In last couple months, the same question was asked almost daily by our users. Thus, we put the answer to this question here for everyone. This is not an official answer, since we don’t own or operate iTunes directory service. Based on our observation, it looks like iTunes take longer and longer time to update Podcasts. Sometimes, it takes more than one week. We tried various ways to stimulate iTunes to see if we can accelerate the updating process, but none gets obviously effects. So for now, just be patient and wait. iTunes will pick up your podcast and update it. Or you may contact iTunes to see if you can get any support on this issue. If you get any positive answer, please update us. We will post it here for all Podcasters.

Using the Podcast to iTunes Music store is easy with Podbean.com, and it only takes 5 steps to submit your podcast to the iTunes Music Store:

1. Step 1: Create a podcast episode in either audio or video format, remembering that iTunes supports files, such as, .mp3, .mp4, .mov and .pdf.

   Tips –

   1. Good recording software is Audicity. Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems. Learn more about Audacity…
   2. Always prepare a podcast logo to be displayed in iTunes as this becomes a selling point for potential listeners and will be displayed in iTunes hereafter. The maximum sized image you can use is a 400×400.
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   3. Embed artwork into your MP3 files
      • You can embed an image file into your MP3 file which will be displayed as the artwork in iTunes. (see below)
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      • To embed the image.
        • First, import your MP3 file into iTunes:
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        • Second, in Library - Music, Right Click the imported file and select “Get Info” in the pop up menu.
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        • Third, fill your MP3 related info at “Info” section.
        • Fourth, Add the image file into the MP3. A 54×54 image size is recommended to be used in the artwork.
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2. Step 2: Publish your podcast episode. An iTunes supported RSS Feed will automatically be generated for you in Podbean. Your Feed URL will be http://yourname.podbean.com/feed/
3. Step 3: Set iTunes options. Podbean provides an easy-to-use iTunes Setting preview page. You can easily change all iTunes related options in this single page by clicking on ‘Settings’ in the main menu, then selecting ‘iTunes/Advanced’, as seen below.

   

4. Step 4: Testing your Feed.
   1. Launch iTunes.
   2. In the Advanced menu, select Subscribe to Podcast.
   3. Enter your feed URL(http://yourname.podbean.com/feed/) in the text box and click OK.

   iTunes will display your Podcast play list, which will show all of the podcasts you have subscribed to. Next to the new podcast subscription, you should see an orange circle, which indicates that iTunes is downloading your most recent episode. When the orange circle disappears, you should be able to see your podcast title; a list of all the episodes referenced in your feed; a check next to the most recent episode - indicating that it has been successfully downloaded. Double-click on the episode to play it in iTunes. If you can successfully play the episode, then your feed is working and you can submit your podcast to iTunes.

   However, if the orange circle is replaced by an ‘i’ in a black circle, iTunes encountered a problem with your feed or episode, and you will need to troubleshoot in order to find the problem before re-submitting your episode and feed. Please do not submit your feed until you can successfully subscribe using the ‘Advanced’ menu.

5. Step 5: Submitting the RSS Feed URL to iTunes. Make sure you have iTunes 4.9 or later installed. You can click here to add your podcast as iTunes will launch and take you to the right page, or you may do as following:
   1. Launch iTunes.
   2. Step A: Click ‘iTunesStore’ located in the left navigation column to enter the Music Store page.
   3. Step B: Click ‘Podcasts’ in the left navigation column of the iTunes Store to enter the Podcast page.
   4. Step C: Click “Submit a Podcast” icon in the middle of the page to submit a Podcast.
   5. Then follow the instructions on the Submit a Podcast page.

If your podcast is accepted, customers will be able to discover it in the iTunes Music Store via search or browse. But you can also create links directly to your podcasts and share those via your website or direct marketing email.

There are two preferred linking methods that you are able to use, these are:

Music Store Link: The following link goes directly to your podcast page in iTunes, where users will have the opportunity to subscribe to the podcast. This link can be found for any podcast by holding down the control button on your keyboard and clicking on the podcast artwork or symbol on the feeds main page within the store (or right click in Windows on the artwork)

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=FEEDID

Direct Subscribe Link: The following link automatically subscribes the user to the podcast in iTunes. Note - this method fails for Windows users who do not have iTunes installed, so it should be understood that the link is intended for subscription with iTunes only.

itpc://FEEDURL

Should you need to request that iTunes update information about your podcast immediately, you can ping the iTunes server in one of two ways: using an XML POST or by entering a URL in a browser.

