Can I easily play music on Google Nest devices?

Unless you’re super geeky like us, you’re likely only using a tiny fraction of your Google Nest (formally Google Home) device’s capabilities! Did you know you could play music on Google Nest devices? Well, you can!

 

Many are swapping their Amazon Alexa Echo for a Google Nest mini! Thankfully, getting your device to stream music, radio and podcast isn’t tricky but does involve following a few steps.

 

So if you want to know how to play music on your Google Nest devices, then you’ll want to keep reading.

 

 

What music services can use with Google Nest Devices?

There’s a variety of music streaming service (both paid and free) you can enjoy using your Google Nest or Home device. These include Google Play Music, YouTube Music Premium, Spotify Premium, Pandora, Deezer, and Apple Music. Not to mention new services that seemly launch weekly!

 

You can also enjoy listening to the radio, thanks to the pre-installed TuneIn app, which allows you to access tens of thousands of radio stations from all over the globe!

 

You’ll run out of time, long before you’ve explored all the options you have to play music on Google Nest or Home devices!

 

 

Do I need to pay for a subscription service to play music on Google Nest?

There’s no need to pay to listen to music. You could listen to one of the thousands of commercial radio stations available using the built-in TuneIn app.

 

You could upload your entire music collection and your favourite podcasts to Google Music Manager and enjoy your collection using any device that syncs with the Google cloud. You don’t need any kind of subscription to play your music.

 

Of course, you could use the free versions of paid services such as Spotify, YouTube Music, Google Play Music, and Deezer. All use adverts to support their free package but still allow you to easily play music on Google Nest devices.

 

 

 

 

 

Pairing your Google Nest device

Before you can play music using any device or service, you need to pair it to your Google Nest using Bluetooth. So pause Spotify or YouTube Music or Deezer and ensure your devices are communicating!

 

You can check if your phone and your Google device are paired by opening the Google Nest Home app and tapping “devices” in the top right-hand corner of the screen. Next, find the Google Nest  Home device that you’d like to pair with and tap > Settings > Paired Bluetooth devices > Enable Pairing Mode.

 

You can also pair from your mobile device under its Bluetooth settings.

 

 

Playing music on all Google Nest smart speakers at once

Nothing is better than filling your home with music and having a few Google Nest devices makes this super easy to achieve! While some spend tens of thousands on a home automation system that includes multi-room audio, you can achieve this with a fraction of the cost.

 

Linking multiple Google Nest Mini or Nest Audio devices together is painless. Simply launch the home app and add your smart speakers to your existing Home Group. Once you’ve added all your speakers, you can ask “Okay Google, play [song name] on Home Group.”

 

 

 

 

Does Google Nest keep playing music or is it limited?

According to Google, their devices do not limit how long you can enjoy listening to music. That said, other factors can stop your device from steaming music.

 

For example, if your device drops it’s Wi-Fi connection or you experience a lack of bandwidth due to others in your home streaming or gaming, then your Google Nest device will probably stop playing music.

 

Some streaming services might limit how many songs or hours of content you can stream each day, which will impact your ability to listen to music 24/7. Of course, streaming services do experience issues, which could leave you listening to silence. Thankfully, these are incredibly rare.

 

 

Can I listen to Podcasts on Google Nest?

It’s quite likely you can enjoy listening to your favourite podcasts, just ask Google Nest to play it! For example, ask your device “Hey Google, listen to ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’” and your Nest device will start playing the newest episode of that podcast.

 

As there are a ton of podcasts and several podcasting platforms, you’ll want to use Google Podcasts. You can use this app to centrally locate, add, and listen to all of your favourites without having to constantly search or bookmark them.

 

 

 

Setting a music alarm on Google Nest

Who doesn’t enjoy waking up to music?! It can get your day off to a great start! Thankfully, it’s easy to set up using any of your Google Nest devices. Ask your device “Ok Google, set a music alarm” and it will walk you through all of the necessary steps.

 

The music will default to whatever default streaming service you have set up in Google Nest. If you haven’t set anything, then it will default to the Google Play Music Service which only allows you to pick an artist, not particular songs.

 

 

Essential Google Nest music commands

Requesting a song

Say either:

• Okay Google, play (song name).
• Okay Google, play (song name) by (artist name).
• Okay Google, play (song name) from (album name).
• Okay Google, play (song name) on (music service).
• Okay Google, play songs like (artist name).

Requesting an artist

Say either:

• Okay Google, play (artist name).
• Okay Google, play music by (artist name).
• Okay Google, play (artist name) on (music service).
• Okay Google, play songs like (artist name).

To request an album

Say either:

• Okay Google, play (album name).
• Okay Google, play (album name) by (artist name) on (music service).

Play music based on genre/mood/activity

Say either:

• Okay Google, play classical music.
• Okay Google, play music for cooking.

Playing personalized suggested content from your service of choice

Say:

• Okay Google, play some (genre) music on (music service).

To shuffle

Say either:

• Okay Google, shuffle.
• Okay Google, shuffle (album name).
• Okay Google, shuffle some music.
• Okay Google, play (album name) and shuffle.

 

 

 

 

That’s how to play music on Google Nest!

You should now have a better idea of play music on your Google Nest device. Also, you now know some of the key commands to make it easy to find and play music and podcasts. Have fun listening to music on your Google Nest devices!

 

Don’t forget that the Google Assistant can help you sleep better by playing sounds, podcasts and music!