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Podcasts App... Not Syncing Correctly.

After downloading the amazing new Podcasts App, that Apple released yesterday, Suddenly whebever I plugged in my iPod Touch, the podcasts are marked as unplayed or unwatched. Apple needs to fix this major bug, because I'm often in areas with wifi to stream podcasts.


If I mark it as watched/played on my computer, in iTunes, it will NOT sync the unwatched podcasts (which is good, because that's what we want).


It appears for now, we need to manually do this until Apple responds. I'll call Apple Support later.


Having only 8GB, you are always concerned about storage space.


UPDATE: I called Apple support. They were very good, and asked me to unistall iTunes, and reinstall it, because iTunes 10.6.3 wouldn't download on my Windows 7 PC. The new iTunes (10.6.3) didn't work. (if you saw this earlier I said that it did work, because I accidentally pressed on the Macbreak Weekly play button in iTunes on Windows, which marked it as half played).


See, what I did, is to double check, I marked a 2 minute podcast that I had previously downloaded as unplayed, and it synced to my iPod Touch. I then, played it back completely and synced it again. On my iPod Touch, in the Podcasts app it says it was played. In iTunes on WIndows it says it has not been played, so it stays on my iPod, taking up valuble space.


Why Apple, Why must you make this confusing and difficult?

Posted on Jun 27, 2012 7:37 AM

Reply
271 replies

Jun 28, 2012 7:57 PM in response to Sharon Faulk

Sharon Faulk, you are wrong. The Podcast app syncs with iTunes even if you have podcast syncing turned off in iTunes. At least as far as any podcasts you subscribe to and download in the app gets put into itunes.


In fact, the first sync adds any downloaded podcasts to iTunes and the next sync deletes the file off your iOS device and it has to be redownloaded.


I actually find it hard to believe that Apple released this app. It doesn't seem like anybody tested it.

Jun 29, 2012 4:27 AM in response to Sharon Faulk

Any podcasts in the music app are auto populated into the podcast app. So if you sync a podcast to your iOS device it will show in the music app and therefore also be available in the app.


I have discovered that even with podcast syncing turned off in iTunes any podcast you subscribe to and download on your ios device get placed into iTunes when you sync.

Jun 30, 2012 6:33 PM in response to gtrogue

I'm finding that the App is syncing ok between my iOS devices, but not with iTunes. That's a pain in the butt because I migrate between devices all the time. iPad while shaving, Apple TV during breakfast, iPhone in the car, iMac in the evenings. My iMac is the master and does air traffic control across all of my devices. It's been working great. Now it feels like there are two systems–iTunes and the Podcast app–that are not operating in lock-step and are fighting for control. Maybe it's not iOS 6 we need, maybe it's Mountain Lion and a new Mountain Lion version of iTunes. Who knows... all I can say is that Im intrigued by the new app but the overall solution sure feels like a work-in-progress without any instructions.

Jul 3, 2012 9:51 AM in response to WGQ

According to iTunes reviews there are at least 933 people who apparently run their iOS devices completely without iTunes because there are that many 5 star reviews. Maybe it is the same 933 people that were apparently Apple's beta testers.

If the podcast app was a physical thing with this many problems I would have already smashed the crap out of it in frustration and thrown it in the trash.


As WGQ said, a new version of iTunes is going to be required. Or at a minimum a new version of the Music & Video apps that stay in sync with the podcast app on the iOS device. So we are stuck waiting on Mountain Lion sometime this month, or waiting until the fall when iOS 6 is released.


I'm just going back to the Music app until this all gets sorted.

Jul 11, 2012 6:51 AM in response to kylereads

Add me to the list of peopel with sync problems. I see three different views of available episodes and palyed/unplayed status - iTunes on my Mac Pro, Music on my iPhoen and the new Podcasts app all show different status. Both devices are set up to use iCLoud syncing and use the same iTunes STore accoutn.


Syncing seems like an essential function. How can it be so poorly executed?

Jul 12, 2012 1:23 PM in response to WGQ

I use iTunes on my MBP to download podcasts and as the "truth" device for syncing my iPad, iPhone and and old iPhone that is deactivated. I do not use iCloud syncing for music or podcasts. After installing Podcasts I did not find any change in the syncing behavior, although the commonly reported Podcasts app bugs--failure to delete, intermittent lack of subscribe button, and weird played/unplayed status within the Podcasts app--have put me off. For now, I am just keeping it on my iDevices but not using it. Instead I use the Flicktunes app, the Music app and the Videos app which all seem to work just as they have in the past.

Jul 26, 2012 8:40 AM in response to kylereads

UI is good. Nice layout of my library with thumbnails and so.

But… And this is a big concern…


Why doesn't it update the podcast Plays counter in iTunes?

If I open Music or look for my podcasts on iTunes they show up as unread (Plays 0) !!!

As a result my playlists are screwed as well.


I run iTunes 10.6.3 , iOS 5.1.1 , Podcast 1.0.1.


Am I doing anything wrong?

Do I simply have to wait for a fix?

Any way around?


THX

Jul 26, 2012 9:22 AM in response to yakavoler

At the moment, there is no syncing between the new Podcast App and iTunes. Nothing you play on your Mac will get updated in the iOS Podcast app, and, similarly, nothing you play on any of your iOS devices using this app will get updated on any other iOS device or Mac.


Big step backwards from Apple.

Podcasts App... Not Syncing Correctly.

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