re: Months after submission, my podcast is still not approved?

I've tried numerous times to submit my podcast feed to Zune.net, and unfortunately it does not seem to work. What I *have* seen that works is when you post on the forum that your podcast hasn't been accepted... So here I am, hoping that someone from support will see this.

I have followed all the tips in the sticky post at the top of this forum:
- the RSS feed needs to be valid
- the attachments need to be in a Zune-compatible format (like MP4 for video, not QuickTime .mov files)
- podcast needs to have album artwork at least 200x200 in size but preferably 300x300 or bigger
- content of an extremely sexual or mature nature may not be added
- the podcast feed should include a comprehensive description or blurb that describes the podcast

I absolutely LOVE my Zune, and I love the podcast software itself. But please, Zune Support Team, get the glitch for submitting/accepting podcasts fixed. Your dominance over iTunes would then be complete. :-)

Website: LibertarianChristians.com
Podcast Feed: http://libertarianchristians.com/feed/podcast/

Thanks!
~Norman

I produce a number of radio shows that air around the world on shortwave radio.
Millions of people are listening in every corner of the earth.
I have had the same problem.  I have submitted the feed a number of times and even created new ones thinking something may be wrong with my feed.
One radio show in particular is called QSO.
It is a radio show about  ham or amateur radio.
The last feed I created is this one.

http://www.tedrandall.com/zune/qsorss.xml

Feed Validator shows it to be a valid RSS Feed.
ITunes works like a charm and I have thousands of folks from all over the world downloading the podcasts from ITunes.
I had a problem with ITunes at one time and I sent then an email and believe it or not I got a response within 48 hours and they corrected the problem.
I also produce a prodcast for the Coast to Coast Emmy Award Winning reporter Linda Moulton Howe.
Her feed is at www.earthfiles333.com.
I have never had one small problem with ITUNES.
So now for well over a year Zune Marketplace will not publish our podcast regardless of the submissions that have been made.
I have listeners that email me telling me they have submitted the feed as well.

It has got to the point now where we are giving instructions out over the air as to how to download from ITunes and place the podcasts on the Zune player.
I have had hundreds of listeners write me and tell me they are selling thier Zune players and purchasing IPods because for some reason they do not realize they can download the podcast and play it on their Zune.

In conclusion I share in your frustration and only wish there was an answer.
There seems to be no contact point with Microsoft as I have a large number of listeners who have written attempting to get Zune technical hardware issues resolved.

The Zune is clearly a better player in a number of ways than the IPod but it seems from my standpoint from listening to a large number of our listeners to a number of our radio shows that Microsoft is not doing very well on the support and follow through end.
I have written a number of emails wishing for a response from someone.
Evidently they are not very concerned.

Kindest Regards

Ted Randall
QSO Radio Show
Radio Disclosure
AccessNashville
Earthfiles Podcast

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The Internet is limited by accessibility and bandwidth but with ShortWave Radio the Sky is the limit!

Ted, I have no idea. Honestly, I think the support on the Zune is quite good - except for podcasts. It appears that they just have a huge problem with getting Podcasts accepted to the marketplace. There's either a hangup in the software or a hangup in the personnel. Now, I know that my podcast WORKS in the Zune software because I can manually add the feed to it. I bet I could even create a button that will auto-add it for you. But, I'd very much like to have it in the marketplace too!

Here's to hoping that MS can get this worked out. I did a lot of research before buying my first serious MP3 player, and Zune stood out above the rest for many reasons - one of which was that I thought the podcast features were splendid. This part of the podcast features, however, just doesn't seem to be their strong suit yet.

Please, Zune Support, you do a great job on so many things, make this great too!

~Norman Horn
LibertarianChristians.com

Norman

Thanks you for your fine comments and your obvious diplomatic abilities.  The fact remains that days have past and no one from Microsoft reads this forum.  If that is not the case then they read the forums and just dont care enough to respond.   I would love to talk to anyone who is having the same problems.... "on the air" as I think the only way to get Microsofts attention is by means of upset stock holders.It appears that all the support on these forums comes from users and very little from Mircrosoft.

