Add support for Podcasts/audiobooks

[dpomnean]

I would like to see a podcast category, like you can find in the Spotify Integration entity.

[erkr]

Moved to discussions, raise your votes!

[Rjaap]

I would like too see this also. Btw, great addon!

[manbeast76]

I also would like to see this.

[n8detar]

Expanding on this, being able to add other sources for podcasts, or podcasts directly would be extremely nice. I know this project is for music, but many of the features, like starting playback again after a notification, would be really nice for podcasts as well.

[sefininio]

I'd like to see podcasts as well. Awesome addon!!!

[TheGroundZero]

The ability to add a URL to a feed would be nice.
Could maybe be integrated together with the Feedreader integration to automatically download latest episode or add its URL to a playlist.

[cdrfun]

I don't know if we should separate "Spotify Podcast" and Podcast, maybe @erkr has an opinion on that?
For podcasts, an option to add gpodder.net as source would be awesome. Also, OPML support would be favorable.

[marcelveldt]

If I'm going to add podcast/audiobook support it will be implemented as a first class citizen so next to mediatypes artist, album, track, radio and playlist there will be a "podcast" media type which can be provided by providers like spotify but also others.

Strictly taken even 2 new media types as you will need to identify both the podcast itself and its episodes.

[DutchJaFO]

Audiobooks would probably need to be an additonal category as well, although in theory they could be treated as Podcasts/episode.

At the very least we would have to disable the 'crossfade' feature whenever podcasts/audiobooks are played as that will make the experience sub-optimal (to say the least).

[WebfinityDesign]

Adding gpodder.net in theory would be a very nice feature but gpodder.net is broken most of the time. The server is at the max of the capacity. In August they said they were working on it, but the problem still exists. Looks like they gave up on it

[fyksen]

The gpodder service is not great. But the protocol seems solid.
Nextcloud has a addon calles gpodder sync:
https://github.com/thrillfall/nextcloud-gpodder

Antennapod, kde podcast app and some other podcast apps already supports it. This would be an awesome fit for this project! 🥰

[Thyraz]

If I'm going to add podcast/audiobook support it will be implemented as a first class citizen so next to mediatypes artist, album, track, radio and playlist there will be a "podcast" media type which can be provided by providers like spotify but also others.

Strictly taken even 2 new media types as you will need to identify both the podcast itself and its episodes.

@marcelveldt yes, this 2 layer approach is also what I would have in mind.

Based on the pocast / audiobook type it might also be necessary to add entries manually like it's also possible in the radio UI?
For some things like Spotify podcasts it might be possible to add them automatically, as you can follow shows here.

But audiobook series are often simple albums sorted under a single artist.
So adding them by https://open.spotify.com/intl-xx/artist/XYZ would be nice.
Also adding podcasts using classic rss feeds this way.

Saving the current listening position server-side for both, audiobooks and podcasts would be awesome too, so you can continue from any device.
Together with the request to allow the browser as a player target to play audio from Music Assistant e.g. in the car using your phone completes this story. 🙂

[hillbicks]

I'm just getting started with music assistant, so first of all thanks for creating this addon!

I'm a bit confused though. Is this discussion solely for creating the category button? Because right now, I can't find the podcasts when I'm searching for them, which is a bit strange to be honest. I would expect it to show all the content that is on spotify. I just searched for a couple of podcasts and couldn't find them.

[erkr]

Hi @hillbicks
Podcasts are not available in MA (yet). Discussions are valuable to poll general interest and discuss how to implement them.
Next major MA release will for example natively support Samba network shares and multiple accounts per music provider (based on a lot of requests)
Best Eric

[hillbicks]

@erkr : Thanks for the quick reply. At least now I know that it is not something on my end.

Multi user support sounds very good as well.

Again, thanks for the answer and your work on this. Will keep an eye out for these features.

[erkr]

Again, thanks for the answer and your work on this. Will keep an eye out for these features.

