Pocket Casts Comes to Sonos

Pocket Casts Comes to Sonos

Pocket Casts—my preferred podcast service—is now available via the Sonos smart speakers in an open beta.

This is good news for me, and it leaves Audible as my only regularly-used audio service that isn’t available on Sonos. Supposedly, that will happen eventually. But let’s focus on this week’s good news.

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“We’re excited to announce that Pocket Casts support for Sonos has gone into Beta,” a new post to the Shift Jelly blog reads. “Judging by the amount of tweets and emails we’ve had over the years this is one of your most requested features and we’re excited to finally share it with you.”

Pocket Casts on Sonos is currently in beta, but any Sonos user can access it. To do so, first install Pocket Casts on your phone and sign-in to your account. Then, open the Sonos app and navigate to Add Music Services in the menu and then to Pocket Casts.

As is usually the case, the look and feel of Pocket Casts is completely different on Sonos. (It would be nice if you could just “cast” to Sonos from the Pocket Casts app and other apps.) So instead of the normal podcast-based UI, you get New Releases, In Progress and Starred links, each of which provides a list of episodes across multiple podcasts.

Because Pocket Casts maintains a cloud-based library, however, you do at least get seamless playback. Meaning, you can start a podcast on your phone, continue it on your Sonos, and then pick it up again later at the correct place on your phone again. (Or whatever.)

Shift Jelly says it will be adding more features to this Sonos integration over time.

Pocket Casts is available on Android, iOS, and the web. It’s not free, and you actually have to purchase each client independently. But I recommend doing so, as I’ve never found a podcast app that works this good, and this consistently across platforms. (I’ve purchased the Android and iOS versions.) It’s highly recommended.

 

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Conversation 16 comments

  • toshdellapenna

    20 July, 2017 - 8:43 am

    <p>It's also available.on Winmo for a staggering $4.99, for the other 9 people other than me that still care lol.</p>

    • Chris_Kez

      Premium Member
      20 July, 2017 - 8:54 am

      <blockquote><a href="#150569"><em>In reply to toshdellapenna:</em></a></blockquote><p>When they released the Windows Phone app they proclaimed it would be supported with regular updates. I never saw any real improvement after that.</p>

      • toshdellapenna

        20 July, 2017 - 9:03 am

        <blockquote><a href="#150581"><em>In reply to Chris_Kez:</em></a></blockquote><blockquote><br></blockquote><blockquote><span class="ql-cursor"></span>I strictly use windows 10 mobile, so i have nothing to compare it to. I decided to try it out awhile ago when subscription links started showing up on websites with Pocket casts as an option. I've been trying out different solutions, but would prefer if Edge added the rss subscription function that IE has. It was far more convenient for my needs. That or if groove added a podcast section. I really don't like having to bounce around apps to accomplish simple tasks lol.</blockquote><p><br></p>

        • Chris_Kez

          Premium Member
          20 July, 2017 - 11:44 am

          <blockquote><a href="#150591"><em>In reply to toshdellapenna:</em></a></blockquote><p>Looking at the app in the Windows Store it was last updated May 11th 2015, which would have been maybe a week or two after it launched. What's funny/sad is this part of the app description: </p><p>"Welcome to the first update of many for our Windows app!" More like their first and last update.</p>

          • toshdellapenna

            20 July, 2017 - 11:52 am

            <blockquote><a href="#150711"><em>In reply to Chris_Kez:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>that's sad. I think i would have been better off spending the extra $4 and trying out the web client. My only issue at that time would have been offline playback, which I'm not sure would work since Edge doesn't have an offline mode. Yet another annoyance of the "new" browser.</p>

            • Chris_Kez

              Premium Member
              21 July, 2017 - 6:30 am

              <blockquote><a href="#150715"><em>In reply to toshdellapenna:</em></a></blockquote><p>I hear good things about Bringcast and Grover Pro.</p>

              • toshdellapenna

                21 July, 2017 - 7:36 am

                <blockquote><a href="#151260"><em>In reply to Chris_Kez:</em></a></blockquote><blockquote><br></blockquote><blockquote><em>Likewise. Also Onecast is a decent app as well.</em></blockquote><p><br></p>

              • daveevad

                21 July, 2017 - 10:21 am

                <blockquote><a href="#151260"><em>In reply to Chris_Kez:</em></a></blockquote><p>I switched to Grover Pro because I kept having issues with the First Ring Daily episodes on Pocket Casts. Honestly, I didn't put much effort into solving it but my guess was a combination of the password requirements for FRD and being on some form of fast ring build at the time. Grover Pro has been simple and has worked great since! </p>

  • wosully

    Premium Member
    20 July, 2017 - 9:25 am

    <p>I have been waiting for this! Thanks for the update!</p>

  • irfaanwahid

    20 July, 2017 - 9:28 am

    <p>Maybe I'm naïve, but what major difference is there between Apple's Podcast app vs Pocket Casts?</p><p><br></p><p>I listen Podcasts all the time (Windows Weekly, Sams Report, What The Tec and others), and for me Apple's Podcasts works just fine, so I'm wondering what is this that I maybe missing??</p><p><br></p><p>I did be grateful if anyone can enlighten me on this, including Paul.</p>

    • scuzzidroid

      20 July, 2017 - 11:24 am

      <blockquote><a href="#150601"><em>In reply to irfaanwahid:</em></a></blockquote><p>Interface is light years better over the stock podcast app. I use both between a work and personal phone. Feature wise they are similar.</p>

      • irfaanwahid

        24 July, 2017 - 9:17 am

        <blockquote><a href="#150690"><em>In reply to scuzzidroid:</em></a></blockquote><p>It maybe better. However I find Apple's Podcast app UI to be just find and simple. It's not that the app is meant to do so much more than just playing podcasts. For that one role, the stock app is good enough IMHO.</p>

    • ozaz

      20 July, 2017 - 5:57 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#150601"><em>In reply to irfaanwahid:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>For me the key feature of Pocket Casts is cross platform support and syncing. I routinely use the Android and iOS apps, and occasionally use the web app. I suspect I will now also routinely use the Sonos app.</p>

  • LeFrenchFab

    20 July, 2017 - 10:03 am

    <p>I like Pocket Casts a lot, but to me there's another matter: is there a future for Sonos?</p>

  • Lars lalaa

    20 July, 2017 - 10:16 am

    <p>Like irfaanwahid I listen to podcasts via the build-in Apple Podcast app. Don’t know why I should download or pay for a different app. It works just fine and syncs across devises. If I want to listen on my living room speakers I can do that via AirPlay with one tap. </p>

    • irfaanwahid

      24 July, 2017 - 8:58 am

      <blockquote><a href="#150622"><em>In reply to Nessie:</em></a></blockquote><p>I totally agree and understand.</p><p><br></p><p>For small extra touches here and there and pay some $$ for the similar experience I find it a bit odd.</p><p><br></p><p>Since I'm mostly in Apple ecosystem, I don't have to continue listening to the Podcast on my Android. As for listening to speakers, I've got two JBL speakers which are great.</p>

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