Podcast Problems and New Terminology

[Grimmer]

1) The new update of iTunes (7.4.2) is not detecting which podcasts have been played on my iPhone (or my old Nano), and thus does not remove them from the player when I listen and then sync. This has never been the case before (2+ years). Has anyone else noticed this or fixed it?

2) What is the difference between a "new epsode" and an "unplayed episode?" Both are options as to which podcasts to sync to the iPhone. For example, in the same menu, I have the option of the "1 most recent new" episode OR the "1 most recent unplayed" to sync for each podcast. What????

3) Given that I have 60+ podcasts, the easiest way to make a playlist of unlistened podcasts is to sync the unplayed episodes to the iPod, then view the "browser" of podcasts on the iPhone, and finally drag "all" artists into a playlist on the iPod. This is not possible for the iPhone. So from iTunes, how can I make a playlist of all of my unlistened podcast episodes for the iPhone? Do I have to have iTunes set to delete all "played" episodes from the library? This seems ridiculous. Any ideas?

Thanks.
- Grimmer