mevio password pop-up

STWriter,

Regarding your post of 25th June...

I don't believe I have ever made a podcast, nor signed onto mevio -- maybe some affiliate, though I don't recall trying to download anything -- and certainly not using my APPLE LOGIN [nor w/o https].

I HAVE downloaded some podcasts through iTunes

It's not a question of "making" a Podcast, nor signing in to Mevio. When a Podcast episode is downloaded, it comes from a host site of the Podcaster's choosing. You and I would not know (or care) which site that was.

I have just been through the 148 Podcast programmes in one of my iTunes Libraries (see my post earlier today) and discovered that if I tried to now subscribe to three particular programmes, the Mevio pop-up appeared. All three programmes had URLs from the same site - Podshow.com - Don't even bother to try it. It comes up with a password request followed by "unauthorised" when I cancelled. So it's as tt2 has already stated, the password allows the site owner access and is not relevant to us.

I was not subscribed to any of the three programmes causing the pop-up, and I'm not convinced that I was ever subscribed to them either. I simply downloaded a few episodes without subscription.

Only tomorrow will tell whether my subscribing and then unsubscribing to these programmes will actually prevent the pop-up. I suspect not. So the fix will be to delete the programmes from my iTunes Library, which is no big deal as I can move any episodes I want to keep as an audio files into the main iTunes Music Library.

So why has this happened now (you ask)? As I suggested in my earlier post, I think perhaps something in the iTunes update to 11.2 has caused iTunes to check each Podcast programme's feed, even if it has not been subscribed to. those that go to Mavio's site, then ask (correctly) for the password to get itno the site. The fact thyat we didn't want to go there is ... well, just one of thos ethings.

As tt2 has said, do not enter any password into the Mevio pop-up.

turingtest2 wrote:

Just playing with an empty library now and it seems that in certain circumstances iTunes can be made to access the podcast feed of an unsubscribed podcast. Perhaps there has been an internal change to iTunes so that previously dormant episodes to a series that you had unsubscribed from are now causing iTunes to check up on the feed URL, and trigger a pop-up if the URL is password protected.

Yes, that's what I suspect too.

Phil

Phil, do you still have your offending podcasts? If so could you double-check that this method prevents the password request.

Open the folder C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc

Double-click on the file hosts and choose to open with Notepad

Copy the following two lines and paste into the end of the file:

127.0.0.1 mevio.com # Podcast login patch

127.0.0.1 www.mevio.com # Podcast login patch

Then save.

tt2

Hi Steve,

Well, I've just deleted the three remaining (Mevio) ones in one user account, but I tried your tip anyway as there are still several on my other user account, which has a separate iTunes library. However, For some reason (which I can't yet work out) I cannot change the permissions on the parent file (Windows) or, as a result, on the files within it. So I cannot change the hosts file...

Regarding your previous suggestion about reading the opml file; I assume that your idea was that I could spot the offending URLs. However, I have already identified them all, by attempting to subscribe to each one in turn. The ones causing the Mevio pop-up will bring up the password pop-up when I subscribe. Checking the URLs confirms that they are either Mevio, or Podshow which I think owned Mevio. (Interestingly (perhaps), the Podsafe Music Network is still apparently live (under a slightly different name) and lists its owner as Mevio.)

My answer has been to delete the offending Podcast URL. This does not delete the folder, so if I want to keep the old episodes, with a bit of juggling, I can put them into the Music Library instead.

I also have to revise my comment above (post of June 28th, 5:00pm) about iTunes and whether it deleted Podcasts with this update.

By the way, iTunes did not delete all Podcasts during (or as a consequence of) the update, despite the numerous posts on the subject. After the update, the first access to the Podcasts Library was met with a welcome greeting in place of the expected Podcasts list. The nature of the greeting did make it look as though everything had been deleted. But once the continue button was clicked, the stored Podcasts appeared in a list, as usual.

In fact, several episodes of various Podcast programmes have been removed from my iTunes Library, but are still located in the folder. For example, one Podcast I am currently subscribed to has 87 episodes in the folder, but only three in my Library. All 87 should be listed in my Library, as they were prior to the 11.2 update!

If you are interested, I contributed to this thread: (Why does iTunes constantly ask me for my password when iTunes starts up?) about this subject in order to offer advice (and more detailed information than in this thread) to the OP who is seeing the Podcasts pop-up. He mentions Podcasts in the text. Unfortunately, the specialist who responded has missed the point and has directed the OP to the article iTunes repeatedly prompts to authorize computer to play iTunes Store purchases. I've made it clear in that thread where I think the problem lies, and that it will be a while (if ever) before it is corrected. This is now the second major bodge up by Apple regarding Podcasts, and the first one (the iOS Podcast App) has not yet been recognised and fixed, so I'm not optimistic about this one either.

