I've noticed in the last two published releases (including 12.0.301) that my play counts are not getting synced back to MC from my iPod. This is presenting a problem for me as I use the playcounts to identify which podcasts are unplayed so that my magic smartlist can sync only the unplayed podcasts to my Nano.
Here's what I'm seeing:
1. Sync iPod.
2. Play podcasts. Play some to the end; fast-forward to the end of others to ensure that the playcount is incremented.
3. Re-sync.
When I check my podcasts, the playcounts haven't been incremented. I've also tried leaving a podcast partially played while finishing others. None of them are getting marked as played. Adding a wrinkle to this, about 1 out of 3 times, everything is getting marked correctly. This behavior didn't show up until about two weeks ago, beginning in build 12.0.294.