Having Problems Validating my Podcast

You are using the incorrect URL for your podcast feed. The one you have there is the default post type feed that WordPress provides for the podcast post type. You actually need the custom feed that SSP generates, which is here: https://www.wrestlingbetting.co.uk/feed/podcast – this URL is provided in your podcast settings.

If you run that feed through the validator then you will see that it is all et up correctly.

Hi Hugh,

Duh! Sorry apologies for my tiredness. Need more coffee. Thanks for this ??

Not sure if I should create a new topic or not on this, but I’m having an issue related to this.

Even though the feed validates, I’m unable to submit it to Podcasts connect here – https://podcastsconnect.apple.com/#/new-feed/. The error I get is “Can’t read your feed.”

Any ideas?

Rhys

Hmm – that could be to do with the fact that in the current version, podcast feeds are being forced to be downloaded instead of viewed, although that hasn’t been an issue for anyone else (whether they’re using iTunes or not). I am, however, about to publish a fix for that issue. So once it comes out in the next hour or so (v1.14.6), please update and let me know if this problem still persists (note that you may have to clear your site cache before trying with iTunes again).

Hi Hugh,

Yeah still no joy after the update. Disabled cache for the time being on my site.

Googling the very ambiguous “Can’t read your feed.” message from Apple, I came across this – https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/227809/submitting-a-podcast-to-apple-results-in-cant-read-your-feed.

In short, it wasn’t the plugin, but the site. It was encrypted with a LetsEncrypt SSL Certificate. Which isn’t understood by Apple.

I’ve removed said certificate (as the site probably can get away with not needing it) and whilst the feed doesn’t validate (Podcast artwork must be between 1400 x 1400 and 3000 x 3000 pixels, JPG or PNG, in RGB color space, and hosted on a server that allows HTTP head requests.), I’m confident that’s not the plugins’ fault, but rather the fault of me/the host.

Cheers!

That’s a real pity that iTunes doesn’t support SSL certificates from Let’s Encrypt – I really hope they get that sorted soon because Let’s Encrypt is only going to get bigger as time goes on.

Glad you found out the reason for your feed though!

I too have a Let’s Encrypt certificate and I’m getting the same error.

Looks like there’s a thread here too: https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/itunes-rejecting-le-certs/11486/15

Seems it has to do with iTunes using Java on the server-side.

I added some content to the documentation about this: https://www.seriouslysimplepodcasting.com/documentation/itunes-cant-read-feed/ – hopefully iTunes will sort it out soon though.

Is there a recommended way to edit the feed-podcast.php which would allow me to link to a static image? I’m presently unable to get a working image uploaded through the WordPress GUI, but do have the image on my server. I’ve attempted commenting out the image lines, but that seemed to break everything.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as this is the only thing presently holding me back from getting this submitted to iTunes. Thanks in advance, have a great day!