Hi @lindybees! Welcome to community.
Thanks for your thoughtful and thorough post, I appreciate it. I just got a new HomePod Mini too! I tried some testing on my own HomePod Mini with Pandora to try and replicate your experience. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get the same message you did.
I did notice I was still on version 16.6 for HomePod, but was able to update to version 17 today and I tried again. Still no luck. The only difference in our experience is that I'm currently on iOS 17. I did try a couple of different ways to replicate your experience, much of the same things you've already done.
My only other suggestions would be to remove the old HomePod from the Home app, and try adding Pandora to HomePod again. Also, in the off chance it may be related to iOS 17, if possible, I would update to the latest version.
If you're still having trouble after that, I'm happy to pass this along to our iOS team for further review.
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