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Podcasts

Subscribe to a podcast like any other feed: paste its RSS address, or the show’s website, under + Add source → RSS / Atom feed. reader treats an item as an episode when its enclosure (or a JSON Feed attachment) is audio or video. Episodes are marked ♪ (audio) or ▶ (video) in the article list.

Listening

Section titled “Listening”

Opening an episode puts a player above the show notes. The browser streams the file straight from the podcast host; nothing is downloaded to the server. The episode’s artwork (itunes:image) is its picture, falling back to the show’s artwork.

Chapters and transcripts

Section titled “Chapters and transcripts”

Shows that publish Podcasting 2.0 tags get two extra sections under the player:

  • Chapters (<podcast:chapters>). Click a chapter to jump to it.
  • Transcript (<podcast:transcript>). WebVTT, SRT and Podcast Index JSON transcripts show one line per cue with its time and speaker; click a line to jump there. HTML transcripts are shown sanitized, and anything else as plain text. When a show offers several formats, reader picks a timed one.

Both load only when you open their section. The server fetches the file from the podcast’s host and hands the browser a cleaned-up version, so a publisher’s file never runs in your page.

New episodes, sooner

Section titled “New episodes, sooner”

Podcast hosts announce new episodes on Podping. While you follow at least one podcast, reader keeps a WebSocket open to a public Podping relay. When an announcement names a show you follow, that feed is refreshed right away instead of waiting for its polling interval. A show is refreshed at most once a minute this way, because live shows announce often.

The connection is outbound only, so it works on a server nobody can reach. The default relay (wss://api.livewire.io/ws/podping) is run by a third party; set READER_PODPING_URL to use another, or READER_PODPING=off to turn it off (see Configuration). GET /api/v1/realtime shows whether the relay is connected and how many announcements matched your feeds.

Upgrading from an older version

Section titled “Upgrading from an older version”

Before these changes, reader stored an episode’s audio file as the article’s image, which showed up as a broken picture. Upgrading moves those links to the player.