Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Podcasts.app grouping all files with Media Kind manually set to podcast together?

I have a bunch of audio lectures that I want iTunes to treat as podcasts, so that I can listen to them through the Podcasts app on my iPhone 5. I prefer the interface of the Podcasts app over the Music app for lecture listening, especially with the feature of playback continuing where it left off, so this is important to me.

Setting Media Kind in iTunes to podcast works fine for the first 'album' that I try, but as soon as I do it to files from a second album, the Podcasts app on my iPhone merges them into the first 'album' / podcast. iTunes on my Mac does keep the new podcasts separate, but as soon as I sync them with my iPhone, the Podcasts app just adds all of the rest of the files I've sync'd in with the first album that I added.

These lectures all came from the same publisher (FYI I legally own them), but I've removed all metadata related to the publisher that I can see in iTunes. There's nothing as far as I can tell that is telling iTunes to group them together, but it keeps on doing it anyway. In fact, while troubleshooting I tried converting a music album that was completely unrelated to these lectures into a podcast, and it also was merged in the Podcasts app with the original podcast I created, once sync'ing with my iPhone.

iPhone 5, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Feb 6, 2013 11:54 PM

Reply
19 replies

Jul 17, 2013 9:15 PM in response to afindlay

I'm on iOS 6, iP5 and iPad Mini.


Same issue I think. The non-iTunes available podcasts (i.e. old radio shows I chucked into my Mac's iTunes, then set to Media Type "Podcasts" in the metadata) are ALL appearing all mixed-up under ONE folder just on my iOS devices (Mac shows them correctly).


W T F?? Cannot fix this any way I've tried. So utterly a n n o y i n g !!!



I wanted to import into iTunes a stack of old favourite radio shows into the logical Podcasts section, but seemingly this issue means it's now on hold PERMINENTLY. Why can't Apple finally fix this issue, it's been ongoing now for months, FFS!

Jul 19, 2013 1:50 PM in response to SangyeIJ

Hey everyone. For those of you still looking for a fix, here it is: Use your favorite metadata editor (I use MP3Tag) to edit the PODCASTURL field. Make sure the URL for each podcast is different so they seperate in the podcast app correctly. You might have to delete them from itunes and readd them with the new metadata and or delete them from the podcast app on your iphone for the changes to show up. (Make sure you back up your files just in case anything goes wrong).

Jul 20, 2013 12:36 AM in response to DotPdf

hi DotPdf,


i thought this might have been my saviour, but sadly it didnt work for me.

just to clarify: I deleted the podcasts from itunes and from my ipod. i then used the ID3 tag tool from DMC pro to add a PODCASTURL into each podcast file, I then readded them all to itunes and set their media type back to podcast so they showed up correctly in podcast. then i synced them to the ipod again which coppied all 60+ podcasts back onto the pod, but all in the same folder again 😟

have i done something wrong?

Thanks,

Al

Jul 20, 2013 4:22 AM in response to afindlay

You can try a couple things. Before you sync try deleting the podcast app off of your ipod, resync and then install the podcast app again. I had to do this several times when experimenting. Did you make sure that the podcasts you wanted seprate have a different URL? For example my Level 1 language lessons have a different URL than my Level 2 language lessons and they appear as different podcasts in itunes and the iOS podcast app. If you tried all of those things maybe try to add dates to your podcasts as well. I have my language lessons organized by date where the newest ones have a more recent date. Also if you edit the PODCAST field to 1 then itunes will automatically know they are podcasts when you add them to itunes. Hope this helps.

Sep 23, 2013 2:02 PM in response to SangyeIJ

YES!!! A MILLION YESSES!!! The suggestion from DotPdf does indeed work. Been searching for a solution ever since the podcast app came out. The trick is to make sure you are editing the right field. I used ID3 Editor for mac (free trial). They have a PODCAST tab and in there I edited the "identifier" and "feed" tags; you can put anything in there so long as its the same within the same podcast. NOTE: I did not add a PODCASTURL tag because that wasn't one of the options in the program I used.


I then re-imported these edited files into iTunes. Oddly, when they imported this time, they automatically went straight into my podcast section (as in, I did not have to manually change the media kind to podcast). *shrug* I assume this is because of the newly edited podcast tags.


Regardless of the reason, when these files were synced to my phone and I refreshed within the app, all of my podcasts now showed up in individual folders! The CORRECT folders, with the approprate name and ordering of the files. So DotPdf's suggestion is confirmed to work. Just make sure you are editing the correct tag in whatever tag editing program you are using. If in doubt, edit everything!


I am just so happy that I finally can add multiple custom podcasts now without fearing that they will be forcibly combined into a disasterous folder of non-sensically ordered files!!! Going to spend the next few hours HAPPILY re-establishing my podcast library...

Podcasts.app grouping all files with Media Kind manually set to podcast together?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.