Different images per show/segment: Is it possible?

The image which appears in the Store page is referenced in the feed in the 'itunes:image' tag. However, this image does not appear when subscribing in iTunes on a Mac or PC in the 'Playlist' view (in the new 'My Podcasts view the image appears alongside the name of the overall podcast).

If you embed an image in the ID3 tag in an MP3 file it will appear once the file is downloaded and is playing. It will appear initially in a small version in the bar at the top, next to the progress bar, and if you command-click the image a larger version appears. This image did not appear in older versions of the iOS Podcasts tag; I believe it may appear in the newer version but I can't check that.

If you want to have chapters with individual images you will have to use an M4a (AAC) file - you can't do this in Mp3 - and will need a program capable of embedding the images in this way. Few programs can do this - the one I used some time back is no longer reliable, and I can't recommend one. I suspect that these chapter images will not show in the Podcasts app but not having an iOS device I can't check it - you would have to ask someone who has.

You can see the effect of doing this in my podcast at https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/the-sound-of-78s/id166389425?mt=2 (you will need to subscribe in iTunes to see this) so you could try that in the Podcasts app.

This page explains the situation in more detail, together with how to use iTunes to embed an image in an MP3 file.

http://wilmut.uk/coverart

Thank you Roger for your thorough reply. This is really, really helpful (I work with Chris at BirdNote).

We already use the process you outlined on your website to embed images in each MP3 file. They *do* should up in iTunes, but they don't show up on the native podcast app on iPhone/iPads (only our principal podcast image shows up there). It looks like you were successful, but you had to use the M4a (AAC) file, and there aren't many programs that can do this. We only want one image for each show, not chapters like you have (cool feature, by the way). Plus, we'd ideally want to keep them as MP3s.

Are native podcast apps not programmed to show individual show images? I've checked all the bigger players - Snap Judgment, This American Life, StoryCorps, Serial, Freakonomics, Marketplace - and I didn't see any images other than their main podcast image.

Thank you for your help.

For one image per show you have to embed it in the media file - as long as it's only one MP3 is fine. These embedded images will appear when subscribing in iTunes but only when you start playing the episode. I believe it was the case that originally the iOS Podcasts app didn't show these image but only the image in the feed; I have an idea this has changed more recently but as I don't have an iOS device I can't check that.

Many podcasters simply don't bother with the embedded image. Other programs for playing podcasts may well not bother to show embedded images. In cases where the episodes are being streamed rather than downloaded complete before playing (as in iTunes on a Mac) it may not be technically possibly to access the embedded image.

Thank you so much Roger. This is incredibly helpful. I appreciate your time.

I looked at your XML file and it appears to be OK. The two tags you mention above are correctly formatted. The 'itunes:image' tag within the 'item' tags provides in iTunes only the small image which appears for each episode when you run a Search. Previous versions of the Podcasts app did not show the image even if it was both embedded and referred to within the episode. Not having an iOS device I'm not in a position to check whether it does show on the current iOS - I imagine it can't show the embedded image in the nature of the way it accesses the file (in chunks). You could ask someone in the iPhone forum to check your podcast, but if you are up to date with iOS and are not seeing these images then it's probable that they are just not going to appear.

Apple’s technical podcast specifications state that the iTunes-specific tag <itunes:image> allows to show associate a cover art to the podcast feed but also at the episode level. However, there is some confusion on this topic since this specific tag is currently not fully implemented by Apple: it works only for the general podcast cover art, but not for single episodes, i.e. if an image is specified in the RSS feed using the tag <itunes:image> for a single episode (<item>), this is simply ignored by iTunes and the iOS podcast app, which keep displaying the general cover art.

The only way to show artwork associated to an individual podcast episode is to use GarageBand for Mac and create an “enhanced podcast”, this will solve your issue and will allow you to have single episodes to their own image(s) and, optionally, chapters 🙂