Embed mp3 player plugin outside of loop?

Hello everyone. I’m trying to customize my single.php file so every post is embedded with it’s podcast and player. The format is as follows:

categoryname.day.month.year.mp3

I have the code working great, the problem is getting an mp3 player to wrap around it.

<?php echo $categories[0]->cat_name ?>.<?php echo $date ?>.mp3

I’ve tried to call a plugin from using the add shortcode to php function like this, but I can’t seem to get it to work

<code><?php echo do_shortcode(&quot;[Shortcode]&quot;); ?></code>

The podcast player requires the code to be enclosed with [podcast][/podcast]

the full code is as follows:
<code></code><?php echo do_shortcode("[podcast]http://mydomain.com/podcasts/<?php echo $categories[0]->cat_name ?>.<?php echo $date ?>.mp3[/podcast]"); ?><code></code>

I've also tried this variation:

<?php echo do_shortcode("[podcast=http://mydomain.com/podcasts/<?php echo $categories[0]->cat_name ?>.<?php echo $date ?>.mp3]"); ?>`

any ideas or suggestions? Unfortunately I don’t have a link I can post as this isn’t live yet.

I don’t have to use the podcast plugin, I can use something else. I’ve tried it with the powerbeam plugin by blubrry but I still can’t get it to work.

I think the problem is the php calls in the URL name. I can create text download links with work just fine, create the proper file name with date and .mp3. The problem is getting it to embed as a player file.