iTunes v12.9.0 deleting whole podcast instead of just the episode

Thank goodness Shift + Delete on an episode (or selection of episodes) seems to work[*]. You might have to do it twice to the same episode depending on what state it's in, but I feel like I've got the old functionality back to my satisfaction. (I always manage podcasts in Classic List view.)

On the other hand, this new behavior of right-click an episode, select "Delete from library" prompting deletion of an entire subscription is a terrible bug in my book, and I too ended up being fooled by it — because I've built up years of muscle memory of that action being meaningful only for the individual episodes I clicked on — and I had to resubscribe and re-download several episodes. Apple needs to fix this right away.

[*]On iTunes for Windows, of course. The modifier key might be different on a Mac.

Having restored your episodes into the podcasts folder see Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash to restore the state of your library to the moment before you updated to 12.9. The "delete whole podcast" issue should only happen in the Classic List view, so stick to the List view when deleting podcasts, or see this list of iTunes installers to revert to iTunes 12.8.

tt2

Use Shift-Delete to delete a single episode instead as a workaround.

If you have a backup of your library you can restore the folders for the deleted podcasts and revert to a copy of your iTunes database taken before the update. If you don't have a backup see Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy and start keeping one.

tt2

I am experiencing the same thing (my post). One workaround I found was to use an iOS device's podcast app. Deleting individual episodes there then synced across to iTunes on my PC properly, i.e. leaving the other episodes intact.

I've seen this now. It only affects podcasts when using the classic list view to delete from the library. If you read the prompt, assuming you haven't suppressed warnings, it will ask you to confirm that you want to remove the entire series, which ought to allow an opportunity to back out before the damage is done. I've submitted a bug report about it.

Workarounds: Use View > View As > List and/or Edit > Preferences > Advanced > Reset Warnings.

tt2

Yes, the Shift delete on the keyboard works, but holy cow....using a mouse is a simple feature. How does a new release not take that into consideration? You're telling me with all the Beta testers out there nobody came across this issue. This isn't the first time this has happened. I've had this occur before, a long time ago. I forgot about the keyboard shortcut, which is a temporary solution that works.

Nice spot Kevin. 🙂

It would be option-delete (backspace) on a Mac.

tt2

No. Use Edit > Preferences > Advanced > Reset Warnings to make sure you can see what iTunes is going to do. Use the delete key on your keyboard instead of the context menu.

tt2

Did you perhaps have the series selected rather than the episode? There is a right-click > Remove Download option for individual items that have downloaded. You may also find episode management is easier in the Classic List view.

tt2

If you have lost the subscription by trying to right click delete from library you can restore the subscription by going to the iTunes store and clicking on subscribe as if you're joining that podcast for the first time. It will restore the subscription to your iTunes desktop but with just about all the podcasts available which is annoying.

You then need to highlight all the podcasts you don't want and shift delete from the keyboard as has already been suggested. Let's hope this bug is sorted out pronto, there always seems to be something when there's an update!

thanks for the old version link, apple tech support could not give me this ! this is horrible bug

however when I try to open prior version I get "the file ituned library.itl cannot be read because it was created by a newer version of itunes"

so I reinstalled the new "bad" version and am able to only delete podcast episodes in list view, but at least it is a workaround until they fix it

I have the same problem as the OP and this method doesn't work. If you try to remove a single episode from a series, it will popup with the message "Do you want to move the selected podcast to the Recycle Bin, or keep it in the iTunes Media folder?" The options are "cancel, move to recycle bin, or keep file". Selecting move the recycle bin will delete the ENTIRE podcast series and all podcasts within it. This is not normal.

I have been listening to and removing podcasts from my feed manually for years and after this mornings update has broken the library. First off, every subscribed podcast suddenly tried to re-download EVERY episode. If you try to remove these downloads, the ENTIRE podcast series is removed. My library went from 40 episodes and around a GB of data last night to 979 episodes and 62.71 GB this morning. This is terrible because now I can't sync my phone before the weekend.

I have this problem too and agree it's really frustrating how often these 'upgrades' don't seem to be properly tested and often torpedo the software, and how often this particularly seems to be a problem for Apple and podcast utility on iTunes.

I've reported it as feedback and encourage others to do so to, although it's perhaps revealing the dropdown menu for the version of the software on the feedback form doesn't include an option for reporting a problem with v12.9.0!

The workaround I've found to restore accidentally deleted podcasts is to reintegrate from the windows folders by uploading them back into iTunes. This does recover otherwise lost episodes, but does still leave you with the new version annoyingly trying to download all old episodes, and of course you can't manually delete these now as it tries to delete the whole podcast. I've also found that moving between 'list' and 'classic list' view that in the new 'list' view it shows me as unsubscribed from my podcasts and undoes all of the settings I've put in place for 'classic list'. Even more frustrating.

Very annoyed with Apple over this. I was tidying my podcasts in iTunes on a W10 laptop. I did the usual of selecting listened-to Podcasts and marking them to delete. Deleted them, and the whole subscription went too. It's a weekly comedy show and I was backlogged around five months shows, but going to re-subscribe I'm only offered the last month's five podacasts.

Also, when I checked in the recycle bin it's only placed the shows I intended to delete, NOT all the others from the last few months that also got deleted. So where did the others get deleted to, Apple?

Then I come here and find it's a well-known bug with Apple for over a month and it's not been fixed or even announced as a bug to users of iTunes.

So, I can't currently keep my podcasts tidy, and have permanently lost a bunch of comedy shows I was working through.

Bravo, Apple.