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1. tcvandev
   Member
   Posted 7 months ago #

   I am having a problem getting my podcast to play in my blog. I have added the podpress plugin. I added the information to upload the podcast to a new post. When I publish/update the information the post shows on the blog with the audio player there. When I click on the actual "click to play" player nothing happens. When I click on the "audio mp3" button next to the player it opens and takes me to a new page that says to subscribe to this feed at the top. Underneath that it shows part of the written post and has a media file listed but when I click on that nothing happens.

   I am not sure where I made a mistake here. Should the "location" line on the podpress plugin have a drop down menu for me to choose which media file I want to add? Thanks for any help.

   http://www.indysportscrew.com

   http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/podpress/

2. ntm
   Member
   Posted 7 months ago #

   it opens and takes me to a new page that says to subscribe to this feed

   That happens because you have probably inserted the URL of your podcast feed instead of the URL of the mp3 file.

   Should the "location" line on the podpress plugin have a drop down menu for me to choose which media file I want to add?

   Not by default. On the general settings page of your podPress plugin you can find currently two options related to the location of the media files (at the beginning of the settings page). If you store your media files in one sub folder of your blog and configure both options so that they point to this sub folder then you will get a drop down menu which lets you choose a file from a list.
   (podPress 8.8.11 will have a better file picker which will make it possible to store the media files in more than one sub folder. I'm hoping that I can release that version later this year.)

3. tcvandev
   Member
   Posted 7 months ago #

   Thank you so much. I have changed the setting to "enable" on the iTunes:New-Feed-URL. I think that is what I needed to do to get the drop down menu to show up.

   I am still a little confused about how to get the URL of my mp3 file. I created a subfolder of podcasts in my FTP. That is where I put this first podcast that I recorded. How do I get the URL just to the podcast and not to the folder.

   Sorry if this is something simple as I have just started using WordPress. I am very new to this. Thanks for the help.

4. ntm
   Member
   Posted 7 months ago #

   ...to "enable" on the iTunes:New-Feed-URL. I think that is what I needed to do to get the drop down menu to show up.

   No, that option signals the iTunes Store server that the feed URL which you had registered at the iTunes Store has changed. If you set this option to "enable" and enter a URL in the box directly below the option then the iTunes server will look at that address for the podcast feed. But if there is no feed you have to follow a difficult procedure to correct all that. So please set it to "disable" as long as you are not sure that you want to use this option.

   To enable the drop down menu instead of the simple input field:
   - open the admin pages of your blog
   - go to the podPress settings pages (There are 3-4 of them: (Statistics), Feed/iTunes Settings, General Settings, Player Settings)
   - go to General Settings (of podPress)
   - the section "Location of the Media Files" contains to options "URL of the media files directory" and "Absolute path of the media files directory (optional)"
   - fill out both fields
   - the URL and the path need to point to the same sub folder

   How do I get the URL just to the podcast and not to the folder.

   For instance if you store your files in the sub folder /wp-content/uploads/podcasts/ then the URL would look like http://www.example.com/wp-content/uploads/podcasts/. The absolute path is a little more difficult to figure out. But you can find usually below the input field of the second option a hint what it could be. In every case /wp-content/uploads/podcasts/ is a part of the name of the absolute path. Often it looks like /yourhostingaccountname/www/htdocs/wp-content/uploads/podcasts/. You may look into the information which your hosting provider send you or you may ask him for help in this matter.

   Sorry if this is something simple as I have just started using WordPress. I am very new to this.

   No need to be sorry. This matter is not easy. (That is also why the next big enhancement of the podPress plugin is going to be a comfortable file picker dialog.)

5. tcvandev
   Member
   Posted 7 months ago #

   Thanks again. Unfortunately I am still not able to get this uploaded. I called my host server and had them verify where the folder should be. It is in /Indy Sports Crew WordPress/wp-content/uploads/podcasts.

   Now in the podpress plugin General Settings I have the URL set as http://www.indysportscrew.com/wp-content/uploads/podcasts. Then have the absolute path as /Indy Sports Crew WordPress/wp-content/uploads/podcasts. On the Feed/iTunes settings it has the new Feed URL as http://www.indysportscrew.com/?feed=podcasts. I also disabled the iTunes:New-Feed-Url. When I go to validate the feed the Feed Validator says server returned HTTP Error 404.

   I know that I am close to getting this I just can't find the right combination. Where should I go from here?

6. tcvandev
   Member
   Posted 7 months ago #

   I have tweaked the information that I put into the podpress plugin. I am much closer now I think. In the location line in the podpress box for a new post I put in Inside The Man Room Edisode#001.mp3. This brought up the correct looking audio player on my blog page but when I hit play it says file not found. Am I on the right track now and what do I need to do? Thanks.

