Hi there,
Trying to submit my podcast feed to iTunes and every time get "Technical difficulties" error.
FeedValidator checked with "Valid RSS". Feed image is 1400x1400.
Maybe useing feedburner could be a problem?
Please assist.
Here is a podcast feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/RadioShoom-mt
Thank you and best regards.
'Technical difficulties' is a catch-all error. It could possibly actually mean that there are problems at the Store end, in which case you can only try again later.
However:
1. Your media files are accessed through a Feedproxy URL - this can cause problems in itself, and then the result when checked in a browser is that the file downloads rather than plays in a browser. You should provide a direct link to the media file without a forced download - it may work (it does when subscribing), but it might cause problems. However if there is a problem with the episode files you normally get the 'difficulty in downloading your episodes' error so this may not be an issue.
2. It looks as if your episodes, for which playlists are provided, may consist of commercially issued recordings. Including such recordings without the written permission of the artists and recording companies involved is a breach of copyright, and of the terms of use for podcasting. If they suspect that this is what you are doing they will reject your podcast; I wish they would be specific in their error messages but it's possible that 'technical problems' has been used even if this is the case.
Thank you, Roger, for fast response!
Regarding copyright topic, question is - we do have permission and agreement with artists, how sholud we act in this case? Is there any procedure to complete for our content? Anyway I'm sure that this is not a techincal problem at this moment.
Well, keep trying to find out.
Thank you
Best regards,
And short update:
I've fixed "feedproxy URL".. now it's direct link to the media.
From other side, I'm find out about those "byte=range" requests. So, if any one interested how to implement this:
If you useing Apache web-server you need to check if "header_module" enabled in your config. If not - please enable. For my apache/ubuntu it can be done by:
sudo a2enmod headers
and then restart apache
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart
after that you need to check if "Accept-Ranges: byte" record exists in your config. This can be done by:
curl --head http://your server.com/path to media/media.mp3
If there is no response "Accept-Ranges: byte", then add to your .htaccess file next:
Header set Accept-Ranges byte
and restart apache.
Hope it would be helpful for someone...
Anyway... my problem still exists. 😟
Your media file is still downloading, not playing in the browser.
http://radioshoom.com/audio/download/135/shoomlive-mt23032014.mp3
And testing for 'byte range requests' facility in Terminal brings up a negative result:
curl -I -r 200-300 http://radioshoom.com/audio/download/135/shoomlive-mt23032014.mp3
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 16:00:49 GMT
Server: Apache/2.4.6 (Ubuntu)
X-Powered-By: PHP/5.5.3-1ubuntu2.2
Set-Cookie: SESSb6776a24f1e5fd2c658752fc56730b35=bs7t02ki6obfosqiptlo293vq2; expires=Wed, 16-Apr-2014 19:34:09 GMT; Max-Age=2000000; path=/; domain=.radioshoom.com
Expires: Sun, 19 Nov 1978 05:00:00 GMT
Last-Modified: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 16:00:49 GMT
Cache-Control: store, no-cache, must-revalidate
Cache-Control: post-check=0, pre-check=0
Content-Length: 120312521
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=shoomlive-mt23032014.mp3
Accept-Ranges: byte
Content-Type: audio/mpeg
As to your content, I'm not sure of the best way of informing the Store - probably you should put a note at the beginning of your 'itunes:summary' tag in the top section of the feed clarifying that you have clearance.
Hello Roger,
Again, thank you for participation!
Fixed with prioritization for playing instead of downloading.
About testing "byte range requests".. is there last 2 strings in your test didn't says that byte-range requests enabled?
Best regards
it says
Content-Length: 120312521
which I take to be the entire file. This is what a successful result looks like:
curl -I -r 200-300 http://athoughtfulfaith.org/podcast/AThoughtfulFaith-001-GregPrince.mp3
HTTP/1.1 206 Partial Content
Date: Mon, 03 Sep 2012 21:59:27 GMT
Server: Apache
Last-Modified: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 04:06:04 GMT
ETag: "3fb8374-2bf169c-4c7e6fa626300"
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Content-Length: 101
Content-Range: bytes 200-300/46077596
Content-Type: audio/mpeg
I can confirm that you file now plays and not downloads.
Thank you, Roger.
Finally I did it! )
And problem wasn't in .htaccess as I wrote before.
Anyway, if you are using Drupal for podcasting platform with Audio module - there is no chance to publish your podcasts in iTunes Store. Basicly because Audio module prevents partial content (byte-range). Solution is - ffpc (FileField Podcast) module and open filesystem in Drupal.
Good luck and best regards.
Hi Roger!
I am having problems uploading my feed to iTunes. I uploaded my audio to my website tlesproductions.com using my web provider's podcast app (webs.com).
I then created a feed with feedburner: http://feeds.feedburner.com/CultureSlips
When I try and submit it to iTunes I receive this message: there is a problem with your feed. your episodes are hosted on a server which doesn't support byte-range requests. enable byte-range requests and try your submission again.
Any ideas what could be wrong?
'Byte range requests' is the method iPhone use to download podcast episodes: it consists of requesting only part of the file at a time, rather than the entire file as happens when computers access it. Because iPhones can't download and play files on servers which do not handle this satisfactorily Apple have made it mandatory when submitting a podcast.
Testing the file in Terminal appears to confim their complaint. (Note that this affects the media file, it's not a problem about the feed itself).
I'm afraid you will have either to negotiate with the people running the server to see whether they are able to enable this facility, or find another hosting service which does handle it. (When considering a service you need to ask them whether they can handle this, and if they say no or don't know what you are talking about, go somewhere else).
I was worried you would say that. Ok thanks so much!
Can't submit podcast to iTunes with response "Technical difficultes"
