topic Re: Nest Mini losing place in podcast, and episode when saying "Hey Google, resume podcast" in Speakers and Displays

Nest Mini losing place in podcast, and episode when saying "Hey Google, resume podcast".

zzubnik — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 17:10:42 GMT

In the last few days, the command "Hey Google, resume podcast" does not result in picking up where I stopped. It goes to a point in a previous episode. the same point every time no matter what I do. I have tried skipping episodes, letting it play for a couple of hours, unplugging the unit, but no matter what I do, it goes back to a specific point in a specific episode. It is quite maddening, as the series has hundreds of episodes, and I can't remember which one I was on, or how far through.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am old, on my own, and rely on the Nest mini to keep me entertained.

Thank you.

Re: Nest Mini losing place in podcast, and episode when saying "Hey Google, resume podcast"

Wags — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 04:35:52 GMT

I am having similar issues. This morning was listening to the latest episode of a podcast, but had to stop it when someone came in the room. When I tried resume the podcast by saying “Hey Google Resume Podcast” it resumed a different one of my podcasts, not the one I had just been listening to. I had to stop the wrong one and resume the correct one by name. But when I did that I started the correct podcast from the beginning, not from where I had left off.

Re: Nest Mini losing place in podcast, and episode when saying "Hey Google, resume podcast".

GarrettDS — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 19:31:40 GMT

Hey there,

Sorry to hear about the frustrations that you're having with the Google Assistant, I'm happy to help.

I would suggest visiting our Google Assistant Forum and writing to them there as this is a question that they would be able to help answer.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Re: Nest Mini losing place in podcast, and episode when saying "Hey Google, resume podcast"

squalo — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 21:15:00 GMT

In that forum they suggest posting here. Something has changed with the Google mini speakers that broke their ability to save locations.

Re: Nest Mini losing place in podcast, and episode when saying "Hey Google, resume podcast"

thedraconian — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 13:05:39 GMT

I'm having exactly the same issue recently and agree it has been broken recently.

I stop a podcast on the speaker and it will resume from the point that it was pause on the mobile app and then never sync the progress back.

So I either have to play it via connecting the app on my phone to keep the progress or have to tell it to fast forward when ever I say play again.

Re: Nest Mini losing place in podcast, and episode when saying "Hey Google, resume podcast"

ImpexQuery — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 20:13:02 GMT

I've also been having the exact same issue now for at least two months.

All my podcasts play from the position last stopped in the app. No progress made on the speaker is syncd. I even did a compete deletion of my podcast activity and they're still stuck at a point in the past

Re: Nest Mini losing place in podcast, and episode when saying "Hey Google, resume podcast"

squalo — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 21:15:39 GMT

I think this is going to end up being another Google support abandonment issue. Google doesn't have much attention span with any of their products outside of search.

Re: Nest Mini losing place in podcast, and episode when saying "Hey Google, resume podcast"

Cflo — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 23:52:53 GMT

I’m having the same issues. Makes my six Google speakers useless for podcast. Fix this Google!

Re: Nest Mini losing place in podcast, and episode when saying "Hey Google, resume podcast"

squalo — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 00:36:52 GMT

I only have 3 but this has rendered them almost useless to me. I'm wondering if this has anything to do with the Sonos lawsuits

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/01/google-loses-sonos-patent-case-starts-stripping-functionality-from-speakers/

https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/6/22871304/google-home-speaker-group-volume-control-changes-sonos-patent-decision

Re: Nest Mini losing place in podcast, and episode when saying "Hey Google, resume podcast"

thedraconian — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 08:17:39 GMT

Hey,

I was aware of that law suit too but my issues started before that verdict, so unlikely unless they were ‘testing’ things that needed changing.

But I believe those changes are yet to be made, although coming imminently.

