Show notes are compromised in Apple Podcasts and Spotify

  • Resolved tszt

    (@tszt)


    4 years, 10 months ago

    Hi,

    I have a longstanding issue with show notes using the Powerpress plugin on my WordPress site.

    Show notes (the blog post containing te episode) do not show up properly both in Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

    My podcast rss feed is:
    https://azeletmegminden.hu/feed/podcast/

    1. In Apple Podcasts show notes get a weird formatting: inserted blank lines, no hyperlinks, no time stamps etc. My feed does contain the whole blog post content between <content:encoded> tags, but weirdly the whole thing is repaeated in the feed once again (for every episode) between <itunes:summary> tags with a lot of <br> tags inserted and text cut short.

    2. On Spotify only the description appears, no post content. (I suspect it has something to do the inserted BR-lines in the <itunes:summary>, since it tries to use that thing instead of the proper blog post content in the RSS feed between the <content:encoded> tags.)

    3. I would also like to note here, that the time stamp format in my feed does not correspond with Spotify standards (but since post content is ignored completely, they do not show up anyway in any format): Spotify asks for a format with parentheses (hh:mm:ss), but Blubrry RSSS feed provides time stamps without them. That could be a problem even if the blog content could appear. But obviously, it can’t.

    There are podcast players that show blog post content properly (e.g. Podcast Addict). It seems like it uses the first, proper instance of the blogpost containing the episode info, while Apple Podcasts uses the second between the <itunes:summary> tags (which is a garbled, truncated version, and I do not know why it is there).

    Could you please help me with this issue?

    Thanks,

    Szabolca

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • Thread Starter tszt

    (@tszt)

    well: an important addition. The Apple Podcasts app does show the shownotes and links correctly on iPhone. However, timestamps are not clickable there.
    Sorry for the wrong info, the show notes garbled appearance used to be a problem in iTunes, but not anymore in the new Apple Podcasts app on the iPhone.
    Shownotes, however, are completely missing in Spotify.

    Plugin Support Mike Dell

    (@benzoid)

    tszt,

    The timestamps that are included in PowerPress via shortcode only work within your site using the Blubrry Player or the Default player from PowerPress (mediaelement.js). They will not work within apps.

    Looking on Spotify, I see what you typed in the blog post. Example, ep24 “Az ország, amir?l a kiperelt k?zadatok mesélnek.”

    I think that is all they will show because that is all that is in the RSS feed. Spotify is likely using some sort of excerpt.

    -Mike
    blubrry support

    Thread Starter tszt

    (@tszt)

    Hey Mike,

    Thanks for the quick reply.

    My guess is that Spotify might use the excerpt if it is present and the blog post (or part of the post) if it isn’t.
    Or I do not know. (As I mentioned, the whole blog post is present in the RSS feed, between the right tags.)
    It would be worth investigating how it works in this regard as it is becoming an ever important podcasting platform and currently, as I understand, show notes will not show up for those podcasters who use Blubrry.

    Also, as Blubrry time stamps work in some podcast apps but seems like they won’t (at least they are not clickable) in Apple Podcasts and Spotify, then that is an issue again, while a lot of work goes into putting them int the post. (This seems like a formatting issue to me.)

    In all other aspects Powerpress is a great plugin, Blubrry is a nice service.
    Thank you for your attention.

    Plugin Support Mike Dell

    (@benzoid)

    The hard part is there are different tags for different ways of displaying “show notes” which is really just blog post content or summaries.

    The trouble is we can’t force any app to use a particular part of the RSS. We can only give them the correct tags and they choose what to do with it from there. Like the skipto time stamps. Some apps will use them and some wont. No way to force any of them to do anything.

    -Mike
    Blubrry Support

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
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