Some time ago I recall reading about a perceived flaw in iPod behaviour with regard to listening to podcasts. The purported issue was that when you had multiple episodes present you had to manually start the playback of each episode. That is to say it always behaved as if in a ‘single track’ mode.

I generally didn’t have a problem with this behaviour as many of the podcasts I listen to are long form and I generally don’t listen to one right after another. For the one short form podcast I frequent I used the oft-touted workaround of creating a smart playlist.

Now, as of iPhone software 2.1, those people have got their wish and it is annoying the hell out of me!!

The trouble is not just confined to the fact that when one episode finishes another begins. No, the worst part is that the play order is in reverse date order! That’s just wrong!

Please Apple, make this configurable. Preferably at the podcast level in iTunes, but a simple OFF will do.