iTunes Problems with Enclosures and Corrupt Files

[Kevin Burk]

I apologize in advance if this question has been addressed elsewhere,
but after three hours of searching I'm still at a loss.

I have a brand new blog feed; the blog address is http://www.MySpiritualTrainer.blogspot.com

I'm using Blogger and Feed Burner, and I'm not getting my posts to
show up in iTunes properly.

The first post, which has a video file hosted on blogger, shows up
perfectly. The second post, which had no rich media in it did not show
up at all on iTunes. So I created an audio podcast to include in that
file.

Nothing I can do will get that audio podcast to show up and download
correctly in iTunes.

I did correct the initial problem which was that the files had not
uploaded correctly. PodMedic helped with that. But now I know I've got
both good MP3 files and good M4A files. They show up correctly as
enclosures when I look at the direct feed from Feed Burner and follow
the "enclosure link" instructions at Blogger. However, they do NOT
show up on iTunes.

Either the posts don't update at all (even with pinging and
refreshing), or the posts show up, but iTunes can't download the
enclosure. I get a "The file might be corrupted or is a format that
iTunes can't play" error.

I've been unable to include any kind of text link to the MP3 audio, or
to embed the MP3 directly in the message. I've tried every option I
can find, and I'm completely at a loss.

The links to the files are:

http://www.MySpiritualTrainer.com/PODCAST/Podcast2008-0628.mp3 and
http://www.MySpiritualTrainer.com/PODCAST/Podcast2008-0628.m4a

What I want, if I haven't been clear, is to have audio-only podcasts
correctly download to iTunes when the feed updates. I don't know
what's going on or what I'm doing wrong.

Help!

[Kevin Burk]

Oh—one more important detail I forgot.

I've got two different feeds from this blog. The RSS feed completely
ignores the "enclosed" file and the 2nd Podcast Post won't show up at
all in iTunes. The ATOM feed DOES show up, but won't download the
enclosed MP3 file.

[whiwo]

Kevin,

I put out a podcast once a week on my Blogger site. Earlier this year
I finally got myself listed in iTunes with my own page. The problem
you're experiencing is similar in nature to something that happens to
me. I generally put out two mixes in one post. What I've noticed is
that iTunes picks up the first enclosure but not the second. So when
a subscriber logs into iTunes, it will automatically download the
first podcast but not the second, even though they are part of a
group. Nevertheless, they both still show up in iTunes and the
subscriber has to manually download the second. I'm guessing there is
something that needs to be added to the feed for iTunes to properly
recognize both items in one post. You stated you had a video and mp3
file in the same post. Some I'm guessing this might be the same
issue. You might want to email iTunes support with your question. My
experience with them is that they are generally quick to respond and
very helpful.

Good Luck.

[Kevin Burk]

No…that's not the issue at all.

There's only ONE enclosure in each post. There's only the video in the
first post.

I can't get the audio enclosures to show up or download correctly at
ALL, even when there's nothing in the post at all other than the audio
enclosure.

[Kevin Burk]

…And I appear to have figured it out. I can't be the only one who's
had this problem, so maybe it could be addressed in a FAQ somewhere?

The domain where the MP3 files were being hosted is a redirected/
masked domain. iTunes seems incapable of accessing files from
redirected domains. Once I changed the address to the full, long, non-
redirected address that directly points to where the media is actually
hosted, iTunes miraculously is able to get the files with no errors.

I gather this is an iTunes issue and not a Blogger or feed issue, but
it's one that caused me five or six hours of frustration, so I hope I
can spare others that.

[lockpro]

Kevin;
Can you expand upon your solution a little?
I have a similar issue. I posted 2 podcasts that were hosted on my own
website and they showed up in iTunes OK.
Then I posted show #3 on libsyn and neither itunes or zune will
display it in their directory. The link works, and it is in the post,
so they should be able to find it.

Any ideas?