Author Topic: Download links in full text stories (from Re: EP263: Fuel)  (Read 5461 times)

Dave

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Just wanted to comment that it looks like the entire text of the story is in this post.

Which is fine, but if you're going to do that, please put the download link at the top, so I don't have to scroll past the entire story to get to it.

Thanks!
« Last Edit: October 22, 2010, 12:11:32 PM by eytanz »

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Heradel

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Reply #1 on: October 22, 2010, 12:19:28 AM
Just wanted to comment that it looks like the entire text of the story is in this post.

Which is fine, but if you're going to do that, please put the download link at the top, so I don't have to scroll past the entire story to get to it.

Thanks!

Is there a particular reason you're not using a program like iTunes or another podcatcher to download the episodes?

And for the record/Anyone who missed the announcement: This is the first story where the full text has been published along with the audio. Going forward, all episodes should have it unless for whatever reason we're unable to secure electronic publications rights along with the audio rights and decide to still publish the story. ePub versions, such as you could use on a variety of eReaders will be forthcoming soon as we're still working out some of the details.

I Twitter. I also occasionally blog on the Escape Pod blog, which if you're here you shouldn't have much trouble finding.


eytanz

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Reply #2 on: October 22, 2010, 12:33:52 AM
Just wanted to comment that it looks like the entire text of the story is in this post.

Which is fine, but if you're going to do that, please put the download link at the top, so I don't have to scroll past the entire story to get to it.

Thanks!

Is there a particular reason you're not using a program like iTunes or another podcatcher to download the episodes?

Well, I can't speak for the original poster, but it seems reasonable to me that some people - especially those who listen to the stories on their computer rather than an MP3 player - will prefer to just get them off the blog. I've used the blog links myself, for example when I was visiting my parents and did not want to install software on their computers. I would have hated it if, while getting the download, I would have accidentally seen the ending of the story.



eytanz

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Reply #3 on: October 22, 2010, 12:42:32 AM
Note, however, that it is currently possible to get to the download link without seeing the full text of the story by looking at the front page of escapepod.org - it's just the full blog entry that places the link after the whole story.



Heradel

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Reply #4 on: October 22, 2010, 01:14:33 AM
Just wanted to comment that it looks like the entire text of the story is in this post.

Which is fine, but if you're going to do that, please put the download link at the top, so I don't have to scroll past the entire story to get to it.

Thanks!

Is there a particular reason you're not using a program like iTunes or another podcatcher to download the episodes?

Well, I can't speak for the original poster, but it seems reasonable to me that some people - especially those who listen to the stories on their computer rather than an MP3 player - will prefer to just get them off the blog. I've used the blog links myself, for example when I was visiting my parents and did not want to install software on their computers. I would have hated it if, while getting the download, I would have accidentally seen the ending of the story.

Yes, that's true. It was an honest question about why he was getting them from the blog. Obviously there are people who may listen from a work computer where the company bans programs like iTunes(because they are silly). The flash player and associated links for the episode are currently being added automatically by a plug-in to Wordpress, and may be difficult to modify so that they'd appear further up. I'd suggest Eytanz's excellent solution of using the main blog page instead of the individual blog post for now.

I Twitter. I also occasionally blog on the Escape Pod blog, which if you're here you shouldn't have much trouble finding.


wintermute

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Reply #5 on: October 22, 2010, 11:55:59 AM
For myself, I pull the episodes off the blog pages manually because it gives me maximal control without requiring too much effort. I've tried using podcatchers, but they all seemed to take more effort to make them do what I wanted than just doing it manually. If anyone has any recommendations, though, that would be appreciated.

I also recently switched from checking the main page to checking http://escapepod.org/category/podcasts/ so that I don't need to page down past non-story entries to see if there's a new episode. Unfortunately, the download link doesn't appear there, but at least I can see if there's something to get.

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Scattercat

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Reply #6 on: October 22, 2010, 04:08:57 PM
I subscribe on iTunes, but because iTunes is made of hate, I often don't run them from there if I have a browser window open.  Haven't visited lately 'cause I've been doing most of my listening while walking to and from work, but putting the sound file at the top rather than the bottom would certainly ease that transition.



Gamercow

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Reply #7 on: November 05, 2010, 07:46:15 PM
I don't use a podcatcher because:

a)I don't use Itunes on principle

b)For some of my podcasts, I don't want all episodes downloaded

c)I may or may not want to listen to my podcast at work or on my ancient mp3 player

d)I'm a control freak.  

Luckily, I do go into the main page to download, most times.

