Reader John Keith would like to hear podcast episodes in their order of creation. He writes:
I wear my iPod classic in my hatband on my hikes and it’s a hassle to have to remove and reset it for each podcast. iTunes includes no preference setting to play a folder of them in chronological order. It’s by default “Last In, First Out”, which is not helpful for any educational series which typically builds on past episodes. Is there a way to force an iPod to play episodes from oldest to newest?
Nothing I like better than starting off a new week with a short answer. And that short answer is Yes.
Navigate to your podcasts, select the podcast show you want to listen to (not an episode of the show but rather the entry for the show in the Podcasts screen) and press Play. The episodes of that show will play in chronological order—starting with the oldest first. When the episode finishes, the next in chronological order will play. (With iOS devices this isn’t an issue as podcast episodes appear in oldest-to-newest order by default.)
Bonus tip because this one is so short: All of you with click-wheel iPods understand that you can directly return to the Home screen by pressing and holding the Menu button, right? No need to click Menu multiple times to navigate back up the iPod’s hierarchy. Just press and hold.