Setting up a Playlist to Automatically Remove Played Podcasts on the iPod Touch

Question

I have my play lists setup on my computer to automatically remove played podcasts from my play list (Play Count = 0). However, I want the same behavior on my iPod Touch. I have occasionally gotten this to work, but have been unable to figure out the trick to get it work when I want it to.

Does anyone know how to get this to work?

Answer 1

I am assuming you are talking about smart playlists. I don't believe live updating on an iPod will happen for smart playlists which rely on other smart playlists that are NOT on the iPod. I have one smart playlist which contains all my podcasts, based on genre and some other criteria, and feeds all other podcast smart playlists. If I don't include that smart playlist (and all the other ones used to build the final playlists)...I don't believe my other playlists will update until I re-sync with iTunes.

I went to iLounge to find something in the forums to confirm my post and I found this. It confirms my thought and also indicates that the new OS 3.0 breaks live updating for any smart playlist which relies on another smart playlist.

Answer 2

Make sure you Check the "Live updating" box.
This tells the ipod to update the playlist when something changes (in your case, the play count).

Answer 3

Rather than use a playlist, you can also manage the device itself which seems more effective to me. If you click on the device it will have a podcast tab. There you can select the podcasts you wish to sync or sync all and there is a pulldown selector where you can select "Sync Unplayed". Click Apply down at the bottom right and Voila! That should be it.