Playlist is missing podcast files when synched to iPod

Thanks for the reply. I had set the "genre" to podcast, but hadn't seen the "media type" field until you mentioned it. I've set that to podcast now.

It worked! All the episodes are in the playlist on my iPod now.

Couple other things: In iTunes under Podcasts, there are now two folders for that podcast. One has the "get" and "get all" buttons and has the podcast logo, the other (my old files) does not. (There's only one folder for that podcast on my iPod.)

The problem now is that when I open iTunes, it automatically starts downloading a whole lot of podcasts from the first folder, even though it's set to "manual," to do nothing when a new podcast is detected. I have to go click on the "x" to cancel each one. This happens every time I open iTunes, and only for that one podcast. It seems like if I could get those folders merged, iTunes would see that I already have those podcasts and not want to download them. Help?

The default podcast setting is "manual" - to do nothing when a new one is available. I checked to confirm all podcasts are set to "podcast default" and they are. None of the other podcasts I'm subscribed to have this behavior, just the wonky one.

Of the two folders, I can't see any tag difference. I highlighted all of them in both groups and did "get info" to make sure. However, one group has album artwork (the podcast logo) and the other - my older files - does not. Could that be the problem?

I really appreciate your help, thank you.

I will once I figure out how. Meanwhile - I spotted a folder in iTunes called "Download" that I don't remember being noticing before. Within it was that bunch of podcasts that keep trying to download every time I start iTunes! I deleted them all, and will see if the problem occurs next time I start iTunes. Will post here what happens, and hopefully include the requested screenshots.

Thanks again for all your help.

Screencaps! A new episode, downloaded by iTunes, and an old one that I had from before. iTunes sees them both as podcasts, but put them in separate folders (on my hard drive, they're in the same folder). In the picture below, the new episodes are in the first folder, the old ones are in the second.

Info tab of new episode

Info tab of old episode

Options tab from the same new one

Options tab from the same old one

The sort tabs are the same too. Yes, all podcasts are in the same folder on my hard drive. It's iTunes that divides them into two folders.

There are differences between the two iTunes folders.

The new has "album art" (the podcast logo), a "get all" button and "get" buttons on podcasts I haven't downloaded via iTunes. The old has none of the above.

All the episodes showing a "get" button in the new folder (indicating I don't have them) are contained in the old folder (I do have them!).

If it comes down to it, that's what I'll do, but this is just one set of episodes for one podcast. I have a bunch more saved eps for other podcasts (much bigger files than Skeptoid) which means a lot of downloading I sure hoped there'd be a way around that, not just due to the time involved, but suddenly my "unlimited" internet has a monthly limit.

Thanks for trying, though, I appreciate it.