[All Platforms][Connect] re-categorise podcasts as AUDIO so they play on Connect devices

[itsmrjack]

Podcasts will not play on audio-only Connect devices because Spotify has labelled them as "mixed-media". They are not mixed media, they are audio files.

This is an issue that has been noted by the community for some time (around 18 months at least) and not addressed by Spotify in any serious way. It is not a niche problem as it will affect ALL users who listen to podcasts and own an audio-only Spotify Connect device. In other words, potentially millions of people globally. Please Spotify, rectify this issue as a matter of urgency. I for one am a regular podcast listener who bought an audio-only Connect device so that I could play podcasts through it, only to find that I cannot because of a categorisation error on your part.

To further elucidate the issue, and Spotify's lack of action on it, I point to an earlier (now closed) idea post submitted by another user (charango88) https://community.spotify.com/t5/Closed-Ideas/All-Platforms-Connect-Make-Podcasts-playable-on-audio-...

The advice given to this Spotify user was that this is "an issue that's worth investigating" and for them to find relevant help topics. However no relevant help topics exist for this problem.

[hotchilli99]

It is just maddening that this does not work. I can't comprehend why not.

[mikkeee]

Spotify, this is so frustrating. This is such a basic problem / oversight and you're not able to rectify it because you've tied yourself to some votes-over-time system you created that has told you it should not be fixed. Use your own brains!!! Even if it had 0 votes it should be fixed. Fix this, it is painfully obvious, stop coming up with reasons not to do fix things! 

[dparnell]

This is a bug report not an enhancement request - basically I am not using Spotify for any podcasts because of this.  Please fix it - it can't be that difficult can it?  Just one of your legendary development sprints could do this.  Thanks

[Yordan]

Updated on 2023-03-30

Hey everyone,

It seems that this idea ended up in the wrong board accidentally, so we're bringing it back.

We're keeping the previous Not Right Now status, as we don't have any immediate plans to implement this. As soon as we have any new information to share, rest assured we'll check back in here.

Take care.

[brotbertuk]

Hi I'm experiencing now the same issue in Germany with podcasts for children (e.g. "Sendung mit der Maus"). Can you please update us on the status? Spotify Connect with podcasts is the only reason for me to keep the Spotify Family plan. Thank you!

[jonnokid]

Bizarre that Spotify would invest in buying Anchor and pushing podcasters to move their shows to the platform and then now allow those shows to be played over Spotify Connect?

[kalambe]

Spotify, any updates regarding this issue?

For me and many others it's is really issue.

At home i use Sonos app to listen Spotify music and it works great.

But for Spotify podcasts it doesn't work. To listen podcasts, it needs to use other apps like Pocket Casts or YouTube Music.

Just checked - even YouTube Music just partially started rollout of Podcasts service - it is possible to add podcast by importing rss and this podcasts appears in the Sonos app.

Spotify Podcasts by some reason doesn't listed in the Sonos app (doesn't matter android or iOS, premium or free)

Please fix this issue...

There was some investigation in Sonos community. Please see

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-and-music-services-228995/playing-spotify-podcasts-via-so...

Here is really of researching:

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.