How do I get Flash MP3 Player to recognize my hand-made RSS Feed?

Here is the full text to my rss.xml document, if anyone can help me troubleshoot it. I really love this widget and want to get it to work!

<!--

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
<title>String Quartet No. 1: At Best It Sometimes Rhymes</title>
<link><a href="http://www.kylegullings.com/music.php">http://www.kylegullings.com/music.php</a></link>
<description>Audio from Kyle Gullings' String Quartet No. 1</description>
<copyright>(C) 2009</copyright>
<lastBuildDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:07:30 -0400</lastBuildDate>

<item>
<title>Mvt 2: Two Music Boxes (Tempo Libero)</title>
<link><a href="http://www.kylegullings.com/resources/Audio/SQ%201%20mvt%202%20Two%20Music%20Boxes%20">http://www.kylegullings.com/resources...</a>(Tempo%20Libero).mp3</link>
<enclosure url="http://www.kylegullings.com/resources/Audio/SQ%201%20mvt%202%20Two%20Music%20Boxes%20(Tempo%20Libero).mp3" length="2201635" type="audio/mpeg" />
<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:02:10 -0400</pubDate>
</item>

<item>
<title>Mvt 3: Emanations</title>
<link><a href="http://www.kylegullings.com/resources/Audio/SQ%201%20mvt%203%20Emanations.mp3">http://www.kylegullings.com/resources...</a></link>
<enclosure url="http://www.kylegullings.com/resources/Audio/SQ%201%20mvt%203%20Emanations.mp3" length="2804014" type="audio/mpeg" />
<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:02:10 -0400</pubDate>
</item>

<item>
<title>Mvt 4: Scherzo</title>
<link><a href="http://www.kylegullings.com/resources/Audio/SQ%201%20mvt%204%20Scherzo.mp3">http://www.kylegullings.com/resources...</a></link>
<enclosure url="http://www.kylegullings.com/resources/Audio/SQ%201%20mvt%204%20Scherzo.mp3" length="5328495" type="audio/mpeg" />
<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:02:10 -0400</pubDate>
</item>

<item>
<title>Mvt 1: There Is a Child (Exposition Only)</title>
<link><a href="http://www.kylegullings.com/resources/Audio/SQ%201%20mvt%201%20There%20Is%20a%20Child%20">http://www.kylegullings.com/resources...</a>(Exposition%20only).mp3</link>
<enclosure url="http://www.kylegullings.com/resources/Audio/SQ%201%20mvt%201%20There%20Is%20a%20Child%20(Exposition%20only).mp3" length="2445478" type="audio/mpeg" />
<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:02:09 -0400</pubDate>
</item>

</channel>
</rss>

-->

Here are some changes to make:

- Remove the comments from the beginning and end of your document.
- Don't put "a" tags inside your links. The only thing that should be in there is the URL of your Mp3 or a link to a webpage that represents the corresponding Mp3.

Make these changes and post a link to your feed. I can run more diagnostics if you have it on your server.

Hmmm... just got your comment and it looks like GetSatisfaction added that stuff into your feed. Ran a validator on your RSS and it looks valid.

To answer your question: yes. The link tag is required by the RSS standard, and enclosures are required for podcasting.

Since the widget still isn't playing nice (there are a few things that it could be...two of which you seem to have no control over, another of which is too time consuming), there's one last option...and fortunately it's easy. What you're going to want to do is take your RSS feed and FeedBurner it. Just visit feedburner.com and stick in your feed url. Say that it's a podcast. Then take the URL that FB gives you and use it in the app. Any time you update your RSS file, FeedBurner will reflect the changes automatically.

Let me know how it turns out!

Hi Matt. Neither the "a" tags nor the opening ! and closing arrows are in my actual xml document. The "a" tags just showed up when I posted on this thread, and I thought I needed the arrows for the code to show correctly on here.

Here is a link to my feed, if you'd be so kind as to give it a look::
http://www.kylegullings.com/resources...

Thankfully I've used FeedBurner before for my blog, so this step was easy. You can see the working widget in action at:
http://www.kylegullings.com/music.php

Strangely, this only seems to work in my Firefox browser and not in IE. Any thoughts on that issue? (I'm working from a school computer, so it's entirely likely that they haven't updated something.)

Alright, I'm back at home, and the widget seems to be working perfectly in Firefox, IE, and Safari. Too bad those public computers can't access it, but who knows if that's due to out-of-date updates or admin restrictions.

Two other questions about the widget when you get the chance, Matt:

1.) Is there a way to remove the arrow next to each track that links to the file itself? I'd like users not to be able to download the mp3s.

2.) Is there any way an image tag could be incorporated into this widget? Maybe that would require completely reworking the widget, in which case, never mind!

I don't expect there is an easy solution to these questions, in which case, don't worry about it.

Thank you again so much. You're so good at this!

I'm glad that it's working...any number of problems could be causing public computers not to be working right (firewalls, security restrictions, etc.).

To answer your questions in order:

1. Unfortunately not. I realize it's not a "great" answer, but as the saying goes, "Locks keep an honest person honest." If someone is set on downloading your Mp3, it's not too difficult to sniff the files out from your RSS (or even the temporary internet files folder). If you want to discourage piracy, use lower quality Mp3 files.

2. Unfortunately not.

Thanks for using the widget! Glad you got it working!

Sounds good. And one last time, thank you so much for your time. Keep up the great work!