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The Podcast That Would Not Die!!!

Wasn't sure where to post this, since this relates to both Front Row on my MacBook Pro, as well as my Apple TV (both machines are running the latest updates).

Several months ago, my iTunes downloaded the latest episode of one of my podcasts (Buzz Out Loud, in case you were curious, though I really doubt that this matters). I listened to it on one of my devices (I forget which). The little blue "this podcast is new" indicator disappeared from that episode's entry in iTunes, and the next time iTunes updated my podcasts, that now-listened-to entry was automatically deleted in accordance with my iTunes preferences ("keep: all unplayed episodes" in the Podcasts tab of iTunes preferences)

So far, this seems like a completely normal set of transactions. And it was... until one day I fired up Front Row to listen to something or other.

Like a soul that has not completely "crossed over" into the beyond, the entry for the podcast that I listened to above still appeared in my Front Row. It did NOT have the blue "this podcast is new" dot next to it. Attempting to play this episode resulted in Front Row giving the error message "Front Row cannot play the current song," presumably because this podcast's actual file was deleted from my disk.

Fast forward a couple months, to when the Apple TV 2.0 update finally dropped. I eagerly updated my Apple TV to check out the new goodies. Lo and behold, when I entered the "Podcasts" section... yup, you guessed it, just like what happened on my Front Row: the entry for the episode of Buzz Out Loud I listened to months ago still appears.

"Fine," I said, "let's go ahead and unsubscribe from the entire Buzz Out Loud feed and delete it from my computer." I did this, and even rebooted (for good measure). Unfortunately that didn't kill this podcast's "dead" entry from both my Apple TV and Front Row.

As a last ditch effort to stop the insanity, I resubscribed to the Buzz Out Loud feed, and noticed that that episode (the one that I listened to long ago and still insists on hanging around my computer) is still available for download from the Cnet servers (and is thus still in their XML feed). "Well, if I download this episode and listen to it, and then let it delete itself normally, then maybe that will stop this whole thing," thought I. Unfortunately this did NOT work; downloading this episode again results in TWO copies of this episode appearing in both Front Row and my Apple TV. Listening to one of them clears the "new" flag from BOTH entries, and when iTunes removes/deletes the just-listened-to episode from its database, this only deletes one of the duplicates in Front Row/Apple TV, leaving, once again, an "undead" entry for a podcast that does not exist in any way, shape, or form on my computer.

Does anyone have any idea of what's going on here, and how I can rectify it (hopefully short of blowing away my entire iTunes library and re-importing everything from scratch - that would be a HUGE pain)?

MacBook Core 2 Duo 1.83GHz, MacBook Pro Core Duo 1.83GHz, Mac mini G4/1.42GHz, Mac OS X (10.5.2), AirPort Extreme (with Gigabit Ethernet)

Posted on Mar 4, 2008 12:18 AM

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3 replies

May 30, 2008 6:14 AM in response to dburr

hi - i think i have the same issue specifically with my apple tv. the problem was ostensibly caused by the first time i used the device when i downloaded individual podcasts directly.

i later figured out how to do syncing with itunes and subscribe to podcasts that i can then see on the apple tv. i had been trying to 'subscribe' through the apple tv directly but then found that it does not work that way.

now i am pretty much stuck with this until someone comes up with a solution. the main annoyance is redundant confusing titles in the podcast list that i have to click through to figure out which is the 'real' feed.

thanks for your input though.

May 31, 2008 9:52 PM in response to dburr

I had the same issue some time ago. A zombie podcast that showed up in FR but not in iTunes, so I couldn't delete it.

Looking in the iTunes Library.xml file, I found that iTunes was pointing to a non-existent directory/file (I had moved my iTunes library some time before). I created the directory structure, and put a random mp3 file renamed to the same name as the phantom one in the directory. Then it showed up in iTunes and I was able to delete it from iTunes.

All was clear.

The Podcast That Would Not Die!!!

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