404 On Uploads

MashupPodcastEpisode11.mp3 plays fine when I try to open it in a web browser. But MashupPodcast12.mp3 comes up as a 404. Have you FTP’d files into the Media Library with success before? You may want to try uploading them to a directory outside of WordPress and see if that works better. Or, check the file permissions of the files and make sure they’re accessible to anyone who tries to look at them.

By default, iTunes lists your podcast episodes in reverse order with the most recent episode displayed at the top. You can change this either by altering the publish dates of the items in your podcast RSS feed or by using the itunes:order tag. More information is available on that here: https://create.blubrry.com/resources/powerpress/powerpress-settings/basic-settings/

By default, PowerPress limits your podcast RSS feed to 10 items. You can change that by doing this:
1.) Log into your WordPress site. Hover over the Settings menu on the left-hand side and select Reading.
2.) Change the number in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” box to a higher number like 50 or 100. Click the Save Changes button.
3.) Hover your mouse over the PowerPress link in the left-hand sidebar and select Settings. On the next screen, switch to Advanced Mode if you’re not already there.
4.) Click the Feeds tab. In the “Show the most recent” box, enter the same number you entered in step two. Click the Save Changes button.

Hi Shawn,

FTP is how I got all the other episodes on the site.
Permissions are the same for all of the mp3s ‘644’.

I have uploaded episode 12 via the WordPress uploader and it is working: https://mashuppodcast.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/MashupPodcast12.mp3

No idea why it didnt when I uploaded it before.

Will keep an eye on it.

Steve

Hello @ghoststorm,

I would check the file on your local computer that it does not include any spaces at the front of the filename or end of the file extension. It may also be that your web host is caching and the cache has a 404 page cached in it rather than the media file. Assuming file permissions are correct, those are the only other quick explanations I can come up with off the top of my head.

You may also want to browse via FTP and see if the file uploaded in WordPress went into the same folder that you thought you uploaded to via FTP. It may be that FTP is going into a different wp-content folder for another site for example.

Hey Angelo,

The website is broke currently, no idea why and my current host doesnt either.

However, as previously mentioned. I uploaded the file via wordpress instead of FTP and the now works as it should.

The only other issue I had was that the artwork attached to each uploaded mp3 doesnt show in iTunes, just the standard podcast image for the site…

Thanks.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by SingingTurnip.

Make sure you’re also adding your episode-level artwork to your media files’ ID3 tags. Despite Apple’s creation of an episode-level tag for podcast RSS feeds, Apple’s own podcast apps don’t actually support the tag. So, the artwork must be embedded in the media file in order for it to show up in Apple’s players.

Yep I have done that Shawn, the artwork shows when playing the file via windows media player etc

This file is giving an error on upload: https://mashuppodcast.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/MashupPodcastChristmash.mp3

The error it says is “Could not find valid MPEG synch before end of file” however it plays fine on both the website and if opened in iTunes.

Will it still show as a download to people on iTunes Podcast page?

This error occurs when PowerPress can’t get certain information from your mp3 file. It’s possible there was a problem when the file was encoded. You could try uploading it again or encoding with a different application and uploading that version instead. Overall, it shouldn’t affect the ability for the file to be downloaded. However, you may need to manually enter the file size and episode length information.

Also, I subscribed to your podcast using iTunes on my Mac and the episode-level artwork shows up for the most recent three episodes (these are the only ones I tested). If you’re not seeing the episode-level art on your own end within iTunes, delete the subscription and resubscribe.

The “Could not find valid MPEG synch before end of file.” means that the ID3 tags in your media file exceeded 2MB (this is the buffer in PowerPress). More than likely this is caused by the artwork you are using being saved as a png. If you re-save your cover art as a jpg it should bring the image size down to 500K, which will bring your ID3 overhead down.

You want the ID3 overhead to be as small as possible. When someone plays your podcast to a web based player, the player has to download this ID3 information first before it can get to the actual audio tracks. It can be perceived by a listener that the player is buffering or slow to play in some cases, such as on mobile devices with poor Internet connections.

The ID3 image does not have to be 1400×1400 (or 3000×3000) like the iTunes image requirement. You can actually use 300×300 sized images (this is common for coverart in the media when you buy mp3’s for example) for your coverart without it being an issue for iTunes.