An ID3 Tag Podcast Mystery

I noticed a strange thing today regarding the podcasts I've subscribed to and downloaded to my iPod, and I can't explain it. The problem regards ID3 tags which are the labels for each podcast episode. Perhaps you'll have some insights and suggestions! Here's the situation.

Rather than directly subscribe to podcasts in iTunes, for the past year or so I've subscribed to podcasts using the free, online service PodNova. As I've related in past posts, because of client updates I switched from using the PodNova client to using the free JuiceReceiver client to download podcasts (synced to my PodNova subscriptions) and then automatically copy those podcasts into separate playlists within iTunes, so they can be synced to my iPod. This solution works well for me because:

1. I'm able to maintain my podcasts feeds online, and therefore update them from any Internet connected computer, not just the computer I use to download and sync podcasts.
2. This lets me have a backup of all my podcast subscriptions (I currently have 45) in case something bad happens to my laptop, or I switch laptops. (Which happened in the last year when I got a Macbook.)
3. I REALLY like the "clean-up" feature of JuiceReceiver, which lets me view which podcast channel episodes are taking up the most disk space and then directly delete episodes I don't want to keep anymore. The files are deleted from JuiceReceiver as well as iTunes simultaneously.
4. JuiceReceiver is set to automatically change the genre of all downloaded podcasts to "Podcasts," which is handy when I want to shuffle through my podcasts and play a random one, or create a smart playlist in iTunes for podcasts. This is helpful since my iPhone can't sync all my music and podcasts. Smart playlists that sync random songs and podcasts to my iPhone insure I'll never be bored in the car, since I'll always have playlists which will surprise me.
5. This setup also lets me share my current podcast subscriptions with others as an OPML file, which is handy if someone else wants to view or import them into their own podcatcher.

There may be other reasons for liking this setup, but those are the main ones that come to mind right away. I like this arrangement, even though I am using several applications, but I have a problem: Some of the podcasts I subscribe to don't KEEP their ID3 tag information about episodes when the files sync to iTunes and my iPod. This is the mystery. I'll show you a few examples to further highlight the problem.

One podcast I enjoy immensely from time to time is the Medal of Honor series podcast offered by the Pritzker Military Library of Chicago. If I'm ever losing perspective on the challenges I face daily in life, listening to one of our surviving Medal of Honor recipients share about their life and the challenges they've faced always restores me to a more humble view of my own difficulties. This is how this podcast looks when synced to my iTunes using PodNova and JuiceReceiver:

For some reason, however, certain podcast episodes do NOT transfer over to iTunes with their ID3 tags intact. One example is Bob Sprankle's excellent Bit by Bit podcast. Here is how his podcast feed looks in JuiceReceiver, everything looks great:

When I look in iTunes at the playlist JuiceReceiver has created, however, for some reason the ID3 episode titles have been stripped out:

I have no idea why this is happening. Bob's podcast is not the only one with which this happens. (He is using Feedburner, but that doesn't seem to be the issue, some feeds using feedburner are carrying over their ID3 tags fine and some are not.) Perhaps there is a setting in Feedburner that needs to be adjusted? Here is a list of podcasts I'm subscribed to that also have this problem:

• IMM TechKnowCast (uses Feedburner - here's an image)
• NASA Digital Learning Network Podcast Series (here's an image)
• Voices on Genocide Prevention (US Holocaust Memorial Museum - here's an image)
• Old feed for World Beyond the Headlines from the Center for International Studies at the University of Chicago - I found their new feed, but it doesn't consistently include all ID3 tag info either. (here is an image)

The following is a partial list of podcasts that do NOT have this problem, and the episode info looks fine in iTunes and on my iPod:

• Connect Learning with David Warlick (uses feedburner)
• BBC's Documentary Archive
• EduPodder Podcast
• MOSAIC's audio feed
• NOVA scienceNOW

All the NPR podcasts I subscribe to ("Technology," "Story of the Day" and "This I Believe") come through fine with their ID3 tags. In fact, the majority of the podcasts I subscribe to look and work fine, both in JuiceReceiver and in iTunes/my iPod.

What seems to be going on here? If you have any insights into this mystery and suggestions about how to resolve these problems, I'd love to hear them. I'm suspecting the problem has to do with the way podcast publishers have their feeds configured, and I won't be able to do much. If there are some specific feedburner settings that avoid this problem, however, that would be good info to share with others. I use feedburner for my podcast feed and its episode ID3 tags come over fine from JuiceReceiver to iTunes. This is the feedburner configuration I use:

As a final note, let me say again HOW MUCH I DEARLY LOVE SKITCH, which permits me to make annotated screenshots SO EASILY and immediately post them to Flickr. Without Skitch, this post would not have been possible with all the screensnaps I included. Thank you Plasq programmers and developers!!!!

Technorati Tags:
id3, tag, mystery, podcasting, podcast, itunes, feedburner, podnova, juice, juicereceiver

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• Digital Storytelling - How much time? - 2007
• Podcast178: Part 3 - Using Google and Yahoo Tools for Educational Research and Collaboration - 2007
• Podcast177: Part 2 - Using Google and Yahoo Tools for Educational Research and Collaboration - 2007
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• Sifry's State of the Blogosphere - 2006

About Wesley Fryer

Educator, author, digital storyteller, husband, dad. I'm here for the learning revolution.