XDocument.Load(feedUrl) returns "Data at the root level is invalid. Line 1, position 1."

first of all, this is more of a solution, than a question. It took me a while to resolve, so I thought my resolution might be useful.

I was trying to load an RSS feed using XDoument.Load(feedUrl) and was getting the above Exception. I checked the feed itself in my browser and the format looked fine. So after finding some similar situations here:

• Meaning of - <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>


• Why "Data at the root level is invalid. Line 1, position 1." for XML Document?


• LINQ TO XML Parse RSS Feed

and elsewhere: http://ift.tt/1pp194j