[Plugin: podPress] Premium Content problems

Hello,

I have made this option available (again?) in one of the last versions of podPress. It was as a comment in one of the PHP files and I have activated it. But I have to admit that have not tested this function. That was not very responsible. I’m sorry!!

That this feature does not work might be the reason why it was not active all that time.

I will look into this matter and will find a solution or hide this option with upcoming version again.

But to clarify it: The fake enclosure functionality still works for you as it has in previous versions?

Now, I have looked through the plugins code and it is no wonder why inserting something into the Absolute path to protected media field does nothing. This path is not used by an other part of the plugin.
So please do not try any further to use that.

It is very likely that I will take this option back (hide it again) in the next version of podPress. The main reason is that there is nothing behind this input field.
Once again, I’m sorry for the confusion I have obviously created by activating the related lines of code!

But it would be great if you could confirm that the other Premium functions are still working. (I have tested them again and they seem to work as intended.)

Regards,
Tim

Hi Tim,
Thank you very much for getting back to me.

The premium functions seems working if I keep the files in the same files with other files. But fake enclosure feature seems not working because it shows the file address in the end!!!

Thank you very much for your help.

But fake enclosure feature seems not working because it shows the file address in the end!!!

Are you absolutely sure about that?

I cannot reproduce such a behaviour. If you use this feature then podPress adds an enclosure to the feed but the file name resp. the URL is not the original one.

But if you are logged in and you watch the feed with your browser then the feed will contain the real link to the media file because the login status is in the cookies and the function which adds the media files checks whether you are logged in or not.

Please, check that again.

(You should also clear the cache memory of your browser after you change the login status and before you open the feed.)

Regards,
Tim

Hi Tim,
I have checked with the fake enclosure when I log out, after clearing the cache. I tried to download the unprotected file, it shows the fake link first and then shows the real link before the download started. It is brief but it clearly shows the link. So, anyone can see where my files are stored. I am using Safari.

Second question, about the premium content. If I move the premium content files back to the file directory, can I have folders within the file directory, so that in the future, I can move the folder?

Or could you put it back to type the file names as it were before? Then, I can use relative path like “/../../filename.txt” etc. Now the files can be only chosen from the pull down menu and I cannot type the file name.

It is brief but it clearly shows the link.

In which situation?

If I’m logged out and view for instance the feed with the name podcast in Safari then I see the list of posts with podcast files. If i click on a usual (free) media file then the download starts resp. Safari starts to play the file. That happens while I’m logged in and also whiule I’m not logged in.
But if I click on the fake enclosure file with the name podPress_Protected_Content.mp3 I will lead to the main blog page or I get a message that the page/file does not exists depending on the current Permalink setting and whether I’m using the podPress stats or not. This happen while I’m not logged in. But when I’m logged the feed view shows (as described above) the real file name and of course the real URL and Safari starts to play or to download the file. That the feed includes the real URL while you are logged in is no bug and if you hover with the mouse cursor over the media file link then you will see the complete URL in the status bar as long as you don’t move the mouse away. That is the same behaviour as on the blog page. If you are logged in (and you have not disabled the function) you will see below (or somewhere else in) the post the player element and probably a download link. If you move the mouse cursor over one of these links the status bar shows also the complete link (while you are logged in).

So my question still is: Does the download of a premium file start when click on the fake enclosure link while you are logged out?
(What do you mean with “unprotected file”? Do you mean by “it shows the fake link first” that in feed view only the fake file name is visible?)

to the second question:
I’m not sure whether I understand the question.
If you are using the “Absolute path of the media files directory” (podPress – General Settings) then the podPress box below the post/page editor shows a dropdown menu where you select the media files which has been uploaded to this directory. But it has also a element which says “Specify URL …”. When choose that you will see a long input field which you should use to insert the full URL (not a relative one) of a media file. If you do that then the media file may be located in a different folder or maybe it can be on a different server. In other words, if you want to put your premium files not into the same folder as all the free content then place them somewhere else and specify the URLs for these premium files.

Regards,
Tim

Hi Tim,
I am sorry that I could not reply to you earlier.

It is brief but it clearly shows the link.

