Here at Mixlr HQ, one of the most frequent feature requests we’ve received is the ability to subscribe to a broadcaster’s live shows in iTunes.
We already offer our broadcasters 1-click export to SoundCloud, Dropbox, Audioboo and Mixcloud. But we also understand that for podcasting, iTunes is an essential tool.
So today, we’re rolling out full iTunes support in Mixlr. Let’s take a closer look.
Easy live podcasting on Mixlr
Firstly, we’ve made it easy to manage the way your podcast appears in iTunes.
Just visit your Edit Profile page, and click on Edit my iTunes podcast profile.
You’ll be able to edit your podcast’s title and subtitle, iTunes categories, keywords and other meta-data. All these fields are optional, but filling them with content relevant to your podcast mean that more listeners will find you when they search in iTunes.
Adding a new episode
We’ve integrated iTunes into our existing export system. Adding a new episode to your podcast couldn’t be easier. After you’ve saved a live broadcast, just click on the Export button to find a new option.
Click through, and you’ll have the option to add a title, subtitle and keywords to this individual episode.
Once you’ve done, click on Export once again: your podcast will be published to iTunes, and is ready to download!
As you may have noticed, we’ve built this feature so that saved broadcasts are not automatically published to iTunes after you save a broadcast. This means that you have the freedom to choose which broadcasts are, and which aren’t, exported to iTunes.
Next step: subscribing in iTunes.
Subscribing is easy.
To subscribe to your own Mixlr podcast, open iTunes and select the Advanced/Subscribe to Podcast… menu.
Then, enter the link to your Mixlr page.
After clicking Ok, your latest episodes will start to download. As you publish new episodes, iTunes will automatically update itself and download the episode within 24 hours.
If you’ve already exported at least one live broadcast to iTunes, then it’s even easier for your listeners to subscribe. They can simply click on the Subscribe in iTunes link on your Mixlr profile page.
Listener analytics.
We’re working on advanced statistics features, but we know that download statistics are important for podcasters. So for now we’ve included basic statistics on the number of downloads your podcast has in total on your Edit Profile page.
We’ve also added monthly and all-time download counts for each individual episode on your saved broadcast page (you’ll have to be signed in to see them).
Free for all.
Broadcasters on our free plan can have their listeners download up to 100 episodes per month.
If your listeners exceed your download limit, then we’ll send you an email to let you know. To avoid any listeners being disappointed, you can grab a premium account.
A Mixlr premium account costs just £4.99 per month, and also includes pro-quality live broadcasting and extra features.
Mixlr premium account holders can have their listeners download up to 1,000 downloads per month.
Sign up for a Mixlr premium account now.
(By the way - if you think you’ll need even more download credit than this, then drop us a line - we’ll figure something out).
Conclusion
We’ve worked hard to integrate Mixlr with iTunes, and we hope the feature proves to be a useful tool for our podcasting community.
As usual, we want to hear your feedback. If there’s something we can improve then tell us: hit us on Facebook, Twitter or our contact page and let us have it.
Happy podcasting.
Greg, Rob and The Mixlr team