Anyone interesting iin telling their story to a large radio audiance can call 615-469-0702 and talk to us.

If the phone is unanswered it is because we are on the air... you can tell your story on voice mail and we will put you on the air.

Or you can leave your name and number and we will call you back and do an interview with you.

It is a crime for a company to treat people like this.... I want to make sure the general public knows who "bing" is and how little attention that Microsoft gives to customer issues...

It would be nice if Apple had created the Zune in that it is better harddware than the IPOD but Microsoft wants to make sales and provide no service period. The public and the stockholders need to know all about this so pass the word along and call us with your problem.

 

 

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The Internet is limited by accessibility and bandwidth but with ShortWave Radio the Sky is the limit!

 HFBroadcasting wrote:

Norman

Thanks you for your fine comments and your obvious diplomatic abilities.  The fact remains that days have past and no one from Microsoft reads this forum.  If that is not the case then they read the forums and just dont care enough to respond.   I would love to talk to anyone who is having the same problems.... "on the air" as I think the only way to get Microsofts attention is by means of upset stock holders.It appears that all the support on these forums comes from users and very little from Mircrosoft.

Anyone interesting iin telling their story to a large radio audicance can call 615-469-0702 and talk to us.

If the phone is unanswered it is because we are on the air... you can tell your story on voice mail and we will put you on the air.

Or you can leave your name and number and we will call you back and do an interview with you.

It is a crime for a company to treat people like this.... I want to make sure the general public knows who "bing" is and how little attention that Microsoft gives to customer issues...

It would be nice if Apple had created the Zune in that it is better harddware than the IPOD but Microsoft wants to make sales and provide no service period. The public and the stockholders need to know all about this so pass the word along and call us with your problem.

I did a quick and certainly NOT extensive search on how to submit podcasts for inclusion.  I found a sticky post on guidelines for acceptance, but no instructions on how to submit...
I also found this post... a bit old, but a place to start.  I would PM the MOD (in addition to any post you make in that thread) so you are sure to be heard.
http://forums.zune.net/262556/ShowPost.aspx#262556
Hope this helps at least a bit...good luck!

Hi Ted,

Trying to see if I can help out here.

I also produce a prodcast for the Coast to Coast Emmy Award Winning reporter Linda Moulton Howe.
Her feed is at www.earthfiles333.com.
I have never had one small problem with ITUNES.
So now for well over a year Zune Marketplace will not publish our podcast regardless of the submissions that have been made.
I have listeners that email me telling me they have submitted the feed as well.

Earthfiles podcast is located in the Zune Marketplace, see Zune Links tool listing:
http://social.zune.net/links/ZuneLinks.aspx?x=0&y=0&keyword=earthfiles&type=all

As for the QSO Podcast, your album art image doesn't load in IE, but does load in Firefox on several test computers here. Are you running some sort of htaccess or image protection script that blocks image loading in other browsers beside Firefox? The album art is an important part of the Zune Marketplace podcast listing.

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TDavid, Zune Product Team: This posting is provided as-is with no warranties, and confers no rights:.

 XBoxTDavid wrote:

Hi Ted,

Trying to see if I can help out here.

I also produce a prodcast for the Coast to Coast Emmy Award Winning reporter Linda Moulton Howe.
Her feed is at www.earthfiles333.com.
I have never had one small problem with ITUNES.
So now for well over a year Zune Marketplace will not publish our podcast regardless of the submissions that have been made.
I have listeners that email me telling me they have submitted the feed as well.

Earthfiles podcast is located in the Zune Marketplace, see Zune Links tool listing:
http://social.zune.net/links/ZuneLinks.aspx?x=0&y=0&keyword=earthfiles&type=all

As for the QSO Podcast, your album art image doesn't load in IE, but does load in Firefox on several test computers here. Are you running some sort of htaccess or image protection script that blocks image loading in other browsers beside Firefox? The album art is an important part of the Zune Marketplace podcast listing.

