[Playlist] Someone write up the reasons why XSPF is better than RSS for content distribution

[Lucas Gonze]

Here is a quick sketch of a FAQ entry for this.  It is just a beginning.

===

Developers of feed readers which support media enclosures, for example 
MP3 files of long-form talk audio, should support XSPF media as well.

Some developers may wish to support XSPF playlists as an alternative to 
feed formats.

What functionality does XSPF enclosures offer?
1 allows switching on multiple different media types for the same file, 
e.g. Theora as well as QT
2 it makes no sense to not support playlists; there's no need to make a 
case for them.  Users use them in vast amounts.
3 ???

What functionality does a XSPF playlist used in place of a feed format 
offer?
1
2
3


====
Some specific features which which XSPF enables:

If you're publishing a video blog and you export both Ogg Theora and 
Quicktime, you will have to publish two RSS feeds (one for each file 
format) but only one XSPF file (because it can hold both versions).  The 
ability to point to multiple versions of a file is necessary for free 
formats because it enables new formats to sit next to established formats.

If you're using RSS for playlists and you need to change the order of 
items, there's no way to do this except to change their relative 
publication dates.

RSS is a proprietary format.  XSPF is an open format.

RSS has no way to insert bumpers.  You can't do a station ID at the 
first slot and an outro at the closing slot.  You


For example, in RSS there's no way to change the order of items, which 
is something basic to playlists.  In RSS there's no way to insert a 
bumper, which is standard in the media but not in the web.  In RSS 
there's no way to have multiple equivalent versions of a media file -- 
"here's the Quicktime version, here's the Windows Media version, here's 
the Ogg Theora version."

Ivo Emanuel Gonçalves wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> Now I'm in the middle of convincing the PenguinTV author, which is the
> RSS reader used on the XO laptop  (the children's laptop), why he
> should add support for XSPF.  And I'm not good at explaining things.
> 
> Would someone here write up the reasons on why XSPF is better than RSS
> for content distribution, and by that I mean podcasts and video and
> shi--stuff?  If it's worth its own article, we'll publish it on
> xspf.org with credit (and you keep the copyright, of course).  So,
> c'mon.
> 
> We could even do a mash-up of community contributions!  That would be nice.
> 
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