Podcast wont download on iPhone app

Someone else has posted the same problem only today, as it happens. It may be that Squarespace doesn't support 'byte range requests', the method used by iPhones without which they may have difficulty playing podcasts. I tested one of his files and though one can't be 100% certain it did look as if it didn't support byte range requests.

I can't test on an iOS device as I don't have one: but if it is the case about this process you can only get round it by hosting your files on a server which does support it.

What is your shows RSS feed or iTunes store URL.

I can test it out for you.

Rob W

Testing in Terminal produces the result:

curl -I -r 200-300 http://static.squarespace.com/static/51112ff9e4b04cd3eb15e570/t/51e04face4b0ab67 379c2a53/1373654956203/Pilot%20-%20%22Hear%20Comes%20Treble%20Guilty%20Plesures% 22.m4a

HTTP/1.1 200 OK

Cache-Control: public, max-age=94608000

Content-Type: audio/mp4a-latm

Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2013 22:13:17 GMT

ETag: W/"10c0f9ae9ce6b1142ec17ee5b9a6ad46"

Pragma: cache

Server: SSWS

Set-Cookie: JSESSIONID=AF83B0926CE292D14EF45426C48A03A8.nyc-webster11; Path=/; HttpOnly

Set-Cookie: crumb=2cfce6f116; Path=/

Set-Cookie: SS_MID=9a158195-38ca-4bc6-b220-0a6351bc4dafhj1xzdmp; Domain=.squarespace.com; Expires=Mon, 10-Jul-2023 22:13:18 GMT; Path=/

X-Identifier: static

X-PC-Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2013 22:13:18 GMT

X-PC-Host: nyc-webster11.int.peer1.squarespace.net

X-PC-Info: Qd1d-wv7whOp0c6_YVo-yjKegbg, [t:234, p:1718], 25972:16499, 0.01699525503671776

X-ServedBy: nyc-webster11.int.peer1.squarespace.net

Content-Length: 22262998

Terminal has requested only bytes 200 to 300 of the file, but the final lilne shows that the full length has been called.

This suggests that the server does not support byte range requests: this could well cause problems with iPhones (though if this is the case it's a mystery how you got it accepted in the first place as normally this issue causes a rejection with an error message about it).

Incidentally, though presumably this isn't the cause of the issue, your filename has spaces in it. Spaces are not allowed in a URL and though the feed correctly handles this by substituting the code %20 for each space, so that it does work, it's bad practice. You should replace the spaces with underscores and amend the feed accordingly.

The file fails to play for me as well when I subscribe in the Podcasts app.

Note - Squarespace also has a 20 MB limit on file size uploads. So maybe that is causing the issue.

Either way Sqaurespace is not the best place to host your Podcast media files.

They don't recommend it either for that use.

I host my podcasts at and work for Libsyn. So Libsyn is who I would recommend. Libsyn is 100% iTunes and iOS compliant. It is where Adam Carolla, Joe Rogan, *** with Marc Maron, The NFL and many others host their shows. And it is really easy to use to create an RSS feed.

I've been having this same problem for a couple of weeks. We host our podcasts with Squarespace, and one of the feeds has just stopped working in the Podcasts app. I've been working with customer service at SS, but they haven't been able to figure out where the problem is. I did have spaces in the filenames, so I've started removing them from the files, but the problem persists.

Squarespace has an uploaded audio file limit of 120 MB, according to this page: http://help.squarespace.com/customer/portal/articles/614481-using-the-audio-bloc k

Their help also says that byte range requests are enabled automatically. However, when I was submitting my feed for our second podcast, it took several tries before the feed worked, as it was telling me that byte range requests were not enabled.

The shows are still able to be listened to on the site itself, and downloaded in iTunes on the desktop. It just won't download in the Podcasts app.

It's not really possible to comment unless you would like to publish the URLs of both your feed and the Store page - this latter can be found by control-clicking on the podcast image (or where it should be) - and choosing 'Copy link'. Please include the http:// in both cases to make the links clickable.

