IIRC, episode 1716 and before, the filename is always started with ttg than a four-digit episode number. Since Aug 8, 2020, the filename format has changed to
TWI foolows by 10 digit number. For example, the Aug 8, 20 file is TWI1091096116.mp3 . Is there an easy way to convert this naming convention to the old format?
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Yes, I have noticed that too. I have been meaning to ask about that. It is harder to see what file is what episode
Little bit more information about this issue. I use podget under Raspbian and the Oct 3, 2020 episode is downloaded as TWI9614466403.mp3. The same filename is also what I got when I use gPodder to download on a Windows 10 PC. The interesting thing is gPodder displays the podcast as “Leo Laporte - The Tech Guy 1733”. How does it get this information when the filename is TWI9614466403.mp3? When I use File Explorer (under windows) to check the file. Under the Details tab, the title of the file is “Saturday, Oct 3, 2020” and I don’t see any info about episode number or Leo’s name.
Probably from the XML that comes with the posting.
If you are using a podcast app to download the episodes, what does it matter the file name?
I download it straight from the Tech Guy website.
Podget is not a “podcast app”. All it does is check for new episodes and download them. I listen to them either from one of my PCs or transfer/listen on my phone. If I use an app on my PCs and my phone, I need to figure out a way to “bookmark” which episode is the one I am listening at the moment.
I installed gPodder just to see if the files it download is differ from podget and it is not the app I am actively using.
I should add naming convention for other shows on TWIT are same as before (3 letters + episode number), only The Tech Guy show has been changed.
Looks like the id3 tags are different for files on and before 8/7/2020 and files after 8/7/2020.
Would be good if the track field is filled in for the new files.
Well, as an author of a podcast, which has RSS support for the metadata, I don’t think TWiT ever made any promises about filenames. They have been changing their technology of late (using things like Megaphone) so that is probably the reason for it. If you’re lucky, maybe @PDelahanty or @Leo can explain the change, even if they can’t change it back.
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Well, I have gone back about 3-4 years and listened to old podcasts. I listen to them as I walk for exercise. From what it seems, for the last few years anyway, the file name was always the episode name. That makes it super easy to look at a folder with several episodes - and you always know what is what.
Now, you actually have to start the episode to see the date - as the show plays. And, with these strange file names, the shows are no longer in ANY order. Newer ones appear totally out of any date order after you download them.
So, if I have 3 or 4 episodes now that I have not had a chance to play - I cannot tell what is the newest one without opening up several files to play…
After all these years - it is rather annoying
Sorry, those filenames that start with “TWI” are a result of Megaphone. I’m sorry, but there’s nothing we can do about that. They’re based on unique ID numbers for their dynamic system. It’s unfortunate that they’re changing the ID3 information and not including the episode number as a track number. It seems they do keep the Title field, so I’ll see about changing those back to “Leo Laporte - The Tech Guy: ####”. (Episodes of The Tech Guy are titled with the date on the TWiT.tv site, so that’s how the date got in there as the title. I do some jiggery-pokery in the feed generation to override that and change it and I’ll make sure that’s changed on Megaphone too. …but there’s nothing I can do about the file name.)
Back in the old days, some TWiT shows didn’t use our current naming scheme of a show abbreviation followed by 4 numbers. …and at some point in the next few years the naming scheme for non-Megaphone episode files will also be need to change. (This is because TWiT Bits will pass 9999, so I’d like to change to add an underscore between the abbreviation and numbers.)
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Another option is to keep the title field as is and to start the comment field with the episode number. By doing so, we have both the date and the episode number.
I guessed it was something like this.
Crap, I’m sorry guys. This is definitely an unintended consequence.
How about if I offer a script to rename the files using the meta-data? That should be too hard.
I’ll get the editors to put the episode number in the title in some predictable fashion.
Would this work?
Episode 1718 for Sat 08 Aug 2020
If it’s consistent I can easily write a script to parse it and rename your files after download.
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For The Tech Guy, episode titles in the ID3 tags going forward should now be in this format:
Episode 1718: Sat 08 Aug 2020
For other TWiT podcasts on Megaphone, they’ll be in this format:
Episode 1234: Actual Episode Title Goes Here
I figure even without the date in the episode title, they should still sort correctly with the episode numbers in there. For shows like FLOSS, iOS Today, and All About Android, it’s probably more useful to see the actual episode title than the date…but I can change this if needed.
For the record, this will only affect the ID3 tags written into the MP3 file by Megaphone. Episodes will still have the same titles in the feeds, the TWiT site, and YouTube.
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Thanks!!! 
Thanks. As long as the episode number is in one of the ID3 tags is fine. This will eliminate the need to play the file just to get the episode number.
I just verified that this week’s Tech News Weekly has the new ID3 tag value.