Podcast Info on IPOD doesn't match PDF's ?????
wesleywongphoto
July 28, 2008, 02:27 AM posted in General DiscussionDear Ken Carroll.
I have been having this problem but I don't know if I am the only one having it. In many of the Elementary lessons the Podcast Info (the words and characters that actually are suppose to match the PDF, that I read in my IPOD) don't match. At first it was just 3 or 4 of them. But now I am finding more and more incorrect lessons.
I would assume that with a name like Chinese"POD" (emphasis on the POD) that you would have this one obvious detail correct for the lessons. What I am trying to say is that the whole purpose of using your system is so you can listen AND READ the lessons on your IPOD.
It's very disconcerting when as a beginner I am trying to understand the dialog but then am totally thrown off by wrong written characters and Pinyin.
It's like someone trying to learn English but all of the letters and words don't match what your reading.
Anyways Adi has been great about checking into the problem although he initially thought it was the PDF's which are different from the "IPOD lesson info" I am talking about. He can explain if you dont' understand what I mean. I thought they were suppose to be the same. (Upon up Itunes then right click onto a lesson and click "tech info" which shows the lesson PDF, the latest wrong ones are the Elementary lessons: Condoms, Chinese Seasonings, and Chinese Money Denominations. In the Elementary Lessons Buying a sim card and China's Most Famous Tourist Destinations the Pinyin is completely missing.
I am writing this because I think it is the responsibility of your organization to have these kinds of things thoroughly checked out before you sell them to the general public.These are not just minor flaws. They're are very obvious things that should not be incorrect and I would be a little embarrassed if I were you If someone told me of these problems.
When I initially told Adi about them I didn't think it was a big deal. Just a few here and there. But now as I go through each of the Elementary lessons I am finding more and more and I don't think it is my responsibility to have to tell Adi about each one every time as nice as he is about the whole thing. Which is why I am letting you know you really should have someone go through all of these lessons and make sure they are correct.
I still love listening to you and Jeni and I still love the ChinesePod lessons which is why I just hope you can resolve this problem soon.
Thanks, Wesley Wong
joannah
July 28, 2008, 07:43 AMWhile you are at it, can we please have the full transcript and translation in the 64k files. It is really annoying having to copy it in from the transcript or dialogue everytime i download a lesson.
John
July 28, 2008, 08:23 AMjoannah,
We can't put the full transcript with translation into the 64kbps files, because those are the ones that go into the public feed, and the full transcript with translation is not offered to free users.
I hear what you're saying, though; I'll see if we can't figure out some way to accommodate paying users who want to use the 64kbps file.
joannah
July 28, 2008, 08:38 AMThat would be really good. thanks.
John
July 28, 2008, 10:58 AMWesley,
I've fixed all the ones you mention in this post. I've also fixed some others, and all will be fixed as part of an ongoing widespread "Archive cleanup" quality upgrade project.
Actually, if you download the podcasts directly from the site, you'll find that the lyrics display perfectly. The issue is that iTunes rewrites the ID3tags based on feed data, and if the data fed into iTunes is not represented perfectly, it creates errors like what you saw.
We don't take these quality issues lightly, and all these lesson issues are being fixed.
wesleywongphoto
July 28, 2008, 01:26 PMJohn,
As usual your efficient and patient response to my ranting and raving is typical of ChinesePod and why I like doing business with you folks. You really are concerned for the welfare of the students and I appreciate it very much. I guess the Beijing Heat and all this Olympic Madness is getting to me but I hope I didn't sound to critical of your system.
I had a feeling that what you explained to me was what was going on. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't something wrong with my IPOD.
I am going to now download all the Elementary lessons again or at least the first 20 hopefully all will go well. If it doesn't I will let you know.
Also if I run into anymore wrong text I will let you know so as to help you correct the lessons. I really don't mind doing this as long as I know you are acknowledging the problems.
Thanks again John and tell Adi I said thanks as well....
Wesley
kencarroll
July 28, 2008, 01:59 PMWesley,
Good luck with the new downloads. Let us know what happens.
Ken
John
July 28, 2008, 05:04 AMWesley,
After extensive investigation into the issue, we've concluded that it's a combination of old lesson XML formatting and the way iTunes handles our feed. We should be able to correct the issue shortly. We apologize for the trouble.