Podcasts App... Not Syncing Correctly.

To be fair the app has imprved enormously since it first appeared, but it's far from up to the accepted standard. As I see it, the following are still issues....

1) Syncing from itunes to podcast app - I listen to podcasts on my PC, via Apple TV and on IOS devices. When I try to sync an IOS device to iTunes, it appears to remove all the automatically downloaded podcasts from the IOS dveice and replace them with the ones it has stored - this can take a long time, and leaves it apparantly hanging on the "waiting to update" screen whilst it removes podcasts.

2) Syncing from IOS to iTunes - doesn't seem to happen automatically. If I play a podcast, I want to see it counted on my itunes (I have playlists on unplayed podcast so they shold disappear after playing). If i delete a podcast on my IOS device, it seems to update on iTunes eventually. No rhyme or reason as to when though....

3) Syncing (again) - it appears to need 2-3 syncs to get your IOS device updated - the first one merely puts markers on the IOS but doesn't update the device. It also seems to make the playing of podcasts impossible and you need to resync.

4) Syncing without redownloading - do any of these do this - I dont want to have to download a podcast three times to hear it on three devices but I think this happens on both the Podcast app and Downcast.

5) I have recorded many radio shows from iPlayer in the UK. On iTunes, these are sorted by the album title (which is usually the name of the show) but on the Podcast app they are all lumped together under the name of the most recent show.

Any help with any of these would be appreciated

jb

I looked into Downcast and it was not an option for me. The poor reviews the Mac version of the App has received are a concern. Not interested in exchanging one bag of hurt for another. However, the dealbreaker was the lack of integration with iTunes. I use an iPod Nano almost every day in the gym to listen to Podcasts. This is how I probably do 50% of my Podcast listening/viewing. So no Downcast for me.

However, all is not darkness and pain. With the latest iTunes and App updates installed, I have begun to use the Podcast app again and it's been workin "ok". I still find annoyances, but it's usable, IMHO. The bright spot has been the syncing of iTunes across multiple Macs. Long overdue.

Still a ways to go, but I'm now limping along using iTunes + the Podcast App.

Can someone explain to me how this is supposed to work? My assumption was that the iPhone and iTunes would sync together via iCloud, automatically, without me having to do anything. This is totally broken. I have one set of podcasts on the phone ,and another in iTunes, and I can't get them to sync up.

My dream was that I would listen to part of a podcast on my phone in the car, then be able to fire up iTunes on the Mac and pick up where I left off. That definitely doesn't work.

My fear is that you have to do a complete sync with iTunes, like you would to get new music or new apps. Please tell me that's not the case?

Sorry to say, it just DOESN'T work.

Each update improves things marginally, but they're working really slowly on some fundamental issues.

I could understand the situation if iCloud syncing actually worked. Apple has been movign towards iCLoud for several years. I don't like it in the same way that I don't like the absense of an optical drive in my Macbook Air. But I do understand Apple take a stance to depricate older technogy in favor of something new. But in previous cases, Apple did provide a working technology.

Of course it lines their pockets.

I just came home from work after listening to some podcasts that I put on the iPhone this morning. Then I synched the phone. It showed everything listened to. Then I deleted them (It's maddening that you can't shut of auto delete - at least I can't - everytime you come back it's turned back on) and son-of-a-gun if it didn't download yesterday's podcasts. So I flagged them listened to and synched again. Deleted the thing and then refreshed.

Hey have ANOTHER copy! arrgh.

For me the frustration is that synching worked so well. before the podcasts app came on scene and now it's worse still with ios 7 and iTunes 11.(whatever it is today). I think Jobs would have fired someone by now.

Im having the first 4 out of the 5 issues you described.

Have you found anything that helps? Im barely able to get a few podcasts a week downloaded successfully right now.

jockblue1 wrote:

5) I have recorded many radio shows from iPlayer in the UK. On iTunes, these are sorted by the album title (which is usually the name of the show) but on the Podcast app they are all lumped together under the name of the most recent show.

