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Hello,

I am having an issue playing Spotify through my Sonos app. I keep getting an error message saying "Unable to play (song) the connection to Spotify was lost." After spending some time searching for a solution online, it became apparent that this is a widespread problem with no definitive solution. Nevertheless, I am determined to find an answer.

Additional information:

• Diagnostic: 2024196285

• Internet connection is stable.

• Issue just occured today during playback. Sonos system was installed a few weeks ago, and everything was working fine until today.

• Spotify app works fine by itself, and I can play Sonos Radio through the speakers. The issue only seems to be when I try to play Spotify through Sonos.

• I have tried powering the Sonos amps off and on. No fix.

• I have removed my Spotify account in the Sonos app, and then reconnected it. No fix.

• I have tried clearing my queue in the Sonos app. No fix.

• I checked for updates on both apps after the problem occured. No update for Spotify, but I did update Sonos. No fix.

I believe that is all the relevant information that I can provide at this time. I look forward to a response and hopefully a fix.

Thanks in advance!

 

….and for what its worth, just installed Sonos on my desktop Mac, which is directly connected to my router via an ASDL cable. Exactly the same issue so nothing to do with WiFi.

 


Maddening that this has been a known issue for Sonos for more than 9 months and still no fix (or even transparent discussion on why it’s happening).


Hmmm, so it could be something, it could be nothing, but right after posting that last message, I checked to see if maybe the Spotify app was actively running in the background on my phone and it was. I did a force stop on the Spotify app and mysteriously the Spotify connection while using Sonos app has been solid since. Unfortunately, I don't want to attempt to reproduce the problem right now because I just got my music working, but if anyone reads this, maybe try the above to see if it works for you. 


Hoped the above might be useful but unfortunately made no difference. When using my major playlist that is basically all Spotify song I either get that two consecutive songs will play ok, then the third fails, or each alternative song fails. The song that then plays also seems to sort of fade in having missed the first couple of seconds.

 

Because I have Android and iOS devices I’ve tried all combinations of using one or the other, both or none but nothing seems to fix it. Ironically about 6 months ago I thought this problem had gone but it’s back with a vengeance and worse than ever. Added to which to Sonos app generally seems to be getting more buggy. For example here’s my Home Screen on iOS at the moment. No Sonos playlists shown, when there are at least 5 to show and you can see the message about recently played…


this is my Android app at much the same time

 

 


December 11, 2021, months after the “case closed” notice posted above, and for the very first time in years of Sonos use with Spotify…. I, too got the “unable to play, cannot connect” error, and Googling it brought me here. 

Interestingly, it cannot connect and then skips to the next song, sometimes it will start playing it and then stop connecting.

FYI: Using Fios 1GB fiber optic connection through an Amazon eero Wifi router connected directly to the fiber modem (not through the Fios router - that one was sent back).

Also FYI: Playing through Sonos app on my MacBook. All apps and speakers fully updated. 

Pretty frustrating. 


Hi @alan278 

We consider this issue closed, so you may be experiencing issues due to something else going on. I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team, who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system.


Connection to Spotify was lost - “And thanks for the diagnostics - I was able to confirm that you’re being affected by a known issue that we are currently investigating.” Has this issue been resolved?

i’m looking for an update - anything yet?

thanks, as i';m also experiencing this issue


There’s been no indication at this point that Spotify’s engineers have been able to resolve the issue, despite the assistance of Sonos’ engineers. There would like be a lot of various threads that have a response from Sonos when it occurs, since there are over a dozen separate threads currently discussing it as an issue. 


Hello Thanks for the reply. I have not contacted technical support as yet. I know you can link 2 rear speakers to the arc to add surround, but did not know you can link a single Sonos one to the arc or did you mean just to play music on both the lounge arc and kitchen one at the same time? Sorry, but I’m new to this and just finding my feet.
Things were stable today.


This crap happens all the time. It’s temporary and usually resolves itself. FWIW, the problem doesn’t happen when you try to play music from Amazon; only Spotify. I don’t know who’s fault it is but it’s insanely annoying. 


Also having this problem. All my speakers are wired. Seems to go in and out, although it seems more reliable if I play to Sonos FROM Spotify instead of using the Sonos app. I’ve tried reconnecting the services, reauthing before I try playing, etc. nothing seems to help. Happing on my and my wife’s devices.


Just switched to Apple Music, and… zero connection issues. 


