topic Re: Can no longer cast audio to speaker group in Speakers and Displays

Can no longer cast audio to speaker group

My3556 — Sat, 15 Jan 2022 22:15:50 GMT

I always had used cast my audio to cast my music stored on my phone to a speaker group.

This no longer works. It only wants to allow Spotify and apps like that.

How can i get it to cast my audio again?

Or does this have to do with the Sonos crap and now i am stuck with **bleep** that doesn't operate for the reason i bought it.

Re: Can no longer cast audio to speaker group

KudosTrap — Fri, 21 Jan 2022 17:34:11 GMT

Same issue. Not able to cast audio to speaker group. Able to connect to the speaker group through Spotify app but Spotify skips ahead several tracks by itself before playing music then music stops playing on all speakers after a few seconds.

Re: Can no longer cast audio to speaker group

Mavhass — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 23:25:26 GMT

Same issue. Connected to Google losing the Sonos lawsuit and removing functionality. Not sure why Google support sends me to a community page...pretty sure this issue is not going to be solved in or by any community...

Re: Can no longer cast audio to speaker group

Princesss — Sun, 13 Feb 2022 20:25:21 GMT

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for posting.

Sorry to hear about what you're experiencing right now regarding the cast icon.

Could you please tell us what Google Home/Nest speakers are you using? Also, I'd like to know if there are any prompts or error message you're getting when you try to cast a content? I'd like to know more details so we can start some steps that might resolve this.

Keep us posted.

Best,

Princess

Re: Can no longer cast audio to speaker group

My3556 — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 03:37:53 GMT

Google minis and chrome cast audio. I used to be able to hit my speaker group and cast audio and play music via Samsung music to all the devices in the group. Group play no longer has a cast option. I assume this is due to Google not wanting to license the tech from Sonos after they lost in court over the linking technology.

I can still cast to one speak but my purchases were based on the ability to play my personal collection of music to all speakers, without having to use a Spotify or even Google's music service. Hope Google figures this out.

Re: Can no longer cast audio to speaker group

Mavhass — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 19:52:49 GMT

Echoing My3556' response.

One home, two nests, and three minis.

Distributed over 5 locations.

No errors, no prompts. It's just that the 'cast my audio' option (which was on the same screen as the volume control) is...gone.

Poof. Vanished. Not there.

It's still there for any individual speaker (see attached screenshot). Or for a set of paired speakers. But not for any group. It's gone.

Re: Can no longer cast audio to speaker group

Princesss — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 17:10:22 GMT

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the late response.

Has anyone tried using a different phone to check if the cast icon is missing?

Let me know if anyone has tried that so we can further isolate the issue.

Best,

Princess

Re: Can no longer cast audio to speaker group

Mavhass — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 17:20:25 GMT

Yes, different phone, different tablet.... but please understand that it has nothing to do with anyone's hardware or setup. (Yes, we did the whole "delete Home, set up again" to death as well).

The issue is endemic, and there is nothing to troubleshoot on the user end: Google has *removed* the functionality which for the end user was located on the same screen as the group volume control, which Google is legally no longer allowed to use due to having lost the lawsuit against Sonos.

The only solution is -if the "cast to groups" functionality is not somehow also tangled up in the Sonos intellectual property- for the Google Home devs to redesign the app to have the controls somewhere else.
If it IS tangled up as part of the now 'forbidden' functionality (as I fear it is), things are much worse as Google then needs to somehow create its own version of the functionality...OR JUST PAY SONOS THE LICENSING FEES.
Seriously, this whole thing is NOT Google's finest hour, making pretty much every bad decision at any turn in the road .

Re: Can no longer cast audio to speaker group

Princesss — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 17:03:01 GMT

Hi Mavhass,

Thanks for responding.

We appreciate all your efforts. We'd be happy to take a look into this for you. Please fill up this form with all the needed information then let me know once done.

Best,

Princess

Re: Can no longer cast audio to speaker group

Princesss — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 21:31:04 GMT

Hi Mavhass,

Checking in to see if you already filled out the form we sent you?

Let us know once done by responding to this thread.

Best,

Princess

Re: Can no longer cast audio to speaker group

My3556 — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 21:36:59 GMT

What is this person supposed to add?

Everyone literally has said what the issue is. We know thta it most likely has to do with the legal situation. The answer we want is what is Google doing about it to give us the functionality back! Will yhe refund us for the products we bought for this functionality and now no longer have? Will they figure out their own fix? Will they pay Sonos to get it back?

