I have 147 or so podcast episodes in my backlog. I tend to binge several episodes of the same podcast at once, even MPU. Should I record the episodes I want to listen to in Omnifocus or Drafts to then redownload? I struggle too with some podcasts that can be over 2 hours long which is tougher to carve out time for.
I keep all my podcasts in Pocket Casts, which sync to my Pocketcasts web account streamer. PC has Mac/iOS/Web/Android/Windows apps, and recently got bought out by a consortium including NPR. So itās not going anywhere, and it is regularly updated. And unlike some players it plays video podcasts.
Never thought Iād need to move my podcasts anywhere.
I listen to what interests me, and if somethingās been in the queue for too long I make the decision that itās loo uninteresting or too long for my time, and I delete.
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I try not to have a podcast backlog. 
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About 10 days after a podcast episode has been released, I will force myself to make a decision: I will either listen to the episode or I will delete the episode.
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When I catch myself being subscribed to a podcast without having listened to an episode for more than 3 to 4 weeks, I will unsubscribe.
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I use smart playlists to have my absolute favorites conveniently available preventing me from ādrowningā in all those recently released episodes.
Doing it that way I end up having about 7 to 12 episodes to listen to.
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I have smart playlists set-up in Overcast so that my Podcasts are grouped and then placed in order of listening preferenceā¦for example, if Iām in the mood for a Sport Podcast then I go to that playlist and my sports podcasts are lined up in order of preference (also in preferred orderā¦some podcasts I always want to consider listening to the ālatestā episode first, but then maybe Iāll pass at that moment in time and dip into an older one with more interesting subject matter. OR if they are episodic then I always want the oldest episode to be queued up first.)
I also have a āPriorityā playlist which I always go to first, this is for Podcasts that pop up in my feed that I want to listen to at the very next opportunity I listen to a Podcast. I always enjoy MPU+ episodes, so Iāll place that in my priority playlist immediately, whereas some of the workflow episodes I need to be in the mood for.
Finally, if a set amount of months pass without you listening to a particular Podcast episode (or a Podcast at all!) then I would recommend removing them from your Podcast providerā¦if I find a Podcast is bottom of my listening list for say, 6 months, Iām unlikely to ever get to it!
I also number each of my smart playlists in order of preference so my most commonly listened to subjects are near the top of my playlistsā¦1) Priority, 2) Sport 3) Apple etc
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I have a playlist set up in Overcast that I manage manually. I add new episodes to the list and order it based on my sense of priority/what I want to listen to right now (MPU always goes to the top!)
Unlike @Christian I actively try to maintain a backlog so when I have a long trip Iāll have something to listen to. Iāll be driving 1800 miles in the next week and a half, so Iām really glad to have a bunch of episodes (including all of this yearās Relay Members Only episodes) to enjoy.
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I tend to get stressed if my backlog of podcasts is more than about 15 (thatās just me; I keep my inbox under 5 emails too).
If it gets long, I delete podcasts Iām less interested in (I can always go back if I want to, but I never will because the backlog is so big).
I also delete things that I might not want to listen to as soon as they appear in my feed, such as an NPR Ted talk that sounds less interesting. Another one I listen to is fun, but if my backlog is over 10 I tend to delete as itās not that good.
If it keeps getting too long, I tend to stop something downloading automatically.
When a holiday comes along, I look at my list of subscribed podcasts that donāt download automatically and download a few to boost my lists.
I have Overcast set to keep the latest five episodes. I also tend to binge listen, but five is usually enough. If I listened to all five Iāll look if thereās more. But usually those podcasts that are really important to me donāt add up to more than five. With the others I donāt mind missing some episodes and if Iām really in the mood to binge away more than those five Iāll just add āsome moreā of it.
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Went through and deleted some so down from 147 to 76 which is better. More doable!
