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curious007
Level 1 (7 points)

Q: How show full content and links of podcast post in podcast show notes?

Need help with the podcast, Sleep with Nature Sounds.

 

When I create a podcast post in my wordpress.com account I can see the full content and links on my website, but when I look at the podcast show notes in iTunes, the content has been truncated without paragraphs and links.

 

I know the basic problem: the feed from my wordpress.com account should have a <description>...<description> section followed by a <content: encoded> section.  But it only has the <description> section which is a truncated version of the content section.  So the full content of the podcast post is never making it to iTunes.

 

How do I edit or adjust my feed in wordpress.com to make sure the feed includes the <content:encoded> section?

 

I know that one way is to go to Settings > Media > Podcasting and fill in the information there, but you can only use that for one podcast on a wordpress.com website and I have several podcast programs on the same wordpress.com site.

 

So how do I edit the podcast feed on my own?

 

Title of podcast: Sleep with Nature Sounds

 

Here is the iTunes link so you can see that the show notes are truncated: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/sleep-with-nature-sounds/id1066154319?mt=2

 

Here is the feed created by wordpress.com that is missing the <content;encoded> information: https://silkasmr.wordpress.com/category/podnature/feed/

 

Any help would be amazing. Roger W?  Rob W? Any others?

 

Thanks!

Posted on Mar 9, 2016 12:30 PM

by Roger Wilmut1,Apple recommended
Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1
Level 9 (78,562 points)
iTunes
A:

Your feed is not a proper podcast feed. It lacks the 'iTunes declaration' in the 'rss version' tag, without which iTunes cannot read any 'itunes:... tags such as 'itunes:subtitle' and 'itunes:summary'. In their absence it will read the 'description' tag, but in any event iTunes does not render HTML so links will not work. As to the 'content:encoded' tag, iTunes does not read this; I can't answer for why Wordpress has not included it - possibly because this isn't seen as a proper podcast feed anyway.

 

I can't advise on how you would go about getting Wordpress to construct a proper feed, but you may find their instructional page will help:

 

https://en.support.wordpress.com/audio/podcasting/

Posted on Mar 9, 2016 1:59 PM

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curious007

Q: How show full content and links of podcast post in podcast show notes?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Roger Wilmut1,Apple recommended

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 Mar 9, 2016 1:59 PM in response to curious007
    Level 9 (78,562 points)
    iTunes
    Mar 9, 2016 1:59 PM in response to curious007

    Your feed is not a proper podcast feed. It lacks the 'iTunes declaration' in the 'rss version' tag, without which iTunes cannot read any 'itunes:... tags such as 'itunes:subtitle' and 'itunes:summary'. In their absence it will read the 'description' tag, but in any event iTunes does not render HTML so links will not work. As to the 'content:encoded' tag, iTunes does not read this; I can't answer for why Wordpress has not included it - possibly because this isn't seen as a proper podcast feed anyway.

     

    I can't advise on how you would go about getting Wordpress to construct a proper feed, but you may find their instructional page will help:

     

    https://en.support.wordpress.com/audio/podcasting/

  • by curious007,

    curious007 curious007 Mar 9, 2016 2:42 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 1 (7 points)
    Mar 9, 2016 2:42 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    Roger, thanks for the reply.

     

    I actually submit the wordpress feed through feedburner to make it iTunes compatible.

     

    Here is the feedburner feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/silknature

     

    So the feed coming from feedburner is iTunes compatible but still has the problem I described.

     

    Thanks for the wordpress.com link but that is for setting up one podcast from a wordpress.com website and I have two podcasts on my site.  I have not had much luck with getting any good help from wordpress.com - they don't seem to have any staff that understand how to podcast from wordpress.com.

     

    Do you or anyone else have any other ideas for how I can edit my feed to get it show the full content of my podcast posts in the podcast show notes in iTunes?

     

    Thanks to anyone that can help.

  • by Roger Wilmut1,Apple recommended

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 Mar 9, 2016 2:57 PM in response to curious007
    Level 9 (78,562 points)
    iTunes
    Mar 9, 2016 2:57 PM in response to curious007

    As you have no 'itunes:subtitle' or 'itunes:summary' tags the Store has used the contents of the 'description' tag in both cases: it used to be that it would simply display the HTML coding but now it's evidently stripping it out. However you are not going to get working links in iTunes whatever you do, and the 'content:encoded' tag will not be read by iTunes.

