Provide a way to prevent duplicate episodes
I subscribe to several NPR podcasts (NPR News, NPR Tech, etc.). Sometimes an episode is included in one podcast, and the exact same episode is also included in another podcast. As a result, I oftentimes have two or three copies of the same episode, all from different NPR podcasts.
Would be great if the app could check an episode's title against the downloaded episodes list, and not download the episode if the title matches one already in the list.
I realize that matching on the title of the episode runs the risk that there might be two different episodes that have the exact same title. But I think that would be rare, especially since they'd have to exist in the download list at the same time.
This would be an opt-in feature, where only those who are having this problem would turn it on.
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ANDRE CERQUEIRA CRESPO commented
Nerdcast (Brazilian podcast) have duplicates 3 or 4 time per year and their RSS have almost 1000 episodes. My interface is being sluggish because the great member of items.
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Rick commented
I too have this exact same issue with NPR podcasts. I'm sure there are many others too.
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joe commented
What about something a little more simple? How about doing a hash of the actual content of the podcast and then deleting the duplicates?
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Neil G commented
OK, well, first, I believe the latest comment was saying the same thing as me. He wrote that he was having trouble with duplicates "across numerous podcasts." Not within podcasts, but across podcasts.
Furthermore, he read my note and said he needed it as well. So it seems that he was having the same problem as me.
To respond to your note, first, I don't know if they're using the exact same unique ID for episodes across different threads. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. I could give you some examples if it would help you look into it. Or, if there's a way for me to look into it so see if the IDs are the same, then please tell me how, and I will do so.
Second, I don't know your technology, so I'm saying say what you can and can't do. But it seems to me that if the IDs aren't exactly the same, but the titles are exactly the same, there should be a way to delete them after they're in the downloaded list if the titles match, since then they're already in the app. But, again, you know better what your technology can and can't do.
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@Neil G
I understood your original feature requests. I was answering the latest comment in the Thread. Unfortunately your issue is really specific and unless the podcast owner use the exact same unique ID for episodes across different thread this won't be possible
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Neil G commented
Xavier - not sure if your comment was in response to my original post or the comment posted today, but you seem to be referring to duplicate titles within a podcast. We're talking about duplicate titles across different podcasts.
The example I gave was NPR. They have several podcasts. So NPR News might have an episode: "Facebook Buys Microsoft." But since it's a tech story, NPR Tech will also have the same "Facebook Buys Microsoft" episode. And NPR Business will have it too.
So I'll end up with three copies of the EXACT SAME episode with the exact same title, distributed by three different podcasts (but the same podcast owner).
Do you see the issue here? Matching on the title would prevent the other two copies from being downloaded.
If the duplicate titles can't be prevented from being downloaded, then perhaps a function which runs automatically once all downloads are complete which automatically deletes any duplicate titles, except for one copy of each. That would be great.
Thanks so much!
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@Anonymous
If you see duplicated entries in a RSS feed it means that the podcast owner doesn't follow RSS specs and is updating existing episodes Unique Ids.
This issue can only be prevented by the podcast owner. He/she need to follow the specs and NEVER update existing episode unique ID -
Anonymous commented
I'm finding duplicates to be out of control, particularly over the last week, across numerous podcasts. This feature is essential.