podcast files in the filesystem?

groovejumper

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So - in Canada at least, we don't have store support for podcasts (never have). With wp7.5, we could get around that by manually adding a podcast link (rss/etc) to Zune, after synching we could then subscribe on the phone and it was all good.

But now, the new Windows Phone app doesn't do that, metro version or desktop.

I've played with a couple of podcast apps but not really loving them. I'm thinking there might be a way to get around this by just placing the appropriate link file straight into the filesystem. I found a couple of podcast folders (one in music, one in videos), but of course I'm not exactly sure what goes into them since I can't subscribe to any.

Can someone who has a subscribed podcast maybe let me know what's in those folders for you?

g.
 

groovejumper

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Computer\Lumia 920\Phone\Music\Podcasts\Giant Bombcast\*Podcast File*

Ok, this is a good start, thank you so much! I have some questions though if you don't mind?

  1. In the Music folder, do you also have a PodcastSeries folder? (it would be a hidden folder so you'd have to turn on hidden folders in your explorer settings). Hoping to find out what's in there.
  2. I'm assuming "Giant Bombcast" is a podcast that you've subscribed to? Through the store?
  3. What, specifically, is *Podcast File*? Does it have a file extenstion?
  4. I don't suppose there are any other files in the folder? (Maybe hidden?)

I guess what I'm really hoping to find is an XML or some sort of config file, that'll allow us to insert RSS details.

If that is indeed the case, I have my next app idea...

g.
 

Matt Sharpe

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PodcastSeries folder

This is definitely worth pursuing. Could someone who has a working subscribed podcast on their device please upload the contents of their PodcastSeries folder and anything else that might be relevant?

Thanks!! :happy:

Edit: I'd like to add that I have retried the iTunes sync method to see what happens, and it does indeed add a .ser file to the PodcastSeries folder. Unfortunately it is 0 bytes, which could be why the phone then refuses to sync. If we knew the format of this file we could perhaps make our own working ones.
 
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thirdsun

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Just answering to keep this thread alive. As a non-US customer, we really need a way to manage podcasts on the device. However I suspect that in addition to the SER file the device would probably check the region your Microsoft account is tied to. Just guessing though.
 

vedichymn

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This is definitely worth pursuing. Could someone who has a working subscribed podcast on their device please upload the contents of their PodcastSeries folder and anything else that might be relevant?

Thanks!! :happy:

Edit: I'd like to add that I have retried the iTunes sync method to see what happens, and it does indeed add a .ser file to the PodcastSeries folder. Unfortunately it is 0 bytes, which could be why the phone then refuses to sync. If we knew the format of this file we could perhaps make our own working ones.

I've also been trying to reverse engineer this, but haven't had any luck. :(

Manually creating those SER files and copying things down doesn't work either, the desktop sync software is doing something special to mark those as podcasts.
 

vedichymn

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Input from someone with a working subscription would be really useful, then we can know if the SER files could be the answer.

Subscribing via the phone does create a SER file file, but also creates a "Podcasts" folder under the music folder where it sticks the podcast.

Just creating the SER file isn't enough, you can sync up a podcast from iTunes with the desktop tool, then move the contents of the phones "music" folder to a local drive, copy everything (the folder & SER file) back and have the podcast show up as music.

The desktop sync software is doing something special to flag those files as podcasts, and I haven't been able to figure out what. :(
 

Matt Sharpe

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Subscribing via the phone does create a SER file file, but also creates a "Podcasts" folder under the music folder where it sticks the podcast.

Just creating the SER file isn't enough, you can sync up a podcast from iTunes with the desktop tool, then move the contents of the phones "music" folder to a local drive, copy everything (the folder & SER file) back and have the podcast show up as music.

The desktop sync software is doing something special to flag those files as podcasts, and I haven't been able to figure out what. :(
That's a shame. I was hoping that on a fully working subscribed podcast, the SER file would have some content (perhaps XML) that we could manipulate to add our own podcast URLs etc.

I don't know why Microsoft had to make this so difficult.
 

vedichymn

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That's a shame. I was hoping that on a fully working subscribed podcast, the SER file would have some content (perhaps XML) that we could manipulate to add our own podcast URLs etc.

I don't know why Microsoft had to make this so difficult.

Yeah, I've never seen anything other than a zero byte SER file. It's possible maybe the phone is hiding the contents of those or using some kind of database that we don't have access to classify those files. :(
 

cddigi

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Hmm, this is very interesting. I've tried just adding a folder to the Podcast folder and putting an mp3 in there(it downloads podcasts files as mp3's) and it just showed up in the music section. So I created a blank ser file with the folder name in the PodcastSeries folder, didn't work either. I copied a ser file from another podcast and renamed it. Still nothing. Even though they show up as 0 bytes, it knows what files are in the podcast and which one to delete(I have my limit set to 3).
 

cddigi

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Okay, so the mp3 podcast file has a References tab when you view its Properties. In that tab, it lists the SER file. Now just got to figure out how to added references to an mp3.

Edit: So it automatically creates that tab when the file is on the phone. It will let me drag files to it but only media files. Couldn't drag over the ser file.
 
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groovejumper

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Well it really was just an idea. Sounds like we're not going to have joy here, it really does seem like podcast subscriptions are internally handled. There isn't an API for podcast subscriptions.

I think we may need to wait for either an API or better documentation on this.

The only other option would be to develop a really good out of band podcast app, I could work on this but personally its not what I want.

g.
 

Chris Bardon

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Well it really was just an idea. Sounds like we're not going to have joy here, it really does seem like podcast subscriptions are internally handled. There isn't an API for podcast subscriptions.

I think we may need to wait for either an API or better documentation on this.

The only other option would be to develop a really good out of band podcast app, I could work on this but personally its not what I want.

g.
Sounds like you guys got slightly farther than I did-I found the 0b files, and after syncing something through itunes, thought I had something when there was a "subscribe" button on the podcast...that did nothing.

Unfortunately, I'm not holding out hope for a decent solution here. MS seems to have a long history of taking perfectly functional products and replacing them with crap. I used Live Mesh for ages, which got replaced with skydrive sync, which is missing granular folder control and remote desktop.

I could really care less about a "podcast store". Just give me the ability to add an RSS feed to download. None of the apps in the store seem to do what I want, and to be honest I don't have the free time to write my own. Might be the only way to get a decent podcast solution outside of the US though...
 

Matt Sharpe

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Thanks guys, this has been interesting, but I agree it doesn't seem like we'll find a solution.

I'm extremely disappointed in Microsoft for this. We pay a lot of money to upgrade to the new thing, and in return we lose functionality that's important to us.
 

thirdsun

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I just posted this in another thread, but it sure is relevant here too: I spoke to a developer from the team responsible for the sync application and those hidden ser files are certainly important to your library data and also podcast integration/subscriptions (there might be a fix for us international users), however these files will always show up empty and with 0kb file size when browsing the device. He mentioned that one would have to adjust a few settings for the mtp connection in order to properly access those files - he didn't give any details though and I can't test it as I'm on a mac (no mtp support on OSX), but I might get back to him on that and set up a VM to test this.

Meanwhile if you have any configuration options for mtp connections (maybe third party tools?), go ahead and try. That said, your mtp connection decides if those ser files are readable or empty, not the files themselves
 

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