Podcast and StationRipper - Info

It's great to see this new function.  I am just starting with podcasting (initially as a user), so don't know much...

I don't know about throttling the number of Podcasts, but it does make sense for you guys to kill the rip once it is done.  It could start up again on the next start of Station Ripper.

I tried iPodder as an RSS reader, and what I did not like is that I have no idea how big the files are that I am downloading.  With MP3s, we know more or less what a song will be, but it looks like podcasts can vary tremendously.

So, if you can accomplish that, for me to be able to kill a podcast rip upon seeing it’s file size at the beginning of the rip, then that would be great.  Even better, be able to set limits for podcast rips. (take the first xx MB of the rip and then stop)

Rob.

Hi Rob,

The new version should be dispable in 800x600 - sorry about that, I normally check that, as that's the lowest resolution I'm supporting, but forgot to do it on the new podcast screen.

-Greg

ummm....why would u want to rip podcasts? This makes no sense at
all....

i am using stationripper to rip podcasts.  i used to use several other programs to do the same thing (mostly rss readers), but i like the ability to combine all my rips under one program.  i think of podcasts as more similar to streams than to rss feeds, so, in the future, the kinds of options and "bells and whistles" that you might incorporate into streamcast ripping will probably be more appropriate to podcasting than will the added featues of rss-feeding.  but you will need some of the kinds of features that an rss feeder has: for instance, scheduled polling of the podcast site.  i can't really tell if stationripper does this now or not (it hasn't been long enough after my first podcast rip for another one to become available).  but, if the program does not pick up the next podcast automatically, i'd sure like to see that feature added.  other than that, i think stationripper is an excellent program. i have only one problem.  oh wait, i'll put that under bugs.  so, again, thanks for the addition of podcasting to the list of features.

Same reason you would want to rip shoutcast streams - to get content local.  Podcasts are really new right now - I anticipate that there will be more content available as it grows.

Hi all -- new here and use StationRipper to rip a live talk radio stream. I hate to be kinda harsh on my first post, but I listen to a lot of podcasts and am about to produce my own. Its easy to get started.

You wouldn't want to "rip" podcasts like you rip shoutcast streams?? When you stream something, you are actually downloading a copy of the file, such as "streaming" mp3. Why wait to download the file only to then have to re-record it? Almost all podcasts are mp3 or oog.

It would be cool if you modeled your app for podcasting similar to Doppler. It just makes no sense to "rip" podcasts, but adding podcast functionality would enhance your software as a whole.

wrote: i used to use several other programs to do the same thing (mostly rss readers), but i like the ability to combine all my rips under one program.  i think of podcasts as more similar to streams than to rss feeds,

Thats an incorrect way to think of them. You should think of them exactly as an RSS feed only the feed is delivering audio content rather than text. For that matter there are also video casts as well, although I personally haven't been interested in those. Podcasting is using the "enclosures" in the RSS spec to deliver the content.

Of course, most podcasts sites will also allow you to directly download the mp3. If you listen to it as you download, then technically you are streaming as the client application buffers the download.

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Additional Information
*As posted on my forum
*Deals with video streams, but the principle applies.

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The thing to remember about streaming formats such as .wmv, .rm (RealPlayer ram files), .swf (Flash), or .mov (Quicktime) is that the file actually does get downloaded completely to the client computer. The difference is in the way the play handles the streaming file. This means that the .wmv or .mov files will begin playing before the entire file is downloaded. People on a slow connection will notice pauses in the playback as the client software (Windows Media Player, Flash plugin, RealPlayer, or Apple Quicktime) play "catch-up" to the file. This is important to remember because while streaming formats are better than the old "download the whole file and then watch" days, people on slow connections will still experience interruptions especially on larger files.

Another method of streaming is called "live streaming". Think of the live radio stations and live news broadcasts you see. These are actually broadcasting live content as it happens. Shoutcast is a good example of a live audio streaming server application. It also happens to be free.

There are 2 types of webservers involved in this process are (1) normal webservers and (2) optimized streaming servers. Normal webservers run on the TCP/IP protocol which is not the most optimized for streaming media due to the increased overhead, although it works. Most streaming servers are optmized to use the UDP protocol which is more streamlined.

In summary, your files are streaming to anyone using Windows Media Player or any other client application that supports the file formats used and allows streaming. While this is not the optimal setup for streaming, it is the most common without a specialized server. To allow the videos to stream faster, during creation you need to strive for the smallest file size possible through experimenting with different common codecs.

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Supporting Links
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Wikipedia --> Streaming Media
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streaming_video#Streaming_media _systems

Microsoft Web Server vs. Streaming Server
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/compare/webser vvstreamserv.aspx

Microsoft Streaming from a Web Server
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/howto/articles /webserver.aspx#webserver_topic3

ShoutCast -  Nullsoft's Free Winamp-based distributed streaming audio system
http://www.shoutcast.com

wrote: I know it's kinda a mind-twist to put into StationRipper... but conceptually, it's kinda like a radio broadcast, the RSS being the "stream".  I realized that thinking of it in this way allow StationRipper to easily "rip" (download!) the file podcast.

Ahhh..Well I guess I need to try it out. When I think of the term "rip", I'm generally thinking of a re-record, decrypt/de-encode, or compression. I guess "rip" is used here as a general term.

I'm currently using Doppler which works fairly well but has a few little quirks in it, but I'll definitely see what is going on in StationRipper with it (remembering it is in the early stages of course).

wrote: I personally find the folder-method podcasts to use to be a pain to deal with.  I like being able to get them all in a flat grid, and then sort and search inside of that.  And to have something to go out and check ALL podcasts (detail info) to see how many files a podcast has, and sort on that.

Umm -- most of the popular podcasting apps check the RSS feeds and download the newest content. A lot of podcasters allow directory browsing methods on the sites or direct mp3 links as an alternate method.

Personally, I agree with you. Podcasting (and of course RSS itself) is very convenient as I don't have to frequent a zillion sites a day. I use Trillian as my RSS aggregator and currently get my podcasts through Doppler, although again I'll play around with yours.