Hi, David-

Hi NSILMike,

Podcasts are submitted through the software or through the "submit a podcast" link alongside the left sidebar here:
http://social.zune.net/podcasts/

As for criteria used in determining if the podcast is approved or rejected, there is already a sticky in this forum which lists the main things a podcast should have to be included (including having decent sized album art).  Although I don't have the link here handy I'm fairly certain there is (or at least was) a podcast write-up on the main zune.net site as well which covers the submission process for podcasters. 

Additionally I've tried over the last year to peek in on this forum from time to time and answer questions about specific podcasts and help podcasters who have had some unusual trouble getting their podcasts listed.

Norman - with that in mind I am looking into getting your podcast listed and you are welcome to contact me directly through the Zune PM field so we can continue a dialog.

Hope this helps :)

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TDavid, Zune Product Team: This posting is provided as-is with no warranties, and confers no rights:.

 XBoxTDavid wrote:

Hi NSILMike,

Podcasts are submitted through the software or through the "submit a podcast" link alongside the left sidebar here:
http://social.zune.net/podcasts/

[snipped]
Hope this helps :)

It does...it is hard to find that link if you are unfamiliar with the site.  (I didn't even know it was there...)  Can you sticky this?  The natural inclination (I suspect) is to look around, and then find your way into the forum to ask.
Thanks!

This is odd as the graphic is 600X600 and shows up on ITunes and all the other podcasting services just fine.
I dont use IE due to so many back door problems in the past.
What could possibly be peculiar about the graphic that would cause Zune to reject it?
It is a jpeg and was done by the grapics arts people in Adobe Photoshop.
There is not an .htaccesses file in the directory but the problem has gone on for a very long time.
Earthfiles got way behind and would not update then it mysteriously updated at one point.
I know a number of folks at the TV networks that have these kinds of problems all the time.
What will eventually happen is they will just stop supply content.
Any more suggestions..?

I will check out the graphic in IE... still dont understand why Firefox would display the graphic and IE not..
I am not a graphics person... I am an on air guy!

---

The Internet is limited by accessibility and bandwidth but with ShortWave Radio the Sky is the limit!

BTW

If you add a podcast to the Zune client and you type in my feed.....

http://www.tedrandall.com/rss/rss.xml

It adds the podcast to your software and the graphic shows up just fine.

Give it a try..

Once again thanks sure hope someone can figure this out....

Ted

---

The Internet is limited by accessibility and bandwidth but with ShortWave Radio the Sky is the limit!

I have been following your problems listening to the radio show.  We have a team of web guys here and have looked at your feed.
There is no reason why your feed should not work just fine in Marketplace.
I get both the QSO show and Earthfiles.  I listen to on radio here in Detroit to your shows and I listen to Earthfiles by means of podcast or I catch it on Coast to Coast AM.
When I miss one of your radio shows I get them from ITunes as Marketplace has been very unreliable as far as podcasts go in general.
I notice that your feed is now up on Marketplace but there is no description as there is with Earthfiles and other podcasts.
I checked your RSS feed and there is a description statement and the syntax is correct.
I can see so reason why the description of the podcast is missing.
I also tried to search Zune Marketplace in the podcast department for QSO.
I entered Ham Radio, Amateur Radio,  Shortwave Radio, Communications and a long list.
Marketplace was not able to associate QSO with any of these. So the average Zune user will never find you if they are interested in any of these subjects.
Unless they type in QSO exactly, they will never know you are there.
Most Zune users will never know about most of the podcasts that are on Marketplace.
I did check and you do have all those items in your keywords.
Welcome to Zune Marketplace.
I don't think Microsoft understands with the large radio audiance that you have this effects their image and sure gives Apple an edge.
That is why I depend on ITunes for podcasts even though I own a Zune.
My next computer will be a Mac. My next player WILL be an IPod,. they just take care of you far better.
Microsoft has an edge in numbers but their numbers will go down as they mess over enough folks and lose touch with customers.
It is really odd most of the people that call your show love the Zune player and dont like the IPod.
I think this is why they get so mad when they call in in that they feel they are being forced to buy and IPod.
They have no idea they can download podcasts from ITunes and put them into the Zune.
I heard your story of your 3 week old Zune you could not get serviced.
Once again welcome to the world of Zune.

Thank you for the great radio show & podcasts
HC