Add support for podcasting 2.0 feature "medium" tag - for better UX with music and audiobook types.
Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe
Currently, the assumed medium of a RSS feed with media enclosures is "podcast". There are some feeds that are using the structure and distribution of a podcast but are actually music albums or audiobooks. In these cases, the terms such as "podcast" and "episode" don't make as much sense as "album" and "track" for music types, and "book" and "chapter" for audiobook types.
Describe the solution you'd like
Add support for selecting the medium based on the specification here:
https://github.com/Podcastindex-org/podcast-namespace/blob/main/docs/1.0.md#medium
e.g. The feed would have a tag like: <podcast:medium>music</podcast:medium>
Here are the list of different mediums supported in the spec:
-
podcast
(default) - Describes a feed for a podcast show. If nomedium
tag is present in the channel, this medium is assumed. -
music
- A feed of music organized into an "album" with each item a song within the album. -
video
- Like a "podcast" but used in a more visual experience. Something akin to a dedicated video channel like would be found on YouTube. -
film
- Specific types of videos with one item per feed. This is different than avideo
medium because the content is considered to be cinematic; like a movie or documentary. -
audiobook
- Specific types of audio with one item per feed, or where items represent chapters within the book. -
newsletter
- Describes a feed of curated written articles. Newsletter articles now sometimes have an spoken version audio enclosure attached. -
blog
- Describes a feed of informally written articles. Similar tonewsletter
but more informal as in a traditional blog platform style.
This tells podcast players that support that tag to change their UI/UX with different labels that suit the medium more.
Castopod can also adjust the listener interface, and admin interface for these mediums (where identified) to use more appropriate labels.
MVP: Support setting the medium in the podcast admin using radio buttons if there are only three selections, or a drop-down if more are added. Recommend only podcast
, music
, and audiobook
to begin with. (I personally don't see a strong adoption of film, newsletter, or blog in this way.)
Enhancement: Add new languages labels for each medium that make sense and use a switch to determine the label. E.g. something like this:
if ($podcastmediumtype != 'podcast') {
$labelmediumprefix = $podcastmediumtype.('.');
} else {
$labelmediumprefix = '';
}
lang($labelmediumprefix.'Season');
Which would then result in new language entries for audiobook.Season
(maybe with a value of "Book" or "Volume" and music.Season
maybe with a value of "Album" or "Volume".
So then for a medium of music
, admins would add new "tracks" instead of "episodes" for example. This ensures it doesn't break anything that already exists for podcasts, and add the options for those wishing to distribute other types of media.
Also add a hint to recommend that music and audiobook mediums should use the serial
<iTunes:type>
, to make it more likely players will present the content as intended.
Describe alternatives you've considered
Accepting the current labels, even though they aren't perfect.