"Can’t download episodes from your feed" despite passing validation and other podcast platforms

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Level 1

4 points

"Can’t download episodes from your feed" despite passing validation and other podcast platforms

I'm trying to set up an RSS feed for a podcast. I've got it populating correctly, it's passed validation through multiple validators, and it's been accepted on other platforms like Spotify and Stitcher.

But in Podcasts Connect, I'm getting a "Can’t download episodes from your feed" error. I've searched previous questions and none of the problems (spaces in the filepath, redirects, etc) seem to apply to me. Can anyone help guide me on why the download isn't working?

Feed: http://athena.edgeworksentertainment.com/server_podcastRSS.php?showid=1

Posted on Nov 19, 2019 12:53 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Roger Wilmut1

Level 10

131,332 points

Nov 19, 2019 1:48 PM in response to Edgeworks

I would expect that using a script in this way is going to cause problems. You do really need to provide a URL which ends in the extension.

This Apple Help page addresses the issue:

https://help.apple.com/itc/podcasts_connect/#/itc2c07d8468

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Answer 2

Edgeworks Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 19, 2019 1:23 PM in response to Edgeworks

After more experimentation, it seems that the problem is that my "enclosure" URLs point to a PHP script rather than to an mp3 file directly. If I switch it to the mp3 file, it works.

Problem is, I need it to go through the PHP script for download tracking. Is there a way to send a PHP script through the "enclosure" URL in a way that Apple will accept? All the other podcast platforms seem ok with it, and I'm surely not the first person to want to track their downloads this way. What's the best practice here?

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"Can’t download episodes from your feed" despite passing validation and other podcast platforms

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