Non-existant files.

Thanks so much for getting in touch.

TuneSpan is loading these podcasts because they still exist in the "iTunes Library.xml" file that TuneSpan loads. So, they still exist in the iTunes Database one way or another. That's where they need to be removed from.

To find these track listings in iTunes easily, to remove them, you can select the listing in TuneSpan and right-click the track and select the "Reveal in iTunes" menu item.

That should select the podcast listing in iTunes, and you can delete the track references from there.

After you've deleted all of the non-existant podcasts from iTunes, reload TuneSpan and the references should be gone from TuneSpan as well.

If that doesn't work for some reason, or revealing the podcasts in iTunes doesn't show anything, these listings may be an artifact that need to be dealt with in a different way.

But, I would bet the podcasts listings are still in iTunes. Deleting the files from the Finder doesn't remove listings from iTunes.

Thanks for that, had tried the show in iTunes option, but nothing is revealed and the files are definitely not there, what is the 'different way' that you mentioned?

Thanks for assistance.

Alright, so that means that the listings are just artifacts that may just exist in the XML iTunes Library file that TuneSpan loads.

You can trash this XML file and iTunes will recreate it automatically. Hopefully when iTunes recreates the file, these track relics will be gone.

So, locate your XML iTunes Library file. If you iTunes Library is in the default location, the XML file will be located at "~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Library.xml" (~ is your home folder).

The file could be called either "iTunes Library.xml" or "iTunes Music Library.xml".

Make sure to ONLY trash the XML file, do not touch any other files in that iTunes folder. This XML file is the only one that is disposable and will be recreated by iTunes.

So, quit TuneSpan and iTunes.

Trash this XML iTunes Library file.

Relaunch iTunes, play a track, or Get Info on a track (which should provoke iTunes to recreate the XML file), then quit iTunes to make sure the new XML file is created.

Wait a moment and make sure you see a new XML file in that iTunes folder.

Then, relaunch TuneSpan and see if these podcasts are still listed.

Hopefully the old listings should be gone, but if not, let me know.

Thanks for the quick reply, tried that, again no joy, very bizarre!!

Hmmm, that's odd.

Well, the listings have to exist in that XML file or else they wouldn't appear in TuneSpan.

Since the XML file has been recreated that means that the references to these Podcasts still exist in the real iTunes Library in one way or another.

Even though the "Reveal in iTunes" didn't work, have you tried searching for these podcasts in iTunes through the search, or through browsing all the different available Podcasts views in iTunes.

Could you send me some screenshots of these Podcasts in TuneSpan as well as the Podcasts listing in iTunes? You could post them here, or send them to me directly at "pico {at} randomapplications {dot} com", of you can just use the Contact Developer item in the TuneSpan Help Menu.

Also, I would be curious to take a look at your "iTunes Library.xml" file if you wouldn't mind sending that as well. I'm curious if these podcasts are listed in any different kind of way in that file.

After talking with Dale over email, we found that this issue was caused by some glitch in iTunes itself.

But, we were able to access and delete these stray Podcasts references through a simple custom AppleScript.

Dear Developer,

I am having the EXACT same issue as Dale had... can you please share with me what simple custom AppleScript you used to fix this? I bought your software through the Apple Store at the beginning of the year and LOVE IT! It is working perfectly for me... other than the 9 podcasts files that won't remove themselves from the XML file even though they aren't in iTunes.

Thanks in advance.

Glad to hear that TuneSpan is working well for you :-)

Is it every Podcast in your library, or do you have other Podcasts you would like to save?

I'd rather not post the AppleScript on here as it will delete every Podcast in a Library, and I would hate it if someone accidentally ran it who had Podcasts they wanted to save.

So, please email me at http://contact.tunespan.com or through one of the links in TuneSpan so I can send you the script.

If you have other Podcasts in your Library that you want to save, we'll need to edit the script, but it won't be too hard to do that.

Mr. Mitchell,

If I were to email you at your contact address, would I also be able to get a copy of the AppleScript as well? I have only recently had this issue (with 4 sets of podcasts-each having just a few to over 30 episodes in them) that just will not remove themselves from the TuneSpan podcast listings even though they were physically deleted off the drive about a month ago. I have all the podcast shows that I want to keep copied and backed up to an external drive (there's only 20 episodes now ;) so I can just run the script and remove everything from the library and then just use the add to library option in iTunes to add back in the ones I want to keep. Then I'll span them as I would if they were freshly downloaded so they are copied to the correct location on my external RAID array.

Thank you for your time and for all the great work you've done on TuneSpan - I have 2 RAID arrays that are 9TB each that I use to store all my iTunes media and without TuneSpan, I wouldn't be able to have everything available via Home Sharing with my AppleTV units and several other Apple devices in the house.

Peach