Software to create a podcast feed automatically

June 22, 2021 5:45 AM

I have about 50 audio files that I'd like to load into Pocket Casts as if they were a podcast (i.e., a single feed but each file is a episode). This is only for me, I don't need it published publicly. I could learn the format of a podcast RSS feed and hand-roll it, but is there software that will just do this for me (e.g., put all the files in a directory and it generates a feed pointing to all those files) ?

I'm comfortable making a directory of files accessible via HTTP on my LAN (I can't think of a reason to make the feed or the files accessible on the internet since it's just for my phone). And I could write a script that looks at a directory and generates a RSS feed or even just hand-edit the XML, but if there's a program or script out there that would do this for me it would save me a lot of time.

I guess there are podcast hosting platforms out there that could probably solve this for me but while I have paid for the right to listen to this content I do not have the right to distribute it so I'd rather not upload these to a third party service.

posted by Tehhund to Computers & Internet (12 answers total)

Response by poster: I forgot to add: I have a Windows computer and a Linux computer that could both host the files and feed, so either platform is fine.
posted by Tehhund at 5:47 AM on June 22, 2021

In the Overcast podcast player, a perk for paying for a premium subscription is the ability to upload files to the overcast servers. This allows you to play them in the app, and only you have access to the files. If you’re flexible on your podcast player of choice, and using iOS, this is an easy solution. A premium subscription is $10/year.
posted by bluloo at 6:11 AM on June 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Unfortunately I'm on Android so Overcast is a no go, but thanks.
posted by Tehhund at 6:26 AM on June 22, 2021

Best answer: You can add your own files directly to PocketCasts for free if you do it directly on the phone. On Android open PocketCasts, go to Profile, then Files, then hit the + sign and select your files.

If you want them to be available on multiple devices via the PocketCasts cloud you can use PocketCasts Plus (paid service), but it's not a requirement for the above steps.

I've used this on iOS to put non-DRM audiobooks into PocketCasts, so I could just listen to them there without having to find another player.

They are listed in a different place within the app, which I find a little annoying, they play like normal podcasts and you can keep your place, change the playback speed etc. like normal.
posted by tiamat at 6:36 AM on June 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I guess I should have tried for more than 10 minutes before posting this because I fixed it myself. Here are the details in case anyone comes across this question in the future:

1. Pocket Casts is cloud-based, so it didn't like my LAN-only feed since their servers couldn't reach the feed. So I am using AntennaPod just for this 1 feed since it's device-only and could see the feed.

2. I used genRSS, which is a Python script to make a RSS feed out of a directory.
-Aside: I was able to install Python 3 from the Windows Store instead of having to download the installer. This was very convenient and I wish more software would offer this instead of forcing everyone to download an installer from their website.

3. genRSS had problems grabbing my files over HTTP, so I used a local directory path instead. This gave me a feed.rss file with local paths, so I did a find-and-replace on feed.rss to make the links over HTTP instead and then put feed.rss into the same directory as the mp3s. AntennaPod was able to read that feed.rss and download the files.
posted by Tehhund at 6:41 AM on June 22, 2021 [2 favorites]

FYI to answer the actual question, according to this similar reddit post PocketCasts parses RSS feeds on their servers before sending the files to your phone, so you can't create a LAN RSS feed that isn't accessible to the internet to host local files. You'd have to create a real RSS feed with a valid DNS, externally accessible server, etc.

Note: I haven't actually tested this myself, although I've seen a couple similar comments elsewhere that make me think it's probably accurate.
posted by tiamat at 6:42 AM on June 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

Sounds like you’d be comfortable running this kind of thing and uploading it somewhere: https://github.com/jakubroztocil/podcats

JustCast used to be a nice, free way to turn a Dropbox folder of mp3s into a podcast. They charge $5/mo now. It could be worth it to pay for a month or just blast through everything during the free trial period.

I second PocketCast’s built-in custom audio feature, too, especially if you can select multiple files in the picker. I know you’re Android, but for any iPhone users reading, Castro’s custom audio is my favorite implementation of custom audio as you can just drag files into an iCloud Drive folder on Mac or Windows and it’ll show up in the player.
posted by michaelh at 6:42 AM on June 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: tiamat FTW! I thought I'd read that Pocket Casts had removed the "add your own files" feature so I didn't even try that. I just checked and it works. I'm already subscribed to Pocket Casts Plus too. I'm glad I tried my way because it might come in handy for other things but I'll be using your method to keep everything in one place.
posted by Tehhund at 6:43 AM on June 22, 2021

Sorry, wrote all that before I saw the three comments before mine. Still!
posted by michaelh at 6:43 AM on June 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

One more avenue for doing something related; try PocketCasts filters. It lets you create a playlist out of podcasts that meet certain criteria. I don't know if the filter language is able to do what you need, particularly cross-podcast. I use it to make playlists like "all stories on NPR Morning Edition this morning that I haven't listened to yet."
posted by Nelson at 7:52 AM on June 22, 2021

I use Huffduffer for this. I’m not sure if you can make your feed private though.
posted by Happy Dave at 3:19 PM on June 22, 2021

I had a need for something similar a while back, throw this php file on your webserver with your mp3s, and it'll make an RSS feed automatically.
posted by gregr at 3:28 PM on June 22, 2021 [1 favorite]