How to use ShowTaxi, step by step: Create channels
Now that ShowTaxi knows where your Feed is set up, and you've got your doorway.php document in the right location, and your premium folder is squared away, the next step is to create a channel. Think of the channel as the security and business surrounding your feed and it's content - your podcast's broadcast center. And there are a few things you'll need to fill out to get that channel up and running.
Clicking on the Channel tab and then, if necessary, clicking on the Create link will bring up a form to allow you to create your Channel. Start by using the Feed menu and choose the Feed you created.
Channel tag
I know. Again with the tag thing. Just bear with us - some people want to create different channels from a single feed, each with a different channel tag. And the channel tag will be used to set up the actual protected RSS feed for your podcast.
Pick a name that makes sense - in this screen shot, the channel tag is 'davidlawrenceunplugged'.
Mode
Select Mirror to have ShowTaxi reflect exactly what episodes you have in your feed, whether you add new episodes or delete others. Most people will want this option. If you want ShowTaxi to remember all episodes even when you remove the episode from your original RSS feed, choose Archive. Most people would not want that option.
Productize
The Productize options let you really customize how you want your subscription and episodes handled. Again, most people will simply choose the final option, Make the entire podcast premium, although if you want to offer some initial episodes for free, and then make the rest subject to a subscription, you can do that, or only charge for a number in the beginning and then the rest for free and so on. You can also "age" your podcast - only making the current episodes for pay, and older ones for free. Lots of options for you.
Penalty
Use the Penalty radio buttong to choose between notifying subscribers that need to update their payments with that audio you pointed to back when you were setting up your Feed, and simply not allowing an episode to be shown. Not allowing subscribers or potential subscribers to know what's going on is both confusing and potentially a negative for acquiring or re-acquiring subscribers. We suggest that you choose Point to the notice media.
All set? All information accurate? Click on the Submit button to create your channel.
What can you do with your new channel?
Now that you have a Channel set up, you're almost finished. Click on the name of the channel to bring up it's details, and note that there are a few more things on that screen: synchornization, a link to the newly minted protected feed and a series of Actions that you can effect within this Channel, including viewing a list of your posts, issuing a pass, creating an offer (also able to be accomplished from the Offers tab) and view the list of offers you've made.
Synchronize
Although ShowTaxi will synchronize the feed it sends on to authorized users once every hour or so, you might need to synchronize manually when testing episode count and feed validity. Feel free to synchronize any time you need to by pushing the Synchronize now button.
RSS URL
ShowTaxi will build your public RSS feed URL, which users can look at but not touch, based on your chosen channel tag.
Cool! You've got your feed done, your channel done and how, click on the Offers tab to actually create an offer to your potential subscribers.