diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index 44d2d43..5f1d41a 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -68,3 +68,12 @@ TRANSCRIPTS_HOST_DIR=/mnt/nfs/transcripts
 # MODELS_HOST_DIR=./models
 # MEILI_DATA_HOST_DIR=./data/meili
 # REDIS_DATA_HOST_DIR=./data/redis
+
+# RSS / Podcast downloads
+# Where to save downloaded podcast audio (inside the container mount)
+PODCASTS_ROOT=/library
+# Organize under per-show subfolders (true/false)
+PODCASTS_PER_SHOW=true
+# Scan interval (minutes) for rss_ingest; set RSS_ONCE=1 for one-shot
+# RSS_SCAN_MINUTES=120
+# RSS_ONCE=0
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 52ba494..64f60ad 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -66,13 +66,15 @@ By default we build from `python:3.11-slim`. You can override the base image at
 - `MEDIA_NORMALIZE_KEEP_ORIGINAL` (default `0`): Preserve the source file alongside the normalised copy (appends `.orig*`).
 - `VIDEO_NORMALIZE_*`: Fine-tune video conversion (`VIDEO_NORMALIZE_CODEC`, `VIDEO_NORMALIZE_EXTENSION`, `VIDEO_NORMALIZE_CRF`, `VIDEO_NORMALIZE_PRESET`, `VIDEO_NORMALIZE_AUDIO_CODEC`, `VIDEO_NORMALIZE_AUDIO_BITRATE`).
 - `AUDIO_NORMALIZE_*`: Control audio conversion (`AUDIO_NORMALIZE_CODEC`, `AUDIO_NORMALIZE_EXTENSION`, `AUDIO_NORMALIZE_BITRATE`, `AUDIO_NORMALIZE_CHANNELS`).
+- `PODCASTS_ROOT` (default `/library`): Target directory inside the container where RSS podcast audio is saved.
+- `PODCASTS_PER_SHOW` (default `true`): Organize episodes into per-show subfolders under `PODCASTS_ROOT`.
 
 ## RSS Ingestion
 
 PodX supports automated podcast ingestion via RSS feeds:
 
 - Add your podcast RSS feed URLs to a `feeds.txt` file, one URL per line.
-- The `rss_ingest` component reads this list periodically, downloads new episodes, and places them into the `library/podcasts` folder.
+- The `rss_ingest` component reads this list periodically, downloads new episodes, and places them into `PODCASTS_ROOT` (default `/library`), optionally into per-show subfolders if `PODCASTS_PER_SHOW=true`.
 - Downloaded podcasts are then processed by the scanner and worker to generate transcripts, metadata, and thumbnails.
 
 ## Refresh Mechanism
diff --git a/app/rss_ingest.py b/app/rss_ingest.py
index decfcfd..6d1b338 100644
--- a/app/rss_ingest.py
+++ b/app/rss_ingest.py
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ MEDIA_EXTS = {".mp3", ".m4a", ".flac", ".wav", ".ogg", ".opus", ".mp4", ".m4v",
 TITLE_MATCH_THRESHOLD = float(os.getenv("RSS_TITLE_MATCH_THRESHOLD", "0.60"))
 
 # Download podcast audio (enclosures) to a local library
-PODCASTS_ROOT = Path(os.getenv("PODCASTS_ROOT", str(LIB / "Podcasts")))
+# Default to saving directly under LIB (no extra "Podcasts" subfolder)
+PODCASTS_ROOT = Path(os.getenv("PODCASTS_ROOT", str(LIB)))
 PODCASTS_PER_SHOW = os.getenv("PODCASTS_PER_SHOW", "true").lower() in {"1","true","yes","y"}
 DOWNLOAD_AUDIO = os.getenv("RSS_DOWNLOAD_AUDIO", "true").lower() in {"1","true","yes","y"}
 
@@ -457,4 +458,4 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
             print(f"[rss] build error: {e}", flush=True)
         if RSS_ONCE:
             break
-        time.sleep(max(1, RSS_SCAN_MINUTES) * 60)
\ No newline at end of file
+        time.sleep(max(1, RSS_SCAN_MINUTES) * 60)
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 9444779..81c6876 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -306,6 +306,8 @@ services:
       REDIS_URL: redis://redis:6379/0
       LIBRARY_ROOT: /library
       TRANSCRIPT_ROOT: /library
+      PODCASTS_ROOT: /library
+      PODCASTS_PER_SHOW: ${PODCASTS_PER_SHOW:-true}
       FEEDS_FILE: /library/feeds.txt
       RSS_STATE_FILE: /library/.rss_state.json
       RSS_SCAN_MINUTES: ${RSS_SCAN_MINUTES:-120}