YouTube playlist support

[Victor239]

Checklist

• [X] I have used the search function for OPEN issues to see if someone else has already submitted the same feature request.
• [X] I have also used the search function for CLOSED issues to see if the feature was already implemented and is just waiting to be released, or if the feature was rejected.
• [X] I will describe the problem with as much detail as possible.
• [X] This request contains only one single feature, not a list of multiple (related) features.

App version

6.5.1

Where did you get the app from

F-Droid

Problem you may be having, or feature you want

I'd like to be able to subscribe to a playlist of a channel rather than a whole channel. Many larger channels create so much varied content that I'm not interested in, but they do release some content into narrowly defined playlists that I'd happily subscribe to.

Suggested solution

Ability to subscribe to playlists.

Screenshots / Drawings / Technical details

Note: playlists already have RSS support, but don't seem to be recognised by Podcini eg https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUBKwq0XD0uc8NxCik1bJ-SlZ9cOAkd2R

[XilinJia]

Thanks for the suggestion. That should be available soon.

[XilinJia]

in 6.6.3, playlist is handled via share, which should be better than search from within Podcini. Playlist can be subscribed in the same way as a channel.

[Victor239]

The implementation seems unreliable. Whilst the above playlist works, when I try a random one like https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvij5I1MVvM1IEs3LJJboEBP7g9R6tCDd it just tries to load infinitely.

[XilinJia]

I opened the link instantly.

I noticed sometime opening a playlist appear to stuck, I thought it has to do with loading too many episodes, but probably that's not the case. Sometimes opening it again goes through. I don't have a good network at the moment, do you?

[Victor239]

My network is fine. The playlists are each 10 and 12 episodes so I don't know why there's such a difference in behaviour. I've tried several other playlists of similar length and I can only load the original Second Wind one.

[XilinJia]

I found subscribing to shared playlists pretty smooth on 6.6.4+ (can you detail your operation steps). Playing a video episode at times can get stuck. It appears after switching to other episodes and then returning to the stuck episode could make it through. I'm not sure what are the causes, but suspect perhaps the ads cause it to stuck.

[Victor239]

I can either select the text for the playlist link in the GitHub app and use the Share pop-up to share it to Podcini (Add playlist), or I can follow the playlist link to open it in the YouTube app then try to Share it to Podcini again, both have the same results. I've also tried copying the playlist link into a text editor and sharing it from there with the same results.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUBKwq0XD0uc8NxCik1bJ-SlZ9cOAkd2R loads instantly, whilst https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvij5I1MVvM1IEs3LJJboEBP7g9R6tCDd never finishes loading - there's just the spinner in the middle of the page, with "Online feed" and a back button at the top. Any other arbitrary playlist also never finishes loading e.g. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU2851hDb3SGuiXDCZW0GEtXeEsjwobG8.

[XilinJia]

What version of Podcini are you using? The 2 never-finish links open instantly in 6.6.6. What I did was copy your link into Youtube, locate the playlist in Youtube, then share it to Podcini.

[Victor239]

6.6.5. I'll try the next version when it's available on Izzy.

[XilinJia]

Hum, I'm not sure how much difference 6.6.5 is from 6.6.6 in this respect I was thinking 6.6.3 has some difference). I'm quite surprised the 2 links didn't work for you. But let me know how 6.6.6 works.

[Victor239]

Nah no luck with this version either.

[XilinJia]

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/181ed834-a47a-44c1-8f9a-e88a656183f0

[Victor239]

Doesn't work with the same procedure https://www.youtube.com/shorts/pYFcT_6bndY

[XilinJia]

You are sharing from Brave browser? I can't say what actually is shared from there. For Podcini to accept the share as a youtube playlist, it checks if the shared address starts with "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?", if not, then the share is passed on to be handled as a normal podcast. Sorry, it's not that foolproof.

I know share it from Youtube app works. Can you try it from there as I did?

[Victor239]

I see the issue - it fails because it expects https://youtube.com, so it doesn't handle https://www.youtube.com nor https://m.youtube.com links.

[XilinJia]

That should be it. Will check about other domains later.