Author Topic: Podcast feed problems  (Read 1914 times)

L. Gordon Brewer, Jr.

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Podcast feed problems
« on: February 16, 2018, 05:17:34 pm »
So I recently added an SSL certificate to my site.  I used using the "Really Simple SSL" plugin to redirect everything.  Everything on my site is working correctly, but it appears that my podcast feed was somehow corrupted or damaged.  (I noticed that new episodes of my podcast were no longer showing up in the iTunes Store for the last two, but they do show up for subscribers)

When I checked the feed in the "WC3 feed validation" ( Apple recommends using http://validator.w3.org/feed/ to validate your feeds.) I get this message:

"Not a gzipped file (Server response declares Content-Encoding: gzip; misconfigured server?)"

Anyone know how to fix this?

Thanks!

Shawn Thorpe

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Re: Podcast feed problems
« Reply #1 on: February 16, 2018, 07:24:22 pm »
Please provide a link to the feed you need help with so we can take a look at what's going on.

L. Gordon Brewer, Jr.

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Re: Podcast feed problems
« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2018, 08:23:04 am »
Just re-ran that WC Validator.  This is the response I got:

Sorry
This feed does not validate.

line 39, column 1: href must be a full URL: https://practiceoftherapy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Podcast.png [help]

   <itunes:image href="https://practiceoftherapy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/0 ...
 ^
line 40, column 1: Undefined channel element: itunes:type [help]

   <itunes:type>episodic</itunes:type>
 ^
line 47, column 1: channel contains more than one image (2 occurrences) [help]

   <image>
 ^
line 1030, column 418: length of 4001 exceeds the maximum allowable for itunes:summary of 4000 [help]

... cast-with-gordon-brewer-lmft/id127...]]></itunes:summary>
                                             ^
In addition, interoperability with the widest range of feed readers could be improved by implementing the following recommendations.

line 2, column 0: Use of unknown namespace: http://www.rawvoice.com/rawvoiceRssModule/ [help]

<rss version="2.0"
line 2, column 0: Use of unknown namespace: http://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0 [help]

<rss version="2.0"
line 36, column 159: Encode "&" and "<" in plain text using hexadecimal character references. [help]

... her private practice and clinical blogs.</itunes:summary>
                                             ^
line 66, column 0: Use of unknown namespace: com-wordpress:feed-additions:1 (25 occurrences) [help]

<site xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">107904931</site>   <item>
line 118, column 3: itunes:summary should not contain HTML: a (24 occurrences) [help]

]]></itunes:summary>
   ^
Source: https://practiceoftherapy.com/feed/podcast

ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED!

L. Gordon Brewer, Jr.

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Re: Podcast feed problems
« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2018, 09:56:58 am »
Please provide a link to the feed you need help with so we can take a look at what's going on.

https://practiceoftherapy.com/feed/podcast/

Shawn Thorpe

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Re: Podcast feed problems
« Reply #4 on: February 17, 2018, 04:00:04 pm »
The WC3 validator is old and hasn't been updated in years. It's fine for some things but it tends to throw out a lot of useless warnings. I ran your feed thru both Podbase and CastFeedValidator, which are much more up-to-date validators and everything came back fine. Are you having a specific issue with the feed?

L. Gordon Brewer, Jr.

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Re: Podcast feed problems
« Reply #5 on: February 17, 2018, 05:57:43 pm »
Thanks this is good to know!  It is just taking a long time (2 weeks or more)for the most recent podcast episodes to show up in the iTunes store. None of my podcast episodes for February have shown up.  I have just been concerned the feed might have been corrupted since I added an SSL certificate to my website. 

Shawn Thorpe

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Re: Podcast feed problems
« Reply #6 on: February 18, 2018, 02:22:47 am »
I found the Apple Podcasts directory listing for your show here:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-practice-of-therapy-podcast-with-gordon-brewer-lmft/id1275168851?mt=2

The listing is still working off of the non-secure feed URL here:
http://practiceoftherapy.com/feed/podcast

When I enter the non-secure feed URL into Google Chrome, the non-secure automatically redirects to the secure URL, which is good. But Apple Podcasts isn't picking that up for some reason. Go to https://podcastsconnect.apple.com/ and log in with your Apple ID. Click the artwork for your show and then click the "refresh feed” link. Hopefully, it'll check the non-secure URL and see that it's forwarding and update automatically to the secure URL. These refresh commands don't happen instantaneously, so it may take up to 24 hours for any changes to be seen.