Just tell us what Google is doing. To satisfy it's Customers.

Re: Can no longer cast audio to speaker group

Mavhass — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 23:08:55 GMT

Hi Princess, thanks for checking. I just did, but honestly it seems both pointless (the issue is not on my end or with my set-up, or with my system and never has been. It is an entire functionality that was removed by Google for everyone from the Home app) , and redundant (as I actually did that a few times already. Lastly for Google nest support: Case ID [6-3283000032489] )

Does it help to have a look at that case number as well?

Honestly though I would really prefer (and suggest) that Google addresses this on the level where it belongs: diminished app functionality due to legal constraints rather then on a user by user case, which must be incredibly frustrating for the support teams as well as the customers.

BEST (and normal and ethical) solution would of course be to simply pay Sonos for use of their tech.

As the situation stands now, I'm slowly (and quite unhappily) replacing my Google speakers with Sonos ones.

Re: Can no longer cast audio to speaker group

Princesss — Wed, 06 Apr 2022 19:09:21 GMT

Hi Everyone,

@My3556 - Checking in if you have filled out the form we sent? Let me know once done so we can move forward with the next steps.

Best,

Princess

Re: Can no longer cast audio to speaker group

My3556 — Wed, 06 Apr 2022 19:43:21 GMT

You sent me a form? Might have ended up in spam. Is this to refund for the four minis I have?

Re: Can no longer cast audio to speaker group

Mavhass — Thu, 07 Apr 2022 11:39:58 GMT

For info and for the record, Google Nest Support's response I received today:

"I understand. Those are the recent updates that some features from Speaker Group are no longer available including such.

I will discuss this further with the management and see if this is something we can bring back.I know this is frustrating and I totally understand how you feel about it.

I suggest you help us submit a feedback using your speaker by saying "Okay Google, submit feedback" and say a short description of the issue so we can check it further with the right team."

So, the good thing (I guess) is that at least there is now a formal recognition that it's a design decision, and not a bug or user/device issue.

I'm not holding out much hope that the function will return (as it seems logical that a group cast would technically be connected to group volume management, and so falls in scope of the lawsuit). But I'll (again) submit the feedback as suggested, and hope more customers will follow suit.

In the meantime, an update on the move to Sonos....forget it if you're not Apple-minded. It is ridiculously complex to cast any local source from a mobile device to speaker groups from Sonos unless you use Airplay.

Which is Apple-specific.

FFS.

So. The search goes on.

This (intuitively) very simple function ('cast the sound -any sound- wirelessly from a pretty standard mobile device to a group of wireless speakers') apparently is ridiculously complex, or just not commercially interesting.

Pretty much the only option -which is still incredibly useless- I coukd find is 'party mode' setting on a group of mobile speakers like the Ultimate Ear BOOM series...BUT while that through Bluetooth offers the functionality I need, these speakers TURN OFF after 15 minutes of inactivity, with no way of preventing that.

So that is also utterly pointless in a multi-room home permanent setup.

URGH!

Re: Can no longer cast audio to speaker group

Princesss — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 16:41:16 GMT

Hi everyone,

@Mavhass - I appreciate you sharing your thoughts about this. As what you have mentioned, sending a feeback would be a big help. You can follow the steps on this link to submit a feedback and we'd be glad to discuss it with the team.

@My3556 - Please fill up this form with all the needed information then let me know once done.

Best,

Princess

Re: Can no longer cast audio to speaker group

Princesss — Tue, 17 May 2022 19:10:18 GMT

Hi everyone,

Chiming in to check if you still need help with this?

Let me know if I can assist you with anything else, otherwise I’ll be locking the thread.

Best,

Princess

Re: Can no longer cast audio to speaker group

Princesss — Wed, 18 May 2022 18:37:29 GMT

Hi there,

I haven’t heard from you, so I’ll be locking the thread in 24 hours. Thanks for posting!

Best,

Princess

Re: Can no longer cast audio to speaker group

My3556 — Wed, 18 May 2022 18:45:07 GMT

I am sure it isn't solved. But I can't answer that as I don't have the system set up at the moment.

Re: Can no longer cast audio to speaker group

My3556 — Wed, 18 May 2022 18:47:07 GMT

Thanks for continuing the search for a solution.