Hundreds of old podcasts with dead links WON'T DELETE. Please help...

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Level 1

3 points

Hundreds of old podcasts with dead links WON'T DELETE. Please help...

Hi People,

I've subscribed to podcasts for a really long time, and have upgraded iTunes, Macs, and OS X numerous times over the years with my iTunes data moving from one to the next and never getting a "fresh start"... and now I'm in the process of cleaning my library up and using the Podcasts app on its own, instead of iTunes, to manage my podcasts. The problem is that even though I have EMPTIED my iTunes from podcasts locally, I still have 734 VERY OLD podcasts showing up on Apple TV even though they have long since been deleted, and most don't even exist anymore on the internet, let alone on my Mac.

This seems to have been a problem for a handful of people, from what I can tell by searching around, but there aren;t many answers. I only saw one person's problem solved by a script of some kind and tbh, I am just not savvy enough to understand how to use/run a script. I followed the link to the one mentioned, and there aren't even instructions. 😟 I need help from someone knowledgable... and I am hoping I can get these old decrepit podcasts out of my system somehow without doing anything weird. Can I simply delete or rebuild the library file somehow? I wish I could just delete them but there doesn't seem to be a way.

I am able to see them in iTunes after making a Smart Playlist and setting iCloud Status to "is" and "error" and Media Kind = Podcast. But I can't delete from a smart playlist, so I'm stuck. But these are the same old, long gone podcasts showing up on the Apple TV in the Computer section.

PLEASE somebody help me clean this up. Anyone have an idea of the best way to do it?

Thanks much in advance...

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)

Posted on Mar 21, 2016 8:52 PM

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Answer 1

jloSF

Level 1

15 points

Jun 6, 2017 10:35 AM in response to sonictonic

Hello All

I too have a jillion old podcasts trapped and seemingly UNdelete-able in my iTunes and also lingering on my iPOD Classic device. Like the person above, some of these old podcast channels that no longer exist. Many have been showing up as "Root" on my iPOD Classic, seemingly completely uncategorized.

I've done 2 things which are both working, slowly.

1. Re: the 100+ old "Root" podcasts, it's worth mentioning that these oldies in Root are a range of completely different podcast types and episodes - some business, some personal growth, some fitness etc. all old and no longer wanted. You get the idea. So, when I am not using my iPOD, I have taken to the habit of plugging my iPOD into a wall charger, attaching an old pair of earbuds, and simply letting the old unwanted Root podcasts to play. Sometimes if I'm on long conference call or similar, I'll use the diamond icon to advance to just the last few minutes of old Root podcast episodes, let that play while I turn my attention back to the activity at hand, and simply let that episode finish playing entirely. Then do the same for the next unwanted Root podcast episode. If the conference call is long then I ignore the fact that the old Root episode is playing and presto a few hours later, after calls, or dishes, or vacuuming or laundry or working out -- when I reconnect my device to sync it, presto the Root episodes are gone from my device.

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Answer 2

jloSF

Level 1

15 points

Jun 6, 2017 10:54 AM in response to sonictonic

Part 2. Removing Old /Ghost podcasts from iTunes - this is what is working for me, slowly. The person above who suggested the Get Info process is correct. To the extent you can -- and yes it's a manual process - grab each one, click Get Info and move it into iTunes U. You'll see that old episode appear in iTunes U after a moment with the spinning beach ball, then you can delete it like you would any other file or document.

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Answer 3

Jul 12, 2017 6:57 PM in response to sonictonic

Itunes 12.6.1.25 has the same problem once all of these hundreds of podcasts are listed for download and cannot be deleted. In the classic listing view even highlighting the podcast and pressing delete on the keyboard does not work anymore. Crazy it takes for ever to maintain a library this needs to be fixed.

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Answer 4

sonictonic Author

Level 1

3 points

Mar 24, 2016 11:09 PM in response to sonictonic

Anybody? 😟

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Answer 5

Mar 25, 2016 4:24 AM in response to sonictonic

When you show your Podcasts library in iTunes, you are saying these podcasts do NOT appear there anymore, correct?

I wonder what would happen if, from that smart playlist with the "ghost" podcast episodes, you change the Media Kind to something else. For example, if you don't used iTunes U, change Media Kind to iTunes U. Do they appear in your iTunes U library? If they do, can you Delete them from that listing?

