Question

Replacing Google Play Music - Podcasts, Explore/Browse Stations, Start Radio

  • 16 October 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 152 views

With YouTube Music now replacing Google Play Music, I’m left with several issues that have not been resolved:

  1. Google-based Podcast support is not included in YouTube Music and there is no support for Google Podcasts yet. Is Google Podcast service support planned or will YouTube Music add Podcast support similar to that in the former Google Play Music?
  2. The Explore interface from the YouTube Music app doesn’t seem to be replicated within the Sonos interface, so there does not appear to be any way to Explore (Browse Stations under Google Play Music) by Mood/Activity/etc. and no way to easily access the large variety of curated Radio Stations/Dynamic Playlists/etc. that are available through the Explore pane. The current Sonos-based YouTube Music links under Home are very limited and do not have nearly the range of stuff available on the App.
    1. Example, I browse the YTMusic App(Android/Windows/Mac/etc.), navigate to Explore, select Moods/Genres, Genres, Jazz and see options such as Big Band Boogie or Women of Jazz. I cannot find ANY way to locate the same within Sonos currently.
  3. The “Start Radio” feature is available from Artists (Artist Radio), individual Songs or Albums (menu-click on song or album) within the YTMusic app, but NOT within the Sonos YouTube Music browser - only “Artist Radio” is supported.

Are these features available in some other manner or are they planned for addition soon?

Thanks,

John


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2 replies

good points.

you also missed out the fact that you cant cast from the YT Music app to your Sonos players, which makes the also pretty much useless to me now too.

again an update (maybe not all Sonos’s fault this time) has removed functionality.  Sonos should be pushing to google to sort this out not saying to users to contact google, as its Sonos (as far as a user sees) that dosnt work.  and this end of google play service has been talked about for a long time now

the Sonos App is so average these days I just try and avoid it.

Sonos has written an API for all developers to use to integrate with the Sonos system. How much the third party chooses to implement, or chooses not to is not a choice made by Sonos, although I suspect they do have some level of veto authority. But you can see the API presentation at the Sonos partners page. It’s up to Google to choose to implement all of the features you are requesting, Sonos has little to no control over what Google chooses to do.

You may get better answers to your particular questions about features implementation and timelines if you were to contact Google/YouTube Music directly.