Why did iTunes 11.1 (126) delete all (SEVERAL HUNDRED) Podcasts?

I had about 50 GB's worth of playlists removed from my computer as well. The main reason I stuck with the iPhone on my recent phone renewal is I loved iTunes' podcast set up. Now with the update I can't even play podcasts from my phone without using an additional app and I have to re-download a ton of content to my computer (and then again to my phone via the app unless I want to stream them). I REALLY wish I didn't just renew my contract or else I'd be jumping ship from Apple. This is ridiculous and I couldn't be more disappointed.

I have the opposite problem. I cannot delete podcasts from this version of iTunes. If I do a shift delete to send them to the recycle bin they simply reload again. And if I put a pause all on the download process then it simply pauses for a little bit and after a minute or two it starts downloading them all again and any new ones that might be available. So I can add podcasts but cannot delete any. My line has a data cap that is not very generous so, needless to say, this does NOT make me a happy camper. Does anyone know of another software package that handles podcasts/playlists decently?? This is the last straw for using iTunes. And their bug-fixes - er, feature fixes - take forever. I currently have over 8GB of podcasts that will not go away and I've tried just about everything including a reinstall.

I guess if I had one of their phones it would be worse.

I have the library backed up on Carbonite so I hope that will suffice. Carbonite is worth its weight in gold.

Judy_, I've found that to delete podcasts **in iTunes 11.1**, you need to mark them as played, and then resync. The podcasts should disappear that way. Don't delete them from your system at all - just mark them as played.

Deleting them doesn't permanently remove them, presumably because Apple somehow decides "Oh, you've deleted that, and therefore you've made a mistake, so we'll just add it back to your library." Absolutely bizarre setup, but that's the way it seems to be now.

I've investigated other podcast apps a bit, but it seems like there isn't anything out there that does a good job of syncing iTunes and iOS podcasts - if you want just iTunes, or just iOS, there are possibilities, but the ones that do both seem to have reviews only slightly more positive than iTunes.

My solution has been to unsubscribe to all podcasts in iTunes. Then, to update them, click on the podcast title, do control-click, then select Refresh Podcast (second one down on the drop-down menu). This is a laborious process, having to do the podcasts one by one, but remining unsubscribed seems to keep the Apple Store from meddling where I don't waht it. Then I sync it with my iPhone and I'm set.

In your iPhone, in the Podcasts app - select a podcast, go into its Settings, and shut off Subscriptions. Under Episodes to Keep select All. Don't worry, you can still delete them manually on your iPhone or in iTunes and they'll stay gone so long as Subscriptions are turned off in both iTunes and on the iPhone.

I have been saying iPhone because that's what I use, but this should work for iPad and iPod Touch as well.

I've tried that and a number of other strategies too. It doesn't stop the problem. I currently have all podcasts set to only manually update... a pain but better than the bizarre setup of 11.1.0.126 which uses vast amounts of my data cap and hard drive..

I've tried VLC and Tomahawk but resetting all my playlists in either would be a formidable task. Both are written for purposes that are not my purposes. They are wonderful considering they are produced by volunteers but neither is business oriented. Tomahawk does not have very many fields for setting up smart news playlists - like release date for example.. VLC has some of the same types of limitations even if I wanted to redo all my smart playllists.

iTunes can export playlists as OPML but I can't figure out how to import that info into VLC or Tomahawk. If I have some time free I may read the manuals -- none of the keywords I have tried have pulled up the relevant info.

Maybe Windows Media Player is worth a try next.

iTunes for windows physically deleted all the podcasts (70GB) leaving the podcast menu and podcast folder on the hard drive absolutely empty. I have already been hurt by buggy iTunes versions, and I saved iTunes library folder by Memeo backup software and the system image including user/music/iTunes folder by windows build-in backup.

After a few hours of computer restore work I reverted back to iTunes 11.0.5 and I recovered the erased podcast folder.

Hopefully Apple software team acknowledged the impact on the user community. Hopefully they are working on the fix and more robust QA process will be implemented.

Waiting for more stable iTunes 11.1.x before upgrading the devices to iOS 7.

Well, it looks like Apple finally fixed it. However, having gone through this horrible experience with Apple, I will be waiting a few days before installing. Right now, I can deal with the devil I've downloaded. Apple Computers has made me wary of the devil I may yet install. Watching this thread to see if people braver (or with better back-ups) than me report good news or/and bad news.

The new build fixes the problem of all old episodes being displayed, but still allows you to access them if you want to. I'm not sure if any change has been made to the Sync podcast subscriptions, settings and stations behaviour but I'm not about to test it again.

tt2

The files are physically deleted. It is not a display issue. It tells that software architecture is terrible. It should ask for delete confirmation like when a song is deleted from music database. It deletes podcast files silently from hard drive while user is not aware.

iTunes 11.1.1 IS EVEN WORSE. iTunes 11.1 deleted several hundred podcasts, but didn't screw up (most) of the subscriptions. iTunes 11.1.1 also deleted podcast episodes, but also deleted entire podcast subscriptions and their associated episodes.

I documented my entire NIGHTMARE with iTunes 11.X on my blog:

http://blog.kevingoldsmith.com/2013/09/22/itunes-11-1-warning-major-issue/

I've been subscribing to podcasts with iTunes since they introduced the feature and have a library that had episodes dating back to that (over 8 years!).

The fact that Apple would release a bug of this magnitude and then make it worse, makes me very strongly reconsider my substantial investment in their ecosystem.

I have spent literally days reconstructing my library from backups, only to have the prodblem compounded by the supposed "fix." It just means I can't trust iTunes at all for anything anymore.

For those that see iTunes 11.1.1 and have hope, don't. I had the problem where iTunes 11.1 deleted 100s of episodes of podcasts, but I was able to restore from backups. When I installed 11.1.1, I then had the issue where it not only unsubscribed me from all my podcasts, but it deleted dozens of my podcasts completely. Not only from the podcast pane, but also from the disk. This is a complete nightmare. It took literally days for me to restore and reclaim the lost episodes that were deleted in 11.1. 11.1.1 is actually even worse. I won't even bother any more. I've given up.

I can't trust Apple with my files anymore. I'm ******.

I upgraded to 11.1.1 and things are fine because I still have all my podcasts in my library set to unsubscribe and do not auto delete. The problem is that to update podcasts I have to do it manually one at a time by control-clicking on the podcast title and selecting "refresh podcast". I don't dare undo this method until I hear that all is clear. I'm using OS 10.7.5.

I hadn't turned off the sync option. I didn't know that I had to do that (I guess I forgot the rule about always checking the support forums before updating). None of my subs were set to auto-delete though.

It turns out that this was a far bigger issue as over a thousand of my MUSIC tracks were also deleted silently and my database was completely corrupted by the update. See my other posting the forum about that. Restoring from backup now and downgrading to 11.0.5. If that screws up, I'll switch back to 10.7.

Kevin Goldsmith wrote:

I hadn't turned off the sync option. I didn't know that I had to do that (I guess I forgot the rule about always checking the support forums before updating). None of my subs were set to auto-delete though.

The advice was in my earlier post describing how to recover if iTunes 11.1 deleted your podcasts...

tt2