Basic Podcast Library, Based On Audio Books

[HouseOfCards 95]

I've been tinkering a bit and was wondering if it would be a big undertaking to define an additional "Podcast" library type? 

I understand the metadata problems, etc...  I'm not suggesting anything other than copying the "Audio Book" template and changing it to "Podcast".  I occasionally come across a podcast that I'd like to save, and can edit the metadata and artwork myself.  I add it to an "Audio Books" library and tweak the metadata...  It works reasonably well, and allows you to continue listening for long podcast episodes.

The reason for the thought is that regardless of this scenario working fine, the labels use the "Audio Books" tag.  So you'll see a "Latest Audio Books" rather than "Latest Podcasts", and other interface-related quirks like that.  All I'm suggesting is to give us a template named properly for podcasts, with a disclaimer that it is a self-managed library (i.e; no metadata).  I'm not looking for URL management and automatic downloads.  Just a cleaner way of doing it ourselves.  If I want to subscribe to a podcast, there are a million other ways to do that.  If I want to SAVE certain ones I deem important, well Emby is where my media is.  I think a clean way to browse your own collection would be great, especially if it's using the same basic code the devs already have.

/Podcast Name/Season 2023
/Podcast Name/Season 2024/Podcast Name.mp3

...is how I store them...

At least that's a step in the right direction, if it's feasible?

Thanks.

[Luke 42077]

Hi, try renaming the library and then the Latest title should reflect that.

[HouseOfCards 95]

Hey there...

Yes, it says "Podcasts" on the home screen as expected, but if you click the "Podcasts" library, it will still say "Latest Audio Books" on the suggestions tab for example.  It doesn't propagate everywhere.

[ebr 16169]

 

[HouseOfCards 95]

I've read through a lot of the content around podcasts also when looking for a way to handle them.   It seems many people want enhanced functionality for Emby to be a full-featured podcast management/player, which isn't what I'm suggesting.  There are already a ton of ways to subscribe to podcasts, but SAVING episodes which one finds particularly informative is what this request would improve.  Most podcasts get listened to, then forgotten.  But occasionally I find one I'd like to save, and I'd like them to be available alongside my other media.  The audio book library type is the best I could come up with.

The existing audio book library type covers most of the bases, in that it saves the playback position.  That's critical for episodes that can be multiple hours long.  If I tag items like this...

...it works fairly well, but I get quirks...

All in all, this works well enough to browse what you've saved. 

Maybe the real point here should be to just consider the "suggestions" tab a bug?  If it were corrected to show "Latest LIBRARY NAME" instead of "Latest CONTENT TYPE", it would show these obscure libraries suggestions better (i.e.; not calling the latest podcasts, latest audio books)...?  I'm also not sure how a Mixed Content library would show...  I've never tried that.

Anyhow, this is just a quirk I wanted to point out.

Have a great day...

[Luke 42077]

What you're saying makes sense, I just don't think a new content type is the way to do it just to get the headings changed. That will be unstainable because others will want more based on other things. So we should try to find a better way than that.

[Tremas 197]

There are some ongoing discussions about this idea.

Please see my thoughts in the following post regarding the concept of Audio Series which relates to podcasts, audio/radio dramas, audio storybooks, etc:

"For Audio Series it is a very similar approach and use the audio book library type. However, in an ideal presentation it would be more similar to TV. These series would have proper cast and crew lists which would integrate with the People view used for TV and Movies. Want to see that Ian Holm played Bilbo in the BBC Radio Series - it's right there in his credits under "people." Want full episode descriptions with navigation and continue listening working like TV - it could be done, but it would be different from what you want from books. So while the underlying files and metadata would be a similar setup, I suggest that the library type for Audio Series should have a different display and navigation. That's what I mean by "rethink.""

 

[HouseOfCards 95]

I don't know what type of effect it would have, but maybe my previous suggestion makes sense if you missed it...  Rather than a bunch of new library types, just make the visual cues a little more uniform.

When you click on a library, the Suggestions tab uses the content type for a heading (i.e.; "Latest Audio Books") instead of the library name ("Latest Podcasts").  I also have two music libraries, and they both suggest "Latest Music" (which works in this case), but it wouldn't hurt my feelings if it used the name again "Latest Music" and "Latest Classical Music".  Just using the library name would fix this visual oddity, but I'm not sure if others wouldn't like it...?

Doing this would at least remove that obvious visual reminder that the library type doesn't really reflect the content accurately throughout the GUI...  And would allow other libraries to be created without highlighting what type of library is being used to host any other kinds of media people may have.  I mean, if you make a library called "Television Commercials", it wouldn't suggest something awkward like "Latest Movies" for that library.  It would just say "Latest Television Commercials"...

If that makes sense?

Just my two cents.  Have a great day.

[Tremas 197]

It makes sense. None of these suggestions negate any others. Better naming across the board would be valuable - per your "TV Commercials" example.