In which situation?

For instance, if I attach pdf file. Firstly, when I logged in, it shows fake address briefly at the beginning, but final page, it shows the actual address. You said that this is not a bug but I am not happy about it because all premium readers know where all files are stored for premium contents. I would like to keep the fake address when it downloads because at the moment, premium contents are stored in the same folder. Secondly, when I am not logged in, Premium contents are showed as “protected Content.” But if they tried to download non-premium contents, they can find out where the premium contents are stored. Thirdly, the link to the login page with the link to “register” If there any ways to link to a page, not to the login page? I know I can set it at the general setting by take off ” Anyone can register” but I would like to keep option Anyone can register only after understanding what they can do and cannot do if you just register as a user. I would like to explain to register does not mean automatically become premium readers.

Hi Tim,

I asked this question before, but is there any way to search the posts with premium contents?

I am just wondering if in the end shows the real address for the premium readers and it only shows the log in page for the non-premium user, what is the point of fake link?

For instance, if I attach pdf file. Firstly, when I logged in, it shows fake address briefly at the beginning, but final page, it shows the actual address.

When you are logged in and you take a look at your normal blog page then all links you will see are the real, the right links to the media files (e.g. .mp3 or .pdf files). But if you are using the statistic feature of podPress then all links will getting masked. For instance: https://example.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/hello.mp3 becomes https://localhost/wp30mu/podpress_trac/web/123/0/hello.mp3. If you click on such a link and it is e.g. a .pdf file then podPress counts with the help of this special URL schema the download and hands the browser the original URL and when your browser shows the .pdf in the browser windows itself (and does not show you a download dialogue) then you will see the complete URL in the address bar of your browser.
Is that what you have observed?

The URL masking of the statistic funtion has nothing to do with the fake enclosure.
The so called fake enclosure are only visible if you use a feed reader to view e.g. the RSS feed of your blog. If you are not logged in then the feed reader will show instead of the real media file a place-holder file with the name podPress_Protected_Content.mp3 independently of the type of the real file (instead of e.g. mypremium.pdf it will podPress_Protected_Content.mp3, too). Furthermore the URL of such a fake enclosure will be different from the real URL, too. If someone has not the rights to read, listen or watch the premium files, he has at least to guess the location of the files. But as the description of the premium feature says: “Keep in mind, that this does NOT protect your content if someone discovers the URLs, it only hides the location from showing up on the site or in the feed. To fully protect your files you can use this feature in combination with an external service […]”

If a feed has no enclosures then iTunes and other feed readers will not show enclosures. But if a feed includes at least fake enclosures then e.g. iTunes will show at least them. In other words if there no enclosures iTunes shows no new “episodes”. If you are not using fake enclosures then the default RSS feed of your blog contains the posts of the premium content but without enclosures. That may be no problem but all subscribers which are using e.g. only iTunes to follow your blog will not get noticed of new posts resp. episodes (if there are no enclosures in the posts in the feed). The point of having fake enclosure is to show that a post contains an media file.

Enclosures are special elements (not only) of RSS feeds (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_enclosure). They contain an URL usually to a media file, the size (in Byte) and the type of the media file. The fake enclosures which podPress creates are like that but with modified URLs.

If you want to protect your files better then you could use external services or if you are not afraid of technical things then you could put your premium files in different folders which you can be protected with passwords. One way to protect folders on Apache webserver with passwords is to use .htaccess and .htpasswd files. Such a login would be independently from the blog login (but you could use the same login names and passwords). I’m no an expert for this technique but you can find many guides and How-Tos if you search the Internet e.g. for “password protection htaccess”.

is there any way to search the posts with premium contents?

You mean tell the internal blog search “give me all posts with premium content”?
Maybe. If the content or titles of these posts have a special string like e.g. “Premium” or if the posts with premium files are in a special category or if they have same tags then you can find them.

Or if you want to retrieve the IDs of posts with premium content then the SQL query string could look like this:

SELECT DISTINCT post_id FROM wp_postmeta WHERE meta_key = 'podPressMedia' AND INSTR(meta_value, 'premium_content')

Regards,
Tim