itunes stopped saving my rss podcast ID/password

Well you are free to give up. As noted in previous messages the problem is specific to the windows flavor of ITUNES. I own a Mac as well and it does not have the problem. On the windows side of things I have been forced to change the URL string of the "podcasts" in questions to encode the username and password required by each site. (See previous messages on how) That method is 100% reliable.

I suspect we are stuck in a "its not my problem" problem. The PodCast vendor (in my case Premier Radio) is using a non-ITUNES based method of distribution. Apple could care less as they are not getting the 2 cents (pick a random amount of money) per podcast so they have no motivation to fix things. A little bit of pain actually promotes vendors to use their services and promote renenues.

Symptomatically I am wondering if the problem is only prevelant on Windows Vista and later operating systems. I suspect XP users have not seen the problem. (This is why I say its actually a Microsoft problem)

I don't get this line of thinking (re: It's a Microsoft problem). I have Windows 7, and iTunes was running fine with password-protected podcasts all along until --gasp-- Apple updated the program with a particular iteration. Not Microsoft; but Apple. Yet somehow by some curious logic this becomes a "Microsoft" problem because Apple apparently buggered up the code on this update? Where's the sense in that? Can you point to a particular Microsoft update that broke password-saving? I have other apps that require password saving on the Microsoft OS platform and it's funny -- they still work fine. Maybe Microsoft didn't secretly break their code enough?

Come on...this is an Apple issue, period. Now, it's most likely true that since they aren't deriving any revenue from other vendors using password-protected content, they don't have much incentive to fix it. It's a ****-poor attitude on their part, but that speaks volumes about who they are.

LensmanL2

I read your workaround but you state that "So far my prayers have not been answered"

My method of working around the problem is as follows:

Turn off auto-download of all podcasts

right click on a podcast and select update. This allows you to know which podcast is being updated.

enter the credentials, click the "remember me" box, pray, then click the ok button.

So far my prayers have not been answered however I am blessed with the podcasts I subscribe to.

I too have given up and installed " 9.2.1.5" after uninstalling 10.5... This attitude does not endear me to APPLE or any of their products. When it's time to replace my iPod, I'm going to look real hard at their competitors. Somebody out there has got to care about their customers and product... instead of this punkish - not-my-problem attitude experienced here. All I want to do now is just get by until I decide to replace my iPod.

Thanks for the memories...

Where do I get "off" thinking its a Microsoft problem? Simple, the solution points to the problem being its handling of authentication headers as the source of the problem. As discussed here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3780498?answerId=18126239022#18126239022

While I do not know the precise service pack (or hidden update) by Microsoft, I know that the observed impact is visible in Itunes and other applications. It is probably partially the fault of the provider (in my case Premier radio) and the version of IIS engine he is using (again, if IIS its Microsoft's fault). I have seen similar authentication problem occur outside of Itunes using Vista (and higher) level OS's and trying to authenticate with websites. As a programmer I have to authenticate with web services and when I misconfigure one (or both) ends of the communication pipe the problem we are seeing is observed.

My gut tells me that we are observing increased enforcement of standards (tightening of security) and the failure of some to follow those standards. We have observed the impact of these increased enforcement within ITunes however that is not the fault of the Itunes program exclusively.

Properly encoded authentication headers work and are saved without error.

Well... "my gut tells me" that it's George Bush's fault?!?!?!?!

Apple needs to accept the responsibility and quit blaming everybody else, that it created an application that does NOT work correctly - no matter what platform it's on... if they can't do that, maybe they shouldn't be releasing it???

I'm pretty sure they make certain it works for Apple products and mostly works for Windows products. Which is why we're still awaiting some fix.

To be perfectly honest, I am very surprised that they have not fixed this yet. Podcasting is very popular. I'd think they jump on the stick.

*sighs*

I think I'm going hunting for an Apple person to bug. If I start going nuclear on twitter, I'll post the petition here so folks who care can help me poke them w/ a sharp stick and lean on them like a happy elephant.😉

I have the same problem (password not saved for paid subscription podcasts) and I always check the box "save password", but it doesn't work. In other words, the password never saves like it is supposed to. I think this is obvious.

And they continue to ignore us or fix the problem.

I quit looking for a "FIX"... especially since APPLE won't even admit that there IS a problem... so, like quiet a few other people on the blog, I just downloaded and installed iTunes 9.2.1.5. Be sure and save your playlists in a safe location... My playlists were about the only real pain-in-the-butt that I had removing the latest and installing the older version... now I don't have to re-enter my passwords everytime I update my podcasts.

Funny how by reinstalling iTunes 9.2.1.5 there is now no problem...? So, using simple logic, it would appear that the problem is indeed with the latest update, and not MICROSOFT, PREMIER RADIO, GEORGE BUSH or SUNSPOTS!

Maybe... just maybe, APPLE will serve the people they're trying to attract... before they go somewhere else. Ask NETFLICKS what happens when you take your customer for granted!

