Smart Playlist Not Syncing The Songs Correctly (iPod Touch 2nd Generation)

Similar problem - My Top Rated synced fine but no smart playlists synced after the initial sync. Tried syncing with all music deselected for sync which removed all songs from iPod then re-synced with my smart playlists all selected.

For kicks I had included the Playlist is Music workaround. I did NOT turn off live updating in the playlist because then if new music is added to the library it is not included on the playlist.

So far this seems to have solved my issue and the playlists with songs are now on the iPod as expected.

'Playlist is Music" is helpful, and works for 'Music' files, but it totally screws up my Audiobooks, Podcasts and other Spoken Word content because if I apply it I get my entire Music library added to the playlist as well. (At present my Smart Playlist includes tracks if ANY of the following criteria are met: IS Audiobook, IS Podcast, etc.

Unchecking Live Updating does work, but, as has been pointed out in this thread already, makes a nonsense of the Smart Playlist idea.

Apple, sort this out. This is simply shoddy programming: it worked fine in earlier versions of the software. So much for progress: most of the recent changes in iTunes/iPod software have been about making it easier to sell owners more 'stuff'. Fix the core functions first, that should always be the priority!

If this question is not marked as answered by now it should be. NU-Apple's fix worked perfectly just now on my 3G Touch. Never would have come up with this myself. Thank you!