If you have listened to YouTube talk shows, you must have had the same problem as me: if you can listen to it on my favorite podcast app, it would be great! Podcasting software has unique advantages in content distribution: it supports automatic download of new programs, historical progress saving, multi-device synchronization, offline listening, which is far better than opening YouTube and staring at the screen (only youtube premium supports background playback).
The open-source and free software Podsync introduced today is able to solve these needs. It turns the YouTube channel into an RSS feed that can be subscribed to by podcasting software, bringing the podcasting features to YouTube content.
I kept a Raspberry Pi at home for a long time and ran Podsync. Not long after the new video of the subscribed YouTube channel was released, I could receive the notification that the podcast software was automatically downloaded.
Most of the programs that I choose to listen to in the form of podcasts are news and talk shows that start at 15 minutes. Most of the screens of this kind of program are the host talking to the camera, and there are few charts and data appearing on the screen, which is suitable for listening during commuting. From video to audio, there is almost no loss of information in the program.
In addition, for the update frequency of different programs, I set the corresponding refresh frequency. News films have high timeliness requirements and are set to refresh every hour; for science and technology news, they are set every half day.
Podsync covers the three major desktop systems and Docker. I recommend installing the software on a headless machine that is powered on for a long time to ensure that you can always receive the latest program push. Raspberry Pi and NAS are good carriers.
Podsync turns video into a category similar to podcasts. The difference between real podcasts is the listening experience. There is no music between segments and the quality of speech is relatively low. Before podcasts reach universal popularity, Podsync is a good transition tool. More and more head producers on YouTube are experimenting with podcasts, MKBHD’s Waveform, Unbox Therapy’s Lew Later, and the production quality are high. This trend can’t help but make people look forward to it.
Podsync history
Podsync used to be a website. After users paste the target channel link to the website, they get an RSS link. Later, based on the cost of the self-built server and copyright risk, the server was also blacklisted by YouTube for a long time. The author decided to close the service, publish it to GitHub.
Similar services include ListenBox, which is divided into free and paid functions.
Features
Podsync is very powerful. It not only supports dual platforms of YouTube and Vimeo, but also has complete customization options. For details, please refer to official documents (including QNAP tutorials), such as:
- AWS one-click deployment
- cron scheduled task
- Support API key rotation (for users with the high demand)
- Support reverse proxy
Configuration file (excerpt):
url = “{FEED_URL}” # URL link, support channel, group, user, or playlist
page_size = 50 # The number of programs to be queried for each update
update_period = “12h” # Update frequency
quality = “high” # download quality
format = “video” # format, video or audio
custom = {cover_art = “{IMAGE_URL}}”, cover_art_quality = “high”, category = “TV”, subcategories = [“Documentary”, “Tech News”], explicit = true, lang = “en”} # After generation Podcast options, cover art, category
filters = {title = “regex for title here”, not_title = “regex for negative title match”, description = “…”, not_description = “…”} # download only the content defined by the regular expression
opml = true|false # output OPML file (usually used as batch import/export feed format)
clean = {keep_last = 10} # How many episodes of the latest programs to keep (according to the release date)
Generate feed
After setting the above configuration, running the software can subscribe to programs through the Feed link, and each program has its own link, like https://example.com/podcast_name.xml. If OPML is set, you can subscribe to multiple programs with one click.
Setting up Podsync is not difficult, and it only took half an hour to set it up for the first time. If you encounter any problems, please raise them in the comments.
Conclusion
Podcasting liberated my hands and eyes. I can continue to absorb information and broaden my horizons while commuting. Podsync transforms more content into podcasts, and YouTube, the world’s largest streaming media platform, is now included in the podcast App.
Podsync is currently published on GitHub, open-source and free.
