Create a private RSS feed without paying a penny.
Tags: rss, github, dropbox
Published: 2020-09-13 15:19:39

<span>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@anniespratt?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Annie Spratt</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/penny?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></span>

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# Prerequisite
1. [Dropbox Basic](https://www.dropbox.com/basic)
2. [Github Pages](https://pages.github.com/)

# Steps
1. Upload your mp3/mp4 contents to Dropbox. Get a raw link by following [this step](https://zapier.com/learn/how-to/generate-direct-dropbox-link/).
2. Locally, follow [this article](https://www.thepolyglotdeveloper.com/2016/02/create-podcast-xml-feed-publishing-itunes/) to create an RSS file.
3. Commit your RSS file to your Github repo. Publish it as a Github page.
4. Make sure your RSS file path is valid with https://castfeedvalidator.com/. Some of the test results say warnings. As long as this is a private feed, you can ignore them.
5. Share the RSS file path to your community! Popular podcast apps (including Apple Podcast) have a way to import RSS URLs directly. Enjoy.

To be minimum, below worked. (The URL is no longer valid, as I was too embarrassed to keep it public).

```
<rss xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:rawvoice="http://www.rawvoice.com/rawvoiceRssModule/" version="2.0">
    <channel>
        <title>Podcast Title Here</title>
        <link>https://www.example.com</link>
        <image>
            <url>http://www.example.com/image3000x3000.png</url>
            <title>Podcast Title Here</title>
            <link>https://www.example.com</link>
        </image>
        <description>
            The full length description for your podcast
        </description>
        <language>en-us</language>
        <copyright>Yuta copyright 2016</copyright>
        <item>
          <title>Episode Name 2</title>
          <link>https://dl.dropbox.com/s/dff56030336b/YourVideoAudioFile.mp4</link>
          <pubDate>Sat, 02 Jan 2020 16:00:00 PDT</pubDate>
          <description>The full length episode 2 description</description>
          <enclosure url="https://dl.dropbox.com/s/dff56030336b/YourVideoAudioFile.mp4" length="36715125" type="audio/mpeg"/>
          <guid>https://dl.dropbox.com/s/dff56030336b/YourVideoAudioFile.mp4</guid>
        </item>
    </channel>
</rss>
```

## Misc TIL

* I didn't know that [`.mov` and `.mp4` are compatible with great extent](https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7120235)
* I'm not sure how protective this feed URL will become, only by specifying [robots.txt](https://github.com/RetSamys/private-RSS-feed/blob/master/robots.txt). Let me know your thoughts.
* If you're more serious about your audience, consider [paid](https://www.glow.fm/guides-tutorials/whatareprivatefeed) / [services](https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000877506-Add-my-private-RSS-feed-to-the-Apple-Podcast-app) 
* Finally, [another link](https://www.reddit.com/r/podcasting/comments/5s8u3m/podcast_rss_feed_spec_or_something/ddela5g/) I stumbled upon along the way. Thank you Internet!