this will show you how to make Itunes smart playlists for podcasts and music so you can have every episode of certain podcasts, and the latest episodes of the others. Its also good for music – eg songs you have never played, songs you havent played in the last 6 months, etc.

• open itunes
• make a new playlist folder (i called mine iphone)
• make a new smart playlist inside the folder you just made
• select media kind
• select podcast
• hit the +

now you have lots of options. if your podcaster fills out the artist info the same for each episode, then use that, eg

• artist is nasa

you might have to play around to get the right options to get your specific podcast.

• hit limit to 25 episodes, or whatever you want
• also, select order by latest

make one smart playlist for each podcast you want to have lots of episodes of.

under the podcast sync tab

• select ‘all unplayed’ or 3 most recent unplayed, or 3 most recent new

this way you will have every episode of your selected podcast, and only the 3 most recent (or whatever you selected) of the others. and they are automaticly updated every time you get new podcasts

I also made a couple of music related smart playlists

• media kind is music
• playcount is 0
• limit 25
• order by album

• media kind is music
• playcount is 0
• limit 25
• order by artist

• media kind is music
• playcount is 0
• limit 25
• order by artist

• media kind is music
• lastplay is not in the last 6 months
• playcount is greater than 10
• limit 25
• order by random

I also added a couple of static playlists with albums I like having at all times and made sure I synced them to my iphone. that way I always have new music, tracks I have never listened to, tracks I havent listened to in a long time and the music I listen to all the time, and I always have new podcasts, and podcasts I like listening to a lot (like the jund dubstep podcast =)

the good thing about these playlists is that every time you listen to music on your iphone or your mac the playlists change =)

Sources: Apple Support