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Answer 6

sonictonic Author

Level 1

3 points

Mar 25, 2016 7:47 PM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

Thanks for replying. That's right. If I go into the Podcasts "section" there is NOTHING there. The Smart Playlist I set up has the "error" status and like I Said there are hundreds. It's years worth of podcasts I've watched and listened to in the past, and they all show up in the Podcast section on my Apple TV on the same WiFi network in the "Computer" Apple TV app. This makes me think these things are stuck in the library files somewhere... no?

I can't really use iTunes U as a test like you suggest, since I have a couple things in that section, so a Smart Playlist set up the same way would yield no result. Unless I take the "error" off of the status attribute to apply... but even then it still wouldn't show hundreds of old things there since I never used iTunes U nearly as much as I have used Podcasts over the years. I just tried it out a bit here and there.

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Answer 7

Mar 26, 2016 5:38 AM in response to sonictonic

Try ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Podcasts.

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Answer 8

Mar 26, 2016 9:20 PM in response to sonictonic

My previous suggestion was to try to make those "ghost" podcast episodes appear in a (different) library, so that you can use the Delete command on them. They DO appear in your smart playlist, but you cannot Delete them from there. BUT if you do a Get Info on one of them on your smart playlist, on the Info window's Options tab, can you change Media Kind to something else, such as iTunes U or Audiobook)? If you can, check the iTunes U or Audiobooks library to see if that podcast episode appears there. If it does, try to Delete it there.

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Answer 9

sonictonic Author

Level 1

3 points

Mar 26, 2016 9:16 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1

The files have long since been deleted. They only show up listed in the library, in this smart playlist and on Apple TV. Every one "can't be located" (because it's been deleted but iTunes still thinks it exists)!

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Answer 10

sonictonic Author

Level 1

3 points

Mar 26, 2016 9:19 PM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

Ah! Now I get what you're saying. THANKS! You are DEFINITELY on to something here! I just tried it, and it WORKS... but... only ONE SINGLE file at a time! 😢 I tried selecting ALL 700+ files, doing the Get Info, changing the Media Kind to iTunes U, and it said all the files needed to be the same type in order to do that change. Weird. But even then I tried smaller batches, of the same "show" and after making the change, I get no error, but nothing changed. Then I tried ONE file at a time in random shows, and as soon as I change the kind, it takes itself out of this smart playlist, and then shows up in the iTunes U section, where I can delete it like you said.

This is awesome that works, but am I seriously going to need to do this 700+ times..... manually? UGH *shudder*...

Thanks again for your help on this... 🙂

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Answer 11

Mar 27, 2016 12:17 AM in response to sonictonic

That would be unfortunate and annoying, if you had to repeat the action 700+ times. When you do a Get Info on an item that is on a list (like your smart playlist), you can make a change in the Info window (for one item) and go to the next (or previous) item on the list, using the arrow buttons at the bottom left corner of the Info window. The Info window stays open to the same tab for the next item. Still unfortunate, but somewhat less annoying.

Hopefully, once they all appear on the iTunes U library list, you select them all at once and Delete them all in one shot.

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Answer 12

sonictonic Author

Level 1

3 points

Mar 27, 2016 12:20 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

Thanks for the < > tip in the Get Info window... I can get a decent rhythm that way at least somewhat. It's crazy to me iTunes is this fickle. Alas, I'm going to chip away at this 'dead' playlist a bit at a time. I got it down to 600 for tonight so maybe I just do 100 a day and I'll have them all cleared out in less than a week from now. Finally. LOL. Thank you again!!

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Answer 13

Rysz

Level 8

44,391 points

Apr 2, 2016 10:14 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

Kenichi Watanabe wrote:

I wonder what would happen if, from that smart playlist with the "ghost" podcast episodes, you change the Media Kind to something else. For example, if you don't used iTunes U, change Media Kind to iTunes U. Do they appear in your iTunes U library? If they do, can you Delete them from that listing?

I'm experiencing the same issue and posted about it here: Podcast count discrepancy

Before posting, I already tried days ago what you're suggesting. When you change the Media Kind, these episodes will indeed appear in iTunes U and it appears that they can be deleted. Unfortunately all these, now deleted, episodes re-appear in the smart playlist as Podcasts in a short while, especially after relaunching iTunes, but sometimes just switching playlists is sufficient.

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