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why won't my podcasts play oldest first?

I like to listen to my podcasts in the order they are published, oldest first.


I have the My Podcast section set to "Play Order" of "Oldest First". Every one of them (17 different podcasts, checked each one)


I have a Play List, called 'Unlistened'.


It's settings are:


Play Order "My Podcasts"


Include "all"


Unplayed only is on, all podcasts are chosen.


It plays newest first, and I can't figure out the pattern of what's the next one it goes to. I want what i had with the previous version, oldest first regardless of title.


How do I do that? if I can't, why the heck not? Why Would I want to listen to news out of order?

Posted on Apr 5, 2013 6:40 AM

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15 replies

Apr 20, 2013 5:24 PM in response to Tom Boucher

Last time I was testing the Podcasts app, I went to the very bottom of the chronological list of podcasts and started playing the oldest one. When it finished, the app started playing the next higher one on the list (second oldest), then moved up one (the third oldest), and so on. This seemed to be an undocumented way to play podcasts from oldest to newest. Give it a try.

Apr 21, 2013 1:16 AM in response to Tom Boucher

I decided to give that app another try last night, because I really do want to use it (would be nice to have the device updating without always needing to be synced with my laptop - plus having my iTunes folder on an external drive means iTunes content is not always available). I saw the exact behavior you were discussing. This is clearly by design.


If I can figure out a way to get around this, I will let you know. Sorry for wasting your time with the previous response.

Apr 26, 2013 2:51 PM in response to Tom Boucher

I have my "Sort Order" set to "Oldest On Top" and "Play Order" set to "Oldest First"


There are 3 hours each day, each in a separate podcast.


It plays them in order by date but, within each day, it plays them "most recent" first. So it plays the 3rd hour, then the second hour, then the first hour.


And, there's no option to change the order other than "Oldest first" or "Newest first"


Who's in charge of fixing this app? 🙂

Jun 23, 2013 5:55 PM in response to Tom Boucher

Agree with Tom. Apple needs to add the ability to have the order of the episodes within each podcasts be oldest to newest. I think that news podcasts are the best example. Sometimes you don't get to listed to all of the news you download and the next day you still want to hear it before you hear the new news so you can "catch up".


The updated Podcasts app is wonderful in every way except for this as far as my uses go.


PLEASE APPLE, ADD ONE MORE SORT ORDER FOR THE EPISODES WITHIN PODCASTS IN "MY STATIONS"!

Oct 1, 2013 8:48 AM in response to Tom Boucher

OK. I have been monkeying with this because I can be rather obstinate abou things. I first tried opening a bug using Apple's sytem but was closed as 'working as designed'.


So I spent a lot of time messing around with the settings.


here's how I got it to play in the right order.


1) Create a new 'Station'


2) For settings Do:


PLay Order: My Podcasts Order

Include All

Media type audio&video


(the last two don't matter, my list is called 'all unplayed')


Then, under the podcast if you set it to under the settings:


Keep 'All Unplayed' is what I use

Download 'All'

Sort Order Newest on Top

Play Order Oldest First


when I did that, it started playing in the right order for me. This combination was the final one that worked, I tried quite a few. Seems to be how they intended you to do it.


Now, if it'd just sync betweens iTunes/Multiple iOS devices correctly, I'd be content.

Apr 20, 2014 2:59 AM in response to Tom Boucher

I'm afraid Tom Boucher's solution still isn't working for me.


When I'm in the "My Podcasts" tab, it's easy to choose a podcast, select "Settings", and then toggle both the Sort Order and Play Order. If I play the podcast from within the My Podcasts tab, then they play in the order I want (usually, oldest first) - according to however I've set it.


The problem is that in the "My Podcasts" tab it'll play only the episodes of whatever podcast I've selected - it won't go on to other podcasts.


However, when I go to the "My Stations" tab, it seems like any Station (grr, this'd be so much easier to explain if they just stuck with the obvious label "Playlist"), the changes I've made over in the "My Podcasts" tab have no effect. I can set the Station to play in "My Podcasts" play order, which is good - at least then it'll play from one podcast to the next, after all the episodes of a podcast are finished. However, within each podcast, the order seems to always be newest on top, and playing from newest to oldest. Thus far I've been unable to make it play the oldest episode first.


So, suppose I've got two Start the Week episodes: STW April 14, STW April 7. And two Thinking Allowed episodes: TA April 9, TA April 16.


In the "My Podcasts" tab: I can play press play in the Start the Week podcast, and it'll play STW April 7, and then STW April 14. And then it'll stop. I then need to select Thinking Allowed to play those - and it'll play TA April 9, and TA April 16.


But in the "My Stations" tab: it'll play STW April 14, STW April 7, and then keep going to TA April 16, TA April 9. From newest to first (within the podcast). The "play from oldest to newest" setting doesn't carry over to the "My Stations" tab. Of course, if I've just got one episode for each podcast, that's not a big deal, but often there's more than one.


Or am I missing something?

why won't my podcasts play oldest first?

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