Re: Nest Mini losing place in podcast, and episode when saying "Hey Google, resume podcast"

Wags — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 09:44:36 GMT

As far as I an tell the law suit specifically addresses issues around the volume control of speaker groups, so I can’t understand why it would affect synching podcasts between my phone and my Nest Hub. Actually the synching does work in one direction. If I listen to a podcast on my phone and then resume on my Nest Hub, it resumes at the right location, generally speaking. But when I stop listening on the Nest Hub the current location is lost.

Re: Nest Mini losing place in podcast, and episode when saying "Hey Google, resume podcast"

ImpexQuery — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 09:50:14 GMT

That's my take on it too. Unless there is some other patent dispute they're heading off it should be irrelevant.

And same symptom, my Google home mini will always pick up where the app on my phone left off. But it never syncs even 1 second of progress back. So every time I start the podcast I'm back to the last known position from my phone.

Interestingly the news is similar. I guess it uses podcasts. It syncs zero progress I'm always left listening from the beginning with is frustrating since I have "long read" news that could be an hour long and I have to remember my location. It was always the case as long as it was the latest episode I'd always return to where I left off.

Re: Nest Mini losing place in podcast, and episode when saying "Hey Google, resume podcast"

thedraconian — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 12:02:06 GMT

Completely agree, the only reason i said 'Testing a change' is they may have indirectly broken something, but seems like a tenuous link.

I have the situation as you've highlighted, the Syncing does work in 1 direction, hence resorting to casting from my phone most of the time, which is less than ideal.

Re: Nest Mini losing place in podcast, and episode when saying "Hey Google, resume podcast"

thedraconian — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 12:12:38 GMT

Decided to do another search on the Google Assistant Forum and found this discussion where the issue has supposedly been escalated:

Google Assistant no longer saving where I left off in a podcast

Let's hope this leads to a fix some point soon.

It's weird as I can see the activity in the "Web & App Activity" settings here, but it is obviously not being persisted anymore.

Re: Nest Mini losing place in podcast, and episode when saying "Hey Google, resume podcast"

squalo — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 14:12:22 GMT

It may have been escalated but the fact its been broken this long with no feedback on expected resolution time has me concerned. In the years since I went all in on Google products I have been left high and dry countless times. Abandoning products has just become part of the GoogleDNA.

Re: Nest Mini losing place in podcast, and episode when saying "Hey Google, resume podcast"

elvis99 — Tue, 18 Jan 2022 01:11:26 GMT

Many people, including myself, are having the same problem. If you say, "ok google, play X on google podcasts", it should resume correctly.

Re: Nest Mini losing place in podcast, and episode when saying "Hey Google, resume podcast"

thedraconian — Tue, 18 Jan 2022 08:55:29 GMT

Thanks for the suggestion.

I gave this a go and the same issue occurs. The problem isn't resuming the podcast on the GHome, it is the fact that it doesn't sync so you loose any progress made when playing in this manner.

Re: Nest Mini losing place in podcast, and episode when saying "Hey Google, resume podcast"

Wags — Tue, 18 Jan 2022 11:51:05 GMT

The only way I’ve found for the Google Nest to resume the podcast at the correct place is to use the app to position the podcast to the same spot where you stop on the Google Home. It’s tedious, but when I finish listening on my Google Home I open the app on my phone, drag the progress slider to the correct spot, and play a couple of seconds on my phone. Then when I tell Google Home to resume the podcast it picks up at the right place.

Re: Nest Mini losing place in podcast, and episode when saying "Hey Google, resume podcast"

toobaditsg00gle — Tue, 18 Jan 2022 16:26:39 GMT

Let's face it, the Google devices are frankly garbage. This has now happened twice, rendering the product largely useless as an audio player. I've received zero actual help or solutions from Google on it despite numerous calls and email conversations. This is what I get for purchasing audio from an advertising company.

Re: Nest Mini losing place in podcast, and episode when saying "Hey Google, resume podcast"

ImpexQuery — Tue, 18 Jan 2022 16:43:01 GMT

Too true.

I now have to use my phone to tell my speaker what to do so I can reset the position.

I might as well just use the phone's speaker and forget about the Google home altogether.