Can't download podcasts on windows 11, iTunes 12.13

Windows 11, iTunes 12.13

I cannot figure out how to download podcasts.

The full story is this:

I am upgrading my computer from an old Dell with windows 7 to a newer Dell with windows 11.

I downloaded and installed the Music App, Apple TV and iTunes.

I tried to transfer iTunes over to new windows 11 computer but the library file (.xml) was not recognized by the new Apple app so I was not able to essentially just move my iTunes over. I lost ALL my playlists, about 50 or so, which I was not happy about.

So I removed Apple app, Apple TV, uninstalled everything. Downloaded an old version of iTunes (same as what was on my windows 7 computer) and synced up all music including playlists on new windows 11 computer. Now they were speaking the same language and all playlists were back.

When I tried to sync my nano (yes still using it) the iTunes library was freezing. So I "upgraded" iTunes to latest version = 12.13.1.2. The Music App was not installed when doing this, but AppleTV app was installed. I could no longer see any music in my iTunes, but only podcasts and audio books.

I saw a post that said in order to use iTunes the old fashion way, where everything (Music, Podcasts, Audiobooks, movies) is in iTunes uninstall the AppleTV and Music Apps. I didn't have the Music App, but uninstalled the AppleTV app and viola! all my music was back in iTunes, along with my playlists and nano was now syncing fine.

But I cannot download podcasts to save my life. So far it has not worked on windows 11 computer at all, throughout the above changes, the problem persists.

At one point I had the Podcast feed option selected and could NOT open iTunes at all. iTunes was crashing repeatedly. I had to open in compatibility mode for windows 7 to bypass whatever was happening and could finally get it stably open. It is still in this compatibility mode now.

I have an old podcast with 7 episodes that was transferred over from windows 7 to windows 11 and these do work.

But literally NOTHING else works on podcasts. I go to the Store, select Podcasts, and try to GET any podcast and it doesn't work.

I have tried this in every possible way I can think of and here are the details:

1. When I click on GET from the iTunes store for podcasts, I go back to the Library Tab and the podcast will show up twice, but greyed out. I can click on the 3 dots to the right of the podcast, click download episode, and it will try for a second and give me the exclaimation mark.

2. I try to stream the podcast, both from the Library tab and store and it doesn't work. From the store, the buffering sequence goes endlessly. From the Library Tab, if I hit the play button, a small window flashes something that is too quick to read and then gives me the grey exclaimation mark.

3. Any podcast I try to download is also marked "Played". I tried changing the settings to not delete played episodes in case iTunes was not letting me download or stream because it was already played, but this did not work either. But this is the case with EVERY podcast I try to download (played).

4. I saw numerous suggestions as a workaround to subscribe to the podcast. I can subscribe by right clicking on the podcast in the Library Tab, but still nothing downloads and I cannot stream it. However, the "played" tag does go away. I still cannot download or stream it.

5. When I try subscribing from the podcast store, I get the error: There was a temporary problem completing your request. "The requested resource was not found. Please try later." There is no number code with this message. I've tried this with mulptiple podcasts in case there was an error with the one podcast and no luck.

6. I went back to my windows 7 computer and CAN download podcasts

7. There was some suggestion about deleting everything in the downloads folder in iTunes. There is nothing in my iTunes download folder. The file path for the existing podcast that does work is: C:\Users\<redacted>\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\Podcasts

I checked my security settings to see if the Windows Defender Firewall was blocking iTunes and there is no problem there.

I CAN access the iTunes store. I CAN download music. I simply cannot download podcasts on windows 11. It's like I am missing the podcast "on" switch for windows 11. Any suggestions would be most welcome. I have already spent about 10 hours trying to solve this.

Thank you.