I use Canola to catch all my podcasts, which works beautifully... until I come across an episode of a show that I don't want to subscribe to. This has bothered me for a long time.

The solution I'm happy with requires del.icio.us, which provides RSS feeds for anything and everything. Now when I find an mp3 that I want to add to my queue, I tag the direct link to the mp3 file with something specific, and give it a useful title and description.

Del.icio.us creates an RSS feed for that tag (in my case !to_listen)... BUT it doesn't have a media enclosure...

A quick pipe in Yahoo Pipes solves this problem. Seed it with your username and tag, and it gives back an RSS feed that has an enclosure.

Now you can set up Canola's podcasts with the URL for that RSS feed, and voila—singleton episodes have been coaxed into the regular podcast interface!

Pipes give all sorts of ways to remix the web, and you can clone and edit the source of any pipe. It's one of my favorite tools on the web.

Very nice idea, I will have a play with this. If I can find a way to get mp3 links from myspace I can use it as a way of downloading playlists of local bands so I can work out which gigs are worth going to see. I think I will have to find a way to include artist name somehow otherwise I won't know who I am listening to (which would defeat the object a little).
Thanks,
John

The description you enter when tagging the mp3 will be the title of the item in the feed; the notes will be the body of the item; and the mp3 link will be the enclosure. Like this:

Tagging the URL of an MP3:


Tags collected together on del.icio.us:


The results of the pipe:


And what it looks like in Canola: