So, I noticed the following and can reproduce it – at least sometimes:
I drag a new podcast episode into a static playlist in iTunes and start playback before going to bed. Should fall asleep too suddenly to stop the playback, the episode will have been played a couple of times when I wake up the next morning.
When I connect my iPhone with my Mac in order for it to sync with iTunes, said podcast episode will be synced to the iPhone – even though the podcast episode should have definitely been marked as “played” by then.
OK, at least the iPod app on my iPhone starts playback of that episode right were I stopped it on my Mac before syncing.
So far, so good – all’s well.
But should I decide not to listen to that episode on my iPhone and re-sync iPhone and iTunes when I get back home, said episode will be marked as entirely new in iTunes – and playback will start right from start…
This doesn’t happen always and I couldn’t figure out a scheme for this behaviour yet. Anyone else noticing something like this?