Hi All,
Thanks, Scott, for saving me from typing up a reply to Will. I was in
the middle of saying that the present iPods already let him
automatically manage podcasts (or any other content on his iPod). For
podcasts, there's a separate sync category with selections like "all
unplayed episodes" or "two most recent episodes", etc. and that's
present on every iPod. Those sync selections (for podcasts) are
separate from whatever gets synced as checked playlist under music,
movies, etc. What makes these conditions particular powerful is that
the iPod will dynamically update. That means it can apply these rules
based on how you listen to tracks on the iPod. "Played" content
includes tracks that are played through on your iPod.
In addition to the sync rules for podcasts, which are specified
separately from your music, etc. you can also handle podcasts (and
other tracks) as elements of smart playlists, which can be checked to
sync with iTunes. When you sync to smart playlists, the rules that
govern the smart playlist determine what is on that playlist -- these
could be rules like rating above 3 stars, genre is rock, artist is
<your selected artist>, tracks not played in the last 2 months, etc.
Furthermore, smart playlists can be built up of other smart playlists
and regular playlists to cover different categories. Maybe you want
one set of rules that say you only want frequently played and highly
rated tracks but you want to apply them playlists that you set up for
specific artists or categories. These can also be built with limit
conditions so that the total playing time is less than 2 hours, or the
space used by a smart playlist is less than 500 MB, etc.
Just some examples. I've added a few comments to Scott's post below
(flagged with "Esther")
Cheers,
Esther
On Nov 22, 2008, at 1:10 AM, Scott Howell wrote:
Will, it's quite possible the feature you wish is already present.
Now I'll be honest and say that I must be doing something wrong
because I haven't quite gotten it to work correctly.
Esther: These rules are correct, but they apply to automatic
management of podcasts in iTunes (on your computer). They work in
combination with rules for automatic management of podcasts on your
iPod. In iTunes, you can set things up so that episodes are
automatically deleted once they have been "played". This means
"played" either in iTunes on your computer or on your iPod if you have
your iPod set up to sync content. (Syncing can only be performed
between an iPod and one iTunes account, and updates iTunes database
information on both the device and on the iTunes account on your
computer.)
So, let me explain. You can have a podcast configured so that as an
episode is completed, it can be essentially marked for deletion. So,
when you sync your iPod again, the completed podcasts episodes are
removed. How this is done is:
1. Choose the podcast you wish to configure from the list. Do not do
this from the iPod, but just from within iTunes.
2. Interact with the podcast you wish to affect. Interact with the
top-level not the individual episodes.
3. Press VO+shift+m to bring up the contextual menu.
4. locate the "Allow autodelete" and press enter.
What is confusing is if you go back and check this, you see an item
now that says do not allow autodelete, but the allow autodelete item
has gone away. My assumption is and I still have to test is that
this should configure things so that the podcasts are removed.
Esther: Correct. If you have iTunes set up to automatically download
episodes in your podcast subscription, "Allow Auto Delete" is a
setting that lets iTunes automatically manage deletion of podcasts (on
the hard drive of your Computer). For podcasts, any episode that you
manually download is flagged "Do Not Auto Delete". But this can
include episodes you grabbed for listening because they appeared
before you started your subscription or cases where an extra episode
was released between the interval of the last automatic podcast feed
check. If you use a setting like "Keep all unplayed episodes" or
"Keep last 5 episodes" to manage your podcast subscription, iTunes
will only be able to delete "played" or "old" episodes that allow auto
deletion. iTunes can't tell whether these are episodes you manually
downloaded because you specially want to keep them. So you can use the
contextual menu to mark the, "Allow Auto Delete". If you want to
allow iTunes to automatically manage deletion of all episodes in the
podcast, change this setting in the contextual menu at the folder
level so it will apply to all episodes.
What is really interesting is that you must completely finish the
podcast, in other words, advance to the end of the podcast. Other
than removing it by hand, there is no way i am aware of to just mark
it to be removed on the next sync.
Esther: For this part you are speaking about managing podcasts on the
iPod. I assume you have the box for "all unplayed episodes" checked
for the iPod podcasts. In this case, yes, "played" podcasts mean that
you actually played the last few seconds of the podcast (even if you
fast-forwarded through the center). If "played" meant "started
playing", then podcasts that you just started listening to would be
removed, and this would be extremely annoying! But there is another
way to handle this, and that would be to put the podcasts into smart
playlists that get synced. Podcasts can be handled either way: using
the conditions for general podcast syncing, or by including them in
playlists just like regular music tracks. For instance, you could
have your news program podcasts checked under the podcast tab setting.
Then you could have a podcast series that was an audiobook that is
unchecked on the podcast tab, but which you put into a smart
playlist. That smart playlist could be one of the checked playlists
to sync under the Music tab for the iPod. It would also show up on
the iPod. It's behavior would be regulated by the smart playlist rules.
HTH
Cheers,
Esther
Now if I'm incorrect in my understanding and your thinking more of a
feature that will let you mark the podcast regardless of where you
are in the episode to be removed upon next sync, then please send a
note to Apple via the iTunes feedback option under the iTunes menu
from the menu bar.
Good idea.
On Nov 22, 2008, at 3:23 AM, Will Lomas wrote:
Hi to all
I am obtaining my new nano today so excited :)
I do however, have a suggestion.
If one has loads of podcasts, it is going to be cumbersome to have
to remember what you have listened too when next syncing the nano
i.e. which ones to delete off the mac if you don't wish to hear
them. I therefore have a suggestion.
Wouldn't it be good if one could delete a podcast after listening
to it from the nano itself? then one could say when next syncing
you have x amount of podcasts marked for deletion. erase off
IPod only radio button or, IPod and mac
One could then if they wish check a checkbox to say do the selected
action each time i sync i.e. it will tell you which podcasts off
the nano are marked for deletion and then you can confirm them
automatically to be deleted
Do people think this could be a relevant feature of the nano and or
i tunes?
regards will
Scott Howell
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
