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

[zzubnik]

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.

[Cflo]

OMG! That fixed it! Just don’t use Google podcasts!! Thanks! 

[zzubnik]

I don't use any Google Podcast App. This is just my Nest Mini (x3).

They do not bring me joy any more.

[LeonUK]

What podcast app is set as the default in Google Home?

[zzubnik]

It is set to "Google Podcasts".

[LeonUK]

Set it to Spotify, it should resolve the issue until Google Podcasts is fixed

[zzubnik]

I don't have a Spotify account though.

[GarrettDS]

Hey there,
Sorry for the late response, but I wanted to drop in here to help. 

I understand that these issues can be confusing but I definitely wanted to stop by and see how I could help. 

Just wanted to double check to see if you were still needing help on this? If so, what troubleshooting steps have you tried? 

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards, 
​​​​​​​Garrett DS
 

[Wags]

Hi Garrett,

Unfortunately, this is still a problem. Basically, when I use Google Podcasts as the Google Assistant podcast service, my Google Nest Hub does not retain the last location on a podcast. If I listen to a podcast on my Google Nest Hub, stop it, and resume it later, it always either starts at the beginning of the podcast or at the last location I reached when listening to the podcast on my phone. I have tried various things to troubleshoot the problem, even going so far as to delete my history, but to no avail. In the end I have given up using Google Podcasts for my podcast service. I now use Spotify, even though that has its own issues.

[docabilly]

Switching to spotify didn't work for me in Australia. Switching back to google podcasts hasn't worked either.  What  a frustrating mess.  Can't believe not a single google employee  is using the Mini speaker to listen to podcasts.

[thedraconian]

Hey,
Nothing has changed for me either.
It it still not working as it should and will resume to the last point listened point on the phone rather than the "universal" listening point across all devices.
Looks like a similar issues has a "fix in the works" but nothing has actually be done with that either - https://support.google.com/assistant/thread/141053586?hl=en&msgid=151831544
Any news would be appreciated.

[GarrettDS]

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. 

Best regards, 

Garrett DS

[ImpexQuery]

8 months and this is the best we get from Google, being bounced from one volunteer community to the next.

I don't blame the volunteers of course, but Google should be ashamed, there are 100s of reports of this, it's not just a select couple and when the problem goes beyond what a volunteer can help with (basically repeating documentation or tips and tricks) there is no means to get Google to recognise an actual defect.

[Wags]

That’s what you suggested last December. And when I did I was told to post on this forum. I’ve given up on using my Google Nest to listen to podcasts. Now I use an app on my phone and just use the Google Nest as a speaker.

[Jake]

Hey all,

Sorry for the late reply. I wanted to follow up and see if you are still in need of any help? Please let me know if you are still having any trouble from here, as I would be happy to take a closer look and assist you further. 

Best regards,
Jake

[LeonUK]

Hi 

Unfortunately the same issues. 

Is it country specific? Is nobody from the Google Community support affected by this?

It's all very strange.

Thanks 🙂

[elvis99]

This is still broken, if that's what you're asking. I don't need help, I need Google engineers to fix this bug, which is a show-stopper bug. I can't listen to podcasts using the Nest Home device if every time I ask it to resume a podcast it plays one from six months ago.

[ImpexQuery]

100% agree with this.

This started September 2021. It is now May 2022. It is wholly unacceptable that google do not care, and the best we get is every couple of months another volunteer being sent to ask if want help.

[Laupsavea]

Jake

Nothing has  changed.

It is still broken, not remembering where the podcast left off. 

This really alienates me towards Google. 

[docabilly]

Yes it is still broken in Australia.  Time to buy another voice controlled podcast player for the shower/bathroom.  What a pity

[toobaditsg00gle]

I will be so grateful if this is the fix! Just reset the default to Spotify so let's see.

[LeonUK]

I think it has, I tested it a few times, but see how it goes.

[docabilly]

this does not work

[RicBret]

Details?  Others seem to be reporting othewise.

[squalo]

Feels kind of like this is a kind of troll to lure users back to spotify after their latest controversy.    Assuming that it is working with Spotify, I should look up what other podcast alternatives there are.  Or just switch back to Amazon's speakers.

[LeonUK]

I'd rather stick to Google Podcasts, so when they get to fix it I'll revert back. I chose Spotify as it's an option in Google Home. Anyway it seems to have fixed the issue AFAIK.

[toobaditsg00gle]

You think that Spotify's strategy to lure users back is to hide out in Google Nest Community boards and get people to switch from Google Podcasts to Spotify? To switch from one podcast service with almost no dedicated support to their own service that is almost exclusively about podcast functionality? I don't know, it's so crazy, it just might work!

