@Nate,
It might be some or all of the following:
1) that I’ve only subscribed to podcast feeds that are offered directly from Zune Marketplace.
2) that I’ve never had an iPod, so don’t really know how good it can be (I have experienced some annoying Zune automatic behavior, but overall it’s been an great improvement over drag-and-drop loading of podcasts on cheap players).
3) that I’ve just been lucky.

The Zune would be perfect if it could:

A. Support .avi files.
B. Work as an external hard drive.
C. Connect to the internet.

*Goes to download the update expecting to be disappointed.*

@ Joe T.

In theory it’s a great idea, and if it worked as advertised, I’d love it.

However, in my experience, it doesn’t, and I’m not alone in this. The Zune Marketplace simply doesn’t do a good job of reliably downloading, loading, and deleting podcasts. There are loads of people on ZuneScene who have the same problems that I did.

The last software update was supposed to fix these bugs, and they did to a degree. They haven’t perfected it, though. iTunes handles podcasts flawlessly. I don’t have to maintain it at all.

Believe me. I want to like the Zune, and I do love the hardware. It’s just experiencing some growing pains that I’m not willing to live with.

This sounds wonderful. Except that it still doesn’t address the Zune’s serious issues with handling podcasts.

I guess that I’m in such a minority that the issue is statistically insignificant.

@Nate: Odd individual differences: you don’t like the Zune’s podcast management and I love it. For me, it’s all automatic: podcasts removed from the player after you’ve listened, new one(s) added. No attention required. All podcasts resume properly, so no problem hopping between podcasts. Enough manual control when you need it. You must have different listening requirements.

I loved my Zune, but there was one thing that I just couldn’t get past. It’s podcast management is terrible. For me, it was bad enough to push me back into using an iPod.

I wonder if this update addresses Zune’s podcasting bugs.