My podcast disappeared from iTunes.

Question

Level 1

9 points

My podcast disappeared from iTunes.

Hi,

My podcast disappeared from iTunes today. I think it might be because of something I did in iWeb, but I'm not sure. Here's what I did:

1. Made a podcast and hosted it on remote web server using a Wordpress blog.
2. Used Feedburner to make a feed from that site.
3. Submitted the Feedburner feed to iTunes. A few days later, the podcast successfully appeared in iTunes.
4. Decided I wanted to use iWeb to post subsequent episodes instead of Wordpress, so made a podcast site using iWeb and uploaded it to my host's server (not MobileMe).
5. Changed my Feedburner source feed to the new iWeb site.
6. Everything was working great, but then I realized that you can control whether your podcast is allowed in iTunes through iWeb.
7. I thought maybe there would be two versions of it, so in the Podcast pane of the Inspector, I unchecked "Allow Podcast in iTunes Store." I thought that way the Feedburner feed would still work, but the iWeb feed would not be submitted.

But later on, my podcast disappeared from iTunes. 😟

9. So in iWeb I reselected "Allow Podcast in iTunes Store" and republished my site. I hope it comes back up soon, as I've been busy promoting it.

For the **** of it, I tried to resubmit the Feedburner feed link to iTunes and a message said "The feed has already been submitted."

Then just to see what it would say, I tried submitting my iWeb RSS link, and it said:
"It appears the feed has already been submitted." Like, it wasn't sure.

What I want is for my podcast to appear in iTunes through the Feedburner link, and not be duplicated through the iWeb site RSS link.

Feedburner feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/WalkingDeadcast
iWeb site feed: http://www.walkingdeadcast.com/aacfeed/TheWalking_Deadcast_%28AACfeed%29/Podcast/rss.xml

Any help?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6), iPhone 3G • iPhone OS 3.1 (7C144)

Posted on Jul 31, 2010 11:25 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 1, 2010 1:01 AM in response to cabassi

I'm not that familiar with iWeb, but I imagine that when you unchecked 'allow...' it introduced the tag:
<itunes:block>yes</itunes:block>
tag. According to Apple's Tech Note the absence of the tag causes the previous condition to be retained. On rechecking 'allow' iWeb evidently removed the tag, as it's not there now in the iWeb feed.

Unfortunately, it looks as if to restore the podcast you need to introduce the tag:
<itunes:block>no</itunes:block>
(or it could be empty instead of 'no').

Try this slightly messy procedure:

1. Add an episode in iWeb. It can be anything as long as it has a media file (it could be a pdf) - you can remove it later. This is to force an update. Publish.

2. Download the iWeb feed and open it as a plain text file in TextEdit.

3. Somewhere between the 'channel' tag and the first 'item' tag add this line:
<itunes:block>no</itunes:block>

4. Save the feed: make sure that it has the .xml extension - TextEdit will offer to add .txt on the end - don't do this.

5. Upload this feed back to the original place, overwriting the unmodified version.

6. This is important: +do not do anything in iWeb until this problem is resolved+.

7. Do whatever you do in Feedburner to get it to recognize that the feed has changed.

Wait for at least 2 days and see if your podcast re-appears. If so you can remove the temporary episode and republish.

If none of this works (give it a reasonable amount of time) your only option is to change the name of the podcast slightly and resubmit it as a new one.

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Answer 2

cabassi Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 1, 2010 1:27 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1

Thanks, I'll give it a shot.

So I just make a blank line and add "no" with no marks or signifiers of any kind around it?

You know, I was just going to cut and paste the code so you could see if I did it write, and I noticed the line <itunes:block>yes</itunes:block> inside the code for the new test item I created.

That's odd, because I checked in iWeb and I had selected "Allow Podcast in iTunes" for that new item....

Anyway, I suppose I should add the tag <itunes:block>no</itunes:block> before the first item, right?

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Answer 3

cabassi Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 1, 2010 1:31 AM in response to cabassi

Just to be safe, I added the line

<itunes:block>no</itunes:block>

before the first item, and within each of the two episodes and the new test item.

Let me know if that's not a good idea.

And thanks so much for the help!

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Answer 4

cabassi Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 1, 2010 1:35 AM in response to cabassi

By the way, I first read your post in an automated email response, which didn't display the signifier. Just the word "no." Which is why my first response seems so dense....

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Answer 5

Aug 1, 2010 2:41 AM in response to cabassi

Your mail client was helpfully trying to render the tags 🙂

You didn't actually need to add the tag within the items, but it won't do any harm.

The tags have appeared in the Feedburner feed, so now it's just a question of waiting. Give it up to 3 days to be on the safe side.

If it does reappear in the Store, the next time you add an episode the tags will disappear, but that won't matter.

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Answer 6

cabassi Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 2, 2010 11:07 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1

It's still not up there. But it's only been a day and a half. It's hard being patient....

I submitted an email on this to iTunes Support, but I've read that they have a reputation for being unhelpful. Do they just not answer?

Also, I notice when I click the arrow next to my podcast in my iTunes library, I'm directed to my website in my browser rather than to a non-existent page in the iTunes Store. Do you think that has any bearing on anything?

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Answer 7

Aug 2, 2010 2:58 PM in response to cabassi

I submitted an email on this to iTunes Support, but I've read that they have a reputation for being unhelpful. Do they just not answer?

They have a tendency to send out form answers which often don't really address the problem - or to direct people back here. However they have also been known to produce the odd helpful result. I suppose part of the problem is that it's a free service and so doesn't provide the level of support that for example MobileMe does.

Also, I notice when I click the arrow next to my podcast in my iTunes library, I'm directed to my website in my browser rather than to a non-existent page in the iTunes Store. Do you think that has any bearing on anything?

With my podcast that arrow directs back to the Store page, which it can't do in your case: I don't think it's relevant - the question is whether the Store will recognize the unblocking tag and restore the podcast. According to the Apple Tech Note it should, so you can only wait, and hope.

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Answer 8

cabassi Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 3, 2010 5:20 PM in response to cabassi

My podcast is finally back up. I followed your advice and published a new episode to try and force an update - but I think calling it "test" and having it be only 8 seconds made the process take longer than it might have - I got a note saying it "looked like a testing podcast." If I had it to do again, I'd post a longer audio file and name the new episode something else.

Thanks for the help!

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