One thing I hate...

[deppeler]

I've had my iPod for a few months now and love it except for one thing.
I subscribe and listen to a number of Podcasts and the problem I find is having to keep track of which ones I have listened to (in a series).
For example I must remember that I listened to 1-25-05 BlahCast etc. so that when I get home tonight I can deselect that one in iTunes before I sync.
The iPods inability to delete files directly via the iPod is a real pain.

[ginalee]

why don't you create a smart playlist with a grouping podcast and play count is 1 (or more than 1)?

then the listened to ones would be in a list and you could manage them a bit easier

[deppeler]

Originally posted by ginalee
why don't you create a smart playlist with a grouping podcast and play count is 1 (or more than 1)?

then the listened to ones would be in a list and you could manage them a bit easier

That sounds like it might work :-)
Does playcount only count if the song/file is heard ALL the way through, as I pause the Podcast because it is too long for the morning trip to work. I restart it for the afternoon trip home.
Sometimes it is paused when I sync (so I loose my place).
That's another thing I wish it had a bookmark feature, my old Rio had that, it was great!

thanks

[jhollington]

Originally posted by deppeler
Does playcount only count if the song/file is heard ALL the way through, as I pause the Podcast because it is too long for the morning trip to work. I restart it for the afternoon trip home.

Yes.

That's another thing I wish it had a bookmark feature, my old Rio had that, it was great!
Actually, the iPod will remember your position in audiobook files. Unfortunately, most Podcasts come as straight MP3 files, which do not have this functionality.

If you check out the Audible.com+iPod (http://forums.ipodlounge.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=46) forum, there are instructions in that that should allow you to convert Podcasts into bookmarkable (M4B) files, in which case the position at which you left off should be retained, even after a sync.

[deppeler]

Originally posted by ginalee
why don't you create a smart playlist with a grouping podcast and play count is 1 (or more than 1)?

then the listened to ones would be in a list and you could manage them a bit easier

I tried that but I have to add Podcast to the Grouping (column) for every file that is automatically downloaded, that's a pain.


Trying to create a smart playlist that includes all my podcasts with a playcount larger than 0 (deletable)

Podcast1 below has a play count of 1, Podcast2=0]

I tried this:
Smart playlist - MyPodcast1 (to upload into iPod)
Match ALL conditions
Playlist IS Podcast1 (real playlist name as downloaded)
Play count IS 0

Smart playlist - MyPodcast2 (to upload into iPod)
Match ALL conditions
Playlist IS Podcast2 (real playlist name as downloaded)
Play count IS 0

Smart playlist - Listened to Podcasts (ones I can delete)
Match ALL conditions
Playlist IS Podcast1
Playlist IS Podcast2
Playcount IS 1

the last playlist didn't work it was empty, I then tried the same Playlist, Match ANY conditions and I got every song in my library with a count of 1

Any suggestions?????

[deppeler]

I guess I could create a Smart Playlist for every Podcast with:
Match ALL conditions
Playlist IS blog1
Play Count IS GREATER THAN 0

A bit clunky :(

[deppeler]

I worked out an ok solution:

Make Smart Playlists as follows:
[use regular playlist name]

Smart Playlist called: 'Podacast1 Listened to'
Match ALL conditions
[condition 1] Playlist IS Podcast1 (real playlist name as downloaded from feed)
[condition 2] Play count IS GREATER THAN 0
Match only Checked Songs (checked)
Live Updating (checked)

repeat for all playlists

Smart Playlist called: 'Deletable Podcasts'
Match ANY conditions
[condition 1] Playlist IS 'Podcast1 Listened to'
[condition 2] Playlist IS 'Podcast2 Listened to' (etc for how many playlists you made above)
Match only Checked Songs (checked)
Live Updating (checked)

This way all you listened Podcasts/Files will be in this one playlist where you can uncheck or delete them.

Give me some feedback on what you think or a better solution!


thanks
Paul

[AM_Dragon]

Why not rate the podcast 1 star when you listen to it? Then you could easily see what needs to be deleted in iTunes.

[jhollington]

Actually, in terms of Podcasts, you might want to check out the latest version of Doppler (http://www.dopplerradio.net/).

I recently discovered this as an alternate Podcast client, and I've found it to be a great solution from an iTunes point of view.

For one, you can customize the tagging of your Podcasts. In my case, I set all of my Podcasts to a genre of "Podcast" (you can also further customize the album and artist fields as well, on a per-Podcast setting). This makes setting up Smart Playlists really easy.

Also, as a really nice feature, it has the option of automatically converting your Podcasts to bookmarking M4B files. This allows your position to be saved just like in an audiobook (and also allows you to speed up and slow down the playback, also just like an audiobook).

Lastly, you can cleanup Podcasts based on rating. So the rate-one-star method would actually be an automatic solution with this software (it can also cleanup your old Podcasts based on age, or number of issues currently stored).

Best of all, it's a free application.

[ghostdogg]

I am using Doppler and it is great. One question - if the podcast is in bookmarkable form, does it still need to be played all the way to the end to show up as "played" in play counts? I am having trouble with this (I am using an Alpine car adapter which does not allow stars to be added, so I want to sort my "played" podcasts by play count, but it is not working - bookmarkable podcasts played in car do not show up as played in the play count.

Any suggestions?