Podcast Playback

April 6, 2009 3:27 PM

How can I get podcasts in my iTunes to play continuously from one podcast to the next?

Some podcasts are only two minutes and it's so annoying to have to go back and click the next track every time. Even when I put them in their own new playlist, they still stop at the end of the podcast.

How can I get them to act like normal audio tracks in general?

posted by Jenna Roadman to computers & internet (10 answers total)

They shouldn't stop if they're in a playlist. After creating the playlist, make sure you're playing the file FROM the playlist, and not from the "Podcasts" section.
posted by kidbritish at 3:31 PM on April 6, 2009

Seconding the playlist suggestion. I made a smart playlist of podcasts with a play count of 0, that way I have an "unlistened to" list that automagically updates itself.
posted by blue_beetle at 3:40 PM on April 6, 2009

I had trouble with playing podcasts continuously on my nano (3g) -- even with playlists -- until I happened one day to start playing the list from newest to oldest. It can sometimes be annoying but it works.
posted by Dick Paris at 4:12 PM on April 6, 2009

Try the free script Join Together.
Select the podcasts, launch the script from the menu bar and it will join them together as audiobooks with each episode a chapter. The resulting file can also be bookmarkable and will resume where you left off so you don't have to search for the right episode when you come back to it after other listening. It's a bit disk/processor intensive, so I'd limit your audiobooks to less than an hour long.
posted by bonobothegreat at 4:14 PM on April 6, 2009

Seconding blue_beetle's method. Works beautifully for me, and I have it set up to sync to my iPod for on-the-go listening as well.
posted by mykescipark at 4:26 PM on April 6, 2009

The only thing that I don't like about the smart playlist idea is that iTunes marks a podcast as "listened to" if you listen to any portion of it, unlike songs that have to played through the end. Some of my podcasts are as long as two hours, and if I listen to a bit, then move onto something else, it will drop off the smart playlist preventing from coming back to it via the playlist.

Still a good idea. I third or fourth that the podcasts should definitely play one after another if they are in a playlist. I've done this a million times.
posted by crapples at 5:00 PM on April 6, 2009

Make sure shuffle songs isn't on. If it is, even podcasts in a playlist will stop after a podcast is over.
posted by itesser at 5:16 PM on April 6, 2009

1. Create playlist
2. Arrange podcasts in desired listening order
3. Right-click playlist name, select "Copy to play order"
4. Select all the items in the playlist (select one and Option A) and do "Get Info" (Option I)
5. Select "Options" tab and ensure that "Remember Position" is set to Yes.
6. Enjoy uninterrupted podcast goodness.
posted by MiamiDave at 5:51 PM on April 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

I went a step further than blue beetle - I have a short podcast list (under 10 min) and a long podcast list (>40 min) and all sorts of variants.
posted by filmgeek at 6:04 PM on April 6, 2009

I use variants of blue_beetle and filmgeek's technique as well, but for my (anally retentive) tastes the playlist I use the most is hand crafted because I like to control the mixture of lengths, genres and producers of the podcasts.
posted by mmascolino at 6:21 PM on April 6, 2009