opinion. I look at this as all dealers choice. Either way if you have only the last 5 or 10 shows or every show ever produced in your feed, it's still not a good idea to go and grab every show....unless your prompted or unless that's what you want.

Bashpodder is still an amazing script though Linc! At least your still supporting it when others like Juice just gave up on Linux (it seems so anyway).

[Wally Balljacker]

I still think that podcasters should be offering all the past episodes in the RSS feed. The podcasting client should be smart enough not to pull down every single past episode when newly subscribed, or at least ask the user what he/she wants.

[platypus_low]

Yeah I agree. It would be great to have a podcatcher that you can configure that just gets the latest episode from each feed and dump it in a directory for the Mp3 player to suck up.

[CptnObvious999]

Yeah I agree. It would be great to have a podcatcher that you can configure that just gets the latest episode from each feed and dump it in a directory for the Mp3 player to suck up.

That's exactly what I have peapod doing... it gets the last episode (you can set it to get more but I don't) and dumps the files into the Podcasts folder on my home directory (can dump anywhere though, including a mounted audio player) and if I am going somewhere I will take a few unlistened episodes and drag them to my iAudio. Amarok also does this IIRC. Unless you mean delete the older episodes which peapod doesn't do AFAIK but I think Amarok does (and Amarok has tighter integration with various audio players and you can just click "transfer to media device"). I am sure Bashpodder is good and if I weren't content with peapod and Amarok I would give it a try but they have yet to fail me.

[platypus_low]

Thanks cptn ... firing up amarok as I type

[platypus_low]

Augh this is driving me nuts ...why is it when i add the feed and i limit the episodes to 1 episode and i set it to download when available it's not downloading automatically ?

[snarkout]

It should check every so often - if you right click on the "Podcasts" folder there should be an option to set how often. If you want it *NOW* right click on it and choose download. You can also click on the "name of the podcast" level of the tree and choose check for updates.

[Gomer_X]

I think this could go either way Gomer. It all depends on your size.

My wife says I have plenty. I guess that destroys your theory.

Either way, I see it as bad form for a podcatcher or podbrowser to just go out and grab everything in the feed in my opinion.

I see it as bad form to add an RSS feed to my bp.conf and wake up the next morning to find 60 episodes of something taking up a gig of space on my hard drive. It's called the "principle of least surprise." Do what's least likely to piss of or confuse people.

Right now, the biggest thing is there really isn't any standard for a Podcatcher is there? Has a RFC been written up? Is there a standard for podcatcher/browser behavior??

Yes, there is a standard. Or rather an established precedent. RSS feeds were created for blogging, and blog engines build a feed with a limited number of recent entries. Again, the least surprising thing would be to follow the established precedent for RSS feeds and limit the number of entries. A podcast is essentially an audio blog.

All this is of course my opinion, but it's based on looking to what people with more clues than me are doing.

[Gomer_X]

It should check every so often - if you right click on the "Podcasts" folder there should be an option to set how often.

I do this with 'crontab -e'.

If I want it now, I click on it and download.