Full chapter text in feeds

I received some feedback requesting that the full chapter text be included as part of the feed. ScriptureCast.net has never been about providing content, instead just linking to content. All the chapters and audio files remain on their original servers at LDS.org. I'm uncomfortable with providing any more than short excerpts as part of the feed.

However, for those who do want more than an excerpt as part of the feed, I have a solution for you. Yahoo! Pipes is a service which allows for manipulations of data sources and feeds. I've created a pipe that will automatically fetch the chapter text from LDS.org and include it along with the feed. Here is how you use it:

• Create your custom feed at www.ScriptureCast.net
• Copy the feed url.
• Go to http://pipes.yahoo.com/jacob/fullpage and paste the ScriptureCast URL in the box that says "Feed URL" and click the "Run Pipe" button
• Subscribe to the output of the feed using on the the methods provided by Yahoo!

I hope this helps. If many people start using it, I might create better pipes that filter out page headers/footers or I might include links to the pipes from ScriptureCast.net .

New Years Resolution: Loose Weight!

Happy New Year! To celebrate 2008, we are loosing weight, at least we are loosing the obese URLs from the site. Now all the URLs for feeds and preview pages created by the site are short and simple!

Old URL format:
http://feed.scripturecast.net/r/?start_time=1188579465&ratio=110.5432&volume=1&min_seconds=74715&type=rss2&check=34cd7

New URL format:
http://feed.scripturecast.net/web/1884d4d.html

Hopefully these new URLs will look less scary and be more easily cut and pasted into various pod-catching programs as needed.

The smaller URLs also have allowed us to keep better individual feed statistics. Viewing the "Preview Page" will now also show you which audio files you've already downloaded.

I'm thinking about renaming the "Preview Page" idea to something else like "Web View" (or maybe use both names).

Fixed some 3 Nephi summary encodings

Some of the character encodings for the summaries in some of the chapters in 3 Nephi were bad, and thus, iTunes choked on the podcast feed. I found this myself as my progression through the scriptures hit 3 Nephi 12.

The problem is fixed now, and iTunes seems to be downloading 3 Nephi chapters as usual.

Also, while I was at it, I removed some bad links from the chapter summaries. (There were some relative links pointing to Matthew).

Audio file tracking

If you look closely at the source code for the RSS podcast feeds that we create, you will notice that the addresses for the enclosed audio files have changed. They now look something like http://feed.scripturecast.net/a/?id=###. These URLs will redirect to the actual audio file from the source site. They also allow us to keep usage statistics on the audio files.

There is a rate chance that some pod-catchers will re-download the audio files.

Change of algorithm

Today I changed the algorithm that determines what chapters to push out when on the "Set rate by end date" feeds.

Unfortunately, the change means that current feed subscribes will jump forward by about one chapter in their progression. I apologize about any problems that may result from this change. ScriptureCast.net is still in beta, so changes like these aren't totally unexpected.

In feeds created with "Set rate by end date," new chapters are pushed out at variable rates determined by the length of the chapter. This new algorithm waits a short time after short chapters and a long time after long chapters before pushing out the next chapter.

End of feed bug

I'm aware of a bug where there is an error given when the feed has run out of chapters to push. The problem is that the system is looking for chapters beyond the end of the book and they just don't exists.

Update 8/28/07: I fixed this bug that was showing itself with long expired "Set rate manually" feeds.

Character encoding

One of the last remaining bugs that I will have to conquer before launching is getting all the character encoding set to be the same. When I inserted the summaries for the Doctrine and Covenants, somehow the encoding for such was different than the encoding for the summaries of The Book of Mormon. This will have to be straightened out so that users don't see weird characters coming up.

Doctrine and Covenants added

Today I added the full Doctrine and Covenants. This is in addition to the Book of Mormon which has been available. You can create your custom D&C podcast the same way you create your custom Book of Mormon podcast.

I haven't fully tested the D&C (or for that matter, the Book of Mormon) so if you find a chapter or feature that doesn't work, your feedback would be appreciated.

Better calculations

Today I improved some of the algorithms to give a more accurate minutes per day measure when creating a podcast that ends on a specific date.

In doing that, I was able to display on the creation page about how many minutes per day average you would listen too dynamically, to help you choose a good ending date.

When you are finally done creating the feed, it also gives you a link to preview your feed, which is also a good way to listen to the audio or get at links to the full text.

Flash Players

The podcast feeds contain a link back to a web page which is another way of viewing the feed. The page contains links to the full chapter text, the MP3 audio file, and the chapter summary.

Today I added a new feature which allows you to listen to the audio right on the page, using an embedded flash player to play the sound file.

Feedback appreciated

I'm really excited to fully announce this website, but I would like to get some feedback from some users before I do. If you have any suggestions or comments, simply comment on this post. Thank you for the feedback, it should help in making podcast feeds better.

Beginning in beta

A few years ago, a member of my family made some comment about wanting to have chapters of the Book of Mormon emailed to him daily so that he would remember to keep up with his reading goals. This week, I am launching the beta for ScriptureCast.net, a service which would help people who would like technology to help them stay consistent with the scripture reading goals.

ScriptureCast.net allows users to create custom podcast feeds of the scriptures. The user can create a specify the rate with which they want to progress through the scriptures, and a podcast feed will be created matching the specified rate. The user can then subscribe to the feed with their favorite podcast or newsfeed reading program, such as iTunes, MyYahoo, or Google Reader.

Chapters of scriptures are pushed out on the podcast feed as the specified rate. If the user selected to read 4 chapters a day, a new chapter will be pushed out every 6 hours. The user can choose to read new chapters throughout the day, or let them queue up to read all at once. If the user selected to finish a volume of scripture by a particular date, the rate that chapters are pushed out depends on the length of the scripture, as short chapters will be pushed out more rapidly than long chapters.

The podcast feeds include links to both the audio and text of the chapters, so even if you want to read the chapters, listen to the narration, or both, you can do just that. Please note however, that text and audio support depends on the feed/podcast program that you are using.

Right now, the only volume of scripture loaded into the system is The Book of Mormon. Soon, however, other volumes of scripture will be added, including The New Testament, The Doctrine and Covenants, and even LDS General Conference. I might get the Old Testament and other LDS Church resources added someday as well.

Not all code and services are perfect when they are first released. For the first couple of weeks, while this service is being tested, ScriptureCast.net will be considered in Beta, meaning that it isn't quite a finished product. I invite you to try out ScriptureCast.net and give me feedback about how you like it, or if you find any problems. While the service is in Beta, there will probably be regular changes, so I thank you for your ability to be flexible with any changes.