1. Entering URL into a broswer

   You can ping the iTunes server instructing them to update your podcast information by entering the following URL into a browser:

   https://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZFinance.woa/wa/pingPodcast?id=FEEDID

   - Where FEEDID refers your iTunes podcast numeric ID use -

   https://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZFinance.woa/wa/pingPodcast?feedURL=http://FEEDURL

   - Where FEEDURL is the URL for your feed use -

2. XML POST method

   The XML POST should be addressed to https://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZFinance.woa/wa/pingPodcast and formatted as follows:

   weblogUpdates.ping

   PODCAST_NAME

   http://FEEDURL/

   - Where PODCAST_NAME is the title of the podcast, typed exactly as it appears.

Whenever you create a new podcast episode, a new section will be automatically added in your Podbean.com podcast feed. The iTunes directory will list the episode the next time it reads your feed. The order in which the episodes appear is usually based on the publishing date or PubDate for each item, with the most recent episodes appearing at the top of the list.

By default, the iTunes directory reads every feed once per day. However, you can control this rate by changing the “ttl” tag in your Podbean account. Simply go to “Settings”-”iTunes/Advance” page. Change the value of “iTunes:TTL (time-to-live)”. Note that this tag affects the iTunes directory but not what existing subscribers see in their iTunes client. The client picks up new episodes based on the preferences set by the user.

To change your podcast logo, log into your Podbean account, click “Settings” at the top menu, then select “iTunes/Advanced” in the submenu . Change the file of “iTunes : Podcast Logo” and click “Update Options”. The new logo will be shown in iTunes Music Store after iTunes updates your feed. Moreover, this new logo will be shown in your Podbean podcast page as well.

It is easy to submit your podcast to the iTunes music store when using the Podbean.com podcast hosting service. Podbean.com has built-in iTunes RSS feed generating and podcast setting mechanism.

Podcasting on iTunes takes several steps:

1. Create your first episode, which can be an audio recording, video, or even a text document. Supported file formats include .mp3, .mp4, .mov, and .pdf.
2. Posting your episode file(s) to your podbean.com site.
3. An RSS feed (an XML file) will be automatically generated for you. This RSS feed -
   1. conforms to the RSS 2.0 specification
   2. includes the recommended iTunes RSS tags,
   3. contains pointers to your episode.
4. The RSS file is automatically posted on your Podbean.com site and can be reached by clicking at sidebar Feed section.
5. Submitting the URL for your RSS feed to iTunes.
   1. Launch iTunes.
   2. Click ‘Music Store’ in the left navigation column and enter the Music Store page.
   3. Once on the Music Store page and in the left navigation column, click on the podcasts link to go to the podcasts page.
   4. In the left column of the Podcasts page, click on the ‘Submit a Podcast link’ button.
   5. Follow the instructions on the Submit a Podcast page.

Note - you will need a valid iTunes account, and you will need to be logged into iTunes. If you are not logged in, iTunes will prompt you to do so before accepting your submission. By requiring you to log in, iTunes increases the likelihood of valid contact information for each submission and your credit card will not be charged for submission of a podcast.

Since podbean.com has created an RSS feed with all of the recommended iTunes tags, you will see a summary page immediately after you submit your feed URL. If you have not included <language>, <itunes:category>, and <itunes:explicit> tags in your feed, you will see a second screen prompting you for this information. Please note - you can change this information at a later date by changing the tags in your Podbean.com account at ‘Settings’ – ‘iTunes/Advance’ section. Your RSS feed is considered the current and most authoritative source of information about your podcast.

To change your iTunes logo follow 2 simple instructions:

1) Upload your own logo, then select the ‘Settings’ tab in your main menu and click on the ‘Feed/iTunes’ sub-menu tab.

2) Scroll down the page until you see ‘iTunes:Podcast Logo’ and then click on the blue tab to find the image you uploaded.

Your own image should now replace the Podbean default as your iTunes logo…