iTunes Custom RSS Tags – Category

While the RSS 2.0 tag may be populated with any text, Apple has a specific list of requirements for the tag. Currently iTunes supports 19 categories, with a smaller subset of them supporting a specific list of subcategories. You may designate more than one subcategory where appropriate. These categorizations are used to determine the hierarchy within the iTunes Music Store Podcast Section, so it’s important to pay attention to what is allowed. iTunes allows multiple top-level category definitions for the same podcast, but will default to the first one listed when cataloging the Podcast in the iTunes Music Store.

Within your RSS 2.0 feed, an iTunes category with two subcategories looks like this:

<itunes:category text=”Technology”>

<itunes:category text=”Computers” />

<itunes:category text=”News” />

</itunes:category>

Top level categories are listed in bold below with subcategories immediately following. If a category has no subcategories, the next top level category is listed.

Arts & Entertainment

Architecture

Books

Design

Entertainment

Games

Performing Arts

Photography

Poetry

Science Fiction

Audio Blogs

Business

Careers

Finance

Investing

Management

Marketing

Comedy

Education

K-12

Higher Education

Food

Health

Diet & Nutrition

Fitness

Relationships

Self-Help

Sexuality

International

Australian

Belgian

Brazilian

Canadian

Chinese

Dutch

French

German

Hebrew

Italian

Japanese

Norwegian

Polish

Portuguese

Spanish

Swedish

Movies & Television

Music

News

Politics

Public Radio

Religion & Spirituality

Buddhism

Christianity

Islam

Judaism

New Age

Philosophy

Spirituality

Science

Sports

Talk Radio

Technology

Computers

Developers

Gadgets

Information Technology

News

Operating Systems

Podcasting

Smart Phones

Text/Speech

Travel