We made it through our first weekend of public beta and have lots of tweaks, bug and chagnes to work on thanks to tons of feedback on PodShow+
Podcasters in particular have provided valuable information on how they want their shows and feeds presented in directory services.
I’m sure we’ll find more things to add/delete/change as we continue to receive feedback, these are top of the list.
-The “To This Show’s Site” button on guide-pages will link directly to the Podcast’s original website.
-Orange on white ‘XML’ icons will link directly to the Podcast’s original rss feed, as submitted to PodcastAlley
-iTunes links from the guide pages currently one-click subscribe to the original feed. A few podcasts have requested this be a link to the iTunes Music Store feed. We need more conversation about this.
-A count of total number of PodShow+ listeners subscribed to a Podcast will be posted on the guide-pages. We are considering an api for this as well, suggestions and information for this is at developer.podshow.com
-If you pre-registered with a show name you would like to use instead of a ‘handle’, we will provide a way to switch these.
-Amanda Congdon will be replaced by Joanne Colan
For those kind enough to provide bug reports directly to the engineering team, you will find two links at the bottom of every page. One for Listener Support and another for Podcaster Support. Both submit directly into our bug-tracking system.
Ofcourse posting thoughts and ideas to the comments on this weblog are also a great way of bringing things to my attention so I can do the same internally.
Thanks for the update Adam. Just goes to show that feedback does work. I am still not clear what Podshow+ is all about, but I guess I will get it in the end (or not).
This truly *is* where users and developers are partying together, just like the early days of podcasting… exciting!!
Hi Adam, got something too:
-if I create my own channel with different podcasts and download that feed to itunes a lot of information, which is normally included to the mp3’s, is missing or different. Some podcasts are hard to identify that way.
Even the dailysourcecode got another title than in the normal feed.
-it would be nice if there was a way to copy or duplicate an existing channel.
-and something else, not really ps+ related: music.podshow.com -> is there a way to search music which is already sale-enabled? Or an overview of all songs which are already for sale?
btw: podshow+ rocks! Found a lot of ‘new’ shows to view & listen to! Just by browsing through people and clicking from one show to another…
Ha ha, I did not know Amanda Congdon was a bug in PS+
By the way, there still seems to be a snag in the channels feature, something with wrong URL’s to the shows MP3’s making downloading them kaput
… Checkout this one:
http://www.podshow.com/collection/2592.xml
By the way: what is that speach-cloud with (sometimes) the exclamation mark in it for?
And: although you explained it endlesly on the DSC, the feed-vacuum page seems to imply further shows should be published exclusively via the PS+ network. This kind of scared me of from actualy joining my (otherwise unimpressive) podcast to PS+. Perhaps a notice that the shows are just cached via PS+ to provide the PS+ services should be included on the vacuum-setup page.
Other then that: nice work!
Hi Adam,
A couple of things you should look at:
- I don’t know whether this bug has already been reported or not, but I can’t import my feed using the feed vacuum.
- Some podcasts are shown twice in the channel manager. Screenshot: http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/4379/bug9dx.jpg
- A minor problem: when you click “Add to channel”, a dropdown shows up. I have seen two scenarios at this point:
* The dropdown menu is small and the text too
* The dropdown menu is very large, and it doesn’t fit in the “menu”.
In both cases, the layout gets ruined a bit. Maybe you should generate a little embedded AJAX-popup at that point. This could be useful if you want to accomplish that: http://particletree.com/features/lightbox-gone-wild/ . A demonstration is available at: http://particletree.com/examples/lightbox/ .
Bye for now,
Pieter De Decker
Hello Adam,
Anyway, I have another Podshow+ question. My show showed up on podshow before I was even got into the beta (through music.podshow.com or podcastalley.com I’m sure) but I didn’t know how to associate it with my profile. I tried to do so with the feed vacuum but instead it seem to create a duplicate show. The duplicate show associated with my profile yet the original show did not even though I used that “Podshow PDN {podshow-4886e602198cc7935f9e3119dfc4e621}” link in my description. I would like to associate my original show with my profile so I can delete the duplicate show if possible.
