podcast-downloader, a Bash script that fetches podcasts from RSS
One command, common GNU/Linux utilities, GPLv3.
- Answers
- How do you download podcasts from an RSS feed on Linux automatically?
- Topics
- Free Software · Freedom · apple · design · linux · minimal · music · programming
- Full article on willem.com
- https://willem.com/en/2025-01-27_podcast-downloader/
Summary
I wrote podcast-downloader, a small GPLv3 Bash script that downloads the audio files listed in an RSS feed's enclosure tags using common GNU/Linux utilities. Run it by hand or from crontab for automatic daily or weekly downloads.
Full text
The script needs no extra packages; id3v2 is optional for tagging metadata. Get it from https://source.willem.com/podcast-downloader/, make it executable with chmod +x podcast-downloader.sh, then run it with your feed, download directory and optional album name: ./podcast-downloader.sh -u "https://example.com/podcast.rss" -d "/path/to/download" -a "My Podcast Album". It downloads the audio files named in the feed's enclosure tags. Put it in your crontab for automated daily or weekly downloads. I wrote it because modern podcast apps push recommendations and promotions over your own library. As a companion I made Auscultare, a simple libre Android app whose only job is to play the downloaded files and track your progress: two small Unix-style tools with the filesystem as the pipe between them.