Derik Whittaker

If you would like to get your content (songs, screencasts or podcasts) into ITunes you will need to either modify or setup your RSS feed with the special 'iTunes' tags.  These tags are not part of the RSS standard (as far as I can see) but they will not hurt your RSS feed simply because they are there.

I thought I would go through the steps needed to get your content into iTunes.

Before we get started, you can get most of this information from this link, but you will have to wade through a bunch of noise.

1. Modify your existing feed (example here)
1. Need to modify the channel content
   You will need to add the following data to your channel content
   <itunes:subtitle> -- The info shown in the iTunes browser
   <itunes:author> -- Do I need to explain this
   <itunes:summary> -- Longer description about your product/site
   <itunes:owner>
  <itunes:name>/<itunes:email>
<itunes:image> -- The cover art for you feed
<itunes:category> -- Where does your feed go
   
2. Need to modify the content of each item
   Fore each item in your feed you will also have to add a few extra tags
   <itunes:author> -- The author of that item
   <itunes:subtitle> -- The short desc for the item
   <itunes:summary> -- The long desc for the item
   <itunes:duration> -- How long is your podcast
   <itunes:keywords> -- How to find your podcasts
2. Testing your feed in iTunes
   To test your feed you can simply register it directly in iTunes.  To do this you can do the following.
   Advanced Menu -> Subscribe to Podcast -> Provide the URL
   
   
3. Submitting your feed to iTunes
   Submitting your feed is pretty easy, but it does take a day or so for it to be accepted in iTunes.  Click here to get details on how to submit your feed.
   
4. Direct linking your feed to iTunes (opening up iTunes directly to your content)
   What is really cool is you can create a hyperlink on your site that will open up iTunes and take the person directly there.  All you need to do is add this URL
   http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=FEEDID
   Please note that FEEDID is unique to everyone and you will receive your ID in an email.

There you go, 4 quick steps to get your feed up and running in iTunes.

Till next time,

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