How do I pause a podcast?

First thing - is the programme listed under Podcasts in your iTunes Library or in one of the other sections? If it's in one of the other sections, which one?

Or - are you trying to listen to it in the iTunes Store? I've just tried doing that and I wonder if this is what you are doing. If so, then you're listening to a stream, not the Podcast.

A Podcast is a "file" (i.e. music, speech etc etc) that has been fully downloaded into your iTunes Library via the Podcast delivery method (or system) before you start listening to it. Furthermore, if you subscribe to a Podcast, then future episodes are automatically downloaded into your iTunes Library as they become available. Once delivered to your iTunes Library as Podcast, the play options are different. You can pause the programme and when you start playing it again, it will resume from the last point you were at. This will happen even if you play something else in the meantime. (See below for futher explanation.)

However, if you are looking in the iTunes Store, and listening to an epsiode in the store, then that is a stream; in other words, the audio is being downloaded as you listen to it and it is not being delivered to you as a Podcast. In this event, then you are correct, the only option is to stop the audio and when you re-start it, it will start from the beginning.

Explanation:

By default, all Podcasts downloaded as Podcasts by iTunes are set to Remember playback position. As far as I can tell, iTunes turns this option on for you, but only if the file is downloaded as a Podcast. (So if you download something, from the internet, described as a Podcast, but not through the Podcast delivery method, it will not have Remember playback position set on.)

Subscribing to Star Talk is free, so you could try that and see if that suits your needs. I believe it will and you can unsubscribe at any time. The latest episode will download there and then while subsequent episodes will be automatically downloaded as they become available (iTunes will check periodically for new episodes for every Podcast you have subscribed to.) If you want the past episodes, there is usually an option to get them too. Alternatively, if you select the FREE button (at the right hand end of the episode's description) this will download just that episode. You would then have to repeat this for each episode.

Let us know how you get on. If my answer does not address your problem, we can then look at alternative explanations.

Message was edited by: the fiend