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Update from Podomatic: Download halting issue

jdossey — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:15:10 GMT

Hi all, I want to thank you all for letting us know about the trouble you're having with downloads. We are (very) aware of the issue and are working actively to minimize its impact on you and your audience. There are several kinds of reports we've seen here, so I'll list them. If I'm missing one, just respond to this post and let me know.

iTunes or another podcatcher will retrieve an episode and tell you it is complete, but the download will not in fact be complete. We just found the cause of this issue today (it has to do with how the RSS feed is read by podcatchers and is not limited to Podomatic) and corrected it. I've posted about this in detail on Site Status and Tech: http://www.podomatic.com/forumpost/show/17037
iTunes or another podcatcher will download a portion of an episode, then time out or quit downloading. iTunes calls this "error -3259". Retrying will usually have it pick up where it left off and maybe even complete.
Related to this, we've had reports that sometimes a player window will halt in the middle of streaming an episode and refuse to continue the download.

The last two issues come down to the same factor: bandwidth. Different software works differently here, but for some reason, there's an interruption in one of the many network connections between your computer and our server. The result is that the client (the player, itunes, etc) gives up at that point instead of trying to continue the download. There are many connections and parties involved here, so it is impossible to say it will ever work perfectly for everyone, but we're working to roll out a new server just for the player window that will help coordinate downloads and handle interruptions better. With the stopped download issue, we only see this when iTunes is competing for network resources. Retrying the download with the "Allow simultaneous downloads" box unchecked should help it complete. I'll be updating this topic as I have more information available on the issue.

Re: Update from Podomatic: Download halting issue

splendidspeaking — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:36:05 GMT

Thanks for this update. No doubt bandwidth is the issue - but I've been unable to completely download or play through the player ANY of our podcasts on splendidspeaking over the past week and I've tried on many occasions. I have been able to play other shows however. This suggests it's something at your end rather than ours and seems to be affecting a lot of our users and thus our business. Have you any idea how long it will be before your new server is up and running?

Re: Update from Podomatic: Download halting issue

jdossey — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:45:47 GMT

I believe you, and I understand that it's a big issue. You may be pleased to hear, however, that I can play or download your shows all the way through, every time. I'm on a regular ol' DSL connection, and I just now did it while streaming another show (on a different computer) over the same connection. The thing about your issue that perplexes me the most is that you report being able to listen to other Podomatic podcasters without any glitches. It's all happening from the same software, running on the same computers, over the same wires. It should hit you on every show if it hits you on any show.

Re: Update from Podomatic: Download halting issue

splendidspeaking — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:10:45 GMT

Rather than send you on a wild goose chase I should point out that this evening I now seem to having the same problem with other shows as well. At best, they're playing for about 20% of the show, then buffer and that's it, nothing more. As for downloading, I would expect to be able to physically download the podcast (right clicking and save target as), even it it were slow to arrive, but it barely gets going before cutting out. Thanks for the feedback.

Re: Update from Podomatic: Download halting issue

omanxl1 — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:45:06 GMT

I'm having the same problems as splendid speaking.Some episodes won't even start the buffering process..When you press the play button it says Ready....but nothing happens.

Re: Update from Podomatic: Download halting issue

chola — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:32:54 GMT

I continue to experience issues with streaming episodes from most shows on podomatic... including my own.

Re: Update from Podomatic: Download halting issue

omanxl1 — Sat, 17 May 2008 00:12:30 GMT

I'm still having problems when I hit the play button!!...Nothing happens!!..I'm able to download episodes and play them on Windows Media 7 and above; They won't play on Quick Time Player!!!