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I know that this is a common issue, but having looked through past answers each one seemed to have a different solution.
The error I'm getting is:
"Can’t download episodes from your feed."
The url I'm submitting is "http://www.cwmpawd.org/pregethau/?podcast"
I've been able to submit to other services (e.g. spotify and soundcloud).
Any suggestions gratefully appreciated.
Thanks.
The difficulty is that the php script checks what type of user is accessing the page and edits the rss output accordingly, so I can't check what the iTunes validator sees. But thanks for pointing me in the right direction, I've now been able to sort it out.
Here's the solution, in case someone else had a similar problem.
Given that iTunes is accessing the rss feed, the 'stats' flag should have been set to false ($stats = FALSE;). This means that the 2nd condition should have been triggered in the 'if' loop (if (!$stats)), but it wasn't for some reason. I edited this to if ($stats == 'FALSE'), I think that this should have the same outcome but it actually solved the issue.
Hopefully all's good now. Have submitted and just waiting for approval.
Thanks again.
The difficulty is that the php script checks what type of user is accessing the page and edits the rss output accordingly, so I can't check what the iTunes validator sees. But thanks for pointing me in the right direction, I've now been able to sort it out.
Here's the solution, in case someone else had a similar problem.
Given that iTunes is accessing the rss feed, the 'stats' flag should have been set to false ($stats = FALSE;). This means that the 2nd condition should have been triggered in the 'if' loop (if (!$stats)), but it wasn't for some reason. I edited this to if ($stats == 'FALSE'), I think that this should have the same outcome but it actually solved the issue.
Hopefully all's good now. Have submitted and just waiting for approval.
Thanks again.
Thanks again for continued support.
So I've had a look at the php file which creates the rss (wordpress plugin - now unsupported). I know that this is probably outside the scope of this forum, but If you have time I'd massively appreciate your opinion.
It seems as though the php code (see below) already tries to take account for iTunes wanting the absolute path for the file. I've tested the three '$media_name=' conditions below and the results I get are (in order):
I take it that iTunes expects condition 2, but is actually getting condition 3? I don't want to hard code or force condition 2 in case any other podcast services are expecting 1 or 3. Any suggestions why iTunes isn't seeing what it's expecting?
Thanks in advance
// Convert filename to URL, perhaps with stats
// Stats have to be turned off for iTunes compatibility
function sb_podcast_file_url($media_name, $media_type) {
$user_agent = isset($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT']) ? $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] : '';
if (stripos($user_agent, 'itunes') !== FALSE || stripos($user_agent, 'FeedBurner') !== FALSE || stripos($user_agent, 'AppleCoreMedia') !== FALSE)
$stats = FALSE;
else
$stats = TRUE;
if ($media_type == 'URLs') {
if ($stats)
$media_name=sb_display_url().sb_query_char().'show&url='.rawurlencode($media_name);
} else {
if (!$stats)
$media_name=trailingslashit(site_url()).ltrim(sb_get_option('upload_dir'), '/').rawurlencode($media_name);
else
$media_name=sb_display_url().sb_query_char().'show&file_name='.rawurlencode($media_name);
}
return sb_xml_entity_encode($media_name);
}
Regarding the filename formatting... I know :-( unfortunately I'm not the one responsible for this.
The URL of your top episode's media file is
Despite the mp3 extension this is actually a web page which includes a number of embedded players. You must provide a direct link to the mp3 file.
Thanks for your response.
Ah, I suspected that could be the cause.
As far as I can see there are two download links:
http://www.cwmpawd.org/wp-content/uploads/sermons/Datguddiad%2018%281%29%20-%2019%2810%29%20EJ.mp3
Do you know which I should use?
Both lead to an MP3 file: the second is preferable because the first one forces a download - this may or may not be a problem, and the second one is the one to use.
The actual filename is 'Datguddiad 18(1) - 19(10) EJ.mp3' - spaces are not allowed in a URL and the bracket characters aren't acceptable, which is why all the coding - %20 for a space and so on. This shouldn't be a problem, just untidy. It's generally better to avoid this - replacing spaces with underscores is a common workaround, and perhaps hyphens would do for the opening brackets and lose the closing one: it's up to you, as I say it should work at as it is.
I'm afraid PHP is way outside my experience. The best advice I can offer is that you check you mp3 file by entering the URL in the address bar of a browser. Ideally it should play directly within the browser; if it downloads that may be OK (it used not to be but it looks as if nowadays it doesn't cause a problem) though it's preferable to avoid it. What you don't want is a web page with an embedded player.
Failed validation: "Can’t download episodes from your feed."
