Can't play Podcasts over Spotify Connect with Yamaha Musiccast

[olabil]

Hi, 

I cannot play Spotify Podcasts through Spotify Connect with my Yamaha Musiccast units. I have been in contact with Spotify support, but have not been able to get help more than verifying that I through a test account can play the podcasts on e.g. Alexa units. Seems to be a Musiccast problem; anyone else having this problem and maybe found a mitigation? 

Problem occurs both before and after latest firmware upgrade 

[olabil]

Ok, so I have been in contact with Spotify support again. This time I got the following answer: 

1. My WXA-50's and WX-010 are not supported by Spotify Connect according to https://www.spotifygear.com/. This is very strange and should be quite serious if Yamaha would integrate a not certified unit to Spotify Connect right? I don't buy it, but also cannot prove Yamaha has certification.

2. Podcasts are considered "mixed media", i.e. audio and video and therefore cannot be played by audio only devices. How it's then possible to stream podcasts with Sonos and Alexa (and I now read other units in other posts, e.g. AudioPro) is not answered, so this response is also not credible or at least it seems to me as some kind of "bug" or glitch in the integration.

The prospects are not high to get a positive response on this, as it will involve someone actually correcting an error; would it have been Sonos probably it would've gone faster as it has a bigger community of users. 

[decaf]

I have the same problem, and is really disappointed in this. I see several posts about this, but no official reply from anywhere. Really hoping to find a solution, or for Spotify (or Yamaha, whoever is responsible) to implement a fix to this.

[olabil]

Hello, 

I have been in contact with Yamaha, who has confirmed the problem and sent a bug report to Yamaha Japan. Don't know if that is put on a big pile of other requests, so I really encourage anyone that has the same problem to contact Yamaha as well.

When it comes to the 'not Spoty Connect certified' it's  not true, as suspected. It's Spotify that has not updated the list in a long time, despite repeated requests from Yamaha and probably others. For me, it's just ironic (provided it's correct) that not even Spotify's own support is aware of the actual list, and it just proves how ignorant they are not only to these forums and their paying customers, but also to their own support staff. 

[decaf]

I was in contact with Yamaha support, and they simply said that it's Spotify Connect that does not support podcasts, only music. So they recommended me to contact Spotify support and hopefully if enough of us request it they will implement it. 😕 ... So Spotify, can you please implement this?!

[Musicmanjo]

I found I had the same problem casting podcasts on spotify to my wxc-50 on musiccast.  But I found a workaround you may find useful.  The workaround is to play the podcast on my phone, and then pair the phone to my Yamaha device.  You can pair it by selecting bluetooth in musiccast or by selecting your Yamaha device in the bluetooth settings on the phone.  I hope this helps.

[olabil]

For all who may have this problem. The problem is definitely on Yamaha side. Based on some inside information, they do not have the latest API and the specific devices I use needs to be properly certified. As paying customer, what could be expected from Spotify is to put harder requirements on update schedules from their partners and, maybe even more, to supervise their certification program better. 

[davidsliwo]

I also contacted Yamaha about this. I hope to hear from them soon. 

But i really hope that Spotify does not require hardware vendors to re-certificate their devices, cause that would mean I, as a device owner, am **bleep**ed and I need to upgrade my AV Receiver to the current generation. This issue should be solved via a simple software update, but I have the feeling it will not be that easy. 

[as2003]

I have a Yamaha RX-S601B with MusicCast 5.1

Playing music from the Spotify app has always worked fine, but I just discovered playing Podcasts doesn't work. Pretty disappointing.

[uliukko]

Definitely on Yamaha's side, I'm AB testing WXC-50 and KEF-LSX speakers that both support spotify connect, podcasts work just fine with KEF, but playback and output selection immeadiately bugs out if I have WXC selected from spotify app.

As of writing this Yamaha firmware version is 2.65.

[BaconAddict]

I can confirm this is still and issue.  Using Spotify on Android and a Yamaha YAS-706.  I did report it to Yamaha and got a noncommittal shrug of an answer.  I hate pestering people but maybe it's the only way to get such a seemingly simple problem addressed.

[Eddieblix]

I have same problem. Airplay doesn`t work either

[Eddieblix]

I have solved it on my network. My MusicCast is on the LAN, which after a firmware upgrade to my wirelessly MESH network (where one unit is assigned as router) the MusicCast became unreachable.

When I changed the MusicCast to go wireless (and on MESH as well) it works.

I believe it would also work if I discontinue the MESH router function and let my LAN router handle the DHCP ip-address assignment. 

[BaconAddict]

Eddie, not sure if you were encountering the same issue.  This was not an issue of network connectivity.  Music plays fine.  Podcasts do not.

[itsmrjack]

This is a problem for me too (podcasts won't play on Connect). It seems it is a categorisation issue on Spotify's part. Podcasts being labelled "mixed-media" by Spotify means they won't play on audio-only Connect devices.

I just tried re-submitting the issue as a new idea but the system is being funky and tells me there are highlighted errors with my post when there is nothing highlighted! How the heck is one supposed to get an issue resolved when the help system doesn't even function correctly!

Anyhow, what to do? This issue will affect anyone who owns a Connect device and listens to podcasts! I might try to post a new help topic as a general issue...

[itsmrjack]

Ok so I've just managed to create a new Idea post about this issue

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Idea-Submissions/All-Platforms-Connect-re-categorise-podcasts-as-AU...

And have also tweeted @spotifycares

https://twitter.com/itsmrjack/status/1192085110998347776

If a bunch of us also tweet/retweet my tweet perhaps this will get looked at properly.

[itsmrjack]

ps. Please also vote up my idea post!

[BaconAddict]

seems like a ridiculously easy fix. hope they get it done.

[SpotyCast]

Hi everyone

my musiccast setup consits of one RX-V683 receiver, a pair of musiccast 20s and a WX-010 speaker. Playing music via Spotify connect works fine on all devices. However, when I switch to playing podcasts, only the musiccast 20s will play them. 

I think this doesn't fit to the theory that the "mixed-media" labeling is the problem. 

To me it's more about an insufficient firmware support on Yamaha's side.

I hope they'll fix it soon.

[itsmrjack]

Hi SpotyCast, your situation doesn't rule out the labeling theory though.

It could be both a firmware and a labeling issue.

In your case it may just be that the firmware on the musiccast 20's allows 'mixed-media' playback via Connect.

I'm just surmising but if this 'both-theories theory' holds water, then a firmware update of the other Yamaha products in your setup may solve it for you, and other Yamaha users, whereas a relabeling of podcasts on Spotify's side would fix the issue for ALL users and ALL Connect devices.