First off thanks for responding to my last query, after listening to your show for so long it is a little strange to have you respond to me!
Thanks again for your time, Sam
Hi Adam,
I very much appreciate your response to my questions on the previous thread, and the changes look promising. However, they still don’t address the question of why shows which weren’t explicitly submitted to Podshow+ ended up on their directory without the producers’ consent–since there is no other major podcast directory, including Podcast Alley, which lists a show without the show having to be submitted first by its producers. As for the redirect, this is what I mean:
http://www.podshow.com/showguide/?key_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.furtherreview.net%2F%3Ffeed%3Drss2&feed_type=ext_url#
Now it does appear this morning that this is now (eventually) going directly to our web site feed, but again, everything feels as if it is created, hosted, and produced by Podshow on this site–particularly a problem when (as I previously mentioned) we didn’t ask to be in the Podshow directory in the first place! Any thoughts?
The Reviewers
Upon Further Review
Hi,
Just playing around with Podshow+ looks cool, although it looks a bit like a forced attempt to stick everything in there that might be of interest for a potential buyer..
I just read the Rights and License part.. Now that is pretty evil.. So when I use the pd+ Network to promote my feed.. PD+ more or less becomes the owner of the content and not only that, it also give them the right to use my name, personality and celebrity?? Can I use the PD+ network without PD+ storing any of the content of my feed? When I create a new item in my feed, is the content of that item automatically uploaded to PD+ even if it was not created using PD+?
Speaking as a podcaster now…
Thank you for responding to our complaints about the RSS feeds and (especially) about pointing those “Show’s Site” links to our own pages. I don’t mind your pointing to a Podshow page as long as it is clear to everybody that it’s a Podshow page. The “Show’s Site” is, of course, my own website (unless I’m a Podshow podcaster), and this does need to be fixed. Sounds like you’re planning to do so (although it’s not yet implemented when I type this, 7/10/06, 10:09 AM EDT).
As to the iTunes link, I would prefer that it be the link that goes to my iTunes page, not the one-click method using the prefix “itpc”. Using “itpc” does not allow Apple to count my new subscribers and so on for the purposes of the iTunes Music Store rankings. I haven’t been in the top 100 all the time, but I’ve gotten in there a few times. I would like to have a fair shot at being listed in those rankings, which doesn’t happen when somebody subscribes with “itpc.”
Is there any way to ‘claim’ a show that is already in the listed in the directory?
Hi Adam, Just wanted to let you know that this first time podcaster really appreciates what you guys are doing with Podshow+. It’s nice to have a community where I can not only find new podscasts very easily, but I can also get the word out about my own podcast with people who are completely sold out to this great new medium. Thanks again!
Reviewers: We took the same data iTunes did when they first launched their directory, from the openly available sources such as indiepodder.org
We ofcourse will honour yours and any other requests to be removed from the directory.
We are also contemplating a similar solution apple implemented, which is a ‘do not index’ tag. Very much like you can do with google and a robots.txt file.
I do ask that you have some patience as we are working hard on the first items I posted about to move on to removals.
Ed: You need to re-read the agreement. It explicitly states you own your content.
This is ONLY for shows created and hosted on the PDN, not feeds that surface.
It allows for podshow to use pictures and content for promotion of the network.
I do not appreciate your casual use of the word evil. It is inflammatory and unneccessary if you want to have an open dialog.
“Evil” is such an overzealous word. So, with everything else going on in the world, podcasting is on the same level as war, terrorism, and McDonald’s?
In that case, maybe being called “evil” is a compliment? Or are there degrees of “evilness”?
