What's new in libsyn3

This is a brief overview of the changes from the classic libsyn publishing system to the new libsyn3. We have retained all the original functionality of the original libsyn tools, made them more powerful and easier to use, and added lots of new features and capabilities. Hopefully this tutorial will get you into the swing of things quickly and without much disruption to your regular publishing routine.

In the screenshots old libsyn is on the left, libsyn3 on the right.

The first view you will see when logging into libsyn3 is the dashboard view which provides you quick access to important aspects of your show(s) and account. The top navigation has moved around a little, but basically follows the original tab-based approach. One thing you will immediately notice is there are no page loads when switching between sections. All tabs retain their state when you leave them and you can continue to work within the libsyn3 publishing tool while longer activities like uploading proceed in the background.

Although the layout has changed slightly- with the addition of a left side-menu to access previous posts and some new lists of files, the main basic publishing form should look very familiar. The selection to choose between a blog post and podcast episode has been removed- simply add a file to make it a podcast episode, leave it out to make it a blog post.

File selection is just a little more slick then it used to be with files uploaded via FTP available through a pop-up window when you click the FTP/QUEUE icon. You may notice that you can select more then 1 file for an episode now. This should only be used to upload files of different encoding- but the same content. For example, a high and low res version. You can upload your own .flv version to use in our flash player, or up to 3 resolutions of audio or video for use in the iPhone app. Even if you have your own content management system, if you produce multiple versions of each episode, keeping them grouped together in the same post will allow for grouped stats to count all of your versions together.

If you wanted to quickly upload a file to use outside of libsyn, it's a very simple process. Simply set the publish for to 'basic' mode, select the file, and click the green “publish” button. Walk through tutorial available at http://imake.libsyn.com/tutorial_1_the_quick_post

A lot has changed regarding FTP support from the old libsyn system to libsyn3. Alot of power user functionality had to be sacrificed in order to support the CDN-based downloads libsyn3 provides. We took a long hard look at what the core uses of FTP uploading are, and cut it back to the bare essentials.

In libsyn3 the first thing you will bump into is a change in host, login username, and path to upload to.

• Host: ftp-server.libsyn.com
• Port: 21
• Username: your login email address
• Password: your login password

The next change you will notice is the folder structure and lack of files being displayed. The folders are now organized with a folder per show (it's possible to manage multiple shows under 1 login) and then 4 folders per show. A Readme.txt file at the root level explains the purpose of each sub folder in detail.

Perhaps the largest change about FTP support is the lack of ability to see and therefore organize your files from FTP. A very small % of users actually manipulated their files via FTP, and supporting that capability was proving to be too cumbersome in the new platform. Each folder acts as a “dropbox” of sorts. They are write-only.. meaning your FTP client can't read any files that are uploaded. Files uploaded via FTP are scanned, registered with the publishing system and then injected into the CDN. Depending on the folder uploaded to, they are either publishing immediately or placed into a queue of files which can be used from within the libsyn publishing interface.

If you have participated in the Wizzard Media ad programs in the past, you may have needed to register your files and input your ad slots. The file registration part has been taken away as the Alchemy publishing system is built right into the libsyn3 system. The requirement to enter ad slots may still exist for your show, so in addition to being able to type the timecodes by hand, you can use a flash-based tool to scrub and zero in on the precise ms you want to mark as a commercial break.

There is now a per-episode option to omit advertising and filters which you can create which selects only certain episodes to include in a given campaign.

The stats reports should be easy to find and look familiar to the reports on the old system. All of your historical data should have transferred over with your old account as well. The libsyn3 stats do offer some new options if you have one of the advanced stats packages include Geographic breakdowns, the ability to export CSV reports, and breakdown of applications used to access your show.

Nothing is more frustrating then trying to find where to change something like your show's title, or change your login password when you need it. For brand new users coming in, we think we've laid out the places you go edit those kinds of things in a pretty logical manner. For those users migrating from the old system, it's going to take a minute to find them.

There are 3 types of settings-

1. Show settings
2. Destination settings
3. User settings

Show settings are the things that directly pertain to the show itself- baseline things like title, description, etc. There are also sections to view your show's data usage and to setup external_feed_sync options. These are accessed from the settings icon just to the right of the large show artwork in the upper right corner.

Something which is new in libsyn3 is the ability to change your show's “shortname” or “slug”. In the old system, this was your username and was tied directly to your show's URLs. In libsyn3 the users and the shows are separate things (you can manage multiple shows under 1 account) and you can change your show's shortname whenever you like. Please note. Changing your show's slug will make the old urls no longer work Please be careful when changing this option.

In the old system, the show information, blog options, and RSS feed features were all mixed in 1 place- spread across 4 subsections. There was basic, advanced, iTunes, and Templates. In libsyn3, there are users (you, the producer), shows (the abstract collection of content), posts or episodes (the content itself which may content media files or just be blog entries), and destinations. Destinations are the places where you publish the content of the show. As you start out your show on libsyn, you will be setup with 3-4 publishing destinations. Each contains it's own set of options and in some cases you have the option to override a show-level value with a destination level one.

As libsyn3 progresses, we may introduce the option for multiples of the same destination- for example 2 or 3 separate RSS feeds- each with their own set of iTunes categories, custom titles and artwork,etc. This would be useful if you wish to have an iPod friendly and HD version of your show in the iTunes podcast store.

The destinations > Podcast RSS Feed section replaces the old Advanced and iTunes settings screens

The destinations > Libsyn Podcast Page section replaces some functionality of the old Advanced settings screen as well as the Templates screen of the old system

Account settings are all the things that pertain to you as a user. Your login email, password, and timezone are set from there. Billing and account related information is also available from that section. These are all found when clicking the account button in the upper right next to the libsyn icon.