Patrick Delahanty Oct 4, 2023
Overcast

If you can't download shows on the TWiT network since yesterday, it may be due to an ad-blocking VPN, DNS, or router, such as Eero Plus.

To temporarily alleviate the problem, disable those ad-blocking features, or add this to your allow-list if you have such functionality: twit.cachefly.net

(Ad/tracking-blockers completely break on podcast downloads. Podcast ads don't work the same way as scripts on web pages, and can't be blocked without blocking the audio downloads completely.)

Oct 4, 2023 at 12:42pmIvory for Mac
Show threadblhue (has moved)Oct 4, 2023
@overcastfm I ran into this last year I think where podcast ads were having a fist fight with Pi-Hole and Pi-Hole was winning. Still, it was vexing for a while and I had to get help from @overcastfm to solve it (for which I appreciate the hand!).
Show threadPhil NelsonOct 4, 2023
@overcastfm Why not return a message so users know what is happening? “Unable to connect to ad server”
Show threadSir John FalstaffOct 4, 2023

@phil
With audio podcasts, ads are injected upstream; all you see is a single URL for an MP3 stream. There's no separate ad server.

What would appear to be happening here is that cachefly.net, which hosts some TWiT podcasts (but not TWiT itself, that's pdst.fm at present) made someone's shitlist.
@overcastfm

Show threadZiggy the Hamster ☎️ 4ZTHOct 7, 2023

@phil @overcastfm because that’s not how podcast ads work. Podcasts are just solid audio files with no client side support or awareness of ads. The files are identical in structure to music files.

The problem seems to be unknowledgeable but well meaning developers thinking that their ad blocker should block all audio from certain domains, without realizing that also includes the podcast audio itself.

Show threadZiggy the Hamster ☎️ 4ZTHOct 7, 2023

@phil @overcastfm effectively the only ways you can block podcast ads are to either hope that the podcast host wasn’t careful about properly joining the pieces and that there’s some obvious indicator of the segmentation of the file, or to analyze the frequency content of the file and find the sections that are not like the rest of the audio. This probably won’t block live reads though.

Ad blockers in general just want to prevent specific URLs from working, and that won’t work here.

Show threadPatrick Delahanty Oct 4, 2023
@overcastfm I’ve reached out to Eero and have requested to have this block lifted.
Show threadAndrewOct 4, 2023
@overcastfm noticed this on other podcasts I have too. Super sucks. But I know it isn’t your fault.
Show threadJDHomeOct 5, 2023
@overcastfm they have been doing dynamic ads for some shows to make up for the lack of ads. This is interesting and I’d love to hear more about how this works.
Show threadZiggy the Hamster ☎️ 4ZTHOct 7, 2023

@pdunn @overcastfm fundamentally, you request an audio file and then receive an audio file. The ad insertion should be entirely invisible to you. That means it’s also invisible to ad blockers. But if an ad blocker author doesn’t know that, they’re going to block what they think is an ad server, and is an ad server, but is also the thing that distributes the entire episode.

Think like banning Microsoft.com to turn off ads in Windows.

Show threadJDHomeOct 7, 2023
@ZiggyTheHamster @overcastfm thank you for the explanation.
Show threadJeff BishopJul 16, 2024
@overcastfm Thank you for devoting time to fix the VoiceOver issues with the new Overcast app. Has the performance issues noted earlier also been resolved yet or is that coming in a future update?
Show threadAlex HallJul 16, 2024
@JeffBishop @overcastfm So far, so good on the VO responsiveness front. I've only interacted with the updated app briefly though.
Show threadJeff BishopJul 16, 2024
@alexhall @overcastfm Do I dare upload my 1300 podcasts into it LOL?
Show threadAlex HallJul 16, 2024
@JeffBishop @overcastfm That's just a bit more than I have. :) I can't say I've tested it with anywhere near that many.
Show threadJeff BishopJul 16, 2024
@alexhall @overcastfm LOL, yeah, I get it.