Ed – it looks like the key word here is “non-exclusive”. You still own your stuff, and you have the right to list it wherever you want, whenever. The way Adam explained it on his last show, the feed vacuum is used to create a cache, so that they have a local version of the file that does not rely on external websites – which could go down at any time for any reason even if they don’t normally. As for the “using your celebrity” thing, that sounds like the same thing that happens at any other network – you sign up because they can make you more popular, and you give them the right to use your presence on the network to promote themselves. I don’t see where what PodShow is planning to do is any different from that.
Adam, good to see you are addressing the most obvious gripes podcasters had this quickly. The “look-and-feel” issue is still a major problem for a lot of podcaster’s though, but I don’t think this is particular to podshow.
As for the iTunes link, as a podcaster, I agree with Dave that the link should go to the podcast’s page in iTunes, not using the one-click method. It is a question about what do users expect though, as well, and I wonder if users would not prerfer one-click over having to click a few times extra to finally subscribe to the show.
I like the idea of claiming my feed so I can link it more directly to my profile. This is for a show that is not running on the PDN but wants to be in the Podshow+ directory and social network. I think for the social network concept, it is very helpful to link shows to producers as much as possible especially for crazy producers like me that have multiple shows.
Thanks Adam and all the real serious geeks working on the bugs. All this tech stuff is over my craic head. My feed shows up but it says it can’t find the material. Oh well, I’ll just be patient and wait….
Here’s a buglet that actually stands out — “Join Podshow / Its Free” — “Its” should be “It’s” (for “it is”). Seems unprofessional the way it is. (I already wrote Ron about this but it bears repeating here.)
I’m diggin Podshow+
I’m having the channel manager issue too…cast’s showing up multiple times in the manager (although the custom feed sent to iTunes seems to work correctly)
Also, I have a blank show in My Collection thqat cannot be deleted. I must have subscribed to a show that ceased to exist or something, but it makes funny looking holes in My Collection on My Profile. See below examples:
http://getjacked.hanamas.com/images/Collection1.jpg
http://getjacked.hanamas.com/images/Collection2.jpg
Chill Adam, re. use of the word evil. It wasn’t that long ago that you had your big meltdown re. certain “words”, words a lot more evil than evil. Time for that 5pm joint and tea break.
So, just to get this straight Adam, if we create a show on Podshow+ do we own the content we created or do we not? Is Podshow owning the content only for the likes of Trucker Tom or The Dawn and Drew Show? Does that mean if I decided to move a show I created in Podshow+ I can’t take the files which I created with me? Or the name?? That’s NOT what I got from reading the click through contract and not what I heard you promise in the last year of the DSC.
Oh and that’s NOT a way to get NEW shows on Podshow+. Podcasters need to own the content regardless of whether it’s hosted on Podshow+ or not. We provide Podshow+ with content and you slip your little PDN message on the end of my show (which I am FINE with). Now if it’s a matter of paying for the hosting…..I would gladly do this at some point. There’s been many Podcast networks that had mass defections once the true facts came out. This even resulted in the show names being hijacked. Not a good thing.
Hi Adam,
Not sure if anyone has brought this up, but is anyone else having an issue where Firefox crashes while using Podshow+? It’s happened three times to me so far, but didn’t know if it was unique to me.
Thanks!
Hey Adam,
Somehow my password changed and now I cant login. Email password on forgot password is definitely strange, and wven when I try that, it does not work. So… now I am essentially locked out.
Not to mention the vacuum function still didn’t work (all the media say not found when I WAS able to get in over the weekend) and I was unable toa dd a podcast to a channel – there was a bogus podcast in my default profile that said it was made in 1969 (Y2K bug) (username: troy)
So… yeah. Im a little put-off so I will probably just let it sit for a few months, but I would like to be able to log in to delete my vacuumed podcasts that are basically dead. I sent a message via the ticket system as well.
Thanks Adam
The listener tech support form doesn’t include a category for reporting bugs. The podcaster tech support form doesn’t have any categories.
