Login loop bug on Podcast Connect

I've been getting exactly the same thing, too. iTunes Connect log-in, podcast connect log-in... back to iTunes connect log-in. I've tried on Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer and Chrome and it's the same infinite log-in loop.

Over the weekend I tried on two separate laptops (one mac, one windows) and it's always the same. When I tried on my work computer on Monday (on Chrome) I managed to get one step further to the terms of service window, but clicking 'accept' just takes me to a 'we cannot process your request at this time' screen. Then all options there take you back to the iTunes connect screen!

I still think it's an authentication issue. I see this with other login software. Blizzard has had authentication loop problems sometimes. My wife's healthcare company has had the issue.

When I first click SUBMIT A PODCAST, I get a URL that says authResult=FAILED

The CANT PROCESS THE REQUEST has a URL that says defaultError

I've been having the same issues (getting through to "we can't process your request" page).

After a lot of tries, phone calls, emails, etc over the past week, it was confirmed on the phone by the iTunes technical department to me today that there is a bug on the server and they're working on fixing it now.

I don't understand why they just don't care about the success of us podcasters. You think that with how crazy they are on wanting people to use their products, they would make this a priority to be solved. Yet here we are on day 9 with no estimated time of when it will be fixed.

Like others have said, I've just been throwing the podcasts up elsewhere and referring viewers to there.

I gave up hope,they’ll fix it whenever they feel like it..I just uploaded to google play and stitcher..I also found a way where listeners can get your podcast on the apple podcast app but they manually have to copy your podcasts RSS feed and paste it into the “add podcast by url” click subscribe and done deal..It ***** that they can’t just search for it but this seems to be a work around..It’s working so far on a couple of my friends phones I tried it on so far.

We are listed everywhere we possibly can be. Unfortunately some apps rely on iTunes to pull a list of Podcaats such as Overcast.

I’ve been pointing people to all the other places we are listed. As long as you have an RSS feed you can get listed in these places too.

Castbox

Google Podcast

iHeartRadio

Pocketcast

Podbeab

RadioPublic

Spotify

Stitcher

Tunein

Honestly everyone, I want you to think about this. This situation has created an unfair unbalanced business impact on everyone who cannot have equal access to this public service. I see new podcasts being posted by some of the podcasters I follow, but I do have the same opportunity, and if you are here, then you do not either. This is clearly class action lawsuit material. Apple needs to resolve it quickly to avoid this likelihood.

Scott

Sent from my iPhone

I have worked so hard for months to lauch this podcast, finally got it ready and hosted it and now I cannot get on iTunes. Unbelieveable. Spent hours trying to resolve the issue, no communication about this bug on their website. It's been two weeks soon. Can't promote the podcast or network unless it's on iTunes. Very frustrating and seems hard to believe Apple can't sort such a thing out quickly, get back to their previous back-up or anything.

Here are all the directories I have been able to submit to successfully:

iHeartRadio seems to require a monthly subscription to Spreaker, so I won't be submitting there. Spotify requires 5+ episodes before you can submit, so it'll be a while for us for that one. iTunes is the largest but as long as you can get on other directories and have ability to play your podcast on the web, you should be able to socialize it.

Unfortunately, many of these directories are depending on iTunes for their podcast directories, which seems a bit ridiculous to me. So even if you manually add your RSS feed to these directories it might take an act of congress to actually show up under their categories, etc. At least you'll have links to the show itself even if it's not findable on these directories via search.

So, I just heard from Apple, here's what they said:

Thank you for contacting us. We are aware of this issue and we are resolving the issue as quickly as possible. Please reattempt periodically, every 24 hours. Thank you for your patience, and understanding.

I guess the good news is that this is a known issue, bad news is...there is no news.

FYI - when I originally tried this it was with a new Apple ID that I created just for a podcast. When I tried my old ID that I have been using for years, I got the same issue. A strange item I got a couple of times when trying to login said:

Bad Gateway. Then it had a correlation key with a long string of characters. I guess we wait.

Apparently, they are working on the issue.. 😕 but don't exactly know when!

Here is what I got:

My name is Ashlin, and I received your email about the issue you are coming across.

Welcome to the Party!

I've had the same issue for the past 4 weeks, and have gotten the same emails everyone else got.

Although I must have been at the tail end of "Morgan's" email list as I essentially got the "don't call us we will call you when its fixed" response.

I work in the IT field, and I can tell you anytime someone says we need to get the engineers involved, your looking at months of work. That's code review, code fixes, testing in development and QA environments, and perhaps even some regression testing all before code fixes can be deployed to production, it's just a slow moving process.

Like glacial slow! Polar icecaps melting slow.

From the consumer side, this *****.

They have the market cornered on services, and we can't get in.

I'm in the same boat as the rest of you.

It's to the point where I want to tell apple to go pound it and move on, but I wont..... because I want my podcast in iTunes, and they know that. It's just the way it is.

I can confirm that as of this morning, it's still broke.

What I can add however, is that I have been testing daily, and I am getting errors at random new points that I wasn't getting before, so it does atleast appear to being worked on.

And the wait continues.......

See ya all next week, or see you in iTunes... whichever comes first.

***** UPDATE*****

To other Libsyn podcast hosters....

I can also confirm that Libsyn is willing to list the show for you using Libsyn's master iTunes account.

It will get your show instant iTunes approval, but you wont have access to your shows stats on iTunes, as it will be listed under Libsyn's master account and not you own. Libsyn is willing to provide you screen shots of your shows usage in Itunes, you just can't access them on your own.

You would always have access to your shows Libsyn stats, but you would lose visibility into how much of that is coming from iTunes without asking Libsyn to provide those stats for you.

So... you can get it, but it might not be ideal for some of you.

Libsyn has been a great host for me, they are VERY economical, super fast to respond to emails, and might provide an alternative to this looping issue for some of you that want into iTunes now!

Host with Libsyn, and email ROB at Libsyn and your problem is solved.

I'm choosing to wait it out for now.

Hoping this leads to more visibility - this thread was mentioned in the latest edition of the Hot Pod newsletter this morning.

Keeping an eye on this. A reader flagged this topic on the Apple iTunes discussion board yesterday: apparently there's been an authentication bug preventing a decent number of people from submitting new podcasts for inclusion into the Apple Podcast directory. Understandably, the problem has been cause for a great deal of frustration. Will look into this.

So it seems support may be changing their tune a bit. This is the first time I've seen them say "high priority":

Thank you for contacting us. We received reports from other providers that are unable to access Podcasts Connect as well.

I can definitely understand the urgency of the matter. This login issue is affecting many provider accounts, and is a high priority for us. Please be assured our engineering team is working diligently to resolve the issue.

While our engineers work toward a solution, we have no estimated time frame of when the issue is expected to be resolved.

We appreciate your continued patience as we work to resolve this matter

Woohoo! I got it in as well. I went to Safari and made sure my cache/history was cleared. I logged in but didn't get the Terms form that we need to check and accept before being directed to the RSS Feed page (that many of us have not been able to get to for the past 3-4 weeks). I then logged in a second time then got to the Terms form and after checking the box and accepting the terms I was directed to the RSS Feed page. YES!!! I was hoping there was a light at the end of the tunnel when I read a few people were getting in sporadically. I hope that everyone can get access now. Happy podcasting, everyone!!