   Again is http://www.indysportscrew.com

7. tcvandev
   Member
   Posted 7 months ago #

   ntm,

   I have been tinkering with this and have the drop down menu I need to select the mp3 file I want. But now the only problem that persists is that the feed is not validating. The URL I have there is still http://www.indysportscrew.com/?feed=podcasts. Do I need to change this? Thanks again for all your help.

   I have a good understanding of this plugin in now since I have been messing with it for a while now. Once I get this ready I know I will not have any more problems.

8. ntm
   Member
   Posted 7 months ago #

   The URL of the podcast feed is http://www.indysportscrew.com/?feed=podcast (without the trailing "s").
   If you want to change that so that the URL ends with /?feed=podcasts then go to Feed/iTunes Settings > podPress Feeds. You can find all relevant feed options (like the feed images) for this feed there.

   You will see that the "podcast" feed contain currently one post. But there is no podcast attachment in the feed. There are 2 possibilities to correct that and lead the episode appear as an attachment to this post in the feed:
   - de-select all file type filter values in the podPress feeds section or select at least mp3
   - check the box "included in: RSS []" in the podPress box below the post editor

   ... but when I hit play it says file not found.

   The player says that because the URL of the file is wrong or the permission for the file are that restrictive that it is not allowed to read the file (for all).
   If you click on the "Download" link below the player and if you open this link in a new tab of your web browser then you will get a 404 error - because of the same reason.
   The file permissions should be 0644.
   When the Download link works then player will also work.

9. tcvandev
   Member
   Posted 7 months ago #

   Do you mean the URL that I am using on the podpress General Settings page is incorrect? I do not have anything selected on the podpress feeds and only have the RSS selected on the post editor. I also changed to the podcast feed to http://www.indysportscrew.com/?feed=podcast. With no "s" added. The RSS feed has been validated. When I update that info and go to the website it still shows up as the 404 error.

10. ntm
    Member
    Posted 7 months ago #

    The URL on the General Settings page has nothing to do with the feed settings. The URL on the General Settings page is a setting for the player on the website, the download link and other things.

    http://www.indysportscrew.com/?feed=podcast is valid and if I open it then it does not show errors. BTW: The post in this feed contains now the attachment.

    When I update that info and go to the website it still shows up as the 404 error

    This is probably the fault of the circumstance that your browser stores the feed in its cache memory for some time. If you want to control modifications in the feed with your browser then you need to clear the browser cache every time before you reload the feed URL.

    The only 404 error I get is when I click on the download link of your podcast episode (on the blog page or in the feed). Something is still wrong with the file permissions or the the URL of the file itself.
    Have you controlled the permissions?

11. tcvandev
    Member
    Posted 7 months ago #

    I have not changed any of the permissions that I know of. I am not even sure what the permissions would be.

    How do I go about clearing the cache memory so that this will work. Or should I delete the post and start over sort of clearing this out. Not that that would work if it remains in the memory.

    So when you click on the audio player in the blog post does it still just say "file not found"? I am the same when I hit the download link I get the 404 error. That is the only time I get that.

12. tcvandev
    Member
    Posted 7 months ago #

    I just checked the permissions in my FTP and it says adfrw (0644). There has to be something wrong with the URL somewhere. I am just not sure how to correct this. I am stuck right now. What is my next move?

13. ntm
    Member
    Posted 7 months ago #

    There has to be something wrong with the URL somewhere.

    I agree.
    One possible error source could be the file name of the episode. Web server file systems are case sensitive. Make sure that the capital letters in the file name are also capital letters in the URL.

    Further the number sign "#" in the file name is very likely a problem because it has a special meaning in the URL context (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Resource_Locator#Syntax). The web browser sees probably all what comes after this sign not as a part of the file name. This sign and all what comes after it in the URL is often a chapter or section marker as you can see in the link above. The browser will open that page and jump to the section Syntax.

    (Personally I would also avoid white space in the file names of file which you provide on the web. On you personal computer that is not important, but it is sometimes relevant in the web. podPress should be able to handle them but other scripts and programs could have problems. You may use underscore signs "_" instead.)

14. tcvandev
    Member
    Posted 7 months ago #

    ntm,

    You were right!!!! It was a case where I just needed to change the name of the episode. I took out the white space and the number sign. It was there on the drop down menu and now it plays perfectly. Thank you so much for your help. I would have not gotten this figured out without it. I owe you big time.

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