The only list I know of that lists aggregators and whether multiple
enclosures is supported is
http://www.cadenhead.org/workbench/news/2425/rss-20-enclosure-support
Part of the "confusion" is that Dave Winer, the creator of the RSS
2.0 specification, has stated that multiple enclosures was not
intended. If you read the specification, this "intention" is not
explicit, but is implied by the use of the singular "enclosure"
within the specification. By XML definition, technically any ELEMENT
(such as the enclosure element) can be simply listed multiple times,
but of course this use must be supported by the specification or DTD
(which was not supplied originally). Essentially what happened is
that each aggregator and/or tool developer interpreted the
specification a different way. Leading to where we are now.
Another difficulty is whether multiple enclosures should be treated
in an "AND" or "OR" combination. For example, if you have two
enclosures and one is a higher bitrate version of the other one,
then that is an "OR" relationship. If you have two enclosures and
one is video about your dog and another is a "DOGCAM" from your
dog's perspective (attached to the collar!) then that would be
an "AND" relationship where the viewer might want to watch both.
The generally agreed method for including multiple enclosures is the
Media RSS specification which allows any combination of these "AND"
or "OR" relationships. You could have two photo albums available in
two different resolutions and each album could be selected by the
user.
The biggest advantage of this is that you could have one video with
two different pixel sizes: 320x240 and 15fps suitable for portable
playback, and one with 720x480 and 30fps suitable for my big screen
TV.
It is not only the aggregators that need to recognize the Media RSS
format, it is the tools used to create the feeds, and it is iTunes
that will need to support this format. But good luck with that last
one. We all move to the iTunes drum when it means the difference
between 1,000 viewers and 10,000 viewers. Incidently, there is a way
to support it all: 1) use itunes-specific elements, 2) use a single
enclosure element, and 3) use the Media RSS media:content or
media:group element as per the Media RSS specification. I think they
will all work "together" in the same feed, plus it should be
backwards compatible.
Get ready for some light-hearted ribbing!
Markus wrote:
"this it the problem with using aggregators
if you rely on them solely, you will miss out on some content (and
not
just text)"
And of course if you rely on your browser solely, you will have a
bad back from your desk chair you should have replaced in 1983.
"it seems like it's time for the aggregators to catch up and deal
with this issue"
[insert standard developer-to-developer finger pointing here]
It's really a chicken-and-egg-type issue as I'm sure you know. We've
stepped up and "solved" the one-tap ("feed://" scheme) and the
confusing RSS url (Autodiscovery), but the tools that would use them
have not been very forthcoming (or popular). And anyways, noone
wants to learn all this crap and then check to see if their tools
support it. You can't immediately control whether someone lists your
URL with the "feed://" scheme. And it's difficult to point people to
your homepage and let them enter that into their aggregator (which
requires your homepage and the aggregator to support Autodiscovery).
Until the tools are created (or modified) to generate these things
automatically, support from aggregators will be slow.
SO: start asking the developer of your creation tools to support
Media RSS, Autodiscovery, feed:// scheme, and while you're at it:
OPML lists, RSS <source> elements, and accurate pubDate times (we
are in DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME people! Most tools in California seem
to be stamping PST times during the summer!! I didn't know you were
already IN THE PACIFIC ocean!).
Let's see....what else...more later...I'm sure....
Greg Smith
Author, FeederReader - Pocket PC *direct* RSS text, audio, video,
podcasts
www.FeederReader.com - Download on the Road
--- In [email protected], Markus Sandy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>
> the easiest solution is often not the best one
> i link to more than one piece of media in some of my posts
> i noticed that there are others doing this now too
> i do not constrain myself to one photo per post, why should I do
it for
> other forms of media?
> this it the problem with using aggregators
> if you rely on them solely, you will miss out on some content (and
not
> just text)
> it seems like it's time for the aggregators to catch up and deal
with
> this issue
>
> markus
>
> Steve Watkins wrote:
>
> >Yes unfortunately there are all sorts of potential issues which
crop
> >up if people have more than one enclosure per post.
> >
> >Unfortunately yes the easiest solution is to have a seperate blog
> >entry for every audio/video file.
> >
>
>
> --
>
> My name is Markus Sandy and I am app.etitio.us
>
> http://apperceptions.org
> http://digitaldojo.blogspot.com
> http://spinflow.org
> http://wearethemedia.com
> http://www.corante.com/events/feedfest/
>
> aim/ichat: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> msn: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> skype: msandy
> spin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
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