Problem With Google Home Hub

[shivvy]

I bought my father-in-law one of these for xmas. He has it all set up and many aspects are working eg weather forecast requests, but there seems to be a problem. When he asks some a lot of other things eg playing music it gives the reply "To get help with that you'll need to give me more information, you can do that in the google home app".
He has installed the app but I can't see what info it might be looking for.
Can anyone advise how to get it to work more fully please?
Thanks.

[hc4361]

Does this help?

https://support.google.com/googlehome/answer/7030379?hl=en-GB

[shivvy]

Hmm, he doesn't have a Spotify account or anything similar. Does he need one? Before he got the Google Home Hub he would type the name of whatever song he wanted into google and it would play (usually through youtube). I was hoping he could do the same with this new piece of kit?
He also gets the same response to other questions that are asked, not just playing music. He gets the same reply so many times that he said he is ready to turf it out the window!!

[hc4361]

To play music from YouTube he will need a premium account at £11.99 a month but the free services from Spotify, Pandora or Google should do the trick.

Give examples of the other times he's told to set up from the app

[Guilbert53]

>>>but the free services from Spotify, Pandora or Google should do the trick.

HC4361, from the link you posted above he may not hear the ACTUAL song that he requested, just a radio station "inspired" by the song requested.

The link above says:

>>>Google Play Music Free, Spotify Free, Pandora – You'll hear a station of songs inspired by the song/album/artist you requested (free radio service).

[Guilbert53]

To shivvy,

Anyone can sign up to Spotify for free (download it then install it then register)

There are millions of songs on there and you can search by artists, album etc. and play a single song or a whole album

For the free sign up you do get adverts, but I have listened to a whole album in the past and only had a couple of adverts.

[shivvy]

Aw this is such a nuisance - I looked into this issue a bit before I bought it and thought he should be able to access music in the same way he knew ie via youtube.
I think he could put up with occasional ads if he was listening to the correct artist, but not if it is an approximation as Guilbert suggests.
How does a Google product not use a google search to find info? What I mean is that if I type an artist and song into google and hit search, i can play the song but that doesn't seem to be the same on this google product.

[hc4361]

Shivvy, when you google search you are given a choice of links one of which will be the YouTube link you are looking for. Alexa won’t know what link to open

[shivvy]

But it would be nice of her to at least offer one wouldnt it hc4361?! lol!

[Guilbert53]

>>> Alexa won’t know what link to open

Alexa is Amazon is it?

Google Home Hub uses "Google" doesn't it - "Google play me a Little Mix song" for example.

[Guilbert53]

Shivvy, you have to remember that the artists only gets paid if a song is available on an official site (like Apple Music or Spotify) as they forward money to the artists when a song is played.

If a song is available on a non-official web site then the artist does not get paid and I think it is right that Google does not play that song from that "dodgy" web site.

Now we have all been listening to songs and albums on YouTube for years, but that is mainly because an individual has put it up there on YouTube and the company that owns the right to the song either has not contacted YouTube to get it removed or does not think it is worth it (for all sorts of reasons).

So just because a song is available on the web it does not make it legal and it is right Google do not play it.

Sadly the internet is a bit like the Wild West and there are many places where rules are broken nor ignored, but it is right that Google obey the rules when it comes to playing music.

[gingejbee]

I suspect this is similar in use to Amazon's Alexa....you can only stream music on demand from subscription services such as Amazon Music, Spotify Premium, Tune In etc.....I doubt that you'll get anything with the free Spotify service, for example

[shivvy]

Guilbert - thank you but I'm familiar with the concept of paying for music online. I have a Spotify subscription because I too believe that artists should be paid for their music. That said, my father-in-law playing 'Jolene' once or twice a month is hardly likely to bring Dolly Parton towards financial ruination!
hc4361 - ah yes, I understand what you mean about being given a choice of links to open when I do a 'normal' google search, but with the home hub it will not know which link to open. But I was thinking that I asked it to show me a recipe for xmas pudding and it gave me a choice of sites to choose from eg BBCrecipes, allrecipes, marthastewart for example.

[shivvy]

I'm also wondering now - would it not open a youtube page at all unless my father-in-law had a paid subscription to it?
It's frustrating that I don't have the device in front of me to test all these things as they come into my head!
But it is annoying because my husband felt that he researched the range of similar devices before deciding to get this particular google home hub, but never came across reviewers highlighting the inability to play music unless you sign up to £12 per month for spotify or youtube etc. My father-in-law 100% would not get the benefit for paying for the subscription.