diff --git a/PROGRESS.md b/PROGRESS.md
index 73f3da6..6fc97bf 100644
--- a/PROGRESS.md
+++ b/PROGRESS.md
@@ -56,6 +56,24 @@ and until now nothing set them.
 
 ---
 
+## 2026-09-10 — Titles: RSS `<title>` is the only source
+
+Confirmed against the live feed rather than assumed: 131 feed items, 131 stored, **0 mismatches** —
+entry titles are byte-for-byte what the RSS `<title>` publishes, separators included. `feed.rs` never
+consults `itunes:title`, and season/episode live in their own columns, rendered as chips rather than
+folded into the title.
+
+Pinned with a test: a fixture whose `itunes:title` differs from its `<title>` must still yield the
+RSS title, and an item with `itunes:season` but no `itunes:episode` keeps a null episode instead of
+inventing one.
+
+That null-episode case is real in the wild — this feed's `Music from a Darkened Room | Session Zero`
+carries S8 with no episode number, while Parts 1-5 get E1-E5, and it drops the "Part N" convention
+its siblings use. The arc is 11 items: Session Zero plus five parts, each part being a main episode
+and its shorter `Junk in the Trunk` companion.
+
+---
+
 ## 2026-09-10 — Phase 3: full-featured UI
 
 Rewrite of `web/index.html` (~714 lines) plus the backend it needed.
diff --git a/src/feed.rs b/src/feed.rs
index 2f94fb6..e15e9fc 100644
--- a/src/feed.rs
+++ b/src/feed.rs
@@ -351,6 +351,46 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn the_rss_title_always_wins_and_episode_numbers_stay_metadata() {
+        // Some feeds set a different itunes:title. The displayed title is always the RSS
+        // <title>, verbatim -- separators and all -- and season/episode are stored
+        // alongside it rather than folded into it.
+        let xml = br#"<?xml version="1.0"?>
+        <rss version="2.0" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd">
+        <channel><title>Show</title><link>https://x</link><description>d</description>
+        <item>
+          <title>Music from a Darkened Room | Session Zero</title>
+          <itunes:title>Session Zero</itunes:title>
+          <guid>sz</guid>
+          <itunes:season>8</itunes:season>
+          <itunes:duration>6720</itunes:duration>
+          <enclosure url="https://x/sz.mp3" length="1" type="audio/mpeg"/>
+        </item>
+        <item>
+          <title>Music from a Darkened Room Part 1 | Murphy's Drawer</title>
+          <guid>p1</guid>
+          <itunes:season>8</itunes:season><itunes:episode>1</itunes:episode>
+          <enclosure url="https://x/p1.mp3" length="1" type="audio/mpeg"/>
+        </item>
+        </channel></rss>"#;
+        let feed = parse(xml).unwrap();
+
+        let sz = &feed.entries[0];
+        assert_eq!(
+            sz.title.as_deref(),
+            Some("Music from a Darkened Room | Session Zero"),
+            "itunes:title must not override the RSS title"
+        );
+        assert_eq!(sz.season, Some(8));
+        assert_eq!(sz.episode, None, "a missing episode number stays missing");
+        assert_eq!(sz.duration, Some(6720));
+
+        let p1 = &feed.entries[1];
+        assert_eq!(p1.title.as_deref(), Some("Music from a Darkened Room Part 1 | Murphy's Drawer"));
+        assert_eq!((p1.season, p1.episode), (Some(8), Some(1)));
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn durations_parse_from_seconds_or_a_clock() {
         assert_eq!(parse_duration("5649"), Some(5649));