Warning, this functionality is not for the faint of tech heart! This functionality is power user functionality that should only be used in necessary applications.
With that warning out of the way... let's get to it!
Libsyn gets requests from time to time to expose the Item ID for each episode/post in Libsyn. The Item ID is a unique numerical number assigned to every episode or post created on a show, these are called items in RSS feeds and in Libsyn's back end. This ID is used in a few places, but the most common user facing place the ID is used is to embed the episode HTML5 media player.
Typically, a producer isn't changing the design of the player each time they embed the player on their site, they just want the player using the same design for each episode. In that use case, the only piece of the embed code that changes is the Item ID.
<iframe style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/10605896/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/backward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/051ea2/" height="90" width="100%" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe>
Libsyn offers the ability to automatically pull that episode ID using a special query flag on the RSS feed URL.
/?include-libsyn-metadata=true
For example:
https://thefeed.libsyn.com/rss/?include-libsyn-metadata=true
Adding this flag to the feed URL will apply a special Libsyn only item ID tag to the feed.
This RSS feed should not be used in podcast directories or for other purposes.
Whatever application your team develops for your instance can use this special feed to pull the episode data and the Item ID so that you can automatically populate your episode HTML5 media player.
Note: Libsyn's team will absolutely provide support for ensuring this custom feed is working properly for you, and the Item ID properly populates for you. However; the support team is unable to provide coding or third party support for custom applications built outside of Libsyn utilizing these features.
Getting Additional Help
Have questions? Contact our support staff at support@libsynsupport.com.