[ImpexQuery]

While this works for podcasts I'm not sure if I can make the "news" routine use Spotify.  And I like to listen to long news programmes and recover from where I left off.

[toobaditsg00gle]

I really like the News feature which always works without fail. I'm trying out the switch for podcasts and leaving everything else the same. 

[helloworld]

Using Spotify by setting as default in the Home app does work, so far anyway, so fingers crossed. It's a minor annoyance that it doesn't say the name of the podcast before playing, but hopefully at some point the Google app will work properly. 

[docabilly]

Switching to "Spotify" instead of "Google Pod" did not fix this issue for me.  I hate my Google Nest Mini thing.  It has one job...

[toobaditsg00gle]

The switch to Spotify for this function did work for me in the sense that it keeps the place and picks up where I left off. It's a minor annoyance that it doesn't say the episode, but that really is minor compared to the problem before. I'd love to see a Google Podcast fix but am not holding out hope.

[bznsat]

I used to have this problem. Now I have a worse problem. I switched from Spotify to Google podcasts because Spotify would always skip to the latest podcasts. Now Google podcasts not only skips to the latest podcast, but restarts it every time. "Resume" just isn't supported at all.

[ImpexQuery]

6 months and still an issue!

I have the same issue as you with news podcasts. I have a news routine:

• BBC headlines
• Guardian long read
• Monocle briefing

I used to be able to say "ok Google news" and let's say I listened up to half way through the guardian long read and stopped to go to sleep.  If I woke up 30 minutes later and "ok Google news" it would:

• Skip BBC headlines since I had listened and there were no new ones
• Skip to where I finished off in the Guardian

Perfect.

Now and for six months I always get the beginning of every one of them every time i start the news routine.

The feature is useless.

[RicBret]

This has been my experience.  Latest Podcast is 191. I was listening to episode 187 when I paused. Resume takes me mid-episode in 185.  If I ask to play episode 187 and it says it can't find that episode (likely because it wants the episode title more than the number?) and offers to play the latest episode that it "found."  The little device is brain dead. 

[Laupsavea]

I have the same issue. I listen to Google Podcasts on my Google Home speakers: "Hey Google, play The Daily" (or some other podcast).

Of course, sometimes I have to stop in the middle of an episode: "Hey Google, stop"

Then I come back sometime later to listen to the rest of the podcast: "Hey Google, play The Daily".

Until recently, Google Assistant would always pick up where I left off: "Sure, I'll pick up where you left off in The Daily".

However, in the last few days, it is no longer remembering where I actually left off, so it always resumes in an old episode.

What can I do to make Google Assistant remember where I actually left off? Has anyone cracked this yet?

[LeonUK]

I think the issue is with the Google Podcast app, not the Google Assistant app. I changed the default app to Spotify. It seemed to fix it, but I then went back to Google Podcasts, as I preferred that app and hoped it had fixed itself. I should go back to Spotify (or another podcast app) as this issue is really annoying. I'll swop it (again) later and see how it goes.

[LeonUK]

OK, so the only option for an alternative default podcast app is Spotify. So I changed it. [Home app] Settings/Podcasts/Spotify.

Download the app from Google Play, sign up (I used my Google Account). 

Search for your favourite podcasts, add them to your library and voila.

The issue should go, I've tried it out, play a podcast, cancel the play, tell Google to play your podcast and it resumes where you left off.

Hopefully the issue is resolved, but only a few days of playing and resuming podcasts will tell.

HTH

[LeonUK]

That didn't last long. It's messing up again.

[Wags]

I think the problem is the interaction between Google Podcasts and Google Assistant. If I use Google Podcasts on my phone I can always resume where I left off. If I use Google Assistant to launch Google Podcasts, either via a Google Nest device or via the Google Assistant app on my phone, I have problems. I imagine that Google Podcasts keeps a record of which podcasts I’m listening to, and where I left off in each podcast. The fact Google Podcasts does not properly resume when it is launched from Google Assistant implies that Google Assistant is somehow overriding the information that Google Podcasts has.

I tried using Spotify for a while, but that had issues of its own. If a new episode of a podcast was published but I was halfway through listening to a previous episode, when I restarted the podcast it would always start at the newest episode. These days I just use Google Podcasts on my phone and I use the Google Nest as BT speaker.

[ImpexQuery]

I agree, Google Assistant isnt updating progress back to Google Podcasts it seems. So it can query it for the current position, but reports nothing back. Hence next time you look at the app or use Google Assistance, same position again.

I also switched to Spotify and it works OKish, until you either don't listen for a while or there are a number of new episodes, then had the same issue of it just jumping to the latest.  Google worked flawlessly here, when it worked.

This starting in Sept 2021 for me, so it's now almost eight entire months. Google have abandoned the feature. I will be abandoning them.