Podcasts not syncing, played not marked as played, and play data not syncing...

Question

Podcasts not syncing, played not marked as played, and play data not syncing...

My info...

MacBook Pro (Late 2008 / Early 2009)

Lion - Latest version.

iTunes - Latest Version.

iPhone 4 - Latest iOS version.

iPad 2 - Latest iOS version.

iTunes grabs my new podcasts but they aren't syncing properly on my devices. About 75% of the time, if I have a fully played podcast on my phone or iPad, when I sync, the played data doesn't changed the podcast in iTunes to played. So iTunes doesn't removed the played podcast from my device. The only way I can get them to sync is to play the podcast again then scrub to the end so it's registered as played again.

I've tried many other things to resolve this permanently but nothing has worked-- wiped my MBP and reinstalled Lion, restored my iPhone/iPad from backup, restored my iPhone/iPad and set them up as new phones (didn't restore from backup), and created a brand new iTunes database. Nothing has resolved it or changed the behavior.

This has been happening since iOS 5 and I think there have been a few new iTunes versions since iOS 5. I've seen a few things from users with the same issue, but I'm not sure why it isn't more widespread.

Any ideas?

Posted on May 9, 2012 11:49 AM

Reply

Answer 1

May 10, 2012 12:57 AM in response to John Planckaert

It sounds like you are describing the same problem I have. Every time I synch my iPhone 4 on iTunes, it not only leaves the played podcasts on the iphone, but sometimes marks them as unplayed. I have checked "synch 10 least recent unplayed" and have tried "10 most recent unplayed" and the result is the same. If there is only 7 episodes, for instance, it will load the newest 3 (or whatever there is) but will leave the old ones on. If there are 10 old ones, I don't get any new ones.

Also, I started getting random old ones...like from last year. These are things I've heard and deleted!

Which brings me to the other podcast problem. Although I've marked "allow auto delete", nothing ever deletes unless I delete it manually.

As a subscriber to many podcasts, this bug or problem is driving me batty!!!

I'd love an idea of what to do if the problem is with ME...

adendum:

I just looked at my history of posting here and I posted the exact same problem 2 years ago and 1 year ago. It seems that once a year or so I get so sick of the problems I want to throw my phone against a wall. You'd think they fix this problem!

Message was edited by: Michelle Belle

Reply

Answer 2

springa

Level 1

0 points

May 19, 2012 2:09 AM in response to Michelle Belle

I have the same problem. iTunes will not recognize that I have played the podcasts on my iPhone so does not erase it and/or replaces it when I sync. C'mon Apple, sort it out for us please, its getting very annoying!!

Reply

Answer 3

Leonick

Level 1

30 points

Jun 29, 2012 4:24 PM in response to John Planckaert

What version of iTunes do you have installed?

In the description it says the following under Requirements;

Optionally syncing episodes requires iTunes 10.6.3 or later

Reply

Answer 4

Leonick

Level 1

30 points

Jun 29, 2012 4:44 PM in response to Leonick

Ok... that was my first guess, doesn't seem like that did it though...

I'm guessing it's an issue with the Podcasts app seeing as how if you open Videos and check there a podcast that has been played in Podcasts will show as unplayed.

Reply

Answer 5

Jul 3, 2012 2:28 AM in response to John Planckaert

I got the same since a while. I'm following a few discussion about it, no answer found so far...

Reply

Answer 6

Jul 3, 2012 9:48 AM in response to John Planckaert

I wish Apple would figure this out. I'm so sick of having to go through and start all the podcasts I've already listened to and skip to the end, then resyncing so that they're removed and updated in iTunes.

Reply

Answer 7

Oct 12, 2012 8:39 AM in response to John Planckaert

Latest iTunes, iPhone 5 with latest iOS 6, and this is still an issue. I'm sick of having to scrub through podcasts that I've already fully listened to so that they sync properly when connected to iTunes.

And there's a bug in the Podcasts app-- if I'm in the car listening throught he headphone jack, then I unplug the headphone jack to get out of the car and the podcast stops playing like it should. If I receive a call later, once that call ends the podcast starts playing again, just like it would if you're listening, answer a call, then hang up. It shouldn't be automatically resume playing when it wasn't playing before I made/received a call,

Reply

Answer 8

Leonick

Level 1

30 points

Oct 12, 2012 10:33 AM in response to John Planckaert

It's actually been working for me for a while now it syncs just fine.

Latest podcast update introduced a bunch of playback bugs (mainly scrubbing, I think that's what it's called, through a podcast) but syncing seem to work.

Latest iTunes and an iPhone 4 and third gen iPad running iOS 6

Reply

Answer 9

Mar 10, 2013 5:31 AM in response to Michelle Belle

I'm experienceing all these same problems since I started to use the podcasts app. Until recently I still used the music app, which synced fine, but no longer supports direct downloads, so did not allow me to get stuff while I was on a recent holiday

All my OSs and apps are latest versions

Reply

Answer 10

Leonick

Level 1

30 points

Mar 10, 2013 5:47 AM in response to settingupanaliasseemspointless

Strange, this has actually worked for me for, well, months now. Strange how you should still have the issue with everything up to date. Whenever I plug in my devices and sync the played status as well as podcasts are synced properly.

How have you set up podcast syncing in iTunes?

Reply

Answer 11

Mar 10, 2013 5:50 AM in response to Leonick

Yes, everything worked perfectly with the Music app. When I tried to switch back to it, it appears to have lost the podcasts option 😟

Reply

Answer 12

Mar 10, 2013 9:21 AM in response to settingupanaliasseemspointless

Somone has told me (in another thread) that if I delete the podcasts app I get the poscasts option back in the Music app. I needed to restart the phone but I can now go back to using the Music app, which works fine for me. Hopefully this will all be fixed by the time I next need to download podcasts on the move.

Reply

Answer 13

Leonick

Level 1

30 points

Mar 10, 2013 9:24 AM in response to settingupanaliasseemspointless

Well, as I said it has worked for me for quite a while now.

Here's what I think you should try if you want to get it working with the podcasts app.

Plug you device in (or use wifi) and disabled syncing of podcasts and sync the device so that all podcasts will be removed form the device. After that, install the podcast app, got back to iTunes and either select to sync all podcasts or a specific selection and sync the device. Watch/listen to a podcast and the sync again and see if it works, it really should.

Reply

Answer 14

ShelSue

Level 1

8 points

Mar 24, 2013 2:29 PM in response to Leonick

I just tried that. It threatened to remove all my podcasts...and didn't. This is infuriating.

Reply

Answer 15

Mar 25, 2013 4:49 AM in response to Leonick

I thought I'd have another try with the podcasts app as I'm needing to travel again soon. I did as you advised and did a no sync first.

The app seems to have substntially changed since I last tried just a couple of weeks ago. It's downloaded a load of stuff I've already listened too, though hopefully that's something that will settle down.

The layout is now the problem. 'My Podcasts" and the stations do not appear to be sortable. I want them to display in alphabetical order, like they do in iTunes. I apper to be able to sort the order they will play in, but not the order they are displyed in, making it diffictult to find a particular podcast.

Reply