Podcasts Greyed Out

[nlewkowitz]

I've read of similar issues on this forum in UK threads, but did not see much about it in other parts of the forum. I have several podcasts that are completely greyed out on Spotify, two are BBC podcasts, and the other is This American Life. These are not greyed out when using Spotify on my phone or when using the Spotify desktop app on my computer. There is another thread about having issues with This American Life, but there was no solution to the problem, and this looks like a more broad issue than just that podcast. Additionally, I can play the same podcasts from TuneIn in my Tesla without issue. Anybody else have this problem or more importantly, have a solution?

 

[cwoodvis]

I have the same issue, so frustrating

 

[jontie]

I have a UK M3 LR on software 2022.44.25.3 with premium connectivity. I recently signed up to Spotify premium as it is is supposed to allow access to content in Europe if initially accessed in the home country. The idea is that we would access our Spotify library in France where we are frequent travellers.

The Model 3 connects OK to my Spotify account and shows the Albums, Artists and Podcasts in my library. These all play normally from my iPhone and Windows PC. However, BBC-derived podcasts such as Newscast and F1 Chequered Flag are greyed out and will not play in the Tesla. On the other hand a couple of French-originating podcasts such as RFI Journal en Francais Facile play fine in the Tesla as well. I am not sure why geo-blocking should occur selectively to Spotify accessed on the Tesla whilst I am in the UK and not on any other device.

The option of playing from an iPhone via BlueTooth has limitations when in France because we have to contend with roaming charges post-Brexit. It seems I may have to download selected podcasts from Spotify to my phone (assuming this is possible in France), and play via BlueTooth whilst in France to avoid roaming charges.

I have tried signing out/signing in to Spotify again in the Tesla and rebooting the screen, but there is no change, i.e. some podcasts are greyed out which will not play.

Has anyone else experienced this and am I missing something? Or is it just 'one-of-those-things'? Thx

 

[ElectricIAC]

Need a VPN feature for our cars to defeat geographic restrictions!

 

[greebo]

I'm seeing greyed out BBC podcasts in Spotify on my November 2022 model Y too.

Initially the free month of premium connectivity showed on whatismyipaddress in the browser as an Amsterdam KPN IP address, so no big surprise that the internet thought the car was outside the UK.

I chose to buy a month of premium connectivity, and shortly afterwards the IP is now showing in whatismyipaddress in the browser as "KPN Tesla" with a location of The Ridgeway, England - so it is now being VPNed into the UK. BBC news, iPlayer and sport web pages through the browser all now behave as if I'm in the UK. Good start.

Unfortunately Spotify and Tunein are less good. BBC podcasts in Spotify are still greyed out. Tunein is slightly better, I can play BBC podcasts but they start with a warning that there will be adverts as I'm outside the UK. Non BBC podcasts often play non English adverts.

I guess I'll be dropping the premium connectivity sub fairly quickly. Even if the car is on home WiFi, or an EE hotspot from my phone, Spotify and Tunein behave as though they are outside the UK, so the premium connectivity seems to be the default data route for them.

I've tried a service request and they reset the Spotify on the car for me but the behaviour hasn't changed. I'd previously tried a double scroll wheel reboot.

Currently I'm advised that the IP migration may not yet been fully complete and to monitor the problem for a while.

If anyone else has any suggestions I'm interested.

 

[jontie]

Interesting Greebo, thanks. Your experience seems to be similar to ours. The strange thing is that we can happily use BBC Sounds, including podcasts, from on a mobile or from a local Internet connection for streaming when we are in France (though we need a VPN with UK IP to use the 'Download'/save function).

We will be back in France in a few weeks' time. I think the workaround will be to use my travel router/VPN to download the podcasts from BBC Sounds at fixed (free) wif-fi locations, to play over bluetooth through the Tesla when we are on the autoroutes.

 

[andystevenuk]

Interesting Greebo, thanks. Your experience seems to be similar to ours. The strange thing is that we can happily use BBC Sounds, including podcasts, from on a mobile or from a local Internet connection for streaming when we are in France (though we need a VPN with UK IP to use the 'Download'/save function).

We will be back in France in a few weeks' time. I think the workaround will be to use my travel router/VPN to download the podcasts from BBC Sounds at fixed (free) wif-fi locations, to play over bluetooth through the Tesla when we are on the autoroutes.

I am not sure its a IP location issue, if you open up the tesla browser and type in "ip address location" mine is showing a IPv4 UK address, the ISP is in the NL, the duch provider started moving UK based teslas over to UK IP ranges a while ago. I can also prove this by opening up the browser and playing iplayer without issue.





I have the same issue though I can not play any bbc podcasts through the spotify tesla app, I also see different content. Example if I follow the BBC Friday Night Comedy on the spotify app on my iphone it then appears under podcasts in the spotify tesla app, but will not play (Grayed out). However if I do a new search for BBC Friday Night Comedy in the spotify tesla app it wont even find it .... very strange. It will find it via tunein, but I want to use spotify as they is where all my content is.





whats the issue here, the bbc? tesla? or the tesla spotify app?

 

[greebo]

Thanks, you've prompted me to chase Tesla again over this. For me, now the Spotify refresh has arrived, I get 'Loading error' in the music tile when I try to play a specific podcast from any BBC podcasts that are in my Spotify podcast library.

 

[andystevenuk]

I contacted tesla and they have come back and said its a known issue, but there is no eta for a fix !!! a guess the more people that register the same issue the more pressure they will have to fix it

 

[jontie]

I contacted tesla and they have come back and said its a known issue, but there is no eta for a fix !!! a guess the more people that register the same issue the more pressure they will have to fix it

The Spotify refresh does not seem to change anything unfortunately. It is still not possible to play on the Tesla any BBC Sounds podcasts that are in my Spotify podcast library, whether in the UK or abroad, even though they are visible in my library listing. On other platforms (iPhone, Windows PC with travel modem, etc) they play from Spotify normally, whether in the UK or abroad. Its a Tesla issue.

We have discovered that two of the BBC podcasts we listen to most often are accessible from TuneIn Radio. Its not as convenient as Spotify which has my library, but its a limited workaround.

Jon

 

[greebo]

Thanks, you've prompted me to chase Tesla again over this. For me, now the Spotify refresh has arrived, I get 'Loading error' in the music tile when I try to play a specific podcast from any BBC podcasts that are in my Spotify podcast library.

I tried a new service request, however Tesla Stockport wanted to have my car for a day with no loaner offered, and not while I wait - so I wasn't going to be there to show them the problem, log in and out of Spotify etc to demo the fault, so it was going to be a waste of time and quite inconvenient so I gave up and cancelled the appointment.