Wednesday, July 5,2006 @ 3:35pm
Apple updates podcast categories
Apple has updated its categories for podcasts, and is requesting that podcasters update their feeds as soon as possible. While Apple has said nothing of what will happen to existing podcasts, the company suggests that podcasters listed on iTunes update their feeds to avoid complications. "Today we launched a revised set of categories for podcasts listed in the iTunes Music Store. We're sending you this email to let you know how to change your podcast feed to accommodate these changes. The revised categories and subcategories are listed at the bottom of this message. Please take the time to change your podcast feed as soon as possible," Apple wrote.
"Please note that we will support the use of the old category names for the next few months, so there is no immediate deadline for making these changes. We will send another message before discontinuing support for the old category names."
"When we read your RSS feed, we capture and store up to 3 category+subcategory pairs, and we use all of them to populate the browse lists that you see when you click the "Browse" link in the Music Store. However, the first category+subcategory pair listed in your feed is the most important, since it is the one listed as the Category field on your podcast page, and it is the only one used to map your podcast into the category feature pages."
"Most of the old categories and subcategories are now automatically mapped to corresponding ones within the new system. For example, if your podcast was listed under "Arts & Entertainment > Photography", it will now appear under "Arts > Visual Arts." However, 3 categories have been removed and do not have a similar replacement: "International", "Talk Radio", and "Public Radio". Those categories overlapped with others in the old system, making some podcasts difficult to find. If one of these categories is listed as the first subject in your podcast feed, that category information will be ignored and the second category will be used to determine eligibility and placement in that feature page."
"Changes to your categories may take 1-2 weeks from the time you edit your feed, so please review and add new category data as soon as possible to ensure your podcast is listed appropriately. New categories and subcategories that did not exist in the old browse structure will appear as podcasts are mapped to them."