"played is 0" podcasts not deleting ipod

So I can see the utility of using Media Kind over Genre but given that Media Kind does not even show up as displayable column, is there any way to check whether all of one's podcasts are tagging them as podcasts under Media Kind?

Given the readily available column headings and that Podcast is a Genre, it is a shame that so many smart playlists are being screwed up by content providers putting what should be Category info into the Genre field (::glowers in the direction of Podcast One who did this across the board in November::).

Are you saying smart playlist no longer updates (when a podcast is played) on the iPod? It still updates when played in your iTunes library, correct?

There's been a recent change to the Edit Smart Playlist settings window. At the top of settings window, there's a new option to limit the Media Kind to a particular category (see screenshot below after the work Match). Previously, choosing a particular Media Kind was one of your rules. I think this change is what causes the problem you describe.

I set up a test playlist that shows all of my unplayed podcasts. It looks like this with current iTunes.

Note that the setting at the top says Match [podcasts] for the following rules. That top option was not there before, and you needed to have a separate rule like Media Kind is Podcast instead, to limit the list to only podcasts.

What you can try is to change podcasts in the top option to All Media, to not limit selection there, and add a rule that limits selection to podcasts. Unfortunately, if you use Media Kind is Podcast, iTunes changes it back to use the option at the top. So, use a different rule to limit selection to podcasts. I set it up like this

NOTE: Genre is can be anything (or blank), so you'll need to confirm all of your podcast episodes have "podcast" in their entry for Genre. You can select your entire podcasts library at the same time (Select All on it), Get Info on selection, and change all Genre entries (for podcast episodes) to "podcast" (assuming that's OK for you).

This change to All Media, with an added rule to limit selection to podcasts, may make your smart playlist work like it did before on the iPod. I can't test this myself, because I don't sync podcasts (and my iPods are mostly too old to support smart playlists that update on the iPod anyways), so you'll have to give it a try and report back if it works (or does not work).

I guess you'll need to rely on syncing the iPod. When you sync iPod, the updated play counts sync back to iTunes library. During the same sync, the smart playlist is updated, and syncs to iPod. You'll need to remember that you listened to a podcast episode between syncs, but the playlist (which does not act "smart" on the iPod) reflects play count changes after syncing.

The only thing I noticed (as a change related to smart playlists) is that selector at the top of the Edit Smart Playlist window, for limiting content to a particular media type. That may be something new that the iPod's old onboard software does not "understand," so it can no longer update smart playlists on the device. In another discussion, some users replied that my suggestion to use the All Media choice there and add a rule to limit content to a particular media type allowed their smart playlists to update on the device, like before. My reasoning is that the All Media choice makes the smart playlist work like before, when a rule was used to limit content to a particular type (like podcast) because that selector at the top did not exist.

But it's possible that this suggestion works or does not work depending on specific iPod model, because each iPod type has different onboard software. On my older iPods, for example, it would not work (since they do not know about smart playlists at all). Here's that other topic, if you want to read it...

Re: Smart playlists not live updating on Ipod classic

I download one particular podcast onto iTunes with no problem but it has never appeared on my iPod.

The other rule is Plays is 0, so make sure it has never been played. Or intentionally make its play count 1 by playing the last few seconds of it, then set it back to unplayed. Also, make sure the entry of "podcast" for Genre does not have a space before or after the word.

Since you have determined that this smart playlist does not act "smart" on your iPod, you may want to go back to the "standard" version of playlist, which does not require Genre to be exactly "podcast" (like your current version).

That way, if a podcast producer decides to use a Genre like "News" (or does not enter a Genre), you won't have the manually update it for every episode. Its Media Kind is always set to Podcast for everything that appears as a podcast in iTunes (Genre can be anything or blank).