I'm just helping out with moderating issues and testing. Credits are on Marcel, thx

[WebfinityDesign]

I would also like to have podcasts/audiobooks in MA. It's nice to have have all the audio in one place and also use it in some automations

[mattsteg]

I'd like to endorse this request as well.

[Dunkelschunkel]

Are there any updates relating podcasts?
Integration would be fabulous

[marcelveldt]

That is not scheduled for the 2.0 release, it will be one of the features that comes after that (e.g. 2.1 release)

[Dunkelschunkel]

Thank you Jul 10, 2023 4:58:05 PM Marcel van der Veldt ***@***.***>:

…

That is not scheduled for the 2.0 release, it will be one of the features that comes after that (e.g. 2.1 release) — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub[#429 (reply in thread)], or unsubscribe[https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AT5ZC5NOJFB7V3XTBGHDKUTXPQJ73ANCNFSM5ZJ427UA]. You are receiving this because you commented.[Tracking image][https://github.com/notifications/beacon/AT5ZC5KXFEMU5H65T5WTJJTXPQJ73A5CNFSM5ZJ427UKYY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFWFCGS43DOVZXG2LPNZBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGOABQ34QI.gif]

[SurreyMichael]

Would love podcast access.

I use PocketCasts app as Spotify was really problematic playing podcasts on my Sonos speakers (PocketCasts works really well), so really interested how playing podcasts via music assistant will turn out.

[orangesunny]

I would love to see PocketCasts integration! There is no reason to create anything from scratch, as most users probably track their podcasts in some app already. PocketCasts are getting more open since they became part of Automatic, but could be tricky for intergation, though. Apps are open-sourced, but there is currently no API, only Tasker integration on Android. 😢

[djtecha]

This would be an awesome feature for my partner. Only thing holding them back.

[Blackhex]

Integration of https://podcastaddict.com/app or other podcasts management app would be awesome.

[Erudition]

Is there a way to play a podcast given the URL of the media file?

[OzGav]

I don’t believe so.

[marcelveldt]

Yes, you can add it as a track or radio station manually but it wont be recognized as podcast yet

[DarkFox]

If you're using Home Assistant, you can add a Scrape sensor that gets the latest episode. Just add the feed url, and then these options in the sensor config:

selector: enclosure:nth-of-type(1)
index: 0
attribute: url

Then you can use the sensor state in a mass.play_media service call.

It's not perfect, but it works well enough for my morning news podcasts.

[Erudition]

Thanks, I did something similar a few months ago. Good enough for now

[b-abadie]

I've been crawling the web for a way to play podcasts (the classic RSS type, not the pseudo-podcast available through a proprietary service) on my Sonos speakers. The closest I've been is the gpodder integration of HA, but gpodder.net is broken (long-term overloaded).

A cool feature of MA would be to add RSS podcasts, automatically or manually downloading episodes, tracking "played" status, etc.
A very cool feature would be to sync all this with a custom gpodder endpoint (I'm thinking https://github.com/thrillfall/nextcloud-gpodder for instance).

Thank you for all your work !

[LukasDJacobs]

For the moment I use AntennaPod (OpenSource, Android, great podcast player!) in combination with an app called AirMusic (which does cost money, but it's a relatively cheap one time payment). It works reasonably well so far and I use it daily, but I'm still hoping for native Sonos support on AntennaPod. That would just be a smoother experience. There's an open issue for that, but nobody implemented it yet, so kinda like the situation here

[Jab2870]

First off, thanks for all the work that has already gone into this amazing tool.

I would just like to chime in a bit and say that support for audiobook sources and podcast sources would be amazing. All my audiobooks and podcasts are currently in Audiobookshelf.

If I could use musicassistant to play audiobooks from there, and for them to stay in sync, I'd be over the moon. Audiobookshelf has pretty comprehensive documentation for it's api, and it's also self hosted so I would think would be a pretty good place to start.

