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mjstocker
Contributor II
November 27, 2020
Answered

Playing Spotify podcasts via Sonos

  • November 27, 2020
  • 39 replies
  • 24786 views

A podcast I have listened to on Stitcher via Sonos for some time has just moved to be on Spotify only. Now searching via Sonos app for this does not find the podcast. When I search in Spotify app, it is there and I can play on my iPhone but when I try to switch playback to Sonos device, get error message for all Sonos devices “can’t play this right now”. This seems to affect only podcasts rather than playlist or artist searches. Am I correct in assuming that Spotify podcasts can be played via Sonos ? This seems odd if true. Any ideas welcome. Thanks

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    Best answer by controlav

    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.

    39 replies

    Rowena B.
    Rowena B.
    Retired Sonos Staff
    November 28, 2020

    Hi @mjstocker, thank you for reaching out to the Sonos community. We appreciate you for bringing this concern, let me help you out on this.

    Upon checking, you can add Stitcher music service in the Sonos app. You may check-in other music services in the Sonos app if the station is available.

    1. Tune-In
    2. Global Player
    3. Radio.com
    4. Radio.net
    5. Radioplayer
    6. Absolute Radio 

    You can also try to add the streaming URL in the Sonos app. First, you need to contact the station you wish to add directly is often the easiest way of finding the Streaming URL. Just make sure the stream is of one of the compatible formats; MP3, AAC, or WMA.

    Using the Sonos App for iOS or Android:

    • From the Browse tab, select Radio by TuneIn
    • Tap My Radio Stations
    • Tap the three dots in the top right and tap Add New Radio Station
    • Enter the Streaming URL and Station Name and tap OK

    Let us know how it goes and reach back to us if you have any other questions. We'll wait for your reply.

    Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question.
    mjstockerAuthor
    Contributor II
    November 30, 2020

    Hi Rowena

    Thanks for your reply. The specific issue is that the podcast I want to listen to is ONLY available on Spotify (previously was available via Stitcher) and Sonos app (on iPhone and laptop) does not find this via search. However, if I use Spotify app search, I can find the podcast and play it on iPhone. Then if I try to switch playback to Sonos (which works fine for music tracks), then all Sonos devices greyed out with message “Can’t play this right now”. I can access other podcasts fine. This makes me think that Sonos does NOT support playback of Spotify podcasts - is this correct or is this a different issue ? Thanks

      Rowena B.
      Rowena B.
      Retired Sonos Staff
      December 1, 2020

      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.

      Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question.
        mjstockerAuthor
        Contributor II
        December 2, 2020

        Rowena, thanks. This would be a very good feature enhancement and suspect many other users would be interested in this capability.

          Pete314
          Pete314
          Contributor II
          December 26, 2020

          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.

           

          I’m trying to add a spotify podcast right now but its not working.  Based on this comment, there’s a workaround by using the spotify app instead of the sonos app?  Seems like this should be something that just works in sonos.

           

            Airgetlam
            Airgetlam
            December 26, 2020

            I agree. Unfortunately, it has to happen on the Spotify side of things, Sonos has no ability to change what Spotify’s servers expose to the Sonos connection/controller. All Sonos can do is point their service at the server location provided by Spotify, and show you what that server  responds with. 

            Bruce
              sgraham
              Contributor I
              January 2, 2021

              Or perhaps SONOS should update their commercial agreement with Spotify to include Podcasts. Spotify podcasts not being available on SONOS except via Spotify app, sounds like a commercial decision, not a technical one.

                Airgetlam
                Airgetlam
                January 2, 2021

                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
                Knulpuk
                Lyricist I
                January 6, 2021

                Very similar issue with not being able to play podcasts out of spotify through Sonos.  I found by using Pocket Casts (free on IOS) I could star individual podcasts or subscribe a full series, then link link the Pocket Cast service playback though Sonos direct removing spotify from the equation.

                I could then play direct through Sonos. Appreciate if Spotify is the only place it is available this will not help but Pocket Casts is pretty comprehensive (in this case it had the podcasts which were not available on Sticher).

                Knulpuk

                  tjt
                  Collaborator I
                  January 12, 2021

                  I just discussed a similar issue here with playing BBC Podcasts on Sonos from Spotify using the Spotify App.

                  If you look at my post it also links through to what Spotify had to say about it.

                   

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