Podcaster FAQ
Short answers, each with the page that has the details. If your question is not here, start at Podcasters, radio and streaming: start here.
Contents
Feeds
Can Exponential publish a podcast feed? Yes. An RSS export in the format Apple Podcasts (RSS 2.0 + iTunes) writes RSS 2.0 with the iTunes elements and an enclosure per episode (Building a podcast feed).
Does it work with apps other than Apple Podcasts? The feed is standard RSS 2.0 with enclosures, which podcast apps in general read. Each directory has its own submission process outside Exponential (Submitting to podcast directories).
Can my normal RSS 2.0 feed carry the audio? No. The RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0 and Atom exports write no enclosures; use the Apple Podcasts format (Feeds for readers and networks).
Are season and episode numbers in the feed?
No; itunes:season, itunes:episode and itunes:episodeType are not written. Put the number in the title
(What is not built in).
Why is my new episode not in the feed yet? The feed is cached for 1200 seconds as shipped, and apps fetch on their own schedule (Checking your feed).
How many episodes does the feed hold? As many as the export's Number of objects, up to 1000 with the shipped choices, newest first (How a show maps to content).
Files and players
Which audio format should I use?
MP3, constant bitrate. It is mapped to audio/mpeg, and the feed can work out its duration
(Uploading audio).
Can I upload M4A or Opus?
Only after the administrator adds the suffix to mime.ini; otherwise the file is typed application/octet-stream
(Working with your administrator).
Does Exponential convert or compress my files? No. The file you upload is the file listeners get.
Which player does the site use?
The browser's own <audio> or <video> element, from the media field's player types Html5 Audio and Html5 Video
(The media field and the file field).
How large can an episode be? As large as the smallest of PHP's limits, the field's maximum and the upload page's limit allow (Upload limits and large files).
Streams and video
Can I stream live from Exponential? No. Stream through a streaming service and embed its player; the site carries the page, the announcement and the replay (Live streams and premieres).
Can I embed YouTube or Vimeo? Yes, with the External video block of the layouts editor, which loads the player only after a click (Embedding a video or a stream).
Can I publish a video podcast? Yes, if the video file is uploaded to the site and mapped as the enclosure. Embedded videos have no file to enclose.
Can I add captions to an uploaded video? Not through the media field as shipped; burn them in, add a caption track in your design, or use a video service (Transcripts and captions).
Publishing
Can an episode go out at a set time? Yes, with the Wait until date workflow event, once an administrator has set it up; it appears at the first cron run after the date (Scheduling a release).
Can someone approve episodes first? Yes, with the Approve workflow event (Approvals before release).
I made a mistake in a published episode. Delete and re-create it?
No: edit it. A re-created item gets a new guid, and apps list it as a new episode
(The podcast feed explained).
Can I publish in several languages? Yes, as translations of each episode or as separate shows, with one feed per language (Multilingual shows).
Audience and money
How many people listen? The site cannot count plays in apps. It counts downloads of file fields, page views and server log requests; the directories have their own figures (Downloads and statistics).
Can I sell premium episodes? Members-only episodes work on the site through sections and roles. A private feed per subscriber does not exist (Members-only episodes).
What does hosting a show cost? Mostly disk space and data transfer, both of which grow with each episode and each subscriber (Storage and bandwidth).
Is Exponential free to use for a commercial show? The software is free and open source under the GNU GPL, version 2 or later; your episodes remain yours (Rights and licensing of what you publish).
Related pages
- Podcaster glossary
- Troubleshooting feeds and media
- Creator FAQ
- Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.
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