Regardless, thanks again for all the work you've put into this.

[lhassell]

Just here to echo this. As a self-hosted solution, I feel like Audiobookshelf deserves to be included as it fits with the ethos of Home Assistant.

[Lowrider614]

+1 from my side. Kids would love to hear Maus zum Hören ober the big stereo

[DaWheelz]

This would be a great feature as I would be able to play the news podcast in the morning!

[OzGav]

Implemented in 2.4.0 beta 9

Now providers are required to be written. This is a separate task.

[freakshock88]

Yes, it does

At least, the podcast itself does. The episode perhaps does not?

[DaWheelz]

I can't see the Podcast section, where can I find it in the Beta?

[OzGav]

Go to the MA SETTINGS and FRONTEND and add the view. You then need to add a provider that supports what you use. More providers are getting added every update at the moment! Audible and audiobookshelf appear to be progressing ok but no promises until they are released.

[DaWheelz]

Found it, thanks! Really looking forward to how this will work out in future updates.

[seppeel]

I tried a bit with the new beta and RSS Feed player provider. Looks good so far!

One thing i noticed is sorting. Every podcast feed should have a "published" metadata field which i would like to use to sort the episodes. the default "position" sorting looks weird in the podcast examples i used.

I would like to renew my request to sort with "published date". "Position" is often messed up in my podcasts.

[Pittermaennchen]

Implemented in 2.4.0 beta 9

Now providers are required to be written. This is a separate task.

Can anyone add audiobookshelf, please? Would do it myself, if I knew how.

[DavidOliMar]

Good afternoon.
First of all, thank you for the effort in the implementation of the podcasts in MusicAsistant. I have installed the beta and I have been testing a little the news about it.
The problem that I currently have and I don't know how to solve is the synchronization of the exact point where I have stopped listening to the pending podcasts when I get home.
With Pocketcast for example, which is where I usually listen to it, I have real synchronization and when I get home I continue right where I left them but the tests I have done with Gonic or Audiobookshelf I can't do anything similar about it.
How have you solved that issue in relation to MusicAssistant or is there something about it that will be implemented soon?
Thank you very much again in advance.
Greetings ; )

[khers]

This is an outstanding problem. I will be implementing bookmarking for podcasts using the open subsonic api, but I haven't done it yet. Thanks for testing the Subsonic implementation!

[DavidOliMar]

Perfect, many to you for the work in being able to implement it.

I look forward to hearing from you.

[cerw]

Silly Q but how can i install beta and can downgrade back ? ta

[OzGav]

https://www.music-assistant.io/release/#running-parallel-server-versions

[DavidOliMar]

Hello 👋🏻
Today I have updated and I have been able to add Audiobookshelf as a podcast provider.
Is there any way to integrate the playlists we have in Audiobookshelf?
And although I have been with the Audiobookshelf server for a short time, does anyone know if it is possible to synchronize the progress of the Podcasts or Audiobook to continue at the same point when you get home and play the content in MusicAssistant?
Thank you very much in advance for your answers ; )

[marcelveldt]

Synchronizing play state is still WIP - keep an eye out on the beta updates, also new providers are being added almost every beta update.

[DavidOliMar]

Ok, I'll be attentive with a lot of desire
Thanks a lot 😀

[cerw]

Got it installed and it can see my podcast, but it wont play it? Wont see any error in console... how to report bug ?

2025-01-19 11:31:06.127 ERROR (MainThread) [music_assistant.audio.media_stream] Error while streaming podcastfeed--CMsW5jmX://podcast_episode/7fa3640e-f7b0-52e6-abf0-75a70f423071: No audio was received
2025-01-19 11:31:06.134 INFO (MainThread) [music_assistant.streams] Start Streaming queue track: podcastfeed--CMsW5jmX://podcast_episode/4f6b0b31-bd29-592d-8769-49e11154a829 (Novinky na alternativní scéně | Josef Sedloň | Jan 16) for queue Bathroom speaker

[saeugetier]

Please report a bug in https://github.com/music-assistant/support

In order to be able to reproduce your problem, please give information about your feed url.

