Management of podcasts in iTunes

I’ve been frustrated with the synchronization capabilities between iTunes and my iPod. Specifically, I’d like to:

1. Group podcasts by an arbitrary categorization that I choose
2. Order the podcasts in each category by the release date
3. Not include podcasts that have been played

While synchronizing from the built-in iTunes Podcasts directory/location doesn’t seem to provide this capability, at least that I can tell, it is possible to do this using Smart Playlists.

Here’s an example of what I’ve done.

1. I created a folder in iTunes for each Podcast categorization, e.g. one of the is named Ruby Podcasts
2. In the folder I added a Smart Playlist for each podcast related to Ruby and Rails development from my Podcast subscriptions and named the folder Ruby Podcasts. As an example, I chose File > New Smart Playlist and entered:
• Genre is Podcast
• Album is Rails Envy Podcast
• Play Count is 0
3. I created a Smart Playlist like this for each podcast that I felt belonged in the Ruby Podcasts folder.
4. I created another Smart Playlist in the same folder named All Ruby Podcasts. For each smart playlist in the folder which I wanted to add to this aggregate playlist, I selected: Playlist is , e.g.
• Playlist is Learning Rails
• Playlist is Rails Envy
• Playlist is Railscasts
• Playlist is Ruby on Rails Podcast
• etc.
5. I also chose to Limit to 10 items selected by most recently added in order to limit the number of items added to my iPod. I have a little iPod Nano and lots of podcasts and audiobooks on which to catch up in addition to music I keep around, but don’t listen nearly to enough.
6. Finally, I ordered the All playlist by Release Date so that the podcasts show up in the order of most recently created in both iTunes and on my iPod. I may change this so that when listening to podcasts that should be heard as a series they are by default in the correct order. For example part 1 of 2 of a series would be heard by default before 2 of 2.
   

I’ve created multiple such folders for each type of Podcast I’m regularly interested in, e.g. .NET Podcasts, Mac Development Podcasts, Ruby Podcasts, General Software Engineering Podcasts, etc.

Have an alternative way of organizing your podcasts? I’d like to hear about it.