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Playing Spotify podcasts via Sonos

  • 27 November 2020
  • 39 replies
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39 replies

C
Userlevel 6
Badge +14

Checking the Spotify thread shows no progress on this issue.   I find the Spotify resource on Sonos a real mess - reams of junk material to to scroll through to get to my content at the bottom of the page (... And still no podcasts!). 

It is possible by ways and means as this pic shows:

 

Airgetlam

This is completely under the control of Spotify, Sonos has zero input as to what Spotify makes available through the connection. 

Bruce
C
Userlevel 6
Badge +14

A bit like Facebook accepting no responsibility for what appears on their service, then? 

What criteria does Sonos apply when making a service available? 

L

Please make it so I can create a list of favorite podcasts in spotify so I can just play myt podcasts on my sonos like I play my music from spotify on sonos. My sonos speakers don’t work with airplay so I have no way to play my podcasts.

E

In case there is still some belief that this is not a Spotify problem, go here:

https://sonos-pmap.ws.sonos.com/spotify_pmap.24.xml

This is the Spotify metadata file, even if you can’t read XML, go look at the SearchCategories section, and you will see this:

Note: no Podcast entry. This is either a bug in Spotify, or a deliberate decision by them.

However, if you look at the end of the file, at the QuickSkips section, you will see that there is podcast support for jumping forward/backward 15 seconds. Curious. I am going to guess that someone accidentally deleted the podcasts entry in the SearchCategories section.

Suggest someone who wants this feature sends this post to Spotify and tell them to fix it. This is as clear a bug report as could be presented to them.

Awesome- thank you for the thorough investigation! I definitely would not have figured it out and now feel like an idiot for my original post/speculation. I think i will just add a new service to get the podcast search feature back. THANK YOU SIR!!! (Or madam)

Airgetlam

Commercial agreement implies financial compensation. To my knowledge, and according to the stockholders report, neither company pays the other any sum of money. 

All Sonos does is point their speakers to a server location provided by Spotify, and present the information handed to them by that server. Sonos provides an API ( see the Sonos partners page for more details ) that Spotify implements on their servers, so that the data sent is in the appropriate format for the speakers and controller to interpret, but the decision as to what content that server presents to Sonos is outside of the sphere of influence of Sonos, and lies solely in the control of Spotify. 

Bruce
Airgetlam

That’s actually up to Spotify, who is in control over what content appears in the Sonos controller.  I’d drop them a note. 

Bruce
Airgetlam

As far as I’m aware, it’s all detailed on the Sonos partners page, but I haven’t re-read that data in years.

My belief is that Sonos confirms that the implementation works within the Sonos application, and the server responds with data both audio and search data. But they don’t have control over what is presented by that server, since they don’t own that server. They just point the Sonos “client” to it. 

Bruce
J

Up until a month or so ago sonos speakers showed in the spotify app for podcasts and would connect. I just spent time with spotify support to get podcasts to stream on my sonos speakers. They gave me a temporary account to try and I could play podcasts from the spotify app to sonos. The solution they gave was to open a new account. This worked initially, but within an hour it was back to the same greyed out "can't play this right now" message for sonos in the spotify app. Definitely a spotify problem with their podcasts.

When the sonos speaker was greyed out again for podcasts in the spotify app I found a way to connect to sonos:

1) start by playing music to sonos

2) while the music is still playing on sonos select and start playing a podcast. 

 

 

 

B

Hi @mjstocker, thank you for your response and for providing additional information about your concern. We appreciate your feedback. As per checking, you can play podcasts on the Spotify app to your Sonos speakers. However, streaming Spotify podcasts is not yet available in the Sonos app. What I can do is to submit this as a feature request to our engineering team so they can take a look. We don’t have information to share with you but you can check our announcements for any feature releases and updates.  Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have further questions, additional feature requests, or concerns. We are always happy to help out.


Thank you for the information Rowena.  However, I am VERY SURPRISED Sonos has yet to update their software to allow Spotify podcasts to play over its system.  I too listen to a SPOTIFY-ONLY podcast, which also happens to be the most listened to podcast on the internet.  Surprised Sonos has not made it a priority to update its system to allow this basic capability. 

C
Userlevel 6
Badge +14

Interesting read.  I couldn't find any reference to content.  Looks like someone could set up a service just replaying  speeches and anthems from the Third Reich and Sonos would be agnostic to the content. 

B

Just because BBC doesn’t technically allow it doesn’t mean that Spotify doesn’t - it could easily be lazy development from Sonos. Hopefully they will be transparent and tell us what the holdup is.

Airgetlam

I’d assume someone could, although I’m not sure Sonos would choose to carry it….
 

But the key is, with the rare exception of some Sonos Radio content, none of the data being streamed is held on Sonos servers, so Sonos has no ability to control what data is being fed. All the system does is point to content on other people’s servers. 

Bruce
J

Spotify’s inaction to fix issues with Sonos could be influenced by their attempt of getting into the connected speaker market. I highly doubt they will convert many Sonos users with their attempt at speakers. A physical button on a smart speaker is hardly a ground breaking technological development, I disable the buttons on all of the Sonos speakers since the app is more practical. 

https://www.tellerreport.com/tech/2021-10-20-ikea-develops-the-first-connected-speaker-with-the-spotify-tap-button.SypfN3pSK.html

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