Because I’m a podcaster, I use the Podpress plugin for WordPress on my main blog.
It makes it easy for visitors to listen to a podcast here and now - all you have to do is click on the ‘play’ image you see on a post that has a podcast available (see this FIR post for an example) and the podcast plays. It’s that simple.
It also lets you choose whether to launch its player in a popup window if you prefer. And you can download the MP3 file instead if you wish.
From the podcaster’s point of view, it seamlessly interfaces with iTunes, providing that service with all the info it needs in order to categorize your podcast and make it available to subscribers.
Podpress provides useful statistics on how many downloads you’ve had, whether direct from the site or via the RSS feed.
Yet I’ve had nothing but trouble with any version of Podpress later than version 6.8 which is what is still installed on this blog.
And I’m not the only one if ongoing comments in the Podpress support forum are an indicator.
The latest version is 8.8. There have actually been 19 updated versions since 6.8, but I’ve stuck with 6.8 as it’s the only one that always works without any trouble in my experience.
Recent versions of WordPress include a nifty alert in the admin page listing plugins which tells you when there’s new version available of a particular one.
Podpress is always there but I no longer attempt new versions. My experiences include much of what you see in the feedback topics shown in the screenshot. This is what you see on the Podpress plugin page on the WordPress plugins site - hardly encouraging.
I’ll continue with 6.8 until there’s a later version I can have some confidence in. Or until someone builds a better mousetrap.
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Rob Safuto 03.02.08 at 5:03 pm
You’re right Neville. A better solution is needed. All props to Dan K. for creating and maintaining PodPress. But I too learned to stop updating due to the uncertainty.
The podcast publishing process has not been solved by a long shot. FeedBurner still offers the best solution for iTunes integration and statistics. It would be nice to see more options in the marketplace. Especially ones that support using a publisher’s own domain as the source of the feed.
neville 03.02.08 at 9:02 pm
Agree, Rob, props to Dan for creating Podpress in the first place.
Yet I’d be seriously concerned with the continuous issues people report. My own experience is as I mentioned - the only reliable version is 6.8.