Listening to Podcasts in Android?

  I've started walking for exercise, which I expect to do through the winter (if it ever arrives) so that means I've been listening to podcasts again. I don't listen when I'm riding the bike, it doesn't seem safe to me, even though lots of riders do.
  Anyway, I've been using my Nexus/S and the built-in Music app to listen to the podcasts. Synching on Android is, theoretically, easy. You just plug it in with a USB cable, and copy files onto the memory card. There's lots of room, and usuallly it seems to find some of the podcasts you put there. Until recently, when I haven't been able to get it to find any of the stuff I've put on it. For a while rebooting the phone would help, but now even after a reboot it can't find the new podcasts. I'm stuck listening to the same old ones over and over. Or I walk in silence. Which ain't so bad. But I'd like to get some educating while walking. :-)
  So my questions are thus:
  1. Do you use Android to listen to podcasts?
  2. If so, have you seen this behavior?
  3. Found a workaround?
  4. Should I be using some other software?
  5. Should I forget about listening to podcasts on Android?
  Update: Based on the first comments, it appears this bug either hasn't surfaced for others, or there's no workaround. All I'm getting is recommendations for software that gets the podcasts themselves, or work with Google Reader. To be very clear -- I want to use it the way I describe it. I have a podcatcher that's finding the content for me. I don't want to configure another app. For me, that would be totallly ridiculous extra work. I'd rather get a new device that isn't so broken, if that's what's actually going on here.