The open source players packaged in PowerPress are created by individuals who have a passion for our podcasting community. To show your support, please make a donation to the 1 Pixel Out Audio Player.

If you update your copy of PowerPress via the plugin update interface built into your WordPress wp-admin, no further action is required.

If you update your copy of PowerPress via FTP, it is imperative that you delete the following file in the wp-content/plugins/powerpress folder: audio-player.swf

The possible issue is with the 1 Pixel Out flash based audio player. The official 1 Pixel Out Audio Player was removed temporary from WordPress.org repository (link: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/audio-player/) until the security issues have been addressed. Once a new version is available, we will review re-including the player in PowerPress.

If your site is currently configured to use the 1 Pixel Out audio player (pictured below), the Flow Player Classic player will be substituted in its place once your copy of PowerPress is updated.

Be Sure to full Screen the Video so you can see the full Demo

See the Special Offer at Blubrry.com

If you’re just starting out, we recommend that you avoid FeedBurner. You are better served hosting your feeds on your own website, this helps you keep your branding in the URL as well as gives you full control of your feed address. This approach protects you from the possibility of your feed going offline or the possibility of a feed service modifying your feed’s content with advertising.

Your feed is your intellectual property, it’s the primary means for your content to syndicate to your audience. Avoid handing your intellectual property to someone else.

For Already Established Podcasts Using FeedBurner: Don’t Move!

Do not migrate away from FeedBurner! FeedBurner will only redirect your feed for 30 days. We feel that when you make a feed URL change, the redirect should be in place indefinitely in order to prevent losing subscribers. A one-year window of feed redirection is the minimum we would recommend. Thirty days is not long enough to guarantee that most services and feed readers will detect and make the feed address change.

For Podcasts Just Starting Out: Don’t Use FeedBurner or other Feed Hosted Services!

In 2006, blogging applications such as WordPress and MovableType became mainstream with podcasting capability available via plugins, making FeedBurner’s SmartCast podcasting capabilities irrelevant. There is still a myth that you need to use FeedBurner in order to podcast. Don’t be sold on the myth, you don’t need FeedBurner, or any other feed hosted service for that matter.

Don’t Become Dependent on Other Services

This is where our company philosophy differs with other podcast service providers. Other providers have taken this opportunity to encourage their customers to migrate their FeedBurner feed to a feed provided by that service. The result puts the feed syndication responsibility from FeedBurner to that service, making you 100 percent dependent on that service from that point on. Remember, your feed is your intellectual property, don’t hand it over to someone else.

Support for FeedBurner or other Feed Hosted Services from Blubrry

If you use FeedBurner or some other thirrd party feed-hosting service for your podcast feed, the staff at Blubrry and the PowerPress Podcasting plugin will not be able to assist you with FeedBurner feed related issues in our normal support options.  If you do need help with FeedBurner or other feed hosted service, you can hire us as consultants allowing us to work for you to resolve the issue(s). Learn more about our support options.

You can learn more about FeedBurner and podcasting here: http://www.podcastfaq.com/syndicating-your-podcast/feedburner-for-podcasting/

Become a Customer Today and Support the PowerPress Team

1. Are You ready to Take your show to the next level?
2. Our Communities
3. PowerPress 4.0 Feature Rewview
4. BlogWorld NYC Comments

“I am proud of this release of PowerPress, in supporting the latest iTunes podcast specs, additionally this update introduces innovative features first to market for the 10’s of thousands of media creators that rely on PowerPress,” said Todd Cochrane, CEO of RawVoice.

iTunes upgrades include:

• An updated iTunes image requirement — RGB 1400×1400 — throughout the plugin for better cover image quality throughout.

• “Feature Episode” that allow podcasters to designate a primary episode, which can be used to introduce the podcast or lead in to a new series.

• An iTunes Order feature that allows a podcaster doing a series of episodes to have each listed in the desired order.

Other PowerPress 4.0 offerings include:

• A new video player option: VideoJS HTML5 JavaScript player — a player that has its own plugin. By adding this plugin, the new player will be available as an option in PowerPress video players list.

• A Feed Episode Maximizer “option” for shows with episodes in excess of what can currently be included in a feed. This feature allows the podcaster to maintain the latest 10 episodes in iTunes with all of the extensive episode data. The rest of the episodes are listed in a way that maximizes the number of episodes that can be listed on iTunes / Zune etc. Perfect for the serial podcaster with an extensive episode library.

