IPod shuffle and podcasts

I learned something about my IPod Shuffle. I have been downloading podcasts, mostly music, from Idolator and enjoying them in ITunes. I've been copying them to my IPod Shuffle so I could add the podcasts to the mix while I run.

But, the shuffle never selected them for playing. I suspected something about the random play selection algorithm, but was only half-right. Turns out that podcasts on the shuffle are only played when the mode is "play in order". Won't play them when mode is "random". Since these podcasts are mostly short songs, that wasn't the behavior I wanted.

Solution: In the ITunes Library, I edited each podcast's metadata - changing the genre from podcast to something else appropriate for the song. After a little testing, it looks like random shuffle behavior picks them up.

Interestingly, I did not find this workaround via a google search.