Alternatives to iTunes Podcasting Directory

Recently I looked to expand beyond iTunes to potential expand my podcasts audience. Surprisingly there are few alternatives to iTunes for podcasting subscriptions and compared to iTunes traffic it if often reported as less than 5% and it certainly is muddy waters.

• WindowsPhone 7/8 (Formally Zune Marketplace) – A growing market that can only grow on the success of Windows based phones. Certainly going through some changes currently at time of post.
• Stitcher – a popular directory but one that streams the podcasts, potentially using up the user bandwidth when not on free wifi connectivity (there exists some commentary of them using advertising to pay for the service – potentially coming into conflict with an advertising within the podcasts themselves?)
• TuneIn Radio – another streaming option but one that is more widely spread to the tablet users
• The Podcast Source – LybSyns directory/app for Windows 8 and Windows phone 8 (already on this one! as I am hosted upon LybSyn)  – app here
• Miro – open source and growing, allowing for downloads and one that allows Android users an iTunesesque [sic] experience.
• Blackberry Podcasts – now defunct

Online Directories

• directory.libsyn.com – LybSyns own web based directory (already on this one!)
• Podcastdirectory.com – a web based searchable directory (also in this field is
• podcast411.com – rough around the edges but well though of! at time of the post it was being overrun by spammers and search/submit options suspended!

There are other systems that pull from other directories such as Overcast: podcast player  (for iOS) that pulls from iTunes. But for me I think that Miro  is the one that is worthy of interest particulaly as it will open up the android market for the podcast (and even windows platforms) followed by the podcastdirectory.com

 

Update:

• Windows – looks like you have to go through BING and add an XML feed to your podcasts – did not pursue this one!
• Miro – You will not be able to access the ‘Submit Show’ option from the sub-navigation bar (from your username on the right hand side in chrome) show is now submitted
• Stitcher takes you through an approval process. It took a few day, required a link to stitcher on the website before approval.
• Tunein approval took a full week

 

Andy

iTunes Submittal & Acceptance

Once you have set up your podcasts and they sit online (my previous post outlines LybSyn) you will need to submit to iTunes. Well that’s if you want to be found on iTunes!

View your RSS feed by selecting VIEW FEED button to the right of  “LybSyn Classic Feed” (rss) under DESTINATIONS > EDIT OR VIEW EXISTING. Copy the URL (web address) then open up iTunes. in iTunes select Podcasts and then iTunes Store (top of podcasts page). You will find “submit a podcast” on the far right. Once clicked on this all you will need to do is past in your copies RSS feed address.

Do not expect your podcasts to show up on iTunes right away, as an idea my timeline was as follows:

• Tuesday evening – submission
• Thursday evening- approval
• Friday morning – Searchable on iTunes (within two days of approval)

So my podcasts are fully green-lit, with the intention of releasing in the first full week of each month from now on.

• LybSyn Feed
• iTunes

Andy

 

LybSyn & RSS Feeds

I have looked into numerous ways of how to syndicate my podcast (effectively a way of advertising your new podcast to other systems such as iTunes) :

• Webpage: you have to manually edit an XML form to create your RSS feed, and its likely your web space provider will not like the high bandwidth that podcasts demand
• WordPress: it’s going to cost you £70 per month and then its needs you to set up a category for your posts then set up an RSS feed through a third party service such as feedburner
• LibSyn: an all in one solution that takes care of all the woes, and the one I have gone for in the end

 

Create an account, a variety of plans exist (See Here), I choose the entry plan, 50mb a month, as I am currently only looking to podcast once a month for twenty minutes (this works out to about 30mb for a 20 minute MP3 File).

Upload your first podcast (CONTENT>ADD NEW EPISODE). Include a title, subtitle and description (it’s worth noting that tags/keywords are no longer used by iTunes so try and include these in your subtitle and description where possible). Review the rest of the fields – they may not all apply to your podcast.

Edit the “Lybsyn Classic Feed” (rss) under DESTINATIONS > EDIT OR VIEW EXISTING, this includes iTunes store basic information such as catagories (x3), subtitle and summary, content rating, author, contact email  and finally “use show image for episodes”- otherwise it will may be rejected by iTunes.

next post – iTunes Submission!

Andy