Using your Google Home or Google Nest smart speaker as a podcast player is one of the best uses you can make of them together with those for controlling home automation, consulting information, creating reminders or listening to some music through compatible services. So we are going to show you how to do it.
Podcasts and smart speakers
Today the number of podcasts being produced continues to grow significantly. And the best thing is that there is also beginning to be more financial support for podcasters. All this plus some notable signings make the level of the productions increase, that the contents have a higher quality and that some can dedicate themselves to doing audio content.
Therefore, now having the largest number of options when playing your favorite podcasts is more interesting if possible. And of course, within that search to listen to new episodes, the smart speaker is gaining more and more ground, because it is a practically perfect device to do it.
The latest models have greatly improved in sound quality, also the applications and services available so that they can play new programs and, above all, the use of voice commands continues to be the most comfortable for these types of actions. Much more than taking the phone out of your pocket, unlocking it, opening the appropriate application, searching for the podcast, selecting the episode and giving it to play.
So if you’ve never thought about it before or if you have a smart speaker and want to know how to do it, we’re going to show you how to use Google Home or Google Nest speakers to play podcasts.
How to play podcasts on Google Home
Listening to podcasts through your Google smart speaker, be it the models belonging to the Google Home family or those of Google Nest, is very simple. Although you must take into account some previous considerations.
- Google speakers do not currently support the use of third-party players . In other words, you will not be able to use other platforms such as Spotify, TuneIn, etc. through them.
- The podcasts that you can play directly are the ones that are in Google Podcasts
- To play podcasts from other platforms you would have to resort to using the Cast function
Now that you know this, if you add all your podcast subscriptions to Google Podcasts it will be very easy to track and control the episodes you have already listened to, whether there are new ones or not, etc. Anyway, to listen to a podcast from a Google smart speaker, just ask. If it’s on the platform, it will start playing.
Activate your speaker with “Ok Google” and then give it a command such as “Listen to El Output podcasts” or “Play El Output podcasts”. In seconds your smart speaker will start playing.
Obviously, you can also take advantage of voice commands to control playback at all times. For example, to stop or fast forward, skip to the next episode, or rewind, you can even change the playback speed if you want.
If for some reason you do not want to use the voice commands to control the speaker, depending on the model you can use the touch controls that it may or may not offer.
Play podcasts that are not in Google Podcasts
In case you want to play podcasts that are not in Google Podcasts , the easiest option to continue using your Google smart speaker is to use the Cast function.
That is, in the same way that you could send music from your smartphone or another compatible device thanks to the integration with Chromecast, you could also send your podcasts from players such as Spotify. So you do not go without seeing what happens in the last episode of X-Rey.
Extra: listen to the radio
Finally, as an extra bonus, in addition to all the music and podcast options, you can also listen to the radio from your smart speaker. Something just as easy to do as podcasts. Just say “Ok Google, tune in to the station name” and then you will start listening to the radio on your speaker.
So now you know, start getting more out of your smart speaker and if you don’t have it, decide which model interests you the most and enjoy your favorite podcasts.