Playback repeating in middle of podcasts
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Hi, I’ve noticed on this app (on android) there is a bit somewhere in the middle of most podcasts (I think) where the audio rewinds back about 30 seconds and plays on from there? The audio scrubber continues as normal and the time display doesn’t skip back, so I assumed it was a problem with the editing of the podcasts for a while. But then I compared and on other apps the repeated section doesn’t happen. Has anyone else noticed this?
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Update: I’ve just found a bit where it skips forwards 15 seconds too, which it doesn’t in Google Podcasts.
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Hi @conor5554! Can you let me know if you’re listening to the podcasts by streaming or by downloading the whole thing, then listening? We have been investigating some trouble like what you’re describing when an episode is streaming.
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@missioneperte Could you provide us with the exact episode you are having this issue with and also provide us with some details of the device and app version you are using?
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I’ve had this happen several times as well. I always stream. Doesn’t matter if it’s a long episode or not.
So far it mainly happens when the following conditions are met:
- Playing an episode of a show A
- Switch to podcast B, resume in the middle of an episode I’ve started prior
- After a few minutes, about 1-5 minutes of playback are repeated. Happens once, doesn’t happen again.
Skipping backward/forward can also make it happen. I’m usually listening on 1.5x speed and have Skip Silence set to Mad Max.
Since you were asking for specific shows, I’ve had this happen most on Lex Fridman, since they’re so long, but there were some short 20-minute indie podcasts where I also heard this after a skip.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard it by just playing full episodes back-to-back.
I think it might also only happen on a mobile connection. I’m on Android.
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Same problem here on a variety of podcasts on IOS. It’s been a problem for a while. I’m at the point where I am about to jump ship. Please correct this issue.
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Hi @ri0tdude,
Would you check if the “Intelligent playback resumption” feature enabled at Profile > Settings > General?
With the “Intelligent playback resumption” option enabled, playback skips are features, not bugs. These are the amounts of time it jumps back:
- More than 24 hours since this episode was paused, jumping back 30 seconds
- More than 1 hour since this episode was paused, jumping back 15 seconds
- More than 5 minutes since this episode was paused, jumping back 10 seconds
If you don’t want playback skips like these, please disable the Intelligent playback resumption option.
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Funny, I also noticed this happening maybe twice in the last week. I had assumed it was either a mistake by the podcast editors, or an error related to how dynamic ads are inserted. I’ll stop and take notes if it happens again.
In my case, I don’t think it was intelligent playback resumption, because I had not paused and resumed. I was listening continuously without touching the controls, and the show suddenly repeated the previous 30 seconds or so. I do often use a Bluetooth Beats headset with playback controls, so it’s also possible that the headset malfunctioned due to dust or sweat getting under the buttons.
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@thoroughplatypus That is very possible! In the past, we’ve found that Bluetooth devices can give unexpected commands to apps. A good way to test this is by completely disabling Bluetooth on your phone’s settings. Then, just listen to podcasts using the phone speaker, and see if you experience the issue again.
If the issue doesn’t occur while listening on your phone’s speaker, it may help to unpair your Bluetooth device from your phone and re-pair them to see if it makes a difference.
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I too have been experiencing this issue. And like others, I had assumed it was related to the specific channel’s method of creating the audio-stream.
Sometimes the effect is accompanied by a squeak sound, as if the audio stream had been excessively compressed, not unlike the magnetic tape days when the tape speed had been excessively accelerated.
On the last podcast I was listening too, I restarted it, and the playback completed without any “rewind” effect, which to me, alludes to a data fetch issue.
Again, like others, this issue does not effect to the playback progress timer, so this results in the podcast terminating prematurely, or a repeat of the end content, depending upon the nature of the glitch.
I saw a suggestion to switch off intelligent playback, so I have turned that off to see if that option effects playback. I usually get several of these per day, so it should not take long to get a result on the aforementioned setting change.
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@compassdrg, are you finding that this occurs when playing back episodes through a specific audio target — bluetooth speaker, wired/wireless headphones, etc?
If you’re using a bluetooth device for playback, have you tried Cara’s suggestion above?
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@mikerockwell Good point! I missed that one, and I was on Bluetooth when it happened today.
I’ll turn “Intelligent playback” back on, and see if I get an issue without using the Bluetooth headphone, and then see if I get an issue with the Bluetooth headphones, and see if a pattern is revealed.
I’ll update in the next day or so with a result.
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After quite a few hours of listening to multiple podcasts, I started to think the use of Bluetooth was the contributor to the issue. But no.
This stream
https://pca.st/episode/a93f96ae-37e9-4277-9f15-9da38d76ca6e
terminated prematurely, so I listened to it again from the archive and on the second playback it completed without issue.This stream
https://pca.st/podcast/334b88a0-61a0-0137-f267-1d245fc5f9cf
had a skip back, in the latter third, so I restarted, and it too completed playback without further issue.This stream
https://pca.st/episode/1625d4c5-f0a8-4773-be5b-3cdafa993e0c
appeared to complete, but actually reported as a streaming issue, and was tagged as incomplete with a fraction of second remaining. This happens quite often, one in twenty(?), so all I do is tag it complete as it drops into the archive list, and continue on.So, at this stage, as I had not been using headphones since the previous post, I can only conclude that the use of Bluetooth headphones does not appear to be the sole contributor to the issue, or not related at all.
I did suspect that maybe the phone’s power management may be effecting the operation of the App as the screen will switch to the lock screen, but I would be surprised if the OS would shut-down such an active App. Besides, its power settings were set to “unrestricted”.
One factor that I have noticed, whether it is related or not is unknown, I can only recall this issue on channels with in excess of 500 streams. All the aforementioned are from a channel that currently has 1877 episodes. The other channels are 300 or less.
That’s all I’ve got. If I can notice any other potential causality, I’ll post.
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Thanks for investigating and reporting back to use how it went!
I restarted, and it too completed playback without further issue.
I listened to it again from the archive and on the second playback it completed without issue
I’m curious, when you were listening to https://pca.st/podcast/334b88a0-61a0-0137-f267-1d245fc5f9cf and https://pca.st/episode/a93f96ae-37e9-4277-9f15-9da38d76ca6e the first time were you streaming them or had they been downloaded prior?
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Hi @staff-mobilefox , these are all first time streams. I have not specifically downloaded any stream on any channel. If the playback is doing so from a cache, I was not aware of that. Although one of the reported streams played additional advertising content on replay, which I would not have expected on a cached file.
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@compassdrg One more thing, are you having this issue on Pocket Casts Android or Pocket Casts iOS app? I assumed you’re using the Android app, but I’d like to confirm.
Also, if you don’t mind sharing, can you please let us know your Pocket Casts app version, your device make and model, and its OS version? Thank you!
Pocket Casts Forum 