This discussion is locked
angieraess

Q: RSS valid in Podbean but won't stream (only subscribe in iTunes) any suggestions?

I've contacted both Podbean and iTunes and each says it's the others issue.

 

My podcast is: http://vlnrable.podbean.com/

And on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-vlnrable-podcast/id1095509432?mt=2

 

When playing from iTunes directly it buffers/loads forever and never actually plays. iTunes suggested that either it's Podbean trying to force it to download instead of stream or it's an encoding issue. My latest episode was about 8MB in size and they are all .m4a files - could this be the issue?

 

Seeking any help! Thanks in advance!

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)

Posted on May 21, 2016 2:06 PM

Close

Q: RSS valid in Podbean but won't stream (only subscribe in iTunes) any suggestions?

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Roger Wilmut1,

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 May 21, 2016 2:57 PM in response to angieraess
    Level 9 (78,540 points)
    iTunes
    May 21, 2016 2:57 PM in response to angieraess

    Your feed is at http://vlnrable.podbean.com/feed/

     

    I checked episode 4's media file - it's not forcing a download, but there is a 302 temporary redirect in place and this may well be what is causing the problem. Sometimes redirects work OK in the Store, and sometimes they don't - I can't say why this is.

     

    In any case the server appears not to handle byte range requests (the method used by iPhones) and while this wouldn't affect iTunes on a computer, iPhones will probably have difficulty with the files. I'm afraid you will either need to persuade Podbean to provide a direct URL, or to find another server.

  • by angieraess,Solvedanswer

    angieraess angieraess May 21, 2016 4:50 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Publishing
    May 21, 2016 4:50 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    Hi Roger,

     

    Thank you so much for looking into the feed. I actually just deleted all m4a files and replaced them with mp3's... so this could have caused the 302. Once the feed has refreshed I'm sure we'll know if that's the problem or not.

     

    If that doesn't work you're suggesting I contact Podbean again?

  • by Roger Wilmut1,

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 May 21, 2016 11:33 PM in response to angieraess
    Level 9 (78,540 points)
    iTunes
    May 21, 2016 11:33 PM in response to angieraess

    The 302 is still in place - I would have expected that, it would be Podbean's standard practice and nothing to do with the file format. You will need to give the Store a couple of days and see whether changing the format helps. It's possible it may not update until you add a new episode since the 'guid' tags appear not to have chanted. Unfortunately there's no way of telling whether it's updated otherwise - you could make a small change to a description tag and see whether that changes.

     

    If it doesn't work then it's back to contacting Podbean.