Podcast subscription URLs disappear constantly

[Anne Noise]

Every few weeks I find that my Podcast Subscriptions folder is empty, and I have to go through and re-subscribe to everything. This has been happening more and more often, and it's becoming increasingly annoying having to keep a text file with the subscription URLs handy to resubscribe. :X Any advice?

[DrO]

have you checked what is in the feeds.xml and rss.xml files when the list appears to disappear? as generally if feeds.xml gets cleared (which no one truely knows how / why it happens) then what you're seeing is expected. these files are in %appdata%\Winamp\plugins\ml when entered into Explorer.

the best recommendation is to backup those files specifically and / or use the Winamp Backup Tool by koopa which can automate the procedure. otherwise i know of some changes to the handling of those files which may make it into the next release to auto-backup and fix some quirks with the saving which may help with the issue, though i don't know when that update will happen or if the changes will be kept in for the release.

-daz

[joebloggscity]

This is one of the biggest gripes, annoying that the source of the problem can't be solved.

Really appreciate if the next update has some fudge to fix the problem.

I use the back up tool but it's a half answer and quite an annoyance to have to use.

[DrO]

well if it was known what causes it then it could be fixed. yes what i've tried to put in place might be seen as being a 'fudge' but making the plug-in only re-write the files when it's actually needed instead of all of the time (as is the current case) and doing a backup should be enough to resolve most of the issues / complaints which have been levelled at how the plug-in works. maybe that is a fudge but with things, it's better than having done nothing.

-daz

[Anne Noise]

My rss.xml is full of information from March on, but I assume that's because I have already updated my list. I'll check out this file next time this happens, and after that I'll take the steps you recommended.

[joebloggscity]

well if it was known what causes it then it could be fixed. yes what i've tried to put in place might be seen as being a 'fudge' but making the plug-in only re-write the files when it's actually needed instead of all of the time (as is the current case) and doing a backup should be enough to resolve most of the issues / complaints which have been levelled at how the plug-in works. maybe that is a fudge but with things, it's better than having done nothing.

-daz

don't get me wrong, I'm not having a go. Just frustrating for all that it can't be solved.

I'm a big Winamp fan and love using. Just hope the issues (such as this annoying podcast subscription issue) can be resolved....

[DrO]

joe: i know, i was trying to convey the frustration which has been trying to replicate something that is so sporadic (just like the main library corruption issue).

based on what i saw when i was having Winamp crash (due to working on something else), i was getting partial loss of the feeds.xml file when it was in-progress of trying to update it, so i'm hoping that changing when the files are saved to only be when Winamp is in a safe state to do so, then i have to hope it will help. also even if it goes wrong and there's a backup, then that at least makes it easier to get things back to where they were before the issue happens (if it still does happen when the changes are available).

-daz

[tet5uo]

I keep having my podcast subs disappear on me too. Really annoying. Any news on this?

The "workaround" isn't very good. It's an easier workaround for me to just use another app entirely that doesn't randomly lose my settings.

[DrO]

and there's a load of changes to the internal handling in the 5.7 betas to try to resolve the issue (generating backups of the files, lessening when the files are updated, etc).

if it was something that consistently happened then it would be simple to fix, but as it isn't, then that is one of the main reasons it's not been fixed. though how you can tell something is fixed if you cannot replicate it despite potential fixes i don't know, as to fix something, you need to know what the cause of the issue is.

i appreciate that it's not good if settings files are getting reset / mangled but as per my points above, unless there is a consistent way to replicate the issue, all i can do is try to counteract the likely causes and see how that affects things.

[tet5uo]

Good to hear there's some work being done with betas.

I sounded a bit snarky in my post, apologies there, I had just lost my list again this morning and was posting while annoyed... my bad.

[DrO]

not to worry, is an understandable frustration.

[MrSinatra]

auto-backups with a button to "re-instate" them (in prefs maybe?) sounds like a good plan to me, and similar to the idea of doing the same for the ML and history DBs that has floated around for some time.

it doesn't address the root cause, but it certainly would make the problem less profound.

EDIT: making the backups sounds like a good job for winamp agent, since its a separate process, and far less complex than winamp itself. it could monitor the files, and back them up say 30 seconds after a last change.