March 16, 2004

Combining RSS and Bit-Torrent

Soon, TECHPopuli will begin experimenting with presenting content that is more than just words and pictures. We're gonna start offering audio and audio/video reports.

We did a private experiment a few month ago about how to distribute this stuff. This might be the way:

Andrew Grumet, who is also playing around with RSS syndication feeds for TiVo content too, has produced a REALLY INTERESTING demo of a way to syndicate rich-media using RSS.

First, RSS and BitTorrent complement each other naturally. RSS was designed to report freshly available content, which is exactly where BitTorrent shines. RSS 2.0 enclosures were designed to automate the download process that BitTorrent optimizes.

Second, combining the two should reduce the barrier to entry for small broadcasters. While not a new idea, video blogging has always borne a bandwidth cost. Combining BitTorrent's cost savings with widely available RSS emitting tools should, for example, make it possible for a small group of motivated people across the world to create their own news channel.

Posted by jackhodgson at March 16, 2004 12:02 PM
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