I've tried and tried and tried to replicate this issue, but simply cannot. I just tried again, and it took 49 seconds to download. You're not the only one to report this, but I can't explain it. Sorry I can't be of more help at the moment.

Yes, me too - podcast 163 has taken an hour so far and is now only going at 5.6 kb/s. It's been like this since the new year I think.

even on an ageing PC and dongle-bound connection using Juice. Methinks it might be useful to give the odd detail of how and on what it's proving problematic.

I find the Word podcast has been extremely slow to download in recent months too. Exactly as described by 57vintage - three hours advertised and then, if I leave it for a while, it's cut out on me. I've seen Fraser's comments and realise it's beyond human understanding so this post is merely reassuring others here that they are not alone. Every week I try to find an excuse for the slow download in the material of the poddy itself, or my circumstances. This week I put it down to the immensity of Andrew Collings' guts and the fact that my computer is in an upstairs room.

..of someone who has devoted their whole life to music criticism to get up there.....
And be really,really,really,really crap.

That's like something our teachers used to do on the last day of term.

I think David Hepworth's comments about it being too distant somehow do go in some ways to explain wy it doesn't quite work. Nevertheless, I think it was funny in a sort of laid back way.

Well.. my question was

Warren Zevon or Randy Newman?

I reckon the guys could get 10 minutes out of that one. A really difficult call I think the Massive will agree.

I'm hoping it'll get carried forward to a future 'cast.

have the "courtesy flush" capability along with bidet buttons and a handy dryer which can singe if you're not careful!

To my earlier answer.

Not sure how you can judge him if you haven't. He did about a dozen performances at Edinburgh last year which were pretty well reviewed.

....I don't understand a single one of those references but I suspect you're not being kind.

I've known Andrew a reasonable amount of time and I don't think he has ever sought to "pass himself off" as anything. What he has done is say "I'd like to have a go at this" and been prepared to take the consequences.

I wouldn't do it but I think it's entirely praiseworthy.

"fancies himself as a stand-up". In fact I think he has already said he won't be trying it again, despite the fact that his shows went rather well.

And he seems to be pretty friendly with many of his "peers" actually, Lee Mack, Robin Ince, Simon Day, Richard Herring ...

For the record, as there seems to be some confusion here, I performed my first and as it turns out *only* one-man show at the Edinburgh Fringe last year. It was free to get in and see it, which I felt was the most realistic way for me to have a crack at it. People came. They seemed to like it. I decided that to really do it justice I would have to work unsociable hours and I'm too old to start all that. But, having done my show without charging people to see it, I didn't feel I had harmed anyone. You can certainly blame Richard Herring and the podcast for my bravery/stupidity to do so. Blame the audiences: they encouraged me!

Also for the record, I found other comedians (not exactly my "peers", as you put it) extremely kind and helpful. Not at all bitter and twisted about me having a go. I have written comedy for television, as well as review records (something I've done less and less of since leaving Q in 1997). This doesn't give me the *right* to have a go at stand-up, but there is a progression there. I spend a lot of time hanging around with comedians, and I guess it rubbed off.

Still, you're safe, Holden. My "dead postman" delivery will not trouble you again. It was fun while it lasted. At no point did I delude myself about anything or try to pass myself off as anything I wasn't. A more self-aware experiment I cannot imagine. If you stand up on stage and say some things you think are funny, you are a stand-up comedian, no matter how bad you are.

But thanks for your kind sentiments!

(I don't remember unkindly reviewing Jenny Eclair, but it's entirely possible I did. I have worked with Jenny on many an occasion and she seems not to bear a grudge if I did. Comedian have far thicker skin than I do!)

And others. It's only been a problem since the start of the year, and seems to be getting worse. The same error message has shown up for me the last couple of times I tried to download. Other podcasts are not affected.
I say this in the hope that the information will be useful, not to have a go at you, Fraser. I know you're doing what you can to investigate.

Googling around suggests that it's a pretty common problem, although no-one seems to have a definitive solution. Plenty of people suggest switching off your anti-virus software and trying again, although that doesn't explain why the issue might affect some users and not others, and some podcasts and not others. Either way, it certainly appears that it's not just our podcast that's affected.

Other suggestions include restarting your router, switching off your firewall, adding a rule to your firewall to specifically allow downloads from Apple (and in our case Hipcast.com, I guess), updating iTunes... etc.

I only get around 1-2MB broadband throughput on a good day but the podcast is always there in iTunes when I look for it and comes down with no errors.

A great band and, possibly, the direct antecedent of the American 'hair-metal' bands of the late-70s/80s.*

Without Montrose we wouldn't have had Van Halen, Bon Jovi and all the rest. ( I make no comment if this was a good thing or not!)

*Perhaps the ur-hair metal band, or possibly the echt-hair metal band?