It‘s a problem that that might affect a few thousand EM readers, concerning a consumer product that no longer works as it should. I‘m talking about a device that many musicians own and love, the Apple iPod, or more specifically, the current software that serves as its computer interface, iTunes 7. If you own an older iPod and you download or subscribe to podcasts, listen up.

As far as I‘ve been able to determine, it’s impossible to view or delete podcasts on your 1st, 2nd, or 3rd generation iPod using iTunes 7. I thought Apple would certainly address the problem with last week‘s iTunes 7.0.2 update, but no dice. Podcasts simply don’t appear in iTunes when you view your iPod’s Music Library; they’re invisible. You can click on the Podcasts Library to view and delete podcasts that reside on your computer, and you can copy them to your iPod, but you can’t view or delete the Podcasts Library that resides on your iPod unless you have a more recent model.

That means there are only two ways to delete a podcast from your 1G, 2G, or 3G iPod. One is to reformat your iPod, which is unacceptable unless you have a lot of extra time on your hands. The other is to remove iTunes 7 from your computer and reinstall iTunes 6. But what if you like all the new features that were introduced in iTunes 7? Apparently, you‘re out of luck.

Hey, Apple! Early iPod adopters deserve support, too. It‘s been almost two months since iTunes 7 appeared. Could you please hurry up and fix this problem?