Podcasts in AudioSilo: your shows beside your books

AudioSilo now plays podcasts. A podcast library sits on your server beside your audiobooks: find shows, follow them, and play any episode, even one your server hasn’t downloaded yet.

Your server still never writes to your folders. A Bridge, AudioSilo’s optional companion container, reads the feeds and downloads the episodes.

What it needs

• A paired Bridge, version 0.3.0 or later. See Running a Bridge.
• The Podcasts module, turned on under Server > Settings > Modules in the admin console. It starts off, and pairing a Bridge doesn’t turn it on.
• App 2.4.0 or later, or the web player. Older app builds don’t show podcasts at all. The web player updates with your server, so it has podcasts as soon as your server is on 2.4.0.

For the admin: a podcast library

1. In the console, go to Library > Libraries > Add library.
2. Choose Podcasts as the Kind, with a name and a folder. Leave Give everyone access ticked so every listener can follow shows.
3. Mount that folder read-write in the Bridge. The server keeps its read-only mount.
4. Wait for the library to show as Ready under Server > Settings > Bridge.
5. Turn the module on.

Each show has a retention policy that all its followers share:

Policy	What it does
Keep N (default Keep 3)	Keeps the newest episodes. An older one can go once every current follower has finished it and a grace period (seven days by default) has passed.
On demand	Downloads an episode when someone plays it, plus at most one more from a listener’s queue.
Archive	Downloads every episode and never deletes.

Deleting an episode removes only its audio. The listing, progress and bookmarks stay.

For the listener: shows in the Library

Pick a podcast library in the Library’s picker (it has a microphone beside its name). Shows is a grid of every show you can see, with chips for All and Following.

On a show’s page:

• Each episode says where its audio is: Ready on your server, Plays on demand, or on its way.
• A show told in order lists oldest first; others newest first. You can switch.
• Follow brings its new episodes to New episodes on Home. Everyone who follows a show shares the same downloads.

Episodes stay off your book shelves and out of book search, but one you’re partway through shows in Continue listening.

Finding shows

Add shows, above the Shows grid, offers up to three ways in:

• Search a podcast directory (Apple Podcasts by default; an admin can add Podcast Index or turn search off). Searches go through your server, so the directory sees your server’s address, not yours.
• Feed address follows a show by its RSS address. Turn on Private feed for a paid or members-only feed.
• Import a list takes an OPML file from another podcast app (up to 1 MB). See How to move your podcast subscriptions with OPML.

A new show waits under Shows being added until the Bridge has fetched it, or says why it Couldn’t add. Export my shows, in the Shows … menu, saves your shows as OPML.

Playing an episode the server doesn’t have yet

Press Play on an episode that Plays on demand. The player shows Getting this episode with its progress, then starts it by itself. Whatever you were playing keeps going meanwhile.

Cancel only stops the player waiting; the server still finishes the download. If it fails, the player says why and offers Try again.

Good to know

• Who can add shows: it needs the module on, the Bridge online and full access to the library. Kids’ accounts and the demo can’t.
• Private feeds are seen only by their followers, admins included. The Bridge keeps the address encrypted, and they’re never exported.
• Imports go five new shows at a time; the player sends the next batch while the page is open. Re-importing the same file is safe. A feed that failed in the last hour is skipped, so try it again on its own.
• Check for new episodes, on a show you follow, asks the server to look now (once a minute per show). From server 2.5.0 it waits for the check, then shows what’s new.
• Show policy is set through the server’s API for now. The admin guide’s Podcasts page has the calls.
• Limits: up to five episodes on their way per listener.
• Not yet: downloading episodes to your phone, podcasts in Kids mode, and casting an episode.

More

The listening guide’s Podcasts page has every screen, including Adding shows. The admin guide’s Podcasts page covers libraries, retention, storage and private feeds. New to running your own server? Start with Self-hosted audiobook server.