In this video, we will see what our podcast looks like in iTunes, and then make some adjustments to the metadata of our podcast files (such as adding artwork) so that we're happy with the way it looks in iTunes.

Test podcast in iTunes

  • Save the view, then copy the link to the feed.
    • Open iTunes
    • In the menu, click "Advanced" then "Subscribe to Podcast"
    • Paste in the link to your podcast rss feed
    • Click "OK"

Sweet! It works! So, theoretically you could start posting that feed address, and you're done. However, there are a couple of more steps that I would recommend before doing so.

Images are huge when it comes to getting the attention of potential listeners, and we don't have any right now. We don't have one for our podcast its self, and we don't have one for the individual episode either.

Let's add one to the individual episode first.

Adding an image to each episode

There are plenty of ways to do this. Basically we need to encode the image into the metadata of the actual audio file. This may sound confusing, but luckily, iTunes makes this really easy! Now, there are other ways to do this, but since iTunes is free, many of you probably already have it on your machine, and it's what I use, that's how I'm going to show you to do it.

I'm going to delete the podcast so that I can add it again once I've got them image in place.

Adding metadata to the audio file

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  • The first thing I'm going to do is add the audio files to iTunes. Then I'll right click on the first file and choose "get info".
    • In here there are actually only a few fields we can set manually. I did some research and discovered that the following fields will be overwritten using info from your Drupal site, no matter what you type in right now.
      • Name: The title you give the podcast episode
      • Year: Taken from the published date
      • Album: The podcast title you entered in the view
      • Genre: All podcasts are given the genre "Podcast" by iTunes, nothing you can do about it.

      That means that we can enter

      • Artist (This will be used for the "iTunes Author" information in the feed)
      • Album Artist
      • Grouping
      • Composer
      • Comments

      I'll go ahead and enter my name in the Artist, Album Artist, and Composer fields. The only other thing we need to change is the artwork.

      • Click the "Artwork" tab
      • Click "Add"
      • Choose your file
      • Click "Open"
      • Click "OK"

      Right away we see the image displayed in the "Selected Item" window. Now this file is ready to be uploaded to our site.

      • (Optional) I like to drag this file to my desktop and rename the file to be consistent with the title on my website, removing any white spaces. This isn't required, I just think it helps keep things neat and organized.)

    Now, we can go back and edit the podcast episode, remove the original file, and upload our new metadata-full file.

    After we've done that, let's subscribe in iTunes again, and… awesome! We have an image, and if we get info for the episode, everything is filled out the way we expect! Ok, so, let's create another episode and see what happens.

    Post a second episode

    Before I create the episode on my site, I'll get the audio file ready by entering the metadata and Artwork image.

    • Go to "Content => Add content => Podcast Episode"
    • Title: Second Episode
    • Body: (Dummy Ipsum)
    • Image: Scarlett.jpg
    • Podcast File: SecondEpisode.m4a
    • Links:
      • Drupal Groups - groups.drupal.org
    • Tags: Drupal

    Now if we refresh the podcast in iTunes, it will pick up the new episode, and everything works great!

    Recap what all just happened

    Ok, so by posting the podcast to our site, the following happened:

    1. The teaser is listed on our podcast page
    2. The episode its self is available with an on-site player and a direct download link
    3. The iTunes feed was updated so that our subscribers can all download it with iTunes
    4. It's also available via our direct feed (the one we typed into iTunes to test the feed) to anyone who uses podcast software other than iTunes.

    One thing you might have noticed is that the image for the podcast its self is now showing the image from the latest episode. If you would prefer it to be static (as I do) I'll show you how to set that, as well as how to get statistics on your podcast using a free service called FeedBurner in part 5.