Podracer 1.4 review
DownloadPodracer is a podcast downloader
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Podracer is a podcast downloader. It takes a file with the URLs to all your podcast rss feeds and goes and gets the mp3s and stores them in a specified location. Podracer is a Bourne Shell script with an internal BitTorrent downloader written in Python.
Here are some key features of "Podracer":
Catchup feature updates the log without downloading all podcasts
Run as a cron job to automatically receive podcasts
Properly fails (with no error message for the sake of cron) if already running
Download podcast enclosures of any file format
Support for BitTorrent downloading and seeding of podcasts
Configurable seed time management - seed torrents for an hour or a day
Background torrent seeding continues after program ends and stops automatically
System-wide and user-specific configuration
User-specific subscription file and podcast download directories
Commentable subscription file - go ahead and mark it up
Fully configurable placement of files and directories
Support for dynamic creation of download directories, i.e. based on date/time
Appears in podcasters' logs as a podcast receiver
Automatic creation of m3u playlists
User may request that m3u not be created
Automatic removal of empty download directories
Your suggestions...
Requirements:
Podracer does require a few things to make it run. here I am listing the requirements which may not be installed on a standard Unix system:
A Bourne-compatible shell (/bin/sh) - tested using bash and ksh
Python - required by BitTorrent
BitTorrent - the original client by Bram Cohen
Screen - required for background torrent seeding
Curl - http/ftp file downloader
Timeout - run a program for a specified time: normally only available as part of a larger package that is used for "post-mortem analysis of a UNIX system after a breakin", I have included it in the Podracer distribution to be installed automatically if you don't already have it.
What's New in This Release:
This release no longer hangs when a download stalls.
It now follows redirections properly.
Blank lines in the subscription file are ignored.
Feeds without line breaks now work properly.
It is possible to get the version number from the command line.
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