How to create your own podcast?

Can I create a podcast feed from a *watched* local folder in my PC?

• I have Windows 7 with IIS7.5 installed, PHP working, and IIS Media Services. I would like to set up a watched folder, where I will be putting mp3s recorded daily from another utility, so that when it detects a new file it will generate a podcast feed (a RSS) that I subscribe to in my iTunes. Essentially I want to create my own podcast feed automatically from a watched folder where I drop MP3s into. If there is another open source utility to do this besides the IIS7 way I would also give a try. Any help appreciated, hope it's clear enough, thanks (disclosure: I've posted in StackOverflow and received no response. Deleted that Q and reposted in SuperUser http://superuser.com/questions/258693/create-rss-feed-a-podcast-from-a-folder-in-iis-7-5).

• Answer:

  I presume (and hope) you're not hosting the podcast from your PC, right? One would hope you're serving up your podcast from a server farm, where bandwidth and the pipe size is considerably larger than and end-user's server hosted up with DLS/Cable. With all that aside, what you're looking for requires a sort of executable/process to run in the background, one that I'm not sure really exists.  You'd have to write some sort of C# or C++ app — one, to listen to a folder for updates, and two, to create a new RSS feed when something is added.  I'm curious as to what's driving you towards that type of solution. Is it the pain point of creating a new RSS file?  Or the time it takes to upload new mp3s to an external server? Without really knowing that and other variables, it's hard to suggest an answer.  But if creating/editing an RSS feed is the pain point, consider using something like this — http://www.podcastblaster.com/podcast-feed/ — an online service that makes maintaining your RSS feed relatively easy. You can update your RSS feed fairly easily. Alternatively, you could also use something like WordPress, which has some podcasting plug-ins available for it; and there the RSS feed is automatically generated for you every time you create a new entry.  Additionally, you could use a "podcast" tag or category, and have that be served up by itself with no trouble at all.  I've used WordPress to serve up podcasts and it's not that bad. And as I re-read your post, if you're trying to create your own podcast feed for your own consumption with mp3's that you drop into a folder, there's actually a folder within the iTunes folder in "My Documents" labeled "Automatically add to iTunes", which does as it suggests.  If the mp3 has the correct metadata, it will add to the podcast directory and not as music.