[WhiteSockedDancer]

Synchronizing play state is still WIP - keep an eye out on the beta updates, also new providers are being added almost every beta update.

May i also suggest adding a way to get the play-state for different users (maybe by adding the same provider with different credentials).

My use case would be an household where everybody can listen to his own potcasts/audiobooks in parallel. Probably even the same media with different playstates synced to the different (audiobookshelf-)users.

I would love to help and participate in any way. Feel free to contact! :)

[WhiteSockedDancer]

Getting the right user on a play-prompt could be difficult.. hmm..

[marcelveldt]

MA is not multi user aware at all and will not be for the upcoming future. There are way more important feature requests that have priority first. I think chances are low that multiple users in one household listen to the same podcast/audiobook so the current behavior where you can resume any podcast or audiobook will work for 99% of the cases just fine. If you need something else, use Home Assistant and the power of scripts and automations to completely go wild. All MA actions and states are available in HA

[WhiteSockedDancer]

I'm totally fine with having this no high priority or getting it implemented at all.

But since this is a discussion about Audiobooks/Features in MA:

I think having people listening to the same podcast in the same household is a quite commen usecase. My wife and i listen to the same audiobooks and podcasts in different states (some books i already listened to some years ago, others we listen in parallel on our daily routes and so on..).
The most important part is, that the actual progress is synced with ABS. If my wife starts an audiobook it should resume at her state synced from ABS. When i start an audiobook it should start at the state of my account.

I guess it is maybe possible with scripts and automations in HA by asking ABS via API for the progress and then let MA start the book at the specific timestamp.

Or did i misinterpreted "play state" as "progress" but you meant "playing" "paused"?

[marcelveldt]

I added something for this on the backlog, just as an FYI. It will not have priority soon but so you are aware something will come eventually. Project Board (view)

[WhiteSockedDancer]

I added something for this on the backlog, just as an FYI. It will not have priority soon but so you are aware something will come eventually. Project Board (view)

Sounds great. I'm looking forward to it. :)

[agdamsbo]

Just spun up the latest beta version (20). Really great to have podcasts integrated. I was able to add a simple RSS feed and playback was flawless. I use Antennapod on my phone and sync/backup with the Nextcloud gPodder implementation. I see gpodder mentioned before. I dont have the skills to implement it myself, so just voting for implementing it as a provider. I see a python library exists (https://github.com/gpodder/mygpoclient) and there are different options for selfhosting (Nextcloud and others) as alternatives to the gpodder.net, which is a little underpowered, I think. Very happy to use Music Assistant daily around the house with several speakers/boards. Thank you!

[khers]

I agree and am working on support for this in the core but life has me focussing elsewhere at the moment. I can't promise an ETA but it will get there.

…

On February 15, 2025 8:44:23 AM EST, Tobias ***@***.***> wrote: > I tried a bit with the new beta and RSS Feed player provider. Looks good so far! > > One thing i noticed is sorting. Every podcast feed should have a "published" metadata field which i would like to use to sort the episodes. the default "position" sorting looks weird in the podcast examples i used. I would like to renew my request to sort with "published date". "Position" is often messed up in my podcasts. -- Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: #429 (reply in thread) You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Message ID: ***@***.***>

[p3ck]

The podcast import fails when I try and import http://rss.art19.com/the-daily

[freddeh]

Is there anyone planning to add Spotify Podcast API support? It seems my favorite podcasts are not available via Podcast RSS, which is a pity.

[OzGav]

Eventually. The devs are busy with other things at the moment,

[freddeh]

Is it already possible to use one of the actions from HA to play a specific episode of a podcast without knowing the episode GUID?

[bastgau]

Thanks !!