Edited to add:  Also, you have to consider people in the future who will be coming back to these stories as backlog.  Having to slog through full text to download may prove annoying.
« Last Edit: November 05, 2010, 08:31:59 PM by Gamercow »

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Heradel

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Reply #8 on: November 05, 2010, 09:18:54 PM
I feel like if you're really going to slog through the archive you should probably be grabbing one of the Escape Pod .torrents rather than going one by one. We'll take a look at moving the download links/flash player up, but that'll be somewhat of a recode of podpress so it may take a bit if we do it.

I'm always surprised at the iTunes hate. I've used it for year (on a Mac) and never had a real issue, so I can only imagine that the windows version is just horrific. (I also just have an automatic playlist in iTunes that collects podcasts from the last seven days that have not been listened to.)

And it might as well go here: for those of you that would like to use an eReader, the ePub/PDF versions of the stories should go live on Monday, barring hellfire and other disasters.

I Twitter. I also occasionally blog on the Escape Pod blog, which if you're here you shouldn't have much trouble finding.


CryptoMe

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Reply #9 on: November 05, 2010, 09:28:47 PM
I don't use a podcatcher because...

Back when I first subscribed to Escape Pod, iTunes wouldn't load those onto my shuffle properly. I had to go through a stupid song and dance to get the automatically downloaded podcasts loaded, but manually downloaded podcasts worked just fine. After a few months of not getting this sorted, I just gave up on the feed and got into the habit of manually downloading everything. I'm in no rush to change things, even though I understand iTunes has long fixed this problem.

 



Gamercow

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Reply #10 on: November 05, 2010, 10:50:01 PM
I'm always surprised at the iTunes hate.

Itunes deleted my whole library, twice.  And it hates my mp3 player(old iRiver)

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Wilson Fowlie

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Reply #11 on: November 08, 2010, 09:25:27 PM
I don't use iTunes, either, though I do use a Podcatcher.  Occasionally there are glitches when server indexes are reset or something (not sure on the details) and it starts to download a whole bunch of old files I already have, but it only happens occasionally and is easily fixed, so I accept it in return for getting my podcasts automatically.

(You people do know that there are other podcatchers besides iTunes, right?  I still use good ol' Juice - emphasis on the 'old' - though lately I've been mulling the idea of trying out Miro; I hear it's pretty good.)

I resent having to install iTunes on my computer in order to use their download service.  Amazon and other MP3 sellers don't make me do that, so why should iTunes?  Bugs me, so I vote with my dollars.  On the rare occasions I buy MP3s, it isn't from them.

Plus, my MP3 player is a generic one, the kind you can just attach to the computer and it behaves like a flash drive.  No special programs required for getting content on and off the thing, which means iTunes just gets in the way, if it'll let me use the device at all, which I'm not sure of.

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CryptoMe

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Reply #12 on: November 09, 2010, 02:41:15 AM
Well, I love my old iPod shuffle, so I am stuck using iTunes :( 
And there's no point installing yet another program just for podcatching.
Besides, it gets me to look at the newly revamped Escape Pod blog regularly...  :)



Devoted135

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Reply #13 on: November 30, 2010, 05:34:36 PM
I have a question about the download link on the blog. Regardless of which link I click on, it simply starts playing the episode in a new tab of my browser. Is there a way to download older episodes it into my Itunes? I'm sure I'm just missing something silly, but I've run out of links to click on...  ???



Talia

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Reply #14 on: November 30, 2010, 06:19:51 PM
I have a question about the download link on the blog. Regardless of which link I click on, it simply starts playing the episode in a new tab of my browser. Is there a way to download older episodes it into my Itunes? I'm sure I'm just missing something silly, but I've run out of links to click on...  ???

Have you tried right clicking the link and choosing save link as..?



Devoted135

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Reply #15 on: November 30, 2010, 06:52:26 PM
Have you tried right clicking the link and choosing save link as..?

Ok, I was able to save it to my desktop and then drag it into my Itunes? Hopefully that should work, I'll just have to repeat once at home and load onto my ipod from there. Thanks so much for your help! :)



Talia

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Reply #16 on: November 30, 2010, 07:10:51 PM
Yeah. There ARE ways to download old episodes directly via ITunes too - you have to subscribe, and then a list of episodes appears under the podcast name, and I think you right click the episode you want or something...

I don't have ITunes handy right now so I can't be more exact, but I've done it before.



Heradel

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Reply #17 on: November 30, 2010, 07:37:00 PM
Yeah. There ARE ways to download old episodes directly via ITunes too - you have to subscribe, and then a list of episodes appears under the podcast name, and I think you right click the episode you want or something...

I don't have ITunes handy right now so I can't be more exact, but I've done it before.

This is true, but it only goes back so far. RSS has some limitations on how far back we can include episodes in the feed unfortunately, so for very old episodes (of which we have more than a few), downloading via the blog or via bittorrent is going to be the way to go.

I Twitter. I also occasionally blog on the Escape Pod blog, which if you're here you shouldn't have much trouble finding.