Why listen to podcasts in Roon? Here’s my use case.
I subscribe to several radio broadcasts that are archived as podcasts. Sure, they aren’t archived at the highest fidelity, but they’re definitely as enjoyable as a typical FM radio broadcast. Because it’s music, I sometimes want to listen on my primary system. And ideally I want to play all my music from the same interface — Roon. That’s why I support this feature request.
Some will argue, “But it’s not purpose-built for podcasts” or “But developing this feature will take away from more critical development efforts”. Maybe. But isn’t that why we vote for features on this platform — to provide feedback on where we as users want development time to be spent?
For the “purpose-built” argument, I would point to the internet radio feature. It’s not as mature as “music library” feature and has different search and sorting capabilities. To me, this is clearly an add-on feature and one I don’t use. If others feel that development time should be devoted to improving internet radio, I’m not going to argue whether or not it’s worth development cycles. Rather, let’s see how many people want better internet radio vs. a new podcast feature. Let Roon staff count the votes and decide if a feature request has enough interest and aligns with their product goals. Maybe they create a separate podcast app; maybe they tell us flat-out no. But let’s not attack those who support a specific feature just because we don’t see a need for it.
Podcasts, Sirius, Nugs.net, live radio - I should be able to get everything in Roon. And not necessarily for the nerd specs of what Roon does, but that so I don’t have to jump different apps for different things. Hopefully the Harman acquisition has something to do with that. I should be able to get all of my listening needs right in the same app/remote/program/etc.
For me as well: Like many others I am hearing a lot of music podcasts and it would be great if I could use it via roon. I don’t see any difference between radio and podcasts related to the file quality.
Hi, now Roon allows folders, I have worked out how to download podcasts to my NAS (Synology using the inbuilt RSS downloader). These can now be easily accessed through Folders. I’m setting each podcast into its own folder.
Not as pretty as it is on an iPhone, and seems to work fine.
If this is important to you, please vote for it by using the Vote button at the top of the thread - “+1” posts cut no ice with the Roon Labs team. Thanks.
Even without the Folders UI you can add podcast .mp3 files into any directory tree that Roon scans.
I’m hacking out a roonPodcast program that collects the .mp3 file from RSS metadata and stores it in a destination with a season directory (an album). It’s a little sparse but functional.
Podcast functionality would be a huge add. Google has managed Chromecast/Google Cast very badly this year, and there is an opening in the market for a software layer that unifies speakers/endpoints from multiple OEMs, regardless of content type. WiiM looks to be taking this on, as they have implemented Roon readiness on end, and they are licensing their software to third party device OEMs on the other.
Here are a few albums I found searching in the Roon music system: “Let’s Get Small,” by Steve Martin; “Shakespeare Stories,” narrated by Sir Derek Jacobi and Jane Lapotaire; and “The Musgrave Ritual,” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (read by Mark Young). Some podcasts available today include: All Songs Considered; Bandsplain; and Hit Parade. Whether listening to songs, symphonies, or spoken words, I would prefer a single app that plays to any of several audio endpoints in my home. Podcasts would be a natural and most welcome addition to Roon.
It baffles me why the industry leader, Roon, has still to integrate podcasts; a large part of many people’s listening in 2026.
Roon updates have added esoteric services such as Nugs and Listenbrainz, but no podcast-focused services.
We pay a relatively high annual subscription fee for Roon, but have no access to an important area of audio entertainment. We can access radio, but are yet have the option of a podcast service (something I note is available via Audiaravana). We should not need to use third-party downloading on network drives to get something as basic as a podcast, not for around a £170 annual fee to use Roon.
Tidal and Qobuz are clearly the main streaming services used, because of their sample rates etc, but neither have podcast streaming. Spotify, an inferior audiophile service, does have podcast, but we cannot access via Roon. I would happily pay my Tidal subscription for quality and separate Spotify account for podcasts, but we (Roon subscribers) are not given that option - it is infuriating; all I want to do is listen to my favourite podcasts.
Please (praying to all the HiFi gods) will Roon integrate podcasting as soon as possible!
Apart from those integrated, no other streaming services want to have their services added to Roon. It’s not Roon, it’s them.
Those services integrated don’t offer podcasts so Roon has no need to add podcast support.
If you’re desperate for podcasts via Roon, maybe explore adding Roon Extension Manager and enabling the Spotify Entrypoint and use Spotify via a URL in radio.
Fair enough.