L. Gordon Brewer, Jr.

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Re: Podcast feed problems
« Reply #7 on: February 19, 2018, 10:59:55 am »
Thanks Shawn... When I go to iTunes podcast connect I am not seeing a specific "refresh feed" link anywhere. Here is what it shows:

"We had difficulty reading this feed. handshake alert: unrecognized_name

The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer, LMFT

URL 
http://practiceoftherapy.com/feed/podcast/

Status
Error

Last Refresh
1/31/2018 9:25 PM

Mirror URL
https://pcr.apple.com/id1275168851"


So I click on the URL for the feed and changed the http to https. Saved it. Then I get this message:  "Can’t read your feed."

I'm not sure what to do next...  Do I delete the podcast from iTunes and start over? (Don't really want to do that...)

So any other ideas?

Gordon

Shawn Thorpe

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Re: Podcast feed problems
« Reply #8 on: February 19, 2018, 12:58:05 pm »
Don't remove the Apple Podcasts listing and start over. Is your SSL provider on Apple's approved list?
https://create.blubrry.com/manual/your-web-site/secure-ssl-podcast-website/

L. Gordon Brewer, Jr.

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Re: Podcast feed problems
« Reply #9 on: February 19, 2018, 01:55:08 pm »
Should be, its GoDaddy.

Gordon

Shawn Thorpe

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Re: Podcast feed problems
« Reply #10 on: February 19, 2018, 01:59:55 pm »
We need to find out more from Apple. Go here:
https://discussions.apple.com/community/itunes/producing_podcasts

Click the Contact Us link at the bottom of the page to file a support request with them. Respond back here with whatever they have to say.

L. Gordon Brewer, Jr.

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Re: Podcast feed problems
« Reply #11 on: February 19, 2018, 04:28:01 pm »
Okay, not sure why but having trouble accessing the iTunes discussion forum.  Everytime I try to login it I get

 "This page isn’t working discussions.apple.com redirected you too many times. Try clearing your cookies.ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS"

SO... I just read this article from blubrry: https://create.blubrry.com/manual/syndicating-your-podcast-rss-feeds/changing-your-podcast-rss-feed-address-url/

I have done the 301 redirect, but iTunes is still saying it can't access my feed.  Should I do the iTunes new feed URL (last resort method)?  I see that there is a way to do that in the settings of the Blubrry Press plugin under "iTunes".  Should I give it a try?  The warning it gives kind of scares me...

Gordon

L. Gordon Brewer, Jr.

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Re: Podcast feed problems
« Reply #12 on: February 19, 2018, 05:01:33 pm »
Okay I think I have discovered where the problem is but do not know how to fix it. 

When I looked at the "mirror url" that was given in the iTunes Connect dashboard shows is this:  https://pcr.apple.com/id1275168851

When I click on that, it gives an incorrect feed.  It has https://practiceoftherapy.com/practiceoftherapy/podcast/feed.  Of course the extra "practiceoftherapy" should not be there.  And I don't know where and how that is happening. 

I also noticed too that the bookmark for my Wordpress login had done the same thing.

Not sure if it is a Wordpress issue, Blubrry issue, iTunes issue or what.

I talked to one of my podcast subscribers today and the latest episodes are showing up for them in the iTunes podcast app.  So the feed is getting out there for those folks.  The latest episodes are just not showing up in the iTunes store which is frustrating.

Again, any clues as to how to approach this would be great.  Should I just ignore it an hope the feed corrects itself?? Do the "iTunes new feed URL" function in Blubrry?

Thanks for your patience with this discussion...

Shawn Thorpe

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Re: Podcast feed problems
« Reply #13 on: February 19, 2018, 10:14:08 pm »
Sorry. The link I meant to give you earlier to contact Apple should've been:
http://itunespartner.apple.com/en/podcasts/overview

If you plug any Apple Podcasts listing URL into the Podbase podcast validator at https://podba.se/ it'll tell you what that listing is using for its source feed. Right now, it says your listing is working off of this feed URL:
http://practiceoftherapy.com/feed/podcast/

When I load that feed URL into Google Chrome, it redirects here:
https://practiceoftherapy.com/practiceoftherapy/feed/podcast/

It's odd that the base URL in front of the feed becomes https://practiceoftherapy.com/practiceoftherapy/ after the redirect. How was the 301 redirect applied to your website? Did you do it yourself or did someone else do it for you? Also, you mentioned using GoDaddy. Do you know if you're using GoDaddy's premium security services on your site? We've had some instances lately where that security service from GoDaddy has been blocking requests from Apple Podcasts.

L. Gordon Brewer, Jr.

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Re: Podcast feed problems
« Reply #14 on: February 20, 2018, 08:40:03 am »
I'm using a Wordpress plugin, "Really Simple SSL" to do the 301 redirect; it was recommended by Go Daddy.  The SSL is their basic service which is what was recommended by them. 

So obviously, something is happening with the redirect.

Should I switch to another plugin?

Thanks...