iPod 2nd gen won't sync podcasts without rebooting iMac MacOS 15.1

My iPod 2nd gen connects to my M1 iMac and when I try to sync with the Apple podcasts.app this is what happens. (1) Finder backs-up the iPod and syncs the listened to podcasts from the iPod with the podcasts.app showing these podcasts as now played on the podcasts.app. (2) Finder then attempts to sync the unplayed podcasts to the iPod. Finder lists the unplayed podcasts to sync with the iPod, but doesn't copy them to the iPod when trying to do this second sync. (3) I reboot the iMac, reconnect the iPod, and the unplayed podcasts now sync to the iPod. This problem has persisted since upgrading the iMac from Sonoma to Sequoia approximately seven days ago. There were no problems syncing the iPod with Sonoma. I've done numerous web searches and cannot find a fix. Sure could use some help with this annoyance.