Blubrry.com is a media community and directory that gives content creators the power to make money through advertising, get detailed audience measurements and host their audio and video. Blubrry PowerPress 4.0 brings the essential features for media creation to WordPress, offering full podcasting support, web audio/video media players and more.

You must upgrade PowerPress to version 4.0 in order to utilize the new options. PowerPress 4.0 will be released on May 11, 2012.

iTunes Image Size and Format – IMPORTANT!

iTunes image artwork recommendations have changed to 1400 x 1400 in jpg format. You can use a png in RGB format, but keep in mind that a png at that resolution will negatively impact the loading performance due to its file size. We believe the image size change is for the upcoming Apple TV’s that will be released this fall.

Your podcast artwork will need to be at least 1400 x 1400 in order to be featured in the iTunes podcast directory.

The artwork saved within your audio may continue to use 300 x 300 or 600 x 600 poster image, but 1400 x 1400 will not hurt if saved as a jpg. Video should use the same 1400 x 1400 or larger image size. Again, jpg is recommended as the file size will be much smaller than that of a comparable png.

Don’t forget to update your artwork by going into PowerPress settings > iTunes tab and using the file/browse option. Letting PowerPress save the image will guarantee that iTunes will get the latest image within 24-48 hours.

New iTunes Element “Is Closed Captioned”

A new per episode option “Is Closed Captioned” has been added to the iTunes podcasting specifications. This option allows you to mark your video episodes as having Close Captioning. This option is only used if your media includes Closed Captioning. Please visit Closed Captioning on Wikipedia.org to learn more about this option.

You can enable this per-episode option by going to PowerPress Settings > Basic Settings tab, in the “Podcast Entry Box” section, and place a check next to the option “iTunes Closed Captioned”. Don’t forget to save changes.

New iTunes Element “Order”

A new per episode option “Order” has been added to the iTunes podcasting specifications. This option allows you to reorder your episodes how you want them to appear in the iTunes podcast directory. It will not re-order the episodes for subscribed users. Subscribed users will continue to see the latest episode at the top of the subscription. When the order option is not present, episodes will be ordered by publish date with latest published episode first.

The “Order” element must be present in all episode items found in your RSS feed. Episode items that do not include the new iTunes order element will be stacked first, with the items with order specified stacked below them. From our testing it appears the order of ordered items is random when one or more items does not include the order tag. If you do use this feature, it is imperative that all episodes have a order value specified otherwise the outcome will not be guaranteed.

Order items are displayed in ascending order. E.g. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc… This means that you can list oldest episode first or you must know the total number of episodes you plan to release if you want your latest episode listed first.

PowerPress has added a special “Feature on iTunes” option that utilizes this new feature to specifically order your episodes with one selected episode to be at the top. This allows you to put an introduction episode at the top of the list, with the remaining episodes ordered as normal.

You can enable either of these options by going to PowerPress Settings > Basic Settings tab, in the ” Podcast Entry Box” section, and place a check next to either option “iTunes Order” or “Feature Episode in iTunes”. Don’t forget to save changes.

New iTunes Element “Complete”

A new per feed option “Complete” has been added to the iTunes podcasting specifications. This option allows you to mark your podcast as completed in the iTunes podcast directory. This option should only be used when you are no longer creating new episodes but wish to keep your podcast listed on the iTunes podcast directory. Once marked completed, iTunes will no longer query your feed for new episodes.

To enable this option in PowerPress you must first add the following define to your wp-config.php. Please consult with someone experienced with WordPress to assist you if you are not familiar with how to edit your wp-config.php.

define("POWERPRESS_NOT_SUPPORTED", true);

Once the define is added to your wp-config, navigate to PowerPress Settings > iTunes tab, then place a check next to option ” iTunes Complete” . Don’t forget to save changes.

Conclusion

This is the biggest change to the iTunes podcast specifications since it was first introduced in summer of 2005. Though iTunes podcast directory is no longer the only podcast directory in town, it still garnishes the largest audience percentage for most shows, making it essential for podcasts to support these latest specifications. Update your WordPress podcast to PowerPress today to utilize these latest features immediately.