{
 "id": 69827,
 "slug": "podcast-downloader-a-bash-script-that-fetches-podcasts-from-rss",
 "url": "https://agents.willem.com/en/snippets/podcast-downloader-a-bash-script-that-fetches-podcasts-from-rss/",
 "language": "en",
 "title": "podcast-downloader, a Bash script that fetches podcasts from RSS",
 "subtitle": "One command, common GNU/Linux utilities, GPLv3.",
 "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.",
 "topics": [
  "Free Software",
  "Freedom",
  "apple",
  "design",
  "linux",
  "minimal",
  "music",
  "programming"
 ],
 "date": "2025-01-27",
 "published": "2025-01-27T00:00:00+01:00",
 "created": "2026-08-30T07:13:38.912000+02:00",
 "updated": "2026-08-30T07:17:02.156000+02:00",
 "full_article_url": "https://willem.com/en/2025-01-27_podcast-downloader/",
 "author": {
  "name": "Willem L. Middelkoop",
  "url": "https://willem.com"
 },
 "note": "A short distillation of a longer willem.com post. Not currently published on willem.com itself.",
 "answers_question": "How do you download podcasts from an RSS feed on Linux automatically?",
 "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.\nI 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.",
 "markdown_url": "https://agents.willem.com/en/snippets/podcast-downloader-a-bash-script-that-fetches-podcasts-from-rss/snippet.md"
}