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Podcasts still not working (10 months known bug) seems to be worse now

T
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Hi guys,

I'm still waiting for this fix and want to raise the question again to highlight as it's 1p months in with no fix. One of the previous questions was marked answered incorrectly (

)

The issue is as follows:

Podcasts that are partially played will not play.

This even efects podcasts you start to play in Sonos, but if you pause then try to play again latert hey will break.

All fixes have been attempted from troubleshooting including supported by sonos customer services, I've even reset everything at my end to factory and uninstalled app data/reinstalled all apps etc.

It seems Sonos retains playback state somewhere remotely, all my previously played tracks are showing part played and so will not play at all. In effect I can no longer listen to these podcast episodes and I have no way to reset them to play from start.

Seems an easy bug fix would be to add a 'play from start' option?

If anyone else has another idea on how to make podcasts work please let me know (p.s. I can't use airplay).

 

Thanks

 

Frank

 

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Best answer by James L. 2 August 2021, 10:51

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17 replies

James L.
Badge +17

Hi @talk2frank,

 

Thanks for reaching out. I’ve checked with our engineers and can confirm that we’re continuing to work with Pocketcasts on this issue. We’re unable to reproduce this ourselves, so it would be helpful if you’re able to submit a system diagnostic after the next time you run into this issue. This will assist the teams in narrowing down what’s causing this playback failure for affected users.

Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
T
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Thanks James, I have submitted around 20 diagnostic reports over the months this issue has been ongoing, as have many others whom have the same issue. Engineers have advised me they are able to reproduce the issue themselves, are aware of the issue, and are 'working on it'. I just don't see how it is taking nearly a year to repair a fairly small bug. Hopefully this will be resolved shortly but I'm starting to feel that Sonos aren't 'working on it'

T
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Not sure why my question is now marked as answered when I still have the problem and there is no solution? 

Corry P
Userlevel 7
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Hi @talk2frank 

Once a topic has not been replied to in a while, we are required to mark a Best Answer if the Original Poster has not done so. At present, James’ reply is the best answer that can be given to your query, though I appreciate that it’s not a solution to the problem you’re having. For others experiencing the problem and researching it, however, they can easily find the best response so far.

Having said that, James should have mentioned to get in touch with our technical support team after submitting the diagnostic - this will allow the information your system provides to be flagged up on the issue-tracking software for our engineers. It seems you have already done this, and I’m not asking you to do so again - again, it’s general advice for readers, rather than for yourself.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
P

I am having the same issues. Its not the first time I might add.

I have updated controller etc.

The previous issues miraculously resolved them selves without any rhyme or reason. This time issue has been running for days.

I have sent diagnostics to Sonos.

I rely on my Sonos system to play podcast radio on Tunein more than anything else.

I’m just about to chuck the whole Sonos thing in the bin.

To add insult to injury, I have just discovered I cant even update the Sonos software to the latest, as one of my speakers is too old and it wont work with it.

This is rubbish!

Cant even get a solid contact at Sonos to give technical support.

I cant believe the technicians are still working on the issue and have not resolved it.

 

Ken_Griffiths

I am having the same issues. Its not the first time I might add.

I have updated controller etc.

The previous issues miraculously resolved them selves without any rhyme or reason. This time issue has been running for days.

I have sent diagnostics to Sonos.

I rely on my Sonos system to play podcast radio on Tunein more than anything else.

I’m just about to chuck the whole Sonos thing in the bin.

To add insult to injury, I have just discovered I cant even update the Sonos software to the latest, as one of my speakers is too old and it wont work with it.

This is rubbish!

Cant even get a solid contact at Sonos to give technical support.

I cant believe the technicians are still working on the issue and have not resolved it.

This sounds like it ‘might’ be related to the fact you have not (yet) updated your current system setup to the latest release. 

What I don’t quite understand, is why you are unable to update your Sonos software to the latest release? - what setup are you running, is it an S1 or S2 Sonos system, or do you have a split S1/S2 system?

What device will not update to the latest update in either the S1, or S2, Controller App?

P

Hi Ken, thank you for your support.

However, I expect Sonos to fix the bug and not have to rely on the ‘community good will’.

I updated the controller- still no fix.

I am running S1 as an update to S2 some time ago told me it would not run one of my speakers and that some of the latest functions would not be available on S1. Really frustrating.

Sometimes it can be ‘pilot error’, but not in this instance. I am amazed such a company leaves bugs unresolved.

Thanks.

 

T
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Hi pnolly,

You are correct, for some reason Sonos is not fixing this bug and despite the isue being present for about a year now it still persists making podcast playback on Sonos impossible in some cases.

I have looked into it more and found that it may be related to the oodcast host, services like tunein and pocketcasts stream from various hosts and the way this is accessed may be different depending on the podcast. While tunein and pocketcasts apps work perfectly streaming these, the sonos app doesn't and breaks, especially on pause/resume.

