Podcast not updating in itunes store

Question

Level 1

10 points

Podcast not updating in itunes store

I have had a podcast in iTunes for over a year now. For some reason, my latest one I uploaded a month ago does not show up in the itunes store, but EXISTING subscribers who already subscribed, will receive it if they manually go in itunes and right click on my podcast and select "update podcast"

I did have an outage in my site for a week or two, whereas my credit card on file with my domain registrar expired and they deactivated my domain temporarilly, so I'm wondering if Apple tried to reach me during that time and then flagged me as invalid since my site was off line during a 2 week period?

The only other thing I can think of is for some reason my LemonzDream Podcast Maker (v 1.4.0) generated an mp3 this time instead of an m4a where all my previous podcasts were m4a.. I think the reason it did mp3 instead of m4a is I didn't do an "enhanced" podcast this time.

I did the Feed Valiator, and it said my feed is valid. 😉

Here is the URL for my feed:

http://www.djrobsd.com/podcast/podcast.xml

Here is the itunes url:

http://itunes.apple.com/mt/podcast/dj-rob-klaproth/id354945792

Any ideas why this isn't showing up?

Posted on Apr 18, 2011 3:51 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Roger Wilmut1

Level 10

131,146 points

Apr 19, 2011 1:59 AM in response to RobSD

The deactivation of your domain name has scuppered you. the iTunes Store is displaying a cached version of the last time it was able to read the feed. If you try to subscribe you will find you can't. iTunes is now looking for the feed at

http://www.sedoparking.com/search/registrar.php?registrar=dotsterexpired&domain= DJROBSD.COM&site_id=4798

This gives you a serious problem which I'm not sure you will be able to solve. In order to get iTunes to switch back to the feed you would need to enter a redirection tag in the feed it's reading as instructed hear:

http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/specs.html#changing

However because there is no feed at that URL you can't do this. The only real possibilty would be to talk to your ISP and ask whether they can provide an automatic redirect back from that URL to the feed. Then you could put the redirection tag in the feed (to the same address) and that should do it.

If this can't be done

you are rather stuck, and have only two options. The first is to abandon the old feed altogether. You should get the old podcast removed from the Store - instructions at http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/specs.html#changing - and submit your new feed as an entirely new podcast. You will probably need to make a small change in the title, as a bug in the Store software may tell you that the podcast has already been submitted: and of course you will lose any subscribers or comments.

The other option is somewhat uncertain. iTunes Support is notoriously unhelpful, often sending back form answers which often don't deal with the actual problem, or referring the questioner to the Discussions Forum (which may have sent the questioner there in the first place): however it has been known for someone to persuade Support to shift their podcast to a new URL, so it's worth trying. It's probably just a matter of luck who you get. To contact iTunes Support, go to http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/ - click on 'Other iTunes Store Features' in the list and then on 'Podcasts'.

Reply

Answer 2

RobSD Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 19, 2011 11:11 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1

Roger, you are awesome! Thank you for the time you devote to answering people's questions in here since it seems that Apple doesn't really want to put any effort into supporting Podcasts. It's kind of unfortunate, because Podcasting is really cool and yet 99% of my friends who own Apple products don't understand what a Podcast is or how it works... I think we have Apple to blame for that because they launched Podcasts what, like 10 years ago, and have put very little effort into marketing, supporting, or promoting that functionality.

Anyway, how is it that you can see where people's podcast points? I noticed you have posted on other questions the URL that Apple is linking to, but I didn't find a way in iTunes to locate that URL.

I will pleed and beg the Support reps to fix it, and hope I can find someone to help. Otherwise, I guess I get to start from scratch, which is OK because I'm sure I probably only have maybe 25 subscribers. 😉

Reply

Answer 3

RobSD Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 19, 2011 12:36 PM in response to RobSD

I figured out how to see the URL that they are pointing to. If you subscribe to the podcast, and then in iTunes, you right click on the podcast and select "copy URL" then paste it into the browser window and you will see the URL that Apple is pointing to.

I have gone back and forth with support twice in the past 24 hours Roger, and they continue to just send me a bunch of different troubleshooting URL's and don't appear to even listen to my actual concern.

I am trying a new avenue... Under the podcast in iTunes store you can "report a concern", so I went in and submitted my concern there. Hopefully someone will listen, otherwise I guess I'll have to start over.

Reply

Answer 4

Apr 19, 2011 3:04 PM in response to RobSD

I'm afraid that iTunes Support is notorious for being absolutely useless almost all the time.

Reply

Answer 5

RobSD Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 19, 2011 3:16 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1

That's a shame given the high customer service ratings Apple receives for their products... They need to make it more transparent, i.e. have a way for us to update the podcast URL, a manual refresh (they used to have that podcast ping but they took that away!), and better control over it.

Reply