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Can I make my podcast (that I made) appear oldest to newest

I made a 27 part, serial-style podcast/audiobook that I released over the course of 27 weeks. When I refer people to it, the last episode/chapter comes up first which makes no sense to the listener. I asked Apple if I could have it appear oldest to newest like "Serial" and they were stumped. I asked Soundcloud -- who hosts my podcast -- and they were confused as well.


Does anyone know how to do this without requiring the listener to adjust their settings OR does anyone know how to add a description to the podcast so I can at least say "Play from oldest to newest?"


I can't be the first person that's attempted this. Thanks!

Posted on Jan 29, 2020 8:43 AM

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Posted on Jan 29, 2020 9:18 AM

You should be able to do this with the 'itunes:type' tag. Apple say:


'serial. Specify serial when episodes are intended to be consumed in sequential order. Apple Podcasts will present the oldest episodes first and display the episode numbers (required) of each episode.'


This tag goes in the top section of the feed, (before the first 'item' tag) and would look like this:


<itunes:type>serial</itunes:type>


And within each episode's tags you would have:


<itunes:episode>4</itunes:episode>


showing the relevant number.


I don't have experience of this so I don't know if it works identically both for subscribers and for people using the Store page, but one would think it likely.

4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 29, 2020 9:18 AM in response to Whutsiznaim

You should be able to do this with the 'itunes:type' tag. Apple say:


'serial. Specify serial when episodes are intended to be consumed in sequential order. Apple Podcasts will present the oldest episodes first and display the episode numbers (required) of each episode.'


This tag goes in the top section of the feed, (before the first 'item' tag) and would look like this:


<itunes:type>serial</itunes:type>


And within each episode's tags you would have:


<itunes:episode>4</itunes:episode>


showing the relevant number.


I don't have experience of this so I don't know if it works identically both for subscribers and for people using the Store page, but one would think it likely.

Jan 29, 2020 1:50 PM in response to Whutsiznaim

I'm not familiar with SoundCloud but I would assume that they construct the feed from the episode data and recording you provide and you don't have direct access to modify the coding. These tags are fairly new and it seems likely that Soundcloud won't provide a way of entering them, though you could try taking it up with them. The problem is that most podcasting services don't let you modify the feed directly (with some reason since even a minor error can wreck it). Given this I doubt there is anything you can do. FWIW most podcast users are used to the 'latest on top' display. Numbering your episodes clearly in the titles is essential, though.

Can I make my podcast (that I made) appear oldest to newest

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