diff --git a/Slim/Plugin/Podcast/ProtocolHandler.pm b/Slim/Plugin/Podcast/ProtocolHandler.pm
index c1e70495a5..5f68ce77af 100644
--- a/Slim/Plugin/Podcast/ProtocolHandler.pm
+++ b/Slim/Plugin/Podcast/ProtocolHandler.pm
@@ -39,6 +39,15 @@ sub scanUrl {
 		my $track = shift;
 
 		if ($track) {
+			# XXXX - this doesn't really belong here. But somewhere down the scanUrl() rabbit hole
+			#        we seem to convert %21 with !. Which breaks some podcast URLs. And I don't want
+			#        to open that can of worms right now. - mh
+			if (new URI($track->url)->path =~ /!/ && new URI($httpUrl)->path !~ /!/) {
+				my $uri = $track->url;
+				$uri =~ s/!/%21/g;
+				$track->url($uri);
+			}
+
 			main::INFOLOG && $log->info("Scanned podcast $url => ", $track->url, " from ($startTime) for title: ", $song->track->title);
 
 			# use the scanned track to get streamable url, ignore scanned title and coverart
diff --git a/Slim/Utils/Firmware.pm b/Slim/Utils/Firmware.pm
index 2e7085bd3c..7160f900b5 100644
--- a/Slim/Utils/Firmware.pm
+++ b/Slim/Utils/Firmware.pm
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ and custom.$model.bin in the cachedir.  If these exist then these are used in pr
 sub init_firmware_download {
 	my $model = shift;
 
-	return if $model eq 'squeezeplay'; # there is no firmware for the desktop version of squeezeplay!
+	return if $model =~ /squeeze(?:play|lite)/i; # there is no firmware for the desktop version of squeezeplay!
 
 	my $version_file   = catdir( $updatesDir, "$model.version" );