iTunes Feed Validation Failure (but success other places)

Hello, and thank you again, Hugh, for this awesome plug-in.

I have a podcast that airs its maiden episode May 02. I already have uploaded 6 episodes to be released on every monday (more will be forthcoming but I have 6 uploaded and scheduled to go out over the coming weeks).

When I use the iTunes recommended feed validator, I get this.

CastFeed shows my feed as ok too see?

Yet when I try to validate the feed in iTunes connect, I get this even though when I go into iTunes and into the File menu and select Subscribe To Podcast and enter the URL which is what iTunes connect says to do to check the feed, I get what looks to me like a successful reading of the RSS see here…

Is this happening because I haven’t published a feed yet? Do I just need to wait until my first podcast is published before submitting to iTunes?

Here’s the feed from the SSP podcast-specific RSS Feed: http://www.tarynmaxximilliandafoe.com/feed/podcast/afterlife

I’ve read all the threads and can’t seem to find the issue (if there is one).

Thank you for helping me with this. 🙂 I’m still learning.

Many thanks,
Maxximillian, podcasting author of Mollyville and Afterlife