How Can I Make an RSS Feed So I Can Publish My Podcast to iTunes?
Apple does not host podcasts through iTunes. Instead, it only links to a feed. It is possible to create a podcast that you share with listeners via Apple's iTunes using a combination of free services. All podcast feeds use the Really Simple Syndication (RSS) format. To create a feed using RSS, you will first need a public website. Google's Blogger is a free blog hosting service that can be used to create a public website. However, Blogger does not allow you to upload audio files. Through a combination of services, using Blogger and FeedBurner, you can create your own podcast for iTunes.
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Instructions
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Blogger
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Sign up for a free blog hosting account through Blogger, a service of Google. If you already have a website or hosting provider, use that instead. Blogger is a free alternative that provides all the necessary tools to enable an RSS feed of your podcast.
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Name your blog. Google's Blogger uses the name you create along with the blogspot.com domain to find your blog. For example, if you name your blog ThisIsMyBlog, the URL to access it will be http://thisismyblog.blogspot.com.
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Select a template for your blog in Blogger. Any template will work, so the choice comes down to your own aesthetic preferences.
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Click the "New Post" button in the Blogger dashboard and add a new post to your blog. Each post to your blog will be a new entry to your RSS feed and potentially a new episode in your podcast.
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Provide a description for your Blogger site. Within the Blogger administrative interface, select the Settings tab and then choose the Basic options. Type a site description and keywords for your podcast.
Audio
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Sign up for a hosting service to store the audio files that contain episodes of your podcast. Google does not allow you to host audio files on Blogger, so you will need to sign up for a service that does. Use a free hosting service like Box.net or Dropbox for this.
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Create and upload an audio file to your hosting service. Because it is so ubiquitous, stick with MP3 for your audio podcasts. The process to upload your file will vary from provider to provider, but with a service like Dropbox or Box.net you just drag the file to a designated folder on your computer's desktop.
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Determine the URL of your hosted MP3 file and copy the link. With a service like Dropbox, you can right click on a file and choose the Dropbox menu and then "Copy Public Link" to get the URL of a file.
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Add the link to your MP3 file to your blog post from within Blogger. From the Blogger dashboard, create or edit your blog post and click the Link button to add a link. Paste the URL for your hosted MP3 file into the necessary field.
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Publish your blog post from within Blogger.
FeedBurner
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Create a FeedBurner account. Blogger does not offer the appropriate version of RSS to support podcasting, but the free FeedBurner service will translate a Blogger feed into an RSS 2.0 feed compatible with iTunes.
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Enter the feed URL for your Blogger feed into the form that requests it on the FeedBurner site. Your Blogger feed URL is your blog's URL with "atom.xml" appended to the end. For example, your feed URL might be http://thisismyblog.blogspot.com/atom.xml.
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Select the SmartCast option to burn your feed. Be sure to confirm the title and address are acceptable.
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