gtkpod for Podcasts

I found this weird thing with gtkpod (gtkpod-aac as well), that it cannot properly transfer the podcasts in (mp4 format) to my iPod. It shows it transfered but I cannot see it in my iPod. I also tried to get hpodder to work, but it didn't. Why are certain things in Linux so complicated while they should be simpler. I know we keep blaming the h/w vendors for not releasing the specs so that we can build software to work with it, but it seems there are a lot of apps which support iPod connectivity including podcasts. I may have to go the Rockbox way, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but I am not comfortable keep switching my iPod software to make things work.