Putting up a bugtracking DB would probably cut down on the same bugs being reported over and over and over and over…
A few years ago I worked for a large networking company that rolled out a site bigger than Podshow+ that TOTALLY blew up. Boy did that suck for a long, long time. I’m impressed at how quickly the people at Podshow have been able to get the site working relatively smoothly considering how rough the start was. You all deserve sloppy, noisy blowjobs. And a beer.
@Scott: happened to me a few times, too. I have not been able to replicate this though as it seems to happen randomly. I blamed it on trying out Beta 1 of Firefox 2, though. Did anybody else have the same problem with Firefox 1.5?
As a podcaster, I would prefer that the iTunes link to my original feed using the itpc handler, and NOT the iTunes Music Store. I realize only the top 100 podcasts are cached by iTunes and Akamai, but iTunes’ legendary delays for updating cached feeds make it unusable for a daily show like mine. itpc is the only way to go for me.
Christopher S. Penn
Daily financial aid internet radio on demand, no iPod required
http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com
Got iTunes? http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/subscribe/
Hi Adam,
Okay, I very much appreciate your responsiveness here. I’d guess what we’d say is that if you guys do make the changes you’ve mentioned (direct link to the show’s original webpage in the manner specified, cutting down on the “everything feels like it was hosted by Podshow even if it wasn’t” impression of the site, etc.) then we’d be happy to remain listed. Thanks very much for staying directly involved with the community in this way, and for responding to our concerns.
The Reviewers
Upon Further Review
I noticed a funny smell coming from somewhere near Rockwell’s profile. Does this mean he’s finally podcasting again?
Pax,
Matthew
@Matthew – forget “Beer and Coffee” – its all about “Bran Muffin and Coffee”
I like the current one-click functionality of Podshow+ that subscribes me to the original feed ad allows me to plug the Podshow+ “My Playlist” RSS into Juice. In my experience iTunes sucks as a podcast aggregator. The only reason I have iTunes on my system is for iPod file management. If the Podshow+ one-click functionality linked to the iTunes feed Podshow+ would be worthless to me as a means of finding and subscribing to podcasts.
If people want the iTunes feed they should be able to get it from either the original podcast site, or fnding the podcast in iTunes itself.
AC: I read the agreement. I was not talking about shows that surfaced from podcast alley, but about the vacuum feature. I was wondering if the non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide right and license to digitize, convert, install, upload, select, order, arrange, compile, combine, synchronize, use, reproduce, store, process, retrieve, transmit, translate, distribute, publish, publicly display, publicly perform and hyperlink your Programming; and make archival or back-up copies of your Programming in any venues, media and channels of distribution now existing or yet to be invented, also applied when using that feature.. Just asking because I didn’t see any other way to add an existing show to my profile. That is why I asked if it would be possible to add a show to my userpage that is not hosted on the PS network.
Still waiting, at 4:46 PM EDT, for the “Show’s Site” links to point to my site.
I realize I may seem impatient, but this seems to be the main unresolved objection that podcasters in general have to their listings on Podshow.
I have the impression that the RSS feed “hijacking” issue was addressed very quickly. Surely linking directly to our sites is an easier thing to fix than that was.
Dave: I don’t doubt it’s easy to fix. It’s probably in line with 8,000 other easy things to fix right now, too.
Pax,
Matthew
Yeah, I understand, they are swamped. I have to agree with others that I am amazed they got it working as well as they did, especially in such a stressful week.
But I just have the impression that this, and this alone, is the thing that has the World of Podcasters up in arms. Lots of people (myself included) will probably shut up and leave Podshow alone the second this is fixed.
The biggest problem I’ve seen so far is that some old feeds (PSTQ for example) no longer work. This is a major major flaw that needs to be rectified. Anyone signed up to PSTQ’s original feed is getting an error and therefore missing episode 4.
