[thelist] RSS Audio Feed

Burhan Khalid thelist at meidomus.com
Thu Aug 11 02:52:34 CDT 2005


Hershel Robinson wrote:
> I have a client with a large ASP-based custom-CMS-powered site that now 
> has audio files. He wants to set up an RSS feed for those audio files.

The new fad these days is podcasting for audio files.  You might want to 
explore that.

> The site is presently in ASP although there is a consideration (in 
> deliberations right now) to rebuild the site in PHP, so either one is a 
> solution at present. I also have seen Windows apps that appear (I 
> believe) to create such a feed.

Do you know why a rebuild is being considered?  Normally, I'd be the 
first one to jump on the 'go PHP!' bandwagon, but a major redesign is 
not a light project, and depending on how complex the custom CMS is, it 
could be a real nightmare.

> I know nothing about RSS, so any suggestions are welcome.

RSS is a way to publish (syndicate) information using XML.  The version 
of RSS that you are using changes what RSS means.

Rich Site Summary (RSS 0.91)
RDF Site Summary (RSS 0.9, 1.0, 1.1)
Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0)

 From : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS

What it boils down to is you publish a daily digest of information on 
your website in an established XML format.  Other people (or sites) can 
then syndicate your content using this XML feed.  Syndic8 is a website 
that is a sort of search engine for XML and RSS feeds.

I don't know much about ASP, but with PHP, there are a few classes that 
can help generate a RSS feed for your site, so this becomes a minor issue.

Some links that you might want to browse:

Syndic8 - http://www.syndic8.com
A large listing of RSS and Atom feeds.

RSS Wikipedia Entry - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_%28file_format%29

PHP RSS class for generation (one of many)
www.phpclasses.org/browse/package/560.html

PHP RSS class for reading (parsing) feeds
pear.php.net/manual/en/package.xml.xml-rss.php

I hope this helps,
Burhan


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