Sonos claims the issue lies with pocketcasts/other software but their stand lone apps work fine. The only time there's an issue is with sonos own app.

 

I have come to the conclusion that it may be that Sonos are unwilling or cannot fix this issue. Meaning that podcasts are now olayed via other means in my house.

 

Sorry i can't be of more help,

 

Frank

Ken_Griffiths

Hi pnolly,

You are correct, for some reason Sonos is not fixing this bug and despite the isue being present for about a year now it still persists making podcast playback on Sonos impossible in some cases.

I have looked into it more and found that it may be related to the oodcast host, services like tunein and pocketcasts stream from various hosts and the way this is accessed may be different depending on the podcast. While tunein and pocketcasts apps work perfectly streaming these, the sonos app doesn't and breaks, especially on pause/resume.

Sonos claims the issue lies with pocketcasts/other software but their stand lone apps work fine. The only time there's an issue is with sonos own app.

 

I have come to the conclusion that it may be that Sonos are unwilling or cannot fix this issue. Meaning that podcasts are now olayed via other means in my house.

 

Sorry i can't be of more help,

 

Frank

I use pocketcasts (albeit not that often) and I have been using it to listen to the ‘money box’ podcast this morning about the U.K. (gas) ‘energy crisis’ and that service is working okay for me, with play/pause/resume etc. However I understand (believe) that there might be a time-out feature, if the podcast is paused for much longer period (I think more than 10 mins, but not sure🤔?), but otherwise the podcast service on Sonos seems to work okay for me. I will add my own testing was with the Sonos S2 App.

I have play/paused the ‘energy prices’ podcast serveral times this morning and it always resumes from the exact same listening position. The pocketcasts service also allowed me to skip-back 10 seconds etc.

I see James L. (Staff) mentioned Sonos were checking with pocketcasts, but we’re also unable to reproduce the issue, so I’m just wondering if the issue might be something local to yourself perhaps?

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T
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Hi there,

 

No this isn't local, the engineers at sonos when i worked with them during my issue were wble to replicate the same problems I have. i dlhave a podcast that never has this problem but others do. Try running Pure Trance Podcast by Solarstone. This one always breaks on pause and resume. I have no different local set up than anyone else (latest sonos speaker and updates) and I've been through Sonos support countless times and tried literally everything.

 

What made it even worse was that Sonos app somehow keeps in its remote memory (not local as I deleted the cache and app and reinstalled) any pause position. So there are some podcast episodes that I can never, ever, play through sonos as it's stuck mid way through play (pause/resume).

 

My last conversation with sonos support I was told to just use tunein (which doesn't support pause amd resume as its radio rather than podcast) rather than pocketcasts.

 

I emailed the Sonos ceo too and was told they would keep the case open and email me when a solution was found. I've not had anything yet so Sonos are aware of thr problem and still have no solution.

 

Frank

Ken_Griffiths

Frank,

Unfortunately I don’t see that podcast (via a Sonos search) to help try to test it here - must be a regional/country thing, I guess?🤷‍♂️

T
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If you go to the pocketcasts app you can find it, then when the service is connected to the sonos app it should show under the service > podcasts area. Podcasts aren't regional in my experience? Hope that works? 

Ken_Griffiths

Ah okay I see it - I got the podcast, but it initially said ‘not encoded correctly’ when I tried to play episode 300 - same thing with the other episodes too. Might it be the encoding of that particular podcast isn’t supported on Sonos? Maybe it explains why I can’t search/find it in the Sonos App search facility too 🤔?

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T
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Yeah it works perfectly in pocketcasts but not in the pocketcasts service within the Sonos app. It sounds like the way they've coded the app relies on Sonos providing the service by proxy and it's just not coded correctly. Should be fixable but I guess there's a reason it's not been done yet.

Mine works fine in sonos, until i pause it. Then it gets stuck.

 

It's a shame as I listen to podcasts mainly and so I avoid using Sonos and have gone back to my proper amp/speaker system instead for most of my listening. I wont be expanding my sonos set up until it's fixed

M

I routinely have this issue as well. There are several Pocket Casts podcasts that, if I start playing them through the Sonos app and then I pause playback, when I go to resume playback, I will receive the error “The connection to Pocket Casts was lost.” It happens regularly. I have a Sonos One, an Android phone, and an iPad. 

T
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Don't hold your breath, Sonos say they've been fixing this for over 14 months that I know of, and I'm sure the issue was around long before then. Seems podcast compatibility is not part of their offering

P

Thanks everyone who ‘chipped in’. Real disappointing Sonos cant even give us a response/ clear explanation or even better a fix. At least own up to their system inadequacies/ licencing issues.

My system going on ebay.

Ill get something better.

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