Re-download podcasts in iTunes without subscribing again

For whatever reason, occasionally a podcast download in iTunes stops part-way; leaving you stuck with a partial file. iTunes merrily tells you that it has the entire download, though when an entire episode of Diggnation comes in at a whopping 2min 11secs you have to wonder.

There's no obvious way (at least on the Windows version) to get iTunes to re-download the file. An anonymous poster to MacOSXHints found the solution (short of unsubscribing/resubscribing, which is annoying at best):

In the 'Podcasts' section of iTunes, click the arrow to expand the episode listing of the podcast in question. Select and delete (Windows: Delete button | Mac: Backspace key) the offending episode. If prompted to relegate your partial file to the trash, do so. You won't be needing it again.

Click the arrow again to close the listing.


Now, this is the crucial part. Hold down the Shift | Option button whilst clicking the arrow to expand the listing. This will force an update of the podcast, and the formerly deleted entry will reappear with a shiny new Get button beside it. Simply re-download the episode, kick back and enjoy.