Example iTunes U Atom feed?

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Level 1

20 points

Example iTunes U Atom feed?

Hi

We’re making arrangements to set up an iTunesU store for our university. We're also building a sql database which will publish our media content through to our CMS and build the web feeds. So I need to ensure the web feeds are compliant with iTunes U.

I understand that iTunesU will accept rss and atom feeds but that atom is the preferred format because it affords the publisher the option of specifying multiple media types in a single feed item. i.e. in an atom feed you could specify multiple mp3's or an mp3, mp4, m4v etc in a single feed item. Is that correct?

Also, can you point me to examples of well formed iTunes U atom and rss feeds? Perhaps you have some example feeds on the Apple website?

Thanks

Dell T5400, Windows XP

Posted on Feb 24, 2010 6:24 AM

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Answer 1

richwolf

Level 3

725 points

Feb 24, 2010 9:52 AM in response to Tom_Williams

As always, standard disclaimers apply, I defer to Duncan for an official reply.

I would not say that RSS is preferred to Atom necessarily. Rather, the basic consideration for the iTunes U admin is what each of those feeds "maps" to within iTunes U. In iTunes U, an RSS feed can be made to map to a group (that is, a tab within a course). An Atom feed, on the other hand, maps to a whole course and creates groups (tabs) as required by the feed. Often, within a course, you create tabs to match media types ("Video", "Audio", "PDF", etc.). But in principle, and so far as I know, the course-to-Atom feed mapping can be anything that is logical…that "makes sense"…for your site.

In effect, Atom gives the iTunes U admin a very simple way to automate the creation of a course and link it to a single (Atom) feed. In the past, an admin would first have to create the course, then tabs, then link each tab to a separate RSS feed.

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Answer 2

Tom_Williams Author

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20 points

Feb 26, 2010 6:37 PM in response to richwolf

Thanks rich, I understand a little better now how itunes U deals with multiple media types using rss compared with atom.

It would be really helpful to see some examples of iTunes U 'compliant' rss and atom course feeds. I can then get a handle on what our feeds should look like and which fields we will need pull down from our sql database in order to generate the feeds.

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Answer 3

Tom_Williams Author

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20 points

Mar 1, 2010 3:58 AM in response to Tom_Williams

Can anyone point me to examples of iTunes U 'compliant' rss and atom course feeds? or a spec?

I'm particularly interested in Atom because I can't find a spec for iTunes compliant atom feeds anywhere.

Thanks

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Answer 4

afhole

Level 1

5 points

Mar 18, 2010 7:12 AM in response to Tom_Williams

+1 for the atom feed example - can only find rss

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Answer 5

richwolf

Level 3

725 points

Mar 18, 2010 7:50 PM in response to afhole

I'm trying to construct one by hand to show what it should look like. Almost there…I got about half of it. 🙂

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Answer 6

afhole

Level 1

5 points

Mar 19, 2010 3:28 AM in response to richwolf

Me too! I've managed to get the title in so far but no content...
Please post your xml when you get there 🙂
Thanks

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Answer 7

richwolf

Level 3

725 points

Mar 19, 2010 11:28 AM in response to afhole

I am happy to compare notes with you. Something occurred to me this morning, in fact, with regard to this topic which I am about to follow-up on now. 🙂

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Answer 8

richwolf

Level 3

725 points

Mar 19, 2010 11:43 AM in response to richwolf

See, you always get these great ideas in the shower. Seriously, I was thinking to myself this morning, "Hey, it should be easy to figure this out, right?…after all, Podcast Producer knows how to do this." Problem was that whenever I loaded a feed into Safari and used "View Source" to see it, PubSub.framework HTML-ified the XML, so not helpful.

So today, I was like, "Hey, I'm just going to curl that feed on the command-line…that should produce the raw XML." Guess what?…that totally works. I was able to see how Podcast Producer does its Atom feeds. So now it's just a matter of taking it apart and saying stuff like, "This element is for X, this Y, etc." If you have PcP 2 and want to see a good iTU Atom feed, just curl one of your PcP 2 feeds. If you don't have that, or I'm being totally confusing, I'll go over the XML and post a lengthier reply over the weekend with loads of details.

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Answer 9

Mar 22, 2010 7:15 AM in response to richwolf

I have this working, let me know if you want to send the xml.

The break through was using the <itunes:explicit> tag in the entry, and setting the correct pcp:format attribute on the link tags

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Answer 10

schecter

Level 1

0 points

Apr 12, 2010 1:32 AM in response to afhole@wortech

Can anyone point me to examples of iTunes U 'compliant' Atom course feeds? or a spec?

Thanks,
/Michael Nilsson

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Answer 11

richwolf

Level 3

725 points

Apr 12, 2010 12:13 PM in response to schecter

I am sorry I have not had time to create an informal document on feed XML. The spirit is willing, but work demands are great. 🙂 🙂 However, if you want to see what a good feed looks like, and you have Podcast Producer 2 handy, it's possible to do so. Podcast Producer 2 creates such feeds when you publish podcast as a feed.

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Answer 12

schecter

Level 1

0 points

Apr 13, 2010 6:31 AM in response to richwolf

Thanks, I got it.

The link tag needs the pcp:format attribute.

I've tried and got no luck with com.apple.lc, com.apple.sd, com.apple.hd, com.apple.3g, com.apple.audio or com.apple.custom.

But when I used pcp:format="com.apple.video.appletv.sd" it worked as expected.

And I use pcp:duration, itunes:duration don't seem to wotk in entry tags.

Regards,
/Michael Nilsson

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