Format Conversion and Other New Features

We're excited to roll out a new service for FeedBurner: the "Convert Format Burner". Basically, it will translate between feed formats, so your source feed can be in any feed format and we'll convert it to RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0, or Atom. Now, you can just maintain a single feed format and let us take care of the other formats for you.

To use this service, just select the new "Convert Format Burner" checkbox when you're selecting which services to apply to your feed, and then select which format you want to translate to. That's it!

Now, because this is the first version of the service, there are a few caveats. It doesn't translate some of the less common elements: we're working towards supporting all elements soon. The translation is also not "tailorable" right now; perhaps you wish that we used Dublin Core elements when we translate to RSS 2.0. Being able to express preferences on some of the fine points of the conversion is in the works.

As long as I've got your attention, there are a few other features that have been added in the last week or so. We now support autodiscovery of feeds when you enter the URL of the source feed, and we also support RSS 0.9 for you hold-outs out there. We've also been working on polishing up some of the visual design here and there.

Finally, there's a great new page called About Feed Syndication that describes what "feeds" are and gives some pointers to clients and the possibilities of this exciting new technology. Please feel free to link to this page from your site to help answer those "What is RSS?" questions that you may receive from your readers.

That's all for now. Please continue to let us know your feedback and suggestions through the Feedback page, and thank you for using FeedBurner!