I'm waiting to get my wrist slapped again as a consequence of that post, and possibly even this one too. (I don't think I'll ever make it to the lounge! 😉)

Phil

How easy it is to update hosts may depend on which version of Windows you are running, admin rights and UAC settings. I suspect the wave of this problem is over but if I could capture the other related host names ([www.]podshow.com?) and wrap up a complete hosts patch it might make a user tip. However if finding reliable instructions to edit the hosts file is going to be another headache then it probably isn't worth the effort.

The whole syncing podcast settings between iTunes and the Podcast app fiasco was distinctly annoying, and I agree I don't think they have fixed it yet. Great for casual users who don't subscribe to things that expire or care about keeping them. Not so good for us hoarders!

Only 665 points to go! That is 66 and a half solid answers you need to give (and be justly rewarded for). 😉

Sadly the second half of that equation is where things usually fall down. 👿

tt2

turingtest2 wrote:

The whole syncing podcast settings between iTunes and the Podcast app fiasco was distinctly annoying, and I agree I don't think they have fixed it yet. Great for casual users who don't subscribe to things that expire or care about keeping them. Not so good for us hoarders!

Agreed.

...and I have to correct my previous bodge count. Added to the tally is iTunes habit (since iTunes 11) of including in the number of unplayed Podcasts badge count (388), episodes that I have not downloaded and from programmes I am not (and have never been) subscribed to. (The true count is {a rather embarrassing} 90 or so episodes.)

Hhhmmm!

Checking my Library this morning, I now also have the "part-empty Library after upgrade". I have managed to find your user tip (thanks for that) and restore my Library. That just leaves me to find the put back into the Library any missing Podcasts, that were downloaded since the previous .itl file was created. They are on my computer, I've already found a couple. Oh! and of course to re-delete the rogue Mevio URLs which have all been restored too!

Actually, can you throw any light on the My Stations section of the Podcasts Library, because I cannot figure out what it is supposed to achieve? I always use Podcast/List view, and although I have managed to make the All Unplayed, and the My Podcasts views organise in a manner that makes sense to me, all I can see when I use the My Stations view is this:

I just don't get it, not least because the view does not show "most recent" as suggested by the bold text, even after changing the Station Settings/Play Order to "newest to oldest". The number ofepisodes (12117) - well, I simply have no idea what that's all about, and even the 388, as mentioned, is also nonsense.

I MAY have resolved my problem -- I also 'discovered' the Library [in MAC version, it is in the 'pull-down' button near top left]

I removed a few VERY [like 4 years] old podcasts that I had listened to [in whole or part] and have not had the pop-up for 2 days now.

It might be that simple -- good luck.

If you select the Description field for a given podcast, you'll notice a little "i" in a circle at the right side of the field. If you click on that "i" you will get a box that tells you a description of the podcast, as well as the URL it is coming from. Go through each podcast and find the URL set to Mevio.com and delete that podcast. That will get rid of the message.

I note that these interchanges were months ago. I just started have the problem a few weeks ago. I CANNOT access Itune, period, when I try to get my podcasts because the dialog box comes up and freezes everything. I have to use "force quite" to get out of it. Ctrl/shift does not work. So I cannot follow most of the solutions on here as far as I can see bc I cannot access my podcasts at all. Pressing "cancel" does no good, it pops up again immediately and closes out access to everything.

Try working through

TS1717: iTunes for Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8: Fix unexpected quits or launch issues

For general advice see Troubleshooting issues with iTunes for Windows updates.

The steps in the second box are a guide to removing everything related to iTunes and then rebuilding it which is often a good starting point unless the symptoms indicate a more specific approach. Review the other boxes and the list of support documents further down page in case one of them applies.

Your library should be unaffected by these steps but there is backup and recovery advice elsewhere in the user tip.

tt2

I have a MacBook not PC

The iTunes Safe Mode shortcut for a Mac is to hold down Option+Command while starting iTunes. See iTunes: Troubleshooting issues with third-party iTunes plug-ins and Troubleshooting iTunes installation on Mac OS X.

tt2

Thank you. I was able to open in safe mode but Mevio pop up box still showed and froze everything and had to force quit again. Have not have time to go to trouble shooting site. I don't understand why all the solutions others have had do not seem to be working for me bc I cannot get beyond the "BOX"

If you disconnect your computer from the network temporarily then you should be able to open iTunes without the password box popping up. Once there you can check your podcast subscriptions.

tt2

Hello,

Can you tell me how/where to find the "!" (bang) in iTunes on a Windows 7 machine? I too get the log in box and would like to eliminate the silly thing.

Thank you,

Alisa