When I started listening to DSC, you spent a lot of time talking about having control of your feeds to prevent the provider from screwing with them– which is exactly what PS+ is now doing to some feeds. I was really disappointed to see that.
Michael, what are you using to subscribe to PSTQ?
All exisiting feeds are redirecting to the new feeds and in theory should work, but not all aggregators are current with this standard practice apparently.
Gah, now I try the lsot password link and it instead takes me to the signup form.
Something’s not right. LOL. Ive already put in 2 different tickets, so I will wait for them to be dealt with. As I said, this was the pre-registered acct of mine.
I do like the look and feel tho, and the thought of being able to add podcasts to channel to play them all from one place.
Adam, same here for PSTQ.
Am subscribed using iTunes, it can’t find the feed. iTunes reports:
There was a problem downloading “Pod Save The Queen”.
The URL “http://podsavethequeen.podshow.com/?feed=rss2″ could not be found on the server.
Use this one: http://www.podshow.com/feeds/podsavethequeencom.xml (copy/pasted it from yesterdays comments http://curry.podshow.com/?p=219)
Hello,
The one question that I still have and it seems a few others have the same question is how to claim an exitsing feed instead of copying it using the vacuum feature. Is there something I can add to my RSS feed so it associates with my profile automatically?
Thanks,
Sam
Along the lines of what Dev Zero pointed out earlier, in the Free Edition Agreement, section 2.5:
“PodShow may at its discretion place advertising before or after the Programming at its discretion.”
Unless that line was written by Podshow’s Department of Redundancy Department, that’s another small change that should be made.
Hey Adam:
Wanted to let you know that we fixed the bug with the Pod Save The Queen Feed (we meaning Anton, I just get the pleasure of telling you). The feed should work now and should redirect properly in iTunes as should all the other PodShow podcasts. If any other errors come up, send them my way! We were growing so fast I guess we overlooked a few new shows
ferf.
Adam,
I don’t have the link anymore since, as mentioned above, the redirect is now in place. Thanks to the whole crew for getting this fixed!
I just found all the pre-launch videos on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search=podshow
P.S. Woot.
Hey Adam,
Was just wondering what the best way would be to get in touch with you regarding some ideas for the Podshow network…? I’ve already mailed ya but I’m guessing that will just get swamped in the enormous amount of email you must receive each day… So yeah… Was just thinking if there was another way to get in touch with you…
Or maybe this post could even draw your attention to my email
If so… the subject line was: “Introducing: Podshow…”. There’s another word after that but I’m not going to give too much away here 
Thanks,
Serge
Hi there!
Hope someone can help me. It has not to be you Adam
PodShow+ seems very cool so far, but I have two questions:
- Where can I find links to the RSS-Feeds of the Shows at http://www.podshow.com? I can browse through various shows and showsites (e.g. http://deltasierracharl.podshow.com/) but I cannot find a link to the feeds anywhere to put them in my podcatcher…
- I want to start a podcast in 2 months and I am planning to do it over http://www.podshow.com (which means to use the PDN for hosting my MP3-Files). But I will host my own site too (godaddy I’m coming!) with news blog, forums, etc. And of course I want to link to my RSS-Feed (which is somewhere on the PDN) on my site, so that my visitors can simply put the link into their podcatchers. So, when I am recording my shows with CastBlaster and loading it up to the PDN all automatically, the RSS-Feed will be updated automatically also, right? So, will there be a fixed addess for my RSS-Feed (which is updated by CastBlaster everytime I do a new show) where I can link to from my site?
Hope, it’s not too long, thx
C-Man
I don’t know about anybody else, but I need a Charlie fix. Learning P+ is fun, but between that and missing the daily Charlies, it’s starting to affect me. Yesterday I even forgot to shave before going to the office.
