Re-downloading accidentally deleted podcasts in iTunes

Solution 1:

Select and delete the individual podcasts that you know are not there. Then right mouse click on the podcast and select "Show all available episodes". You should be presented with a refreshed list of all the individual podcasts that are available.

For StackOverflow, they are at episode 70 right now, but the available episodes go back to episode 41. That will vary by podcast feed though.

Solution 2:

If it's not in the feed, it's not in the iTunes Store (iTS). According to the publisher guidelines on apple.com: Making a Podcast:

When you submit your podcast, you are notifying iTS that you have a podcast feed that is located in a particular location (the feed URL). If your feed is accepted, iTS simply reads your feed each day and updates the podcast directory with any new or changed information about your podcast. Note that iTS does not cache or make a copy of your feed, nor does it cache or make a copy of your episode files. For podcasts, iTS is acting in a capacity similar to a web directory.

So there's no hidden stored version of the RSS Podcast feed and files in iTunes.

If the podcast you're looking for has a website, you will be stuck manually downloading them, and unfortunately it's likely that when you add them they won't get added to iTunes' "Podcast" category.

I hope there's a workaround, but from my own experience with podcasts and iTunes, it's a no go.

Solution 3:

Unsubscribe, then resubscribe to the podcast.

Solution 4:

Delete the podcast that you want to get back. Right click, Show All Available Episodes and it will absolutely be there. I tried it and it worked.