Comments on: Podcast Downloads Part Deux http://www.darcynorman.net/2004/11/21/podcast-downloads-part-deux/ ragingly ambivalent. or something. whatever. Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:54:04 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Christian Hessmann http://www.darcynorman.net/2004/11/21/podcast-downloads-part-deux/#comment-79359 Christian Hessmann Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000 #comment-79359 Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't think your numbers are correct. Quite a few old Podcast-clients are checking for updates by downloading the beginning of a mp3-file and stopping after some time. And yes, unfortunately, Apache says GET, 200 and MP3: 80.203.##.### - - [17/Nov/2004:17:09:27 +0100] "GET /podcast/poetcast_2004-11-17.mp3 HTTP/1.1" 200 14360 www.hessi.org "-" "-" "-" Look for a bunch of lines like this - it checks all mp3s mentioned in your feed within a few seconds. Every podcaster I contacted is experiencing entries like this. Combined with some buggy clients that downloaded shows again and again, it is quite hard to tell the number of real listeners. btw, I am one of the real listeners to your show. :-) Greetings from Germany. Sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t think your numbers are correct.
Quite a few old Podcast-clients are checking for updates by downloading the beginning of a mp3-file and stopping after some time.
And yes, unfortunately, Apache says GET, 200 and MP3:

80.203.##.### – - [17/Nov/2004:17:09:27 +0100] “GET
/podcast/poetcast_2004-11-17.mp3 HTTP/1.1″ 200 14360 http://www.hessi.org “-”
“-” “-”

Look for a bunch of lines like this – it checks all mp3s mentioned in your feed within a few seconds.
Every podcaster I contacted is experiencing entries like this.

Combined with some buggy clients that downloaded shows again and again, it is quite hard to tell the number of real listeners.

btw, I am one of the real listeners to your show. :-)

Greetings from Germany.

]]> By: D'Arcy Norman http://www.darcynorman.net/2004/11/21/podcast-downloads-part-deux/#comment-79360 D'Arcy Norman Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000 #comment-79360 Christian, thanks for the tip! You're RIGHT! My apache log is full of repeated requests from many IP addresses. Why on earth wouldn't the podcatcher just check the HEAD of the URL? That's so darned wasteful downloading a bit of the file (about 65K per shot!) rather than a few bytes of HEAD text... OK. So it's nowhere near 1377 actual downloads - more like a couple hundred, with LOTS of repeated braindead partial file downloads to see if the file is still there... Someone hit the podcatch developers with a clue stick... Christian, thanks for the tip! You’re RIGHT! My apache log is full of repeated requests from many IP addresses. Why on earth wouldn’t the podcatcher just check the HEAD of the URL? That’s so darned wasteful downloading a bit of the file (about 65K per shot!) rather than a few bytes of HEAD text…

OK. So it’s nowhere near 1377 actual downloads – more like a couple hundred, with LOTS of repeated braindead partial file downloads to see if the file is still there… Someone hit the podcatch developers with a clue stick…

]]> By: Christian Hessmann http://www.darcynorman.net/2004/11/21/podcast-downloads-part-deux/#comment-79361 Christian Hessmann Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000 #comment-79361 D'Arcy, well, I asked the developers of the usual podcast-clients (ipodder, iPodderX, jPodder) - noone is using this kind of algorithm anymore. In fact, most of them said they never used such an algorithm, but you can't be sure about that. Anyway, hopefully most people are going to upgrade their clients, since features are added nearly every day, so we might have a chance to get rid of these partial downloads. D’Arcy, well, I asked the developers of the usual podcast-clients (ipodder, iPodderX, jPodder) – noone is using this kind of algorithm anymore. In fact, most of them said they never used such an algorithm, but you can’t be sure about that.
Anyway, hopefully most people are going to upgrade their clients, since features are added nearly every day, so we might have a chance to get rid of these partial downloads.

]]> By: Tim Lauer http://www.darcynorman.net/2004/11/21/podcast-downloads-part-deux/#comment-79362 Tim Lauer Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000 #comment-79362 Hi, I've downloaded your podcasts. I find your format interesting. Kind of like having a cup of coffee (or a beer :-) ) with a colleague and talking about things of interest. Actually last night I was doing the dishes and was listening to your Nov. 12 podcast... Take care... Hi, I’ve downloaded your podcasts. I find your format interesting. Kind of like having a cup of coffee (or a beer :-) ) with a colleague and talking about things of interest. Actually last night I was doing the dishes and was listening to your Nov. 12 podcast… Take care…

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