Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Help testing podcast, no episodes show in feed

I'm sure I'm making a really basic error but we've recorded a podcast episode and I'm trying to upload the feed to iTunes, however, when I try the 'Subscribe to podcast' option in iTunes to test the feed no episodes show.


So far, I've created the podcast and it is on our server (tell me if this is not a good idea and if I should host it somewhere else for any bandwidth issues) an created the XML file following the guide at http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/specs.html


I tried initially testing the URL in iTunes pointing to the XML file on our server and that did not work, I've then tried to create the XML file as a RSS page on our website. In doing this it does seem to be recognised as a RSS feed but again, the episode does not show. The webpage for this is http://baseballsoftballuk.com/podcasts/feed


I've also included the XML file below if it helps, I'd really appreciate any advice.



<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>



<rss xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" version="2.0">



<channel>



<title>BSUK Podcast</title>



<link>http://baseballsoftballuk.com/podcasts/feed</link>



<language>en-gb</language>



<copyright>&#x2117; &amp; &#xA9; 2015 BaseballSoftballUK</copyright>



<itunes:subtitle>The official podcast of British baseball and softball</itunes:subtitle>



<itunes:author>BaseballSoftballUK</itunes:author>



<itunes:summary>The only podcast dedicated to British baseball and softball, we bring you news, interviews and other random ramblings from coaches, players and others involved with baseball and softball.</itunes:summary>



<description>The only podcast dedicated to British baseball and softball, we bring you news, interviews and other random ramblings from coaches, players and others involved with baseball and softball.</description>



<itunes:owner>



<itunes:name>BaseballSoftballUK</itunes:name>



<itunes:email>podcast@bsuk.com</itunes:email>



</itunes:owner>



<itunes:image href="http://baseballsoftballuk.com/assets/bsuk/podcasts/bsuk_podcast/bsuk_podcast.png" />



<itunes:category text="Sports &amp; Recreation">



<itunes:category text="Amateur"/>



</itunes:category>



<item>



<title>BSUK Podcast 1: Liam Carroll, Great Britain Baseball</title>



<itunes:author>BaseballSoftballUK</itunes:author>



<itunes:subtitle>A short primer on table spices</itunes:subtitle>



<itunes:summary><![CDATA[In the first episode of the new BSUK Podcast we speak with new Great Britain Baseball Head Coach, Liam Caroll. Liam tells us how he got to play baseball in the US with Porterville College in California before moving in to coaching with the NCAA D1 University of Nevada Las Vegas. Liam also talks about his career with GB Baseball, his preparations for the 2016 European Baseball Championships and his aspirations for the future of British Baseball</p><p>Follow BaseballSoftball<em>UK</em> on Twitter <a href= "https://twitter.com/bsuk" title="@bsuk">@bsuk</a></p><p>Check out Liam Carroll on Twitter <a href= "https://twitter.com/liamcarrollGB" title="@liamcarrollGB">@liamcarrollGB</a></p><p>You can also follow Great Britain Baseball on Twitter at <a href= "https://twitter.com/GB_Baseball" title="@GB_Baseball">@GB_Baseball</a></p>To find out more about BaseballSoftball<em>UK</em> and for details of how you can get in to the sport as a player or coach visit <a href= "http://baseballsoftballuk.com" title="baseballsoftballuk.com">BaseballSoftball<em>UK</em>.com</a></p> ]]</itunes:summary>



<itunes:image href="http://baseballsoftballuk.com/assets/bsuk/podcasts/bsuk podcast/bsuk_podcast.png" />



<enclosure url="http://basebalsoftballuk.com/assets/bsuk/podcasts/bsuk_podcast/BSUKPodcast#1Liam Carroll11May2015.mp3" length="35154128" type="audio/mpeg" />



<guid>http://basebalsoftballuk.com/assets/bsuk/podcasts/bsuk_podcast/BSUKPodcast#1Liam Carroll11May2015.mp3</guid>



<pubDate>Wed, 13 May 2015 17:00:00 BST</pubDate>



<itunes:duration>36:37</itunes:duration>



</item>



</channel>



</rss>

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1), iTunes v12.0.1.26

Posted on May 12, 2015 2:52 PM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply

Posted on May 12, 2015 3:02 PM

No need to post the code here; always post the feed URL, that is sufficient.


In the 'itunes:summary' tag for the episode, you have failed to close the 'CDATA' tag:


...BaseballSoftball<em>UK</em>.com</a></p> ]]</itunes:summary>


should read


...BaseballSoftball<em>UK</em>.com</a></p> ]]></itunes:summary>


Failure to close the tag wrecks the rest of the feed, including the closing tags, hence the disappearance of the episode.


You should confine yourself to plain text in itunes:subtitle and itunes:summary tags. iTunes will not render html nor show links, but will display the code which looks very messy. There's no need to use CDATA, just write the contents in plain text with no formatting, no links; and, FYI, never use an ampersand by itself, nor peculiar characters such as 'curly quotes'. Those will wreck the entire feed.

3 replies
Question marked as Best reply

May 12, 2015 3:02 PM in response to MTGC8682

No need to post the code here; always post the feed URL, that is sufficient.


In the 'itunes:summary' tag for the episode, you have failed to close the 'CDATA' tag:


...BaseballSoftball<em>UK</em>.com</a></p> ]]</itunes:summary>


should read


...BaseballSoftball<em>UK</em>.com</a></p> ]]></itunes:summary>


Failure to close the tag wrecks the rest of the feed, including the closing tags, hence the disappearance of the episode.


You should confine yourself to plain text in itunes:subtitle and itunes:summary tags. iTunes will not render html nor show links, but will display the code which looks very messy. There's no need to use CDATA, just write the contents in plain text with no formatting, no links; and, FYI, never use an ampersand by itself, nor peculiar characters such as 'curly quotes'. Those will wreck the entire feed.

May 12, 2015 3:57 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1

Thank you so much, I was clearly right in my first line when I said I'm sure it's a really basic error, I can't believe I missed that! Just tested again and the episode is now there.


Thanks again for the other advice on the CDATA, I'd seen some descriptions on podcast episodes on my iPhone that had clickable links so I assumed this was done with HTML, is there a different way to do that?


Also, I don;t suppose you have any advice on hosting the episodes? We use 1and1 for our hosting server, do you think that can cause any issues and, if so, do you know a better way of hosting the episodes?


Thanks again for the advice, I should have asked hours ago!

May 12, 2015 11:39 PM in response to MTGC8682

The URL you give for your media file doesn't work:


http://basebalsoftballuk.com/assets/bsuk/podcasts/bsuk_podcast/BSUKPodcast#1Liam Carroll11May2015.mp3


That domain is non-existent; it should presumably be baseballssoftballuk.com. (missing 'l' in the first baseballs) but even when you change that there is no file at that address. I don't know anything about 1and1, but any web server should be OK provided it can handle 'byte range requests'. When you have a working URL (always check your URLs) post back and I'll check for that.


iTunes on a Mac/PC will not display clickable links in the descriptions. I can't advise on the Podcasts app, not having an iOS device.

Help testing podcast, no episodes show in feed

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.