• 24
  • Nov, 04

dirCaster v0.3: Podcasting php script

I have released an updated version of dirCaster, just bug fixes regarding the naming of files I should have done weeks ago. In my defence, I was moving to the other side of the Atlantic.

dirCaster is a php script that allows one to very easily start Podcasting mp3 files from their web host. This allows original content creators to easily provide a feed for iPodder, jPodder, etc.

Adding ID3v2 support turned out to be a lot more complex then I had thought. There are some excellent looking classes to do it but I wanted to keep things very light and easy rather than bog it down with more complex install. The idea is to make it as simple possible.

I’m glad the script has been useful to so many people. Thanks to everyone who suggested and posted changes and features.

More information here.

Version 0.3 released only a few hours later. I’m lazy and always turn on register_globals, but it has been pointed out that this is not default behavior. Thanks Arnie.

16 Responses

  1. Arne Eckmann   24 Nov, 2004 - 12:16 pm

    Hi

    The line:

    $rootMP3URL = “http://” . $HTTP_HOST . $REQUEST_URI;

    won’t work with register_globals off, and since security call for register_globals to be off, I’ll suggest you change the line to:

    $rootMP3URL = “http://” . $_SERVER[’HTTP_HOST’] . $_SERVER[’REQUEST_URI’];

    Best regards,
    Arne

  2. Ryan   24 Nov, 2004 - 9:14 pm

    Duh me. That explains why many people have been having problems with their root URL. Thank you for pointing out the problem.

  3. tim   29 Nov, 2004 - 4:46 pm

    got this working and it works a treat!

    One thing is that ID3v2 doesn’t work on it’s own - it shows nothing, only v1 ID3…

    Could you make it so it’s biased towards using v2 info if it’s there (cos it’s more detailed?) - and the comments tag seems more obvious in ID3 for the description - more space.

  4. tim   29 Nov, 2004 - 5:08 pm

    oops just re-read your comments - you’ve not added v2 right? :-(

  5. bullet   01 Dec, 2004 - 1:02 am

    Sorry if I’m missing something here… but where can I download the new version from?

  6. Ryan   01 Dec, 2004 - 6:09 pm

    Ah man. The new server (I moved this it this week) needs some tweaking.

    Directlink to the download is here.

    http://www.shadydentist.com/wordpress/software/dircaster03.tgz

  7. Ryan   02 Dec, 2004 - 8:17 am

    Okay, fixed that, dircaster page works again. Sorry about that.

  8. Jollino   14 Dec, 2004 - 1:03 pm

    Great tool!
    I had some problems with the tags though; iTunes writes v2.2 tags but they can be converted to v1.1 and v1.0, but dirCaster didn’t seem to like them. I had to re-encode with LAME using the –id3v1-only and the other id3-related options.
    By the way, is there a mailing list to receive news about the development? :)
    Thanks

  9. Harold J. Johnson   19 Dec, 2004 - 2:34 am

    Hi Ryan,

    I began using dirCaster tonight, having downloaded v0.3. I noticed that the version number in the script still lists v0.1; you may wish to change that. I attempted to tweak the script to print a Creative Commons license, but I don’t know anything about PHP yet so my efforts so far have failed. Also, I believe the CC licensing requires RDF documents, but I could be wrong.

    Cool script! Thanks for making it. I’ve been handcoding my RSS files up ’til now, but I’m getting tired of doing so, especially now that I have more than one file to create. speaking of which, can I throw more than one dircaster script in my directory, one to create a torrent RSS file and the other to create a regular RSS file? Just wondering…

  10. bob   19 Dec, 2004 - 2:56 am

    Just wanted to drop a line to say “Thanks!” for a great script.. It’s really taken the RSS fog away for me..

    Thanks for sharing your work!

    Bob

  11. Ryan   19 Dec, 2004 - 3:35 pm

    I fixed the version number issue, thanks for pointing that out.

    As for a dircaster mailing list, I suggest just signing up the this blogs RSS feed.

    I’m not sure what your looking to do with the CC license. Where would you like it to print?

  12. Kent Sandvik   30 Dec, 2004 - 3:56 am

    Nice script, but I have a hard time getting the ID tags to be read in the MP3 file. I tried with both iTunes and WinAmp 5.0, both v2 and v1 formats, and dircaster still can’t read it. What are the preferred tools for creating ID3 tags for this product (I didn’t realize the whole ID3 tag world is a big jungle…)?

    Thx, Kent

  13. Kent Sandvik   30 Dec, 2004 - 4:04 am

    Ok, maybe I answer so others know how to fix this. Use iTunes, Convert ID3 Tag, Version 1.1, and dircaster understands the ID3 formats… I think by default iTunes is using V2.2. –Kent

  14. Matt   09 Sep, 2005 - 3:43 am

    I can’t extract the files in version v0.4 - seems to be corupted.

  15. johnny0   21 Sep, 2005 - 10:03 pm

    Jump to the newer thread:

    http://www.shadydentist.com/wordpress/archives/2004/12/23/dircaster-v04-podcasting-php-script/#comments

  16. Aravind   30 Sep, 2005 - 6:53 am

    Do you have an ASP based dircaster? I want to run it under IIS and am not allowed to install PHP server in the assigned server. Help me please…

Leave a Reply