The iTunes store is offering a good selection of podcasts that iTunes users can subscribe to. Apple uses its own format to serve the podcasts which is problematic for two groups of users. Those who do not want to use iTunes and those who cannot use iTunes. The former group likely uses another software program to subscribe, manage and listen to podcasts while the later are Linux users who do not have the option to install iTunes directly.
Feed Flipper has been designed by Adam Schlitt to overcome this problem. It can convert any iTunes podcasts into a valid RSS feed that can be integrated into any feed reader or podcast viewer. Best of all – at least for most users – is the fact that Feed Flipper is an online service which means it will work with all operating systems and web browsers.
The basic principle is the following: Feed Flipper uses a base url and several parameters to turn an iTunes podcast into RSS feed. Here is the developer’s description of the options:
Creating your Feed Flipper RSS URL is easy! To start, copy the base URL:
* http://picklemonkey.net/flipper/convert.php?
Next, add your feed and any desired options to the end of it:* &feed=URL – Your iTunes podcast URL
* &return=count – Sets the number of articles to display. (0 for all). If omitted, 20 is assumed default.
* &sender=text – Sets the sender of each RSS item to the specified text
* &senderprefix=text – Begin the sender of each RSS item with the specified text
* &subject=text – Sets the subject of each RSS items to the specified text
* &subjectprefix=text – Begin the subject of each RSS item with the specified text
The most basic option for users is to use the base url with the &feed=URL parameter like in the following example:
http://picklemonkey.net/flipper/convert.php?feed=http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=109573938
This creates a valid RSS Feed for the Japanese 101 Podcast that is available in the iTunes store. The only problem that some users might have with Feed Flipper is the fact that everything depends on the availability of the script on the developer’s website. It is not possible to update feeds if this is temporarily or even permanently unreachable. It can also happen that Apple changes a core setting in their iTunes store which could lead to the program not working anymore. The developer has fixed those problems in the post however.
All information to use Feed Flipper are provided above. The developer’s homepage can be accessed here.
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It’s a neat tool, but then you have to rely on this web site for your feeds. The whole problem with iTunes is that it adds a layer to hide the RSS feed for non-iTunes user, and this is just doing the same thing.
Why not just have a tool to grab and reveal the actual RSS feed, thereby removing all layers to keep you from getting the content directly?
Misleading title, this doesn’t show use how to convert an itunes link so it can be used as a real rss and we don’t have to install the itunes bloatware
Feed flipper is an .. interesting take on the problem. The main problem with Feed Flipper (as stated) is that it now depends on this new third-party instead of just returning the actual URL they are using. Dont know why they chose to go that route.
Im here to let everyone know that a few months ago i was having the same problem and wrote a script to solve my woes, and now im sharing it with everyone. So if you want the ACTUAL url for the feed, visit http://itunes.so-nik.com and you can either search the iTunes store podcast directory directly, or you can insert the iTunes URL you already have and it will spit out the direct feed link that you can use to subscribe yourself.
You can find the source code in the html of any page, or search “Podcast URL Extractor” on google and it will be on a snipplr.com page (careful, many sites have archived an old copy of my source code from snipplr on sites like isnipet and others. fresh updated code is always on snipplr.com)
Thank you so much for this, after trying for 2 hours with no luck, I stumbled upon your solution and it worked right away.
Glad that it worked out for you.