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I manually manage my music in iTunes (the checkbox on the device summary page).

For podcasts, I download mp3 files and drag them onto Music. This worked fine until recently.

I chose Get Info for some podcasts and went to Options tab, Media Kind, and set that to Podcast. I clicked OK - and they disappeared.

They still appear to be on my iPod, but I can't manage them.

Without turning on syncing, how can I edit or delete these podcasts?

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3 Answers

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+50

I had written up this reply earlier, and then when I came back I found that it hadn't been sent and Lazarus (Chrome) hadn't saved it :(

But here it is, version 2:

It would be worth checking out a 3rd party manager, and Lifehacker has a decent roundup of these: http://lifehacker.com/394046/copy-music-from-your-iphone-or-ipod-to-your-computer-for-free

If you are on Windows, the standout is probably YamiPod, which has a full post here http://lifehacker.com/software/ipod/download-of-the-day-yamipod-169758.php

With YamiPod you can copy music to and from your iPod, play your music off your iPod on your computer, and even manage podcasts and news RSS.

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Thanks - I'll give you the bounty for the useful links. I'm just paranoid that one of these apps is going to trash my data. – TrueWill Jul 25 '10 at 2:26
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As long as it is solved for you, then I'm happy with that :) Provided you use one of the reputable apps, which all of those on there appear to be, you should be fine - though it might be a good idea to make the first thing you do with the program a download of all audio files on your iPod that you don't have copies of on your computer, to ensure that you have a backup plan for everything. – tobeannounced Jul 25 '10 at 4:06
I ended up using the free CopyTrans Manager from copytrans.net to delete these. (I haven't used it long enough to recommend it.) – TrueWill Aug 31 '10 at 0:22
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To manage podcasts from your computer, check that they have not been moved into the 'Podcast' category in iTunes:

iTunes

From there, you should be able to either manage the podcasts in this section if you prefer, or move them back into the music section by changing the 'info' of each file.

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Thanks, but under LIBRARY/Podcasts I just see "Download podcasts" and "Subscribe to a podcast." Perhaps more relevant, I do not have a Podcasts category under DEVICES/myPod. Again, I'm manually managing music on my iPod. These files are on my iPod, but I can't see them. They're not in my Library. – TrueWill Jul 23 '10 at 0:45
Interesting.. What iPod is it? Could you try an iPod media manager, like iFunBox (I think that might only be for iPod Touch and iPhone though). – tobeannounced Jul 23 '10 at 12:22
iPod nano (2nd generation). Third-party managers are something I'll consider if need be. – TrueWill Jul 24 '10 at 21:44
Okay, I have written another response for you to look at then. – tobeannounced Jul 25 '10 at 0:47
up vote 2 down vote

You cannot just use the Media Kind tab to change a Music file to Podcast and have it appear in the Podcast section - it doesn't work that way.

If you do try this, as I and many others have, and the files seemingly disappear...

Connect your iPod to your Computer; now go to iTunes, now go to 'File > New Smart Playlist'

Now use some information you know about these files, i.e. Album, Artist...to locate the missing files.

For me it was my Ricky Gervais podcasts which were labelled as Audiobooks on my iTunes that I wanted in the Podcast section; I altered the Media Kind to Podcasts and they vanished, so I created a Smart Playlist on iTunes which searched my iPod for any files (even those that seemed lost) containing the words 'Ricky Gervais' and voila, they all appeared - I promptly highlighted all the files and used Media Kind (CTRL + I, Options, Media Kind) and changed them all back to Audiobook and they all now appear on my iTunes again.

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Thanks - I'll have to try that the next time this happens! – TrueWill Jan 19 '12 at 14:14

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