Solution to iPod Touch Podcast Sync Problem

Question

Level 1

20 points

Solution to iPod Touch Podcast Sync Problem

Like many of you, I had problems syncing my podcasts to my iPod Touch. I have the newest model with 2.1.1, and I had the same problem where (in iTunes) I would drag and drop the podcasts onto my iTouch and nothing would happen. They would not be listed as a Genre, in the Podcast section, or anywhere - but my memory would be sucked up in a proverbial iTouch black hole!

*The intermediate solution:* Create a smart playlist on your iTouch called "Podcasts" where "Podcast is true." That's the only rule you need and in that new podcasts you will see all of your invisible podcasts you copied

*Why this happens:* The podcast section on the iTouch only will show UNPLAYED podcasts, once they are played, they "vanish" but really they are just invisible (unless you have that smart playlist). This is obviously a glitch to be fixed in either the next iTouch update or iTunes update. In order to delete unwanted Podcasts, you must go into the smart play list and delete them from there.

I HOPE THIS HELPS!

MacBook (1.83GHz Core Duo), Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Sep 17, 2008 10:38 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Smtr

Level 5

5,450 points

Sep 17, 2008 11:06 PM in response to jdrodgers85

Interesting workaround. On my 2g Touch I can see all played, partly played, and unplayed podcasts. When I sync with iTunes, under the Podcasts tab I have chosen +Sync all episodes of...+ Is yours set to sync only unplayed or new Podcasts?

Just curious.

Reply

Answer 2

jdrodgers85 Author

Level 1

20 points

Sep 22, 2008 7:03 PM in response to Smtr

Mine is set to "Sync X number of unplayed episodes of...(selected podcasts)." However, as long as this is selected I can manually add/remove any number of other podcasts, played or unplayed (they are just not included in the automated sync). However, in my set up as noted above, the played podcasts I add manually move into the Smary playlist "Podcasts" and the unplayed podcasts move into the dedicated Podcast tab.

Reply

Answer 3

Scott P.

Level 6

16,889 points

Sep 22, 2008 7:26 PM in response to jdrodgers85

Maybe I'm missing something in your plight, but why not mark them as unlistened before you sync? Then they are in the Podcast section instead of spread out through two areas?

Reply

Answer 4

jdrodgers85 Author

Level 1

20 points

Sep 22, 2008 9:16 PM in response to Scott P.

That's the problem: there is no manually manage podcast option in my iTouch pane. If I don't checkbox the Sync option, I can't transfer podcasts at all. If I do check the Sync box and then manually manage, I need to have a Smartlist or else they don't show up - and they really should show up in the iTouch's podcast tab (on the unit itself).

The problem is if no one knows to create a Podcast Smartlist, then only brand new podcasts will appear on their iTouch, and once listened to they will "disappear" yet still eat up your memory even though they're invisible.

Reply

Answer 5

Sep 25, 2008 2:03 PM in response to jdrodgers85

The reason iTunes momentarily flashes that it is syncing, then falls silent, is that it is checking your iPod to verify whether the podcast is present on it or not. When it finds that it is already there, it doesn't move it over.

This same strange issue developed on my touch when I changed my sync settings - for whatever reason, it appeared to have deleted some old podcasts, but they still lingered on my touch. Your smart playlist idea allowed me to access them and thus delete them. Once I deleted them and replaced them, they show up under podcasts, whether unplayed or played, thus allowing me to remove the playlist and have everything in one handy area.

Thanks for the tip!

Reply

Answer 6

j8r8my

Level 1

0 points

Sep 25, 2008 11:07 PM in response to jdrodgers85

I'm with you up to the point of deletion. The smart playlist doesn't allow me to delete the old podcasts. And if it did, wouldn't I merely be deleting a link to the actual podcast taking up space on my iPod?

Reply

Answer 7

Nov 7, 2008 5:36 AM in response to jdrodgers85

Thanks for the tip in finding the missing podcasts. How can I delete them? In the smart playlist there isn't an option for deleting them there. I have a bunch I want to delete because I've already listened to them. I just can't figure out how.

Reply

Answer 8

Nov 14, 2008 1:09 AM in response to jdrodgers85

Thanks for the above, but I have another variation on this video podcast sync issue you may be able to help me to resolve.

I have up to date software on Laptop & iTouch. I have subscribed to one series of video podcasts and have downloaded and can see the five videos on my laptop, but can only see three of them on iTouch even after several days and several syncs - the two 'missing' podcasts just wont move across and join the others on my iTouch - mystery?

All my videos (+ podcasts) are only accessed through the 'video' button on the iTouch or is there another link to video podcasts?

Grateful your advice

Cheers

Reply

Answer 9

ingawh

Level 1

0 points

Jan 22, 2009 12:30 AM in response to j8r8my

I discovered that if you uncheck edit the Smart Playlist and uncheck the Live Update box, you get the option to delete podcasts. The bad news is that I could still not get the wanted podcast to load again into the regular podcast lists (and I made sure to mark it as new before I tried.)

This is a serious on-going issue for me, as podcasts seem to randomly become invisible. I downloaded three hours of a radio broadcast from this morning, each of which was a separate podcast. Hours 1 and 3 showed up just fine, but hour 2 only showed up in the smart list. I hadn't listened to any of them yet, as they were all brand new today.

What's seriously annoying is that this has clearly been an issue for some time on the Touch. My old 60 gig never had a problem with podcasts. It's enought to make me nostalgic.

Reply