I do much the same. But since upgrading to Podcasts 2.0 I can no longer sync my recorded radio programmes (saved as podcasts) to my ipad or iphone on Podcasts 2.0. If I save them as "music" they will sync to Music. But I don't want that - and was previously able to make them podcasts - anyone have any way to work around this?

The closest I've come is following inSid's advice here https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5477034?start=15&tstart=0

This involved stopping iTunes syncing podcasts to my iPhone altogether. It meant that, for the first time, it removed all podcasts from the phone and I had to redownload them, which was a nuisance to say the least, However, since then, I've left iPhone to download podcasts and iTunes do the same and not married them up....still doesn't get round the double amounts of data being used. It doesn't answer any of my points really, just works around them.

I think that part of the issue (well my issue at least) is this:

If I download the newest episode of (lets say) This American Life on my phone and listen to it in its entirety before it was ever downloaded on my MacBook then the next time I open itunes on my MacBook it will assume that the latest episode of This American Life needs to be downloaded to my MacBook. Then when I sync the the two, the MacBook wins (even though it shouldn't) and the episode is now marked unplayed on my phone.

the same problem not fixed a year later? that's depressing. and unacceptable. and irritating.

I wasn't expecting this at all.

I think that's exactly what's happening. Really frustrating, and it means my stations are totally different on both devices. What should be happening is when you finish an episode, it should mark it as finished up in the cloud, so that when the next device goes to check for new content, it sees that one as already played and skips it.

I am running iTunes 11.1.3 on my Windows 7 laptop and have an ipod touch 5th gen with the latest OS. All apps up to date. I figured I would try deleteing podcasts off of both computers and my ipod and just start fresh on the ipod. All unsubscribed, all deleted on both devices. Showed clean. Sync podcasts turned OFF.

Minutes later, the iPod (on WiFi), just starts downloading old episodes of podcasts I had deleted and unsubscribed from.

Goodbye apple podcast app.

Well this is miserable. I had turned off iCloud syncing with my iPhone, my primary podcast syncing device as it has been since my iPhone3G. I also turned off all syncing of podcasts with iTunes. Yesterday I cable sync'd my iPhone with my itunes and it deleted a number of episodes from podcasts that I had downloaded and now didn't have access to for my commute home. It marked a number of episodes played and others unplayed. It clearly tried to sync something, despite the fact that I don't want it to interact with my iTunes library in any way whatsoever.

I still have continuous issues with getting podcasts to download straight to the device, even on wifi. Often episodes will hang forever and then in some cases I can't even play ones that say they're downloaded giving me a "episode unavailable" error. How is an already downloaded podcast unavailable?!?

I've had it. The sad part, I think podcast syncing with iTunes and the way it used to work was enough for me. This new app just obliterated my library though. It was probably the biggest reason I was staying with an Apple phone (I'll always have the iPad for my apps and apple data). Gonna start with Pocket Casts, that'll open me to being more flexible if I decide to go the Android route into the future should I wish to go that route.

WGQ wrote:

An update to my previous first impression of iOS 7 + iTunes 11.1:

1. If you keep everything in the Cloud, the ecosystem seems to sync quite well. I've tested with two Macs, two Apple TVs, an iPhone, and an iPad – and I seem to be able to move seemlessly between them.

2. If you download local copies of Podcasts to your Mac, the problem of iTunes on the Mac not reporting progress back to the Cloud seems to still be an issue. In fact, I found that downloading a Podcast episode basically cut the ties with the Cloud-syncing ecosystem. There may exist some mechanism of manual syncing, refresh, etc., that addresses this, but I haven't found it yet.

3. The Podcast "App" on Apple TV is still not syncing with Macs/iTunes, which means it's still pretty useless. However, if you select "My Computer" and select Podcasts from there, the ATV will feed off of the Podcast data in iTunes, and it updates it with progress info too. That works for me.

Having the same issues. iTunes on Mac and Apple TV rarely keep in sync with iPhone app.