<Edited By Host>

Todd, that is what happened to me too, I reinstalled 9.2.1.5. but lost the music I had purchased. I repurchased them rather than fight over it and the remember password function makes it well worth it to me

What I don't understand....

I used the temporary workaround....suggested by Lensman, I believe... where you put your sign-in credentials right in the subscription URL. That has worked great for me without the pain of downgrading iTunes. Do people have a problem with this? Is this a bad thing from a security standpoint? Doing this makes the latest versions of iTunes work just like it's supposed to work. What am I missing?

Tom

It didn't work when I tried it.

hawkchev wrote: .....

I will follow fiend's advice, but I too believe it's an iTunes issue. In the meantime, I won't sweat it....God Bless you all and thanks for the input.

I believe Fiend is a little too stuck on himself and his "advice" that he doesn't understand that we are not stupid thus we need to be talked down to from him.
That being said, I too have the problem that just recently started happening, only with paid subscription providers, because Fiend is correct when he says that regular Podcasts do not require a password. I have found that one of my "PAID" subscriptions does not always require my username and password typed in, because it either remembers it, or this subscription provider does things differently. This provider is whichever company that the Laura Ingraham program uses for her Laura365 subscription. If I go to the internet (I.E. 8) and to her webpage, and I log in there, and close IE8, then open IE again and go to Laura's website, it would remember me and I wouldn't have to log in to her Laura365 section of her site. In that instance, then Itunes would not ever ask for my username and password.

Itunes originally would not allow ANY podcast whatsoever to charge money to access it from Itunes. I believe that Rush Limbaugh, who LOVES Apple products, and daily gives them MASS free advertising as he talks about how he feels about the latest version of Apple's operating systems both on it's iphones, ipads, ipods, itouch's, macbook's, macbook pro's, and he always buys their latest product, no matter what it is, he has to have their products. I tell you this because he was one of the first to go to Itunes and work out a way to add his podcast to Itunes, even though it required payment, which Apple was against at first, but I guess they felt all the free attention to Itunes through these various talkshow hosts that are very popular, so something was worked out, and we were then able to click on a link on said talk show host's website, and it would add itself to your "podcast" section of Itunes, and for a while, it DID remember username's and passwords, but then some of them stopped, and that is what is annoying.

I actually PAY for the following "paid subscription" programs:

1) Rush Limbaugh

2) Laura Ingraham

3) Glenn Beck

4) Kim Komando

Of these, only Laura Igraham's seems to not ask me for the username and password (Unless, as I said, Oddly enough, I go to her website and actually "log off" Laura365, then it will require me to put in a username and password, but, strangely enough, it will not WORK unless I go to her website and log in on her site, so I assume it requires a cookie for her website so I can download her podcast from itunes)

So, it seems that this could be something that leans heavily on Itunes and things it may have changed in their recent software upgrades that changes things. I don't believe it is anything that the provider site can "fix" since itunes seems to control those password programs.

One other thing I find VERY annoying is even if I am watching a movie or TV program on Itunes, if it goes to update podcasts, and it comes to one of the sites that needs the username and password, it will interrupt whatever I am watching and ask me for that information, so that gets very annoying.

Your findings concur with mine. The fact that 3 of your 4 items fail shows that my summarization that the fault lies with Microsoft and not Apple is correct. I believe each of the 3 that fail use "premierradio.net".

The Laura Ingram show (which I do not subscribe to), uses a different provider. That site appears to be using a citrix appliance along with an Apache stack. The citrix appliance means it fully understands the authentication protocols Microsoft uses.

Premier Radio uses Akamai based services. While this gives them greater reach worldwide it also means they are likely hosting with non-Microsoft aware technology.

Now you are going to say "what does that have to do with it"? SImple, Microsoft patches their protocols, for security reasons, on their PC's altering the default behaviors. The clients understand these changes but the servers they are authenticating with (the provider servers) have not been updated. This is effectively a mismatch in protocols causing failures in authentication.

In our case we are using ITunes to connect to our podcast providers to retreive new "podcasts". I own both windows and non-windows machines and have a 100% success rate on my non-windows (i.e., iMac) machines. Only on the windows machines does the authentication problem exist. (Thus my theory that its Microsofts "fault") The solution I provided earlier works around the authentication problem by using an older method of URL encoding to include authentication as part of the sites URL.

Yes, Apple could code a solution to address the problem (I have made similar changes to programs that I have written so I know it is possible), however they have no financial reason to do so. The programs we are calling "podcasts" are in fact not podcasts. They are in fact RSS feeds of which the ITunes program can also read. These "podcasts" are hosted outside the Itunes store and as such mean Apple gets zero money each time they are used. I understand the business case to avoid the Itunes store however this is an example where its usage would force the resolution of our problem. In the current state there exists no financial reason for Apple to "fix" the problem as it originates outside the scope of their product. Yes they could adjust their program to accomodate the problem but why spend the money to do so?

Until the providers patch their servers (unlikely) or **** freezes over we are stuck with our situation.