Google podcasts manager denies to accept podcast feed in case of email missing

[dbelyaeff]

Hi, Max!

I've finally deal with docker setup and put podsync directly on site subdomain.

Tried to add podcast to Google podcasts manager:
https://podcastsmanager.google.com/add-feed

Add it told me that podcast email is missing in rss.

I've provided it in config.toml file, but it hasn't been transferred to the rss.

Can you fix this bug or make this feature optional?

[mxpv]

Hello. Could you please clarify which field is missing? Is it on feed or episode level? Are there any details in the error message you see ?

[mxpv]

Blocked by eduncan911/podcast#7

[shelomito12]

Also, I'm trying to register my Podsync (on Docker) with Spotify but I'm getting the same missing tag error for email:

https://support.spotifyforpodcasters.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043488052-Email-address-verification

Note: Even If I manually add the following block on the XML file, it gets deleted once I restart docker:

<itunes:owner>
  <itunes:email>email@example.com</itunes:email>
</itunes:owner>

I got the following results from https://castfeedvalidator.com:

-> I'm stuck now. Could you guys please help by either proving a manual workaround or a patch? - Thanks in advance!

[shelomito12]

In addition, I tried adding my PodSync to iTunes: https://podcastsconnect.apple.com/my-podcasts/new-feed but this time the error message is: There is no category tag in your feed, or the category tag is empty

[eduncan911]

I'm the author of the podcast package used here. Thanks to @jzvi12 for pinging me. I'll look into the iTunes spec immediately as perhaps their has been changed over the years.

Stay tuned.

[eduncan911]

After digging into this, I can see the root causes:

• podsync/pkg/feed/xml.go:L61 does not call p.AddAuthor(name, email), which does some light validation to ensure podcast.IAuthor is set correctly.
• podsync/pkg/feed/xml.go is not setting IOwner, and therefore it is not being rendered when the feed is parsed.

So the fix for this issue is to change this code:

podsync/pkg/feed/xml.go

Lines 58 to 62 in 0ce6e99

	p := itunes.New(title, feed.ItemURL, description, &feed.PubDate, &now)
	p.Generator = podsyncGenerator
	p.AddSubTitle(title)
	p.IAuthor = author
	p.AddSummary(description)

To read this:

p := itunes.New(title, feed.ItemURL, description, &feed.PubDate, &now)
p.Generator = podsyncGenerator
p.AddSubTitle(title)
p.AddSummary(description)
p.AddAuthor(name, email)
p.IOwner = &Author{
	Name:  name,
	Email: email,
}

That would set IAuthor and IOwner correctly for your feeds. However, you'll need to gather name and email in your code to set them.

---

As an additional enhancement, I've created eduncan911/podcast#35 to add a tweak to podcast.AddAuthor(name, email) to set both podcast.IOwner as well as podcast.IAuthor fields in the future.

However, this is not blocking the current functionality and the authors of this package is able add code today to enable itunes:email with the code above.

[eduncan911]

Haven't written Golang in some time... Had some fun this evening and submitted PR #192 here to fix it. 👍

[eduncan911]

This issue is now resolved I believe with #192 merged.

I don't use this repo. But, it looks like all you need to do is set the config file now:

podsync/pkg/config/config_test.go

Lines 51 to 53 in 40ad9a4

	author = "Mrs. Smith (mrs@smith.org)"
	ownerName = "Mrs. Smith"
	ownerEmail = "mrs@smith.org"

[shelomito12]

This issue is now resolved I believe with #192 merged.

I don't use this repo. But, it looks like all you need to do is set the config file now:

podsync/pkg/config/config_test.go

Lines 51 to 53 in 40ad9a4

	author = "Mrs. Smith (mrs@smith.org)"
	ownerName = "Mrs. Smith"
	ownerEmail = "mrs@smith.org"

Thank you guys, I was able to test the latest build of the Podsync CLI binary with the above parameters and it works like a charm. I was now able to register my RSS feed with Spotify and Google Podcasts. Hey @codEmotion, you may now close this ticket if you can confirm the same on your side.

[shelomito12]

In addition, I tried adding my PodSync to iTunes: https://podcastsconnect.apple.com/my-podcasts/new-feed but this time the error message is: There is no category tag in your feed, or the category tag is empty

Even though I was now able to register my RSS feed with both Spotify and Google, Apple Podcast still throws the Can’t submit your feed. There is no category tag in your feed, or the category tag is empty error... Any thoughts?

[shelomito12]

@eduncan911 Can you please confirm https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7534334 (from 2016):

Your feed won't be accepted without the 'itunes:category' tag. There is an Apple Help page on categories at https://help.apple.com/itc/podcasts_connect/?lang=en#/itcb54353390 and a list of categories at https://help.apple.com/itc/podcasts_connect/#/itc9267a2f12

[eduncan911]

(removed, combined with next comment)

[eduncan911]

@jzvi12 I'm not the author of this tool; that would be @mxpv . Nor do I use it (though it does look cool, and will check it out soon). I only did a drive-by tweak to the code.

But yes, if you view the iTunes documentation you linked to, it says it is required:

https://help.apple.com/itc/podcasts_connect/#/itcb54353390

So, just follow the error. This tool already has the ability you seek. Set the categories in your custom config and you'll be fine:

podsync/pkg/config/config_test.go

Lines 47 to 48 in 8d8832e

	category = "TV"
	subcategories = ["1", "2"]

Feel free to reference this package's documentation or review the code and tests for extending.