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Podcasting with ITunes

  1. richbroski
    Member

    I havent been able to find this solution anywhere...someone please help!!! I've been doing a podcast on wordpress.com for the past couple of months (www.floor3.wordpress.com). i've recently submitted...and got it approved...to be on I-Tunes. I'm sure there are tons of people in the same boat as me...and it's virtually impossible to find an actual, UNDERSTANDABLE, PRACTICAL answer...

    how do I add metadata (length, description, album-cover and other art, etc.) that will appear on i-tunes??? as of now, the itunes "name" is simply the name of the post...and the i-tunes "description" is the actual text from the wordpress post (with additional coded characters). every forum and i-tunes support response directs me to use the I-Tunes RSS tags...which, as far as I can see, through wordpress.com, is like trying to squeeze blood from stones.

    i signed up at feedburner and i can view, but cant figure out how to edit, my xml feed...
    i tried to have i-tunes REMOVE my podcast...so i can reload it (from scratch) with the feedburner feed url...but when i add that url, itunes says it already exists...

    im completely lost...and considering sacraficing a chicken next.

    (www.floor3.wordpress.com, http://floor3.wordpress.com/feed/, or http://feeds.feedburner.com/floor3radio, OR to see it on itunes, http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=350426809 )

    thanks SOOOO much...i hope someone can shed some light on this for all of us non-programmers!!!
    Rich.

    The blog I need help with is floor3.wordpress.com.

  2. timethief
    Member

    I'm sorry but I don't have an answer. I am commenting do this thread is back on the front page of the forum, where hopefully another volunteer will be able to answer it.

  3. t3ck
    Member

    This question sounds more like a question staff might be able to answer for you so I recommend contacting them directly http://support.wordpress.com/contact

  4. t3ck
    Member

    I'll also tag the thread with the Modlook tag to grab staffs attention to this thread.

  5. tbol3
    Member

    I might be able to help. I've podcasted for a long while (although I'm not currently doing any shows besides http://leifandersen.blip.tv, which is obviously not a podcast). Anyway, it drives me nuts how Apple has basterdised the podcasting standards with iTunes, but seeing that the majority of podcast listeners use it, we have to deal with it. Anyway, WordPress.com feeds (and wordpress feeds in general, but the .org feeds can be changed with some hacking), are not itunes compliant, however, a service such as http://feedburner.com, can take your wordpress.com feed, splice it up with all of the metadata you need, and use that. In fact, I would recommend that you give that feed to your listeners rather than your wordpress.com feed, that way if you ever decide to move (say you go from one wp.com blog to another, or you decide to move to another platform), just point feedburner to your new feed, and you won't loose any listeners. Happy podcasting.

  6. markel
    Staff

    Currently, WordPress.com doesn't support the kind of metadata that is most useful for iTunes to properly index your content.

    tbol3's suggestion is a good one that you look into using a third-party feed service such as Feedburner to augment your RSS information to make your podcast play nice with iTunes.

  7. hepcat65000
    Member

    Floor3, any luck? I would like to know whether you decided to use Feedburner and if it worked. This is important to know before I decide to pay money to upload audio to WordPress.com. If uploading an MP3 file to a post doesn't create a properly compliant feed, then I will look at alternatives.

  8. tbol3
    Member

    You can 'test' it out without paying, sort of Upload your audio to http://archive.org, then, link your file to your wordpress.com account (post a link to it somewhere within the post). Then, sign up for a free feedburner account, and play with the settings to your harts content (or Google's/Wordpress's limitations, whichever comes first). Good luck, and have fun podcasting.

  9. richbroski
    Member

    Thanks everyone! I signed up for the Feedburner account...and right from the start it asks you for the proper i-tunes metadata. BUT...(dunt dunt dunnnnntttttt - that was supposed to be dramatic music)...

    I-Tunes doesn't let you change your feed URL. SO...I had to delete my podcast on I-Tunes. This process took longer than getting my podcast onto I-Tunes in the first place. NEXT, I tried to-resubmit...using the feedburner URL instead. No luck. It somehow already recognized the URL...and wouldnt let me submit it.

    SO...now I'm at a "wait and see" point. I'm hoping that if I wait long enough, the next time I try to resubmit onto I-Tunes, it will accept the feedburner URL. So we'll see...I'll post another comment here when I attempt it next...hopefully sometime next week (week of feb. 22, 2010)

    Thanks everyone...stay tuned...

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