Ideas: Listening to more than one device at the same time

[geneselah]

I tried the premium service and it was worse than the unpaid service. I listen to it on Alexa, then if I forget to stop it when I leave, I can't listen in my car. Ridiculous!

I'd have to set up multiple accounts for each of my 5 Amazon Echo's in order to listen on each, then I wouldn't get the music I like unless I thumb up or down on each device. Makes no sense at all!!!

Fix this to allow up to 5 or 6 simultaneous devices on the same account and I'll gladly join again 🙂

Moderator Edit: Changed title for clarity

[AlyssaPandora]

Thanks for your idea, @geneselah! 

I've moved your post to our Feature Requests board as this is not currently a feature of Pandora. 

[NacnotNic]

Any headway on this? Why pay for premium when you can only have one device active? My fiance and I have separate accounts so we can listen to music through Pandora. But more often than not he chooses apple music because of the annoyance Pandora has become 

[Credd]

The lack of this feature is definitely annoying. 

My wife and I also have 2 separate accounts to use, we pay for both and only being able to use a single device at a time is ridiculous for the money we pay. 

Any other platform has a multi device deal, Pandora needs to get on their A-Game asap or I'll be switching to something else with better features. 

[loftygoals]

After reading the multiple posts requesting this feature, it seems there is a common thread with a desire to utilize a family subscription to listen to Pandora on different Alexa devices concurrently.

The scenario looks like this:

A Pandora user has multiple devices in the home. Perhaps an Echo Studio in the Living Room, an Echo Show in the office, an Echo Dot Kids Edition in a child's room, and a Fire TV in the bedroom. All of these devices are registered under a single Amazon Alexa account.

My child starts listening to listen to KIDZ BOP Kids while playing in her room. I'm working away in my office and attempt to listen to some Jazz. When I attempt to start my music, I receive a message that "Someone else is listening to your Pandora account."

What gives? I have a family plan that allows up to 6 people to listen at the same time!

The problem is that unlike some streaming services where multiple streams are allowed under the same account, Pandora allows multiple accounts under the same subscription. This is an important distinction because when you enable the Pandora Skill for Alexa, you link a single Pandora account. And this limitation in the skill is where the problem arises.

This is a current limitation of the system, and from a technical perspective, it is difficult to fix. It makes complete sense that Pandora opted to force users in a family plan to have separate accounts. I certainly don't want my child curating my stations. But, this scenario is problematic when it comes to the Alexa ecosystem because there isn't a way to link multiple accounts to a single skill in the Alexa framework. Thus, we have a situation where both Pandora and/or Amazon Alexa would have to change to resolve this issue.

As a workaround, I would suggest that Pandora creates a second Pandora skill. The second skill could be called something such as "Pandora Family". In actuality, this skill would be identical to the normal Pandora skill, but simply be named something else. This would allow the association of another account from your family plan.

This would then work like this:

I'd link the normal Pandora skill to my email address for my Pandora Account--for example myemail@gmail.com. Then I'd created a new email account called something such as myfamilypandora@gmail.com, created a Pandora account with this account, and then use my main Pandora account (myemail@gmail.com) to invite the new account (myfamilypandora@gmail.com ) to the Pandora Family plan. Finally, I would add the "Pandora Family skill to my Alexa account and link it to the myfamilypandora@gmail.com Pandora account. I'd also set the "Pandora Family" skill as my default music service in Alexa.

With this configured this way, when you ask Alexa, "Alexa, play kids music" or "Alexa, play kids music on Pandora family" it would play on the Pandora Family skill and use the associated myfamilypandora@gmail.com account. If you asked, "Alexa, play Jazz on Pandora" Alexa would play the requested Jazz using the main Pandora account associated with myemail@gmail.com. This would allow streaming two (but only two) unique Pandora accounts on a single Alexa account at the same time.

So to summarize, there isn't currently a way to currently stream two Pandora accounts within the same Alexa account, but if Pandora would create a second Alexa skill, it would be possible to add and use a second account.

[casino]

Please allow me to buy a second license to my Pandora Plus account so that me and my partner can both can share, listen, and change the same stations we love together at the same time. I'm not a fan of the Pandora Premium platform, nor do I want or need those options. I really want to stick with Pandora Plus and I'll pay full price for the second Plus license, but I just want one shared account with the option to listen to it simultaneously. Please.

Best Regards,

Brandon

[TannerPandora]

Hi @casino thanks for posting to the FR board! 🎶✏️

We appreciate the feedback on sharing an account on Pandora! While this currently isn't an option, I like your idea of sharing a Pandora account with multiple people.  

In the meantime, I would recommend creating a second Pandora account and sharing stations between the two accounts. If you'd like more info on how to share stations, let me know. 

Thanks for being part of community! ❤️

[Ozzy13]

My wife and I both have been using Pandora during the day as we work from home and soon when she gets to go back to her office also we both have cars we are able to play Pandora in (we are both over 60) she does not have an account and the family plan is too much for us since our kids are gone.

is it possible maybe you will have a "Pandora for 2" plan?

[AdamPandora]

@Ozzy13 I moved your post to this existing feature request since you had a similar idea.

While this isn't currently an option, I recommend giving this feature request a ❤️to express your interest in getting it added to the service as well.

Hope we continue to see you around the community! 😄

[Beshdan]

Absolutely a problem. I want to be able to use multiple devices on one Alexa account without having to monkey with settings all the time.  Allowing multiple devices would achieve my goal of seamless listening.  I would gladly pay for premium for this capability, but without out it I see no advantage to paying for premium or family based on my listening style.

[MV10]

Shared stations aren't a solution because you can't thumb-up/down content, and with the recent Sony takeover and the decline in the quality of "similar titles" so they can push their catalog, I am very definitely using thumb-down more than ever.

It is absolutely ridiculous that my wife and I are the only two people on a six-slot Family Plan, yet I can't hop in the car to go to the store and listen to Pandora because she happens to be listening to my station at home.

Additionally, since no Pandora UI on any device makes it remotely easy to switch between multiple accounts, it's not reasonable to expect one of us to change accounts temporarily.

It's poorly designed, it's a hassle, and as somebody who has subscribed to Pandora since the service started, I'm seriously considering cancelling.