[Plugin: podPress] iTunes feed broken – stumped!

One thing is now hitting us – the category we created in Posts > Categories is not showing up in the list of “Category Filters” in the Feed/iTunes Settings page.

Is there any way to refresh the list?

This list shows only categories which contain posts. Create a post in the new category and go again (or reload) to the Feed/iTunes Settings page. The category will most likely show up.

Would we have to re-upload everything to the new folder and replace the URL’s?

If you leave the existing episodes where they are then you don’t have to change the the URLs. But if you plan to move all files to the new folder then you would need to update the URLs in the existing posts.

Would iTunes just reference that file and the title of the post to show up in iTunes?

I’m not sure how iTunes would update URLs of existing episodes on the iTunes store page. But If someone would subscribe to your podcast he/she would get the updated URLs. Because he/she would get all the information directly from your RSS feed.

Hello,

Ok thank you. The folder that is currently hosting the files for the podcast also includes other (unrelated) files. In the General Settings page for podPress, the URL host folder is currently set to a folder that we WILL be using from now on, not the folder where all the files are currently with past episodes. Would that matter?

Ok, so we will go ahead and quick edit all of the episodes and add the category we created then select that category in the Category Filter.

Are we good to go?

Thanks for your support.

Would that matter?

Only if you have inserted the Location value with the dropdown menu (which becomes available if you configure the first two settings on the general settings page correctly). In this case podPress would assemble the download links and URL for the player with the new URL from the general settings page. That would lead to problem if the files are not at the new location.

But if you have always inserted the full URL as the Location of the media file then it does not matter what you choose on the general settings page.

Thank you.

When validating the RSS feed, we get an error: https://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=https://music.ienlive.com/feed/podcast/

Is that still ok? For our current podcast posts, we are using WPAudio Player (linking to audio files on our server). Those are the only parts of the posts that contain a URL with the file link of the podcast episode. How would that work in conjunction with podPress and submitting episodes to iTunes?

We have used Quick-Edit and added the specific category and it has showed up in the Category Filter. Anything else needs to be done there?

Everything else should be clear?

When validating the RSS feed, we get an error […] Is that still ok?

It is no error. It is (only) a recommendation to avoid script tags inside the content:encoded sections. The WP Audio Player plugin replaces the obviously the shortcode also in the RSS feed output. It inserts besides the URL a Javascript snippet which would load the player on the blog pages. podPress works in a similar way.

However the overall result of the validations that your feed is valid. It will work with iTunes and other feed readers. You don’t need to worry about this recommendation.

How would that [the WP Audio Player] work in conjunction with podPress and submitting episodes to iTunes?

Both plugins can be installed and active at the same time. Although I would recommend that you don’t use the options Enclosure integration and Move enclosures to the beginning of posts of the WP Audio Player while you use podPress to customize the RSS feeds.

Anything else needs to be done there?

Everything else should be clear?

Yes.

Although, I have some recommendations regarding minor issues.

• The iTunes image should be 1400x1400px (600x600px is sufficient but since last year Apple recommends better resolution because of their Retina displays. I will update the description for these options in podPress with the upcoming update).
• In the context of websites, it is always a good idea to avoid white spaces in file and folder names (and to use only certain characters – see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Url#List_of_allowed_URL_characters ).

Ok thank you, the changes have been made. Set to go to submit?

I have no further notes.

Thank you – the podcast is now in iTunes.

However, only 1 episode is showing in the feed in iTunes – the one post that we added information in the section “podPress – Podcast Settings of this post” on the bottom

So for each future episode and to add them to iTunes, how would we add the rest of the episodes (previous and upcoming)?

Also, iTunes is showing a 1 second and only 19 minute streaming preview of the episodes….not the full duration of the files….is there a way to fix this?

Also, iTunes is showing a 1 second and only 19 minute streaming preview of the episodes….not the full duration of the files….is there a way to fix this?

You or the automatic detection have inserted 19 min 53 s as the duration for episode 51 and 0:00:01 as the duration of episode 50. If these are not the correct values then the preview player on the iTunes Store page makes trouble.
You can fix this by inserting the correct duration. If the Auto Detect function does not work correctly then you can insert the value manually.

So for each future episode and to add them to iTunes, how would we add the rest of the episodes (previous and upcoming)?

I have to admit that I was not always paying full attention. In my post three weeks ago I was under the impression that you would use a category feed. But I read the whole threat again and I can say that the advice in that post was wrong. The settings for the feed https://music.ienlive.com/feed/podcast/ are on the page Feed/iTunes Settings in the setion podPress Feeds.
To add all the other episodes to the feed search in this section for the option “Include only posts with podPress attachments in this Feed” and deactivate it.

The option “Include only posts with podPress attachments in this Feed” was always unchecked in the Feed/iTunes Settings page. Even when it is unchecked, no other episodes are in iTunes at the moment. Is there still a problem?

Also, for each episode we add, we need to add the duration? The automatic detection had the wrong value for the duration of the episode. Will we then have to insert each episode’s duration manually?

Thank you.

Even when it is unchecked, no other episodes are in iTunes at the moment. Is there still a problem?

ITunes is maybe not the right place to control feed setting modifications. The iTunes store page updates only once every 24h.
But maybe something is wrong with the filter settings.
Is the right category selected?
Did you select maybe a wrong file type in the file type filter?

Also, for each episode we add, we need to add the duration? The automatic detection had the wrong value for the duration of the episode. Will we then have to insert each episode’s duration manually?

Yes. If the auto detection does not work correctly – which may happen – then you need to insert the correct value manually. You may use one of various formats like hh:mm:ss or mm:ss.

The detection of the duration is technically not as easy as determining the file size – especially if the media files are not in the same folder structure as the blog (for instance if they are on a different server). Currently it is necessary that the media file needs to be in the same folder structure then the file of the blog software are in order to detect the duration. If a media file is e.g. on different server then the plugin tries to download it. But this might take to long or the file is maybe to big for the temp folder. If the plugin could only download a fragment of the file then it can not detect the correct duration.

Hello,

In each new podcast episode published, a player appears on the bottom of the post (even when the “disable player” button is checked off). We do not want this in our posts.

Even when both options “Disable Player” & “Disable Preview Player” are checked off, a logo and some text with the [duration] and a download link still appears. How can these be removed?

Thank you.

@iEnlive: This is issue is not connected to the original topic of this thread. Please, open a new thread. Thanks. (I will look into this. But I will answer and ask further questions in a new thread.)