Although Apple ’s new iTunes 4.9 hasearned sunniness from psychoanalyst and podcasters alike , the new syllabus also has some jeering due to its use of RSS metadata , among them the man largely responsible for both RSS and podcasting .
to rescue MP3 content via the iTunes Music Store ( iTMS ) , however , Apple wants podcasters to add special iTunes - only metadata — or extensions — to their RSS feeds . Although a few publishersalready supportiTunes metadata , most podcasters will have to add together these extensions to their RSS course if they want to comply with Apple ’s specs .
The extensions delineate descriptive data point for podcasts , such as author , length , and whether or not a podcast contain “ denotative ” content . Apple uses these description to categorize and delineate podcasts on the iTMS . Although podcasters are not demand to contribute Apple ’s extensions , the new metadata has withal caused some to cry foul .
Since some of Apple ’s elongation are already covered by live RSS , boast critic debate , that Apple ’s extensions are unnecessary and dilute the RSS stipulation . Edd Dumbill , author ofMono : A Developer ’s Notebook , who publicly chastised Apple ’s iTunes RSS carrying out on his situation , take note that the reference for the most part discount the be work that has gone into RSS growing .
“ From a community point of view , there ’s a significant convergence with the RSS Media extension study , led by Yahoo ! , ” Dumbill told Playlist via email . “ RSS has been very community - focused in its development , and it is sure a shame that Apple have act unilaterally , at the same time as benefiting from all the previous community work . ”
Dave Winer , who developed RSS and created the enclosure constituent that makes podcasting possible , dismissed some of these Apple element altogether .
“ I suggest cut the itunes : family ingredient , their software seems to work fine without it,”writes Winer . In the same Charles William Post , Winer chastises Apple , noting “ it would have been really smart to refresh this stuff with the community before releasing their software . ”
Another concern is that by adding extensions specifically design for iTunes , Apple is twist an unresolved measure into a proprietary one , or at least one utilitarian only to iTunes . The iTunes elements are define by the utilisation of particular tag , such as the generator rag : < itunes : generator > . Critics argue that since the rag contains the word “ iTunes , ” an Apple trademark , other companies are not probable to support the extensions . So although the tags add more datum to the provender , that data is only utile to iTunes , and does not generally enhance the RSS spec .
As Winer notes , “ I call back it ’s kind of a bad idea to use a trademark in the name of a namespace . I think Apple may repent doing this . Also their competitors , already object to the usance of ‘ pod ’ in the name of the class , may further object to supporting info with a earmark of a competition as its name . Come on Apple , we can do easily . ”
Mathew Honanis a San Francisco - establish writer and lensman . His work has also appeared in Macworld , Wired , Time , and Salon .
For more on podcasting , please see the podcasting topic Sir Frederick Handley Page .
