Wordpress.com not creating mp3 enclosure for podcast.

February 28, 2006 7:35 PM

Why won't my wordpress.com account podcast?

I opened an account at Wordpress.com to do a podcast that won't get updated very often. The first mp3 file I reference from the blog is hosted overn on my account on libsyn. From what I read, you just lik to the mp3 file in a wordpress blog entry and the rss feed should include it, but the rss feed seems to have no enclosure with the mp3 file.

Here's the blog entry.

InsertedLink This is a little Classical Guitar demo by Kevin Dollar. I just want to see if it goes out as a podcast.

The rss feed address it http://reophile.wordpress.com/rss

Any clues what's wrong with this?

posted by JamesMessick to computers & internet (6 comments total)

Try the RSS 2.0 feed instead:
http://reophile.wordpress.com/rss2
posted by mbrubeck at 7:58 PM on February 28, 2006

There's probably something wonky with Wordpress's RSS parser that is easily fixable, but in the meantime an easy workaround is to add a piece of metadata called "enclosure" and use the URL of the MP3 file as the value. (This worked as of v1.5; I'm not sure if it still works in 2.0, the version Wordpress.com runs.)

You can add metadata by clicking on the Custom Fields tab when you write a post. Use "enclosure" as the key and your URL as the value.

Also, try the Podcasting page at the Wordpress Codex. Note especially the requirement that the MP3 be on the server before you publish the post. Perhaps this is the problem?
posted by chrominance at 9:42 PM on February 28, 2006

(oh, and as mbrubeck points out, you'll need to make your RSS 2.0 feed available, as media enclosures were introduced in the RSS 2.0 spec.)
posted by chrominance at 9:43 PM on February 28, 2006

I'd had so many problems getting wordpress to make my enclosures that I just stayed with Feedburner and had it auto generate them.
posted by closetgeekshow at 7:44 AM on March 1, 2006

Hot durn! MeFi Rules!

Ok, Feedburner did the trick. I never did find anyplace to insert Custom Fields on wordpress.com, but turning on SmartCast and SmartFeed (and getting feedburner pointed at the correct wordpress feed) did the trick. Thanks, all!

James
posted by JamesMessick at 10:48 AM on March 1, 2006

I also had this problem - I found that if I hit "save and continue editing" it added the enclosure fine - but only if I did that - I couldn't just save and publish.

Alternatively, you could also try this plugin: Enclosure Flex
It's fantastic - you can make anything you link to in your post an enclosure - I use it for my video podcast to enclose m4v files
posted by soplerfo at 8:28 AM on March 2, 2006