diff --git a/core/podcasts/podcasts.go b/core/podcasts/podcasts.go
index d8a12b4c2..8737e9f7f 100644
--- a/core/podcasts/podcasts.go
+++ b/core/podcasts/podcasts.go
@@ -153,6 +153,8 @@ func (s *podcastService) DownloadEpisode(ctx context.Context, id string) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	// Use context.Background() so the download is not cancelled when the HTTP
+	// request completes. TODO: tie to server shutdown context for graceful termination.
 	go s.doDownload(context.Background(), ep, ch)
 	return nil
 }
@@ -176,7 +178,8 @@ func (s *podcastService) doDownload(ctx context.Context, ep *model.PodcastEpisod
 	}
 	defer f.Close()
 
-	resp, err := http.Get(ep.EnclosureURL) //nolint:gosec
+	httpClient := &http.Client{Timeout: 30 * time.Second}
+	resp, err := httpClient.Get(ep.EnclosureURL) //nolint:gosec
 	if err != nil {
 		s.setEpisodeError(ctx, ep, err)
 		return
@@ -287,6 +290,12 @@ func (s *podcastService) setEpisodeError(ctx context.Context, ep *model.PodcastE
 	}
 }
 
+// sanitizeMetadata removes null bytes and trims whitespace from ffmpeg metadata values.
+// Since exec.Command passes args directly (no shell), only null bytes need sanitizing.
+func sanitizeMetadata(s string) string {
+	return strings.ReplaceAll(strings.TrimSpace(s), "\x00", "")
+}
+
 func (s *podcastService) writeID3Tags(ctx context.Context, dest, suffix, title, album string) {
 	if s.ff == nil {
 		return
@@ -298,8 +307,8 @@ func (s *podcastService) writeID3Tags(ctx context.Context, dest, suffix, title,
 	tmp := dest + ".tmp." + suffix
 	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, ffmpegPath,
 		"-i", dest,
-		"-metadata", "title="+title,
-		"-metadata", "album="+album,
+		"-metadata", "title="+sanitizeMetadata(title),
+		"-metadata", "album="+sanitizeMetadata(album),
 		"-metadata", "artist=",
 		"-metadata", "genre=Podcast",
 		"-c", "copy", "-y", tmp,
@@ -386,7 +395,8 @@ func (pw *progressWriter) Write(p []byte) (int, error) {
 }
 
 func fetchAndParse(rssURL string) (*rssFeed, error) {
-	resp, err := http.Get(rssURL) //nolint:gosec
+	httpClient := &http.Client{Timeout: 15 * time.Second}
+	resp, err := httpClient.Get(rssURL) //nolint:gosec
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("fetching RSS feed: %w", err)
 	}
diff --git a/model/podcast.go b/model/podcast.go
index 025b7acf7..6df3e1ccd 100644
--- a/model/podcast.go
+++ b/model/podcast.go
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ type PodcastEpisodeRepository interface {
 	Get(id string) (*PodcastEpisode, error)
 	GetNewest(count int) (PodcastEpisodes, error)
 	GetByChannel(channelID string) (PodcastEpisodes, error)
+	GetByChannels(channelIDs []string) (PodcastEpisodes, error)
 	GetByGUID(channelID, guid string) (*PodcastEpisode, error)
 	Create(ep *PodcastEpisode) error
 	Update(ep *PodcastEpisode) error
diff --git a/persistence/podcast_channel_repository.go b/persistence/podcast_channel_repository.go
index 9b708415b..7f72d3b12 100644
--- a/persistence/podcast_channel_repository.go
+++ b/persistence/podcast_channel_repository.go
@@ -43,14 +43,22 @@ func (r *podcastChannelRepository) GetAll(withEpisodes bool) (model.PodcastChann
 	if err := r.queryAll(sel, &channels); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	if withEpisodes {
+	if withEpisodes && len(channels) > 0 {
+		ids := make([]string, len(channels))
+		for i, ch := range channels {
+			ids[i] = ch.ID
+		}
 		epRepo := NewPodcastEpisodeRepository(r.ctx, r.db)
+		allEps, err := epRepo.GetByChannels(ids)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		epsByChannel := make(map[string]model.PodcastEpisodes, len(channels))
+		for _, ep := range allEps {
+			epsByChannel[ep.ChannelID] = append(epsByChannel[ep.ChannelID], ep)
+		}
 		for i := range channels {
-			eps, err := epRepo.GetByChannel(channels[i].ID)
-			if err != nil {
-				return nil, err
-			}
-			channels[i].Episodes = eps
+			channels[i].Episodes = epsByChannel[channels[i].ID]
 		}
 	}
 	return channels, nil
diff --git a/persistence/podcast_episode_repository.go b/persistence/podcast_episode_repository.go
index 78f631920..ae530f2e5 100644
--- a/persistence/podcast_episode_repository.go
+++ b/persistence/podcast_episode_repository.go
@@ -45,6 +45,16 @@ func (r *podcastEpisodeRepository) GetByChannel(channelID string) (model.Podcast
 	return eps, err
 }
 
+func (r *podcastEpisodeRepository) GetByChannels(channelIDs []string) (model.PodcastEpisodes, error) {
+	if len(channelIDs) == 0 {
+		return nil, nil
+	}
+	sel := r.newSelect().Columns("*").Where(Eq{"channel_id": channelIDs}).OrderBy("channel_id, publish_date DESC")
+	var eps model.PodcastEpisodes
+	err := r.queryAll(sel, &eps)
+	return eps, err
+}
+
 func (r *podcastEpisodeRepository) GetByGUID(channelID, guid string) (*model.PodcastEpisode, error) {
 	sel := r.newSelect().Columns("*").Where(Eq{"channel_id": channelID, "guid": guid})
 	res := model.PodcastEpisode{}
diff --git a/tests/mock_podcast_episode_repo.go b/tests/mock_podcast_episode_repo.go
index d8b5ced33..ebc7d8c79 100644
--- a/tests/mock_podcast_episode_repo.go
+++ b/tests/mock_podcast_episode_repo.go
@@ -45,6 +45,23 @@ func (m *MockPodcastEpisodeRepo) GetNewest(count int) (model.PodcastEpisodes, er
 	return all, nil
 }
 
+func (m *MockPodcastEpisodeRepo) GetByChannels(channelIDs []string) (model.PodcastEpisodes, error) {
+	if m.Err {
+		return nil, errors.New("error")
+	}
+	ids := make(map[string]bool, len(channelIDs))
+	for _, id := range channelIDs {
+		ids[id] = true
+	}
+	var result model.PodcastEpisodes
+	for _, ep := range m.Data {
+		if ids[ep.ChannelID] {
+			result = append(result, *ep)
+		}
+	}
+	return result, nil
+}
+
 func (m *MockPodcastEpisodeRepo) GetByChannel(channelID string) (model.PodcastEpisodes, error) {
 	if m.Err {
 		return nil, errors.New("error")