Are you a news and information junkie? If you’re anything like me, you probably have a large number of podcast and newsletter subscriptions cluttering up your Inbox and choking your iTunes library. In fact, I have so many that I don’t have time to read/listen to them all, and every now and then I panic and think about dumping everything.
If this has crossed your mind as well, don’t be hasty! Trying to remembering which podcasts you’ve already heard is so unnecessary (and no I’m not talking about using the native check boxes). One simple way to keep your them all manageable is to create a smart playlist.
- Create your playlist by going to File > New Smart Playlist. In the first drop-down of the dialog that pops up, select Podcast. Leave the second drop-down set to is true.
- Click the plus (+) symbol to add another set of criteria for your list. This time, select Playcount from the first drop-down. The second and third boxes should be set to is and 0 by default.
That’s it! You’ve just created a list of podcasts that will only display the latest episodes which you haven’t heard all the way through. If you want to take it a step further, you can even limit how many podcasts the smart list will keep, and select the way in which they are displayed (name, most recent, etc.). Once you’ve listened to the cast from start to finish, your smart playlist will automatically chuck the episode. Easy breezy japanesey.