podcasts disappearing from iTunes

[lrsk]

I'm having a problem with my iTunes (Windows). I download several podcasts via iTunes, and am using an external HDD as the iTunes folder.

Sometimes when I download new podcasts, and plug in my iPod to sync, some of the podcasts are deleted, in a seemingly random fashion. What is the cause of this?

I do not always have the HDD plugged in, in which case iTunes uses a local folder to store the podcasts. (Maybe this is part of the problem?)

Also, the iPod tends to crash the first time i try to play a podcast after a sync. This is fixed after a reboot of the iPod, but still annoying.

Any ideas?

[slonkak]

That's like saying, I have this human, and it uses a brain to remember things. Sometimes I don't put the brain in the human, and it forgets stuff. Why is that?

If you have your iTunes configured to use an external HDD as it's main folder, make sure it is _always_ plugged in and accessible before your open iTunes or connect your iPod. The cause of those "random" deletions are because iTunes only keeps the newest podcast on your device, based on which ones it can find on your computer. If your HDD isn't plugged in, and it can't find any of the podcasts on your computer that it sees on the iPod, it freaks out.

I would recommend not using an external device as your main iTunes folder unless you can always guarantee that it's plugged in and accessible. Maybe just use the external HDD as a backup location.

[lrsk]

I will take your slightly offensive reply with good humor.

I will change my iTunes folder to my computer HDD instead of the external. The reason I have it reluctantly set up that way is that my laptop can't hold all my music.

It still confuses me that podcasts that are downloaded to the computer are deleted. Why would iTunes delete them? It should never delete anything unless I tell it to. And how does it decide what is deleted and what is not? The issue is not that some podcasts are on the external and some on the internal, that would be obvious.

Thanks for the help.

[slonkak]

I will take your slightly offensive reply with good humor.

Good, cause I was chuckling a little bit as I wrote it. I was actually quite proud of myself for thinking of that example. :)


I will change my iTunes folder to my computer HDD instead of the external. The reason I have it reluctantly set up that way is that my laptop can't hold all my music.

I have the same problem. I don't think this matters at all with regular music, cause mine seems to be fine (not deleting anything when my external is hooked up). But, I don't have my external HDD set as the primary iTunes folder. I have a folder on my local HDD set for that, and I manually add the folder on the external HDD to my library. Maybe try that...


It still confuses me that podcasts that are downloaded to the computer are deleted. Why would iTunes delete them? It should never delete anything unless I tell it to.

That was a design decision with iTunes. The Apple engineers decided that people who subscribe to podcasts will listen to them as soon as they get them. So when the newest episode comes out, the old one will be deleted and the new one will be put on the iPod. I don't use this feature anymore (because of this problem) so I don't know if there's a way to change that.

[serafina]

I don't know if there's a way to change that.

Have you played with this setting in the preferences?

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/1619/ituneske1.jpg

[comhcinc]

you should write steve@apple.com and complain.

[slonkak]

Have you played with this setting in the preferences?

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/1619/ituneske1.jpg

No, I haven't. At the time I used iTunes, that wasn't an option (that I was aware of). My only recent interaction with iTunes was helping my sister set it up on her computer.

Good call though. @lrsk, that should help with your issue.

[lrsk]

Thanks for all the replies. I have played a little with the podcast settings in iTunes, without success. I'm sure it doesn't like that I have the external harddrive set as the default folder though, so I will try to switch it back to my laptop and see if that helps. I'll probably follow you advice and manually add folders from the external drive to iTunes for my music collection.

Is this as simple as a drag/drop?

Also: and ideas on the crashes? Probably related to the folder confusion...

[slonkak]

Is this as simple as a drag/drop?

Should be. I've always done it through File > Add Folder to Library.


Also: and ideas on the crashes? Probably related to the folder confusion...

That's gonna be my guess, cause I've never (nor has my sister) had iTunes actually crash. Do you have any details on what, exactly, you are doing at the time of the crash? Any error messages, popus, etc.? Does everything continue to work if you reopen, or do you have to fiddle with settings to get it to work again?

[bigshotprof]

Time you enjoyed wasting, wasn't wasted

Is there a corollary: Time you wasted enjoying wasn't enjoyed?

[lrsk]

The crashes I'm referring to are the actual iPod crashing, not iTunes.

After a sync, I'll go to play the podcast on the iPod (unplugged), and it will freeze as I hit 'play'. I then reboot the iPod by holding the middle button and the Menu button (2nd Gen iPod Nano). This fixes the problem, just a little annoying.

[slonkak]

Have you upgraded to the newest version of iTunes? Or maybe just reinstalled whatever version you're running. It's always possible that iTunes is doing something bad to the iPod and a reinstall or uninstall/install could fix it.