Feed link for the first show:

http://geekgodsshow.com/episodes/rss.xml

iTunes link for the first show:

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-geek-gods-show/id647582050?ign-msr=http% 3A%2F%2Fgeekgodsshow.com%2F

Feed link for the second show:

http://nakedwizardmedia.com/galaxy-class/rss.xml

iTunes link for the second show:

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/galaxy-class-star-trek-next/id672545144?mt=2 &uo=4

The URL of the media file for the latest episode in your first show is

http://static.squarespace.com/static/5176d3eae4b095fa940cc8f9/t/51e36af9e4b0c878 4c9ed298/1373858553324/the-geek-gods-show-episode-10.m4a

If you open this in a browser it downloads instead of playing within the browser - this may cause problems. The file needs to be served directly, not as a forced download. It does play in the iTunes Store page within iTunes on a Mac but I don't know how this might affect the Podcasts app (I don't have an iOS device to check it on).

More seriously, testng in Terminal for byte range requests capability produces this result:

rl -I -r 200-300 http://static.squarespace.com/static/5176d3eae4b095fa940cc8f9/t/51e36af9e4b0c878 4c9ed298/1373858553324/the-geek-gods-show-episode-10.m4a

HTTP/1.1 200 OK

Cache-Control: public, max-age=94608000

Content-Type: audio/mp4a-latm

Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 18:22:35 GMT

ETag: W/"ec95f053977f09c2c127dab54e9ba2b9"

Pragma: cache

Server: SSWS

Set-Cookie: JSESSIONID=1541689F0B8C8256782F4D3FEB00FF2A.nyc-webster6; Path=/; HttpOnly

Set-Cookie: crumb=9b080d4864; Path=/

Set-Cookie: SS_MID=8ce9e75c-8dbf-4c7e-9a97-831ca0cb0ea9hj6028lh; Domain=.squarespace.com; Expires=Thu, 13-Jul-2023 18:22:35 GMT; Path=/

X-Identifier: static

X-PC-Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 18:22:35 GMT

X-PC-Host: nyc-webster6.int.peer1.squarespace.net

X-PC-Info: zbnA_PXSeHekV_huOIz5c1k9fsE, [t:355, p:975], 96021:66820, 0.02419144610806573

X-ServedBy: nyc-webster6

Content-Length: 42592979

This suggests that byte range requests are not supported, which is very like to cause problems on iPhones.

We've had several threads recently with similar problems and the indications seem to be - as Robert says above - that Squarespace is not really suitable for podcasting.

Roger Wilmut1 wrote:

The URL of the media file for the latest episode in your first show is

http://static.squarespace.com/static/5176d3eae4b095fa940cc8f9/t/51e36af9e4b0c878 4c9ed298/1373858553324/the-geek-gods-show-episode-10.m4a

If you open this in a browser it downloads instead of playing within the browser - this may cause problems. The file needs to be served directly, not as a forced download. It does play in the iTunes Store page within iTunes on a Mac but I don't know how this might affect the Podcasts app (I don't have an iOS device to check it on).

The reason it's like that is because it's an audio block in the post. If you go to this link: http://geekgodsshow.com/episodes/2013/7/14/episode-10-freddy-vs-jason it will play within the browser.

I will forward your reply to Squarespace to see what they say.

Thanks for your help!

That link is to a web page which contains an embedded player - that won't work. What I mean by playing in the browser is that when you click on the URL in Safari it plays without any other display, like this one:

http://rfwilmut.net/podcasts/Soundof78s36.mp3

The link I gave above, from the feed's 'enclosure' tag, work in iTunes, both the Store and when subscribing, on a Mac. But the forced dowloading can cause problems, and the lack of byte range request capability is certainly an issue with iPhones.

Oh, I see. Do you know how I would go about changing that?

I'm afraid I can't advise on SquareSpace, except the general comment that from what I've seen it doesn't seem to be a satisfactory place to host your media files and you might to better to look for a proper hosting service that can handle the files.