     

    You can add the 'itunes: subtitle' and 'itunes:summary' tags in Feedburner if you wish: the subtitle should be kept short - it's not intended for a long description and as you see will be truncated if it overflows the space. The summary tag can be quite long, though as I say it's no good including html or links. You access the summary by clicking the small 'i' which appears at the end of the subtitle when you have subscribed and you select an episode.

  • by curious007,

    curious007 curious007 Mar 10, 2016 6:46 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 1 (7 points)
    Mar 10, 2016 6:46 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    Roger,

     

    Thanks again for replying, I appreciate you continuing to consider my issue.

     

    My feed does have the iTunes info bc I had put it through feedburner and used smartcast. 

     

    I peeked at the XML source and confirmed it is (and was) in there:

    <itunes:subtitle>Soothing nature sounds for relaxation and sleep.</itunes:subtitle>

    <itunes:summary>Soothing nature sounds to help you to relax and fall asleep. Bonus episodes include behind-the-scenes information and stories about specific recorded sounds, tips for making your own recordings, listener feedback, and more.</itunes:summary>

     

    There is no "content:encoded" section in the feed coming from wordpress.com and going into feedburner, so I still wonder if that is the problem?

     

    The easy fix would be some setting that I am overlooking in wordpress.com(?).

     

    The hard fix would be to go in and edit the feed being created by wordpress.com but I have no idea how to do that - do you or anyone know how to edit the feed directly?

     

    Thanks again for your help Roger.

  • by Roger Wilmut1,

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 Mar 10, 2016 7:01 AM in response to curious007
    Level 9 (78,562 points)
    iTunes
    Mar 10, 2016 7:01 AM in response to curious007

    Feedburner is providing those two tags and their contents shows in iTunes exactly as in the feed.

     

    In the first episode, the text in those tags appears to have been drawn from the 'description' tag, except that for the subtitle FB has truncated it (which iTunes will do anyway, you can onlyuhave a short-ish title, not a long description) and in the case of the summary FB has removed the image link which, again, iTunes will not show.

     

    Screen Shot 2016-03-10 at 14.53.08.jpg

     

    You are not going to be able to get links and images into iTunes no matter what you do, and as I've said even if there is a 'content:encoded' tag present iTunes does not read it. What you have at present is what is to be expected.

  • by curious007,

    curious007 curious007 Mar 10, 2016 7:50 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 1 (7 points)
    Mar 10, 2016 7:50 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    Roger,

     

    Thank you again.

     

    I see now that my original wording was misleading, "when I look at the podcast show notes in iTunes, the content has been truncated without paragraphs and links"

     

    I was referring to the show notes in iTunes-mediated podcatchers like the Apple Podcast app.  The "description" in iTunes is working as expected, it is the show notes for each episode that are not showing the expected full content and links.

     

    Sorry for that confusion.

  • by Roger Wilmut1,

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 Mar 10, 2016 8:00 AM in response to curious007
    Level 9 (78,562 points)
    iTunes
    Mar 10, 2016 8:00 AM in response to curious007

    I'm not familiar with the iOS Podcasts app but I assume that where you say 'show notes' this is the itunes:summary tag, taken either from the feed or from the iTunes Store. If it's showing less text than is appearing in the Store or when subscribing in iTunes I can only assume that the app truncates longer summaries. I've no way of checking this - you could ask in the iPhone or iPad forum - but if it's the case then there's not going to be anything you can do about it. And as I say, any links in any of these tags won't work (you will probably just see the text of the link).

  • by curious007,Apple recommended

    curious007 curious007 Mar 10, 2016 5:02 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 1 (7 points)
    Mar 10, 2016 5:02 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    Roger, I solved it!

     

    The problem was originating from my wordpress.com site.

     

    It was a simple fix and probably my fault.

     

    I went to Settings > Reading and noticed a section that stated, "For each article in a feed, show" and then had two options, "Full text" and "Summary".  I saw that "Summary" was checked so I unchecked it and checked "Full text".

     

    Bam.  That did it.  The feed from my wordpress.com site now had the missing <content: encoded> information, and my podcast show notes in the Apple podcast app started showing the full content of the podcast post with working links.

     

    Thanks for your attention to this Roger, your time and effort is greatly appreciated.