can't validate podcast

This is the third case of this (so far). Your feed can be subscribed to manually in Apple Podcasts, which is usually an indication that it ought to be OK in Podcasts Connect. The XML is valid. However it contains this tag:

<podcast:locked owner="xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx">yes</podcast:locked>

(it contains your email address). this is a new tag designed to prevent import into other hosts -

Buzzsprout Adds ‘Locked’ Tag Feature, Encourages Other Hosting Platforms To Do The Same. | Podcast News Daily | insideradio.com

I have no idea whether this might adversely affect Podcasts Connect. The obvious next step would be to remove it and see what happens.

FYI i mentioned in my own thread but wanted to reply to you explicitly so you saw:

some success: buzzsprout had let me set 3 categories and apparently, their support had heard that apple MAY be choking on multiple categories so they suggested clearing all but one

My feed parsed - still not getting a send for review option and podcast just shows draft but its PROGRESS

I have been back and forth with Buzzsrpout support today - they've been polite and quick with their responses, but also say the feed is fine and that it is Apple, not them

I see two things

1)my feed has that lock which I tried unchecking on their site (There is a checkbox for the podcast info to protect it - I tried unchecking)

2) According to a w3c validator they say my explicit tag is false but should be yes no or clean

Thanks for that true/false vs yes/no that helped me solve that mystery

I talked to someone higher up at buzzsprout and they replied

"""Apple changed everything about a week ago and we are working on our end

to make sure everything still works correctly. A couple of things I will

clarify... """

At least that is better than "some other folks have had issues too" - it says they're taking it seriously.

There was no submit for review (the validate was on first submission which I FINALLY got past) and there was no submit button the other day - but it also didn't pick up my art or episodes or descriptino

went back today and the artwork and descriptions and episodes showed and I had a VALIDATE button

It gave me an error as it needed the frequency field - not sure if maybe that is a field that was listed as optional in the podcast rcc feed spec or is new etc.. I let my host (Buzzsprout) know about that - but I selected 'weekly" and it went straight to published so ...

Haven't seen it show up in the app yet but PROGRESS!

I did find that setting - on the podcast setup page there is a checkbox for locking it which is checked by default - I unchecked it and saved - it took a little time to update but the lock is off in my feed - sadly that did NOT fix the issue - same error

I went ahead and made my own thread rather than jumping too much into yours but wanted to say - me too and I got that lock off and it did not solve my issue - hope this is helpful

Tananda_D wrote:

I did find that setting - on the podcast setup page there is a checkbox for locking it which is checked by default - I unchecked it and saved - it took a little time to update but the lock is off in my feed - sadly that did NOT fix the issue - same error

Thank you for reporting that. In this case something odd is going on and I'm afraid it has to be between Buzzsprout and Apple to sort it out.

As to the 'explicit'. 'false' or 'true' are now the Apple recommended entries: the validator hasn't caught up.

There used to be a 'Validate' button but it's possible that this is taking place automatically now (though of course I'm guessing). Do you see a purple 'Submit for review' button near to top right? Press that and you should be good to go. hopefully.