Use Automator to get podcast enclosures

I wanted an easy way to download a single enclosure from a podcast feed everyday. I also didn't want to use iTunes, because this download would need to sync with my Palm Centro for an alarm, and iTunes stinks at exporting things. So I used Automator and iCal to do it. I thought I would save someone else the trouble by listing the steps here. This is the feed URL I was interested in: http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=510101 -- the single enclosure is a daily poem in the form of an MP3 file.

Here are the Automator steps:

Internet » Get Specified URLs (here is where you put the feed URL)
Internet » Get Enclosure URLs from Articles
Internet » Download URLs (specify a folder to save the MP3 to)

That's it! You now have the podcast without using any extra apps. I also have Automator (after a five-second pause) get the new file, rename it to daily poem, and move it to a new folder. It then gets synced to my Palm with the Missing Sync app.

This was all saved as an iCal plug-in with Automator, and runs every morning at 7AM.

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Use Automator to get podcast enclosures
Authored by: joshforman on Thu, Jul 24 2008 at 8:59AM PDT

Is this Leopard-only? I don't have an "internet" in Automator, just Safari.

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Josh Forman

http://www.joshforman.com/

Use Automator to get podcast enclosures
Authored by: anika123 on Thu, Jul 24 2008 at 10:28AM PDT

The actions used are under Safari and RSS. I have no idea if they are the same in Tiger. I used Leopard to do this.

Use Automator to get podcast enclosures
Authored by: chrischram on Thu, Jul 24 2008 at 10:14AM PDT

<<Internet » Download URLs (specify a folder to save the MP3 to)>>

One of the podcasts I subscribe to is often problematic; the download craps out before the whole file is retrieved. I wrote an Automator script quite similar to this one in hopes that it would alleviate the problem. Unfortunately that was not an adequate solution.

I modified my script to use wget (either as a shell command or imbedded in an AppleScript) instead of Download, but can't seem to find the correct syntax to pass the filename to a subsequent action that will import the podcast into iTunes.

Anyone have a clue-by-four to hit me upside the head?

Use Automator to get podcast enclosures
Authored by: anika123 on Thu, Jul 24 2008 at 10:25AM PDT

you may get something useful out of this hint

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?query=cache&story=20060522155056531

Also, during my hours of searching for a way to do this I did find a guy using applescript and wget but can't remember where (sorry, not helpful but the info is out there).

Use Automator to get podcast enclosures
Authored by: chrischram on Thu, Jul 24 2008 at 8:13PM PDT

I devised a profoundly ugly hack to find the file wget had just downloaded.

I run the 'Find Finder Items' action and tell it to look in my downloads folder for an .mp3 file that was created Today. After that I can 'Import Files into iTunes.'

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