These 2 bugs are already entered (so, don’t reenter them). But, I did want to just emphasize a couple of things related to these from a listeners perspective. The first bug (at least, I think it is) that I am having is that my channel seems to arbitrarily drop shows. Thus, I am not confident when I look in iTunes that it has correctly detected there is a new show or not. So, at the moment I have a double subscription: 1) original subscriptions to each individual show, 2) my channel which shows 1 show available, but iTunes reports that the file is corrupt. By the way, I need a show! I am going through DSC withdrawal.
The second matter is the RSS Module that I can add to my page. I thought this was great as I already blog at blogger. I don’t really want to change my typical blogging habits, but I like the view PodShow is presenting and a lot of my blog entries are related to podcasts I listen to include the “Cha Cha”. So, adding a module that can show content from an RSS feed from my blog on blogger is perfect. But, when I added the URL for the feed, and click Preview, nothing happens other than I get a “Save this module” link (in Firefox anyway, I get something different in IE). But, the module only shows “RSS Feed” in use. It doesn’t seem to actually pull the feed and transform it into something meaningful with my page.
Please don’t read me as complaining. I work in software and know how things can go. As a listener, I like what I see emerging and can’t wait to see how it all shakes out.
C-Man,
Click on an episode
AC
Bob:
There does seem to be a bug in either the player or how we are handling data. Plkease tell me which show is skipped.
Re: your rss feed, pleasse send me a link to the feed. It works fine for me, I have the rss of curry.com rendering on dailysourcecode.com
Hey AC,
Thanks for the great support you and the team keep providing. I was finally able to login, and they suggested to change my password – thing is… there is no change password function I can find. Oops!
Also I vacuumed my podcast, and the media files aren’t there. Whats worse, is once I did that, I also have the feed from podcast alley showing up as well. Is there a way to say that a newly imported feed over-writes the one imported from PA? In other words, now Rutter’s Ramblings shows up twice, one I vacuumed and updated (and doesn’t work) and one that is unclaimed but does work, but I can’t edit.
Kind of a weird question, I know.
Troy:
From MyPage edit account info, at the top of the page is a button ‘change pasword’.
re: feedvacuum. I saw a bug report, but most of the time it just takes a little while, depending on size of files and your current hosts ’speed’ to transfer all the files.
Duplicates is a known issue and is being worked on.
Well, what personal service!
Most of the time time, it has been the DSC that disappeared from my channel as shown on my collection on PodShow+. This morning, DSC and PSTQ had disappeared. But, I just looked and all 4 of the shows in my channel were STILL there. That is the first time, so maybe it got resolved. By the way, DSC 418 downloaded via my channel! So, I dropped the stand alone subscription to it.
This is the feed I am trying to use: http://bobspersonalblog.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Your efforts are appreciated and thanks for the fix!
So what do I win if I click on “spin it” and I get a three-in-a-row jackpot?
Thanks adam, i was looking for a form field not a button. eek!
Can anybody explain this verbage:
“Do you have a domain name you want to point to your profile? If so, enter it here.”
Is this my home page? ie: troyrutter.com? I tried putting in http://www.troyrutter.com and it only accepted half of it. What’s worse I try to edit it or blank it out, and when I hit Save My Info, it goes to my claimed podcast and doesn’t actually edit what I have revised. I submitted a bug tracker on that one.
I vacuumed my podcast last week, but the media still says not found, not going to worry about it right now since my other feed is there. the feed of the notfound one is ruttersramblingspodcast.podshow.com
Everything else seems to be working swimmingly.
Bob, maybe they scrolled out of view. Yhis happens when you have more than 5 shows in a channel, click o the right or left arrow bar to browse.
New shows should show up at the far left or each channel and high-lighted.
Adam, I did try scrolling. In fact, DSC has disappeared again.
I figured out the RSS problem. instead of http://blogspotpath/atom.xml, I should use http://blogspotpath/rss.xml. I didn’t know I had a choice. I discovered when I decided to try using feedburner. Which is what I am using now anyway since it gives some interesting statistics.
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