Feed without SSL assets no longer works in Mac app
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Hi, since the version 2 update is seems podcasts without SSL no longer play. Here’s an example: https://feeds.feedburner.com/RoderickOnTheLine
The episodes play on the web but not in the Mac app. Episode artwork (also only http) doesn’t load in the app but does on the web.
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I’ve done a bit of testing for this from our end and haven’t been able to recreate the issue at all. Episode artwork is loading and episodes are playing back without error.
Are you seeing an error in the app when you experience these issues or do they simply fail to load? Could you give us some examples of episodes where you’ve experience this or does it happen for all episodes for you?
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Would you mind sharing the link to the podcast in the Pocket Casts? Here’s how to retrieve the share link: https://support.pocketcasts.com/knowledge-base/sharing-podcasts-and-episodes/
Just wanted to make sure we’re listening to the same podcast.
Also, have you tried listening to the podcast in question from a different source of internet connection? Try at a coffee shop (or other public places where possible), or switching from WiFi to cellular (or vice versa).
Do you see the problem persists?
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Sorry I don’t seem to get notifications.
Here’s a link to the podcast: https://pca.st/A7m83R
I haven’t tried it on a different internet connection and I don’t really have the ability to do that at the moment. It still works on the iPhone app, if that’s what you’re referring to re. cellular.
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Hi there, @suburbiaboy
Looking into that podcast, even if I try to open the MP3 File directly, I get an error message which says: NET::ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID
It would be best to report the matter to the author of the podcast so that they can work on fixing this. ]
While our mobile apps might be able to get around this, the web apps might be affected since most modern browsers require a valid SSL certificate when HTTPS is used.
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@staff-joey8 sure, but the feed and mp3s do work via http, but there’s no way for me change the feed to use that URL. Also as I mentioned, this does work on the web – it’s only the Mac app that’s not working.
For example these work fine:
1. Feed XML
2. Direct MP3
3. Pocket Casts web playerI don’t see any reason why a Pocket Casts can’t fall back to http if there’s no/an invalid SSL certificate or if all the assets are http.
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@suburbiaboy Interestingly, when I tried the same podcast in the web player, I got the same error and I was unable to play it. It’s also the same when in the Pocket Casts Mac App.
Anyway, I’ll get this reported. But in the meantime, it would still be best if you can report this issue to the podcast author. So they can also work on making sure their podcasts and sites have a valid SSL certificate, which would also benefit them. Thank you.
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I’m having this problem too. Any podcast without a SSL certificate gives the error “Your browser cannot play this stream. See here for details.”
Getting this on desktop and web. Android app is working without issue.
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Workaround found. In Chrome, I’ve set “Insecure content” to “Allow”, and podcasts play without issue.
Desktop still not working though.
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@firstallotment thanks for sharing your workaround. I would suggest others use the same workaround on the web player for now. We have a report filed for this to be looked into for our desktop apps, so we hope it will be fixed in a future update.
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Fans of Roderick on the Line are still experiencing this issue in the Pocketcasts app, as well as on the desktop app and web app.
The RSS feed is http://feeds.feedburner.com/RoderickOnTheLine, and as of today (2024-12-18), the last episode that appears in Pocketcasts is November 19, 2024, although 4 newer episodes than that appears in the feed, and they show up as fine in the Overcast app.
Wondering if the fact that the site appears to be served entirely over http and not https has something to do with this? -
@melorama For this show, there seems to be an issue with the RSS feed itself, on both HTTP or HTTPS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/RoderickOnTheLine
The feed ends prematurely at “<p>This episode of <em>Roderick on th”.PocketCasts has issues parsing this feed as it’s not a valid XML format. Could you check with the podcast author regarding this issue?
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So I actually reached out to Merlin Mann, one of the hosts and, as far as I know, the person who runs the feed via Squarespace blog. He’s on Mastodon. I love this podcast and have been listening since 2012 or so and would love to see it fixed, but so far I haven’t heard back from him.
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Thanks for trying to reach out to them, @brooklynfall! I tried looking for an alternative feed URL for this podcast which might not be broken, and I haven’t found one so far. I see the podcast is also broken on the other platforms linked to here, like PodBean, Castbox, iHeart, and so on. Unfortunately, this is really an issue that will be best addressed by the author themselves.
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We were able to parse the feed at some point yesterday so you should the latest episodes. For now, it looks like the feed is working but it has been intermittently returning that invalid format, which seemed like it was being cut off.
🤞 Hopefully it stays fixed but feel free to reach out to us again if an episode goes missing again!
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Yep seems to be fixed for the moment! Interestingly the Apple Podcasts feed, which had also been down, is now updated as well. Thanks!
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I forgot to update this.
@brooklynfall I spoke to Merlin on Mastadon and he said he was struggling with the feed because it’s on a stack of ancient systems ( he mentioned on one of his recent podcasts that RotL is on an ancient SquareSpace system). He told me sometimes the feed just breaks and so he limits the number of posts so that it will work again. That’s what happened back in December.
Anyway it seems he wasn’t able to fix the SSL issue but he is aware – so hopefully at some point it will get fixed. -
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