I have the same problem with the photo album.
while I don't listen to music there are lots of problem with audio books and pod-casts.

It sounds like the ideal bug worth reporting.

If you listen to audio books you can vote for thees bugs too:
https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1129
https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=7358
this bug above if implemented - playing by folder could address your problem.
https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8530