Same here (and I also use Pocket Casts). I donāt feel guilty deleting some podcasts whose subject matter may be quickly out-of-date or donāt interest me (sorry MPU). As for video podcasts, Consumer Reports video podcasts are nice to view with the Apple TV.
And they make them available as audio podcasts as well, which I find especially convenient. If thereās something on their car podcast I want to watch I think I usually find the video version on Youtube, by the way.
I have 178 unlistened-to podcast episodes in Overcast currently. Hereās how I manage them:
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Occasionally Iāll get an episode that I want to listen to sooner rather than later, because itās timely or the subject is interesting to me. I bump those to the top of the queue manually.
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I have several podcast series where Iām catching up on all back episodes. I exclude the podcast series from my main podcast queue (which is called, imaginatively enough, āmain.ā) I add one episode at a time when Iām ready to listen to a new one.
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Sometimes I delete episodes where they just donāt look interesting.
Other than that, I listen to episodes when they come in. Today and tomorrow Iāll be listening to podcasts that came in Sunday and Monday (I already listened to Sundayās MPU). After that Iāll return to the main queue; Iām almost a month behind on those. And Iām not worried about it. Iāll get to episodes when I get to them; if I miss something I donāt really care all that much.
I currently have a backlog of 338, my solution was to teach myself to listen to most shows at 3x speed with silence reduction, and I rip through them covering 20 ~ ish hours every day with my commute.
I bounce around and listen to timely stuff first and more evergreen shows later, e.g I will listen to something like upgrade the day it comes out and hardcore history when I get to it.
I tried Castro for a while and for some time really liked their triage approach. But after about three month my queue got so long that the whole system didnāt make sense anymore.
I was in the backlog boat until January of this year. I took part in Cal Newportās Digital Declutter experiment (http://calnewport.com/blog/2018/03/28/on-analog-social-media/). I gave up all podcasts for January (in addition to a lot of other social media), and then in February only added back those that I most missed. Probably cut the # of podcasts in half. Now I have few enough that I can listen to them at a faster rate than they come out (and have audiobooks to make up any difference). While it probably isnāt worth dropping them all for a month, pruning the list certainly helped me decide what was important.
Iām starting to get this. I only really listen to 3 podcasts, Free Agents, MPU and one on phto organizing. I generally prefer written rather than spoken stuff and so even listening to podcasts is a hard thing for me. I donāt have music playing when Iām inside and I donāt ever listen to audio books either. What Iāve done is put a recurring project in OF to listen to the podcasts I want to follow but if I get 2 episodes behind I just forget the oldest ones. I figure for the free agents and mpu one Iāll get most of the useful stuff ehre and for the photo organizing one I can always go back if a particular podcast is suddenly relevant for a paticular procedure I am working on.
What is the photo organising one?
Be selective about Podcasts you want to hear. Letās take MPU as an example: #445: HomeKit Intensive - I donāt use HomeKit, so no reason to hear it. #448: iOS 12 and the September 12th Event - well, the event is over, Iāve read all the news already so it would be a waste of time. Or ATP - not all shows will have interesting themes for you. Since the themes are described, it is pretty easy to skip them. Castro has a good GTD-like approach on podcasts: there is an Inbox, where all shows land, and you have to inspect them and decide which will land on you actual playlist.
Some podcasts are basically timeless - I will be very sad when my backlog on In Our Time podcast is done. No reason to be unhappy about it.
FWIW, MPUās HomeKit Intensive podcast is next in my queue. I plan to listen to the first few minutes for the Katie & David conversational bits and announcements, and then delete it when they get to the HomeKit parts.
I donāt get home automation. If I want to turn on a light, I get up and turn on the lights. If itās too much work getting up, I put a lamp next to the chair.
On iOS12, yeah, Iād read the news but I like MPUās take on big announcements.
Same here with homekit. Thereās nothing ever that I find useful.
Short and simple topics. Focused on scrapbookers. Has some useful tips. A beginner podcast but I still find it useful.