December 11, 2021, months after the “case closed” notice posted above, and for the very first time in years of Sonos use with Spotify…. I, too got the “unable to play, cannot connect” error, and Googling it brought me here. 

Interestingly, it cannot connect and then skips to the next song, sometimes it will start playing it and then stop connecting.

FYI: Using Fios 1GB fiber optic connection through an Amazon eero Wifi router connected directly to the fiber modem (not through the Fios router - that one was sent back).

Also FYI: Playing through Sonos app on my MacBook. All apps and speakers fully updated. 

Pretty frustrating. 

Been having the same problem intermittently for the last few days.  I was thinking it was a Spotify problem as if certain files were not available to play.  I was thinking it was Spotify preparing for Spotify HiFi.


I had the same issue, reset everything multiple times in multiple orders, nothing worked. 
 

Fixed it by playing a sonos radio playlist then switching back. Id say its a Spotify Authenticator issue, no issues since!

Easy fix for devs would be if the error code appears then it automatically plays a silent song on sonos radio for a few seconds then switches back and retries. 
 

You’re welcome…


This is happening to me too!!!

 

1768319446


There must be a proper fix for this, most frustrating thing ever , I have done everything mentioned above thread and still the same , plays a few songs then just stops. I did t know you could add the app on Spotify, so did this .. still after a few songs it will just stop . Same on my phone or if I play from PC … what is the answer Sonos Team ???  


For what it’s worth, I’ve converted my playlist to a Spotify playlist using free tools to export the playlist from Sonos, import it to Spotify (free tool only allows 200 songs per playlist and can’t add to existing playlists) and then merge the resultant playlists into one.

 

Then the playlist is available through Sonos and plays perfectly, no missed tracks or skipping half way through… and honestly now I’ve gone through that bit of pain at least now my playlist is in a piece of software that allows me to manage/sort the playlist etc in a way that Sonos has always been really poor at. The Sonos app is now just a way of selecting a Spotify playlist and starting/stopping the music.


The Sonos system diagnostic is extremely comprehensive. The chances are that a support tech would offer advice very quickly.

As for “so many people have had the same issue”, this board would be inundated with thousands of posts if there was a fundamental problem with Sonos. 

This board IS inundated with posts.  The Sonos-Spotify connection is the bulk of all users and it’s reliability is key.  After years of no issues with either I have now started receiving this.  Created a Sonos account just to come here and add my vote that this is Sonos’ core business and so this NEEDS TO BE FIXED! 

Well, this thread has less than 70 posts, after more than a year.

As for the bolded, it’s clearly a statement without foundation. Spotify may feature on a substantial proportion of Sonos systems, but there are a large number of alternative streaming providers. Many people reject Spotify, for all kinds of reasons.


….and for what its worth, just installed Sonos on my desktop Mac, which is directly connected to my router via an ASDL cable. Exactly the same issue so nothing to do with WiFi.

 

An invalid conclusion. The Sonos controller is just that: a remote control. It sends commands to the players. They then fetch the music stream directly.

This is almost certainly a network issue. Occasionally the internet or the remote servers can be at fault, but usually the problem is local. 

I suggest you submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of a dropout, note the confirmation number, and contact Sonos Support. They have the tools at hand to analyse your local network conditions. 


.....and bizarrely enough .... after typing that message its suddenly started working perfectly!!


The Sonos system diagnostic is extremely comprehensive. The chances are that a support tech would offer advice very quickly.

As for “so many people have had the same issue”, this board would be inundated with thousands of posts if there was a fundamental problem with Sonos. 


Maddening that this has been a known issue for Sonos for more than 9 months and still no fix (or even transparent discussion on why it’s happening).

Maybe this is a Spotify issue - they are due to rollout their HiFi service at some point this year. It is supposedly behind schedule, so maybe the cause of their ongoing issues has some bearing on these matters, although personally speaking, I’m not seeing any service interruptions here, but I only use their free service, with advertisements.


I have been reading all the treads.

Sonos…

Premium 

Seriously!

Is this a denial of service issue caused by you?


I have been reading all the treads.

Sonos…

Premium 

Seriously!

Is this a denial of service issue caused by you?

You perhaps might have missed this current report then…

https://status.sonos.com


Anyone can publish a report.

When all the issues reported are still happening with relation to spotify it just shows.the quality of the report really.

 

Is that an actual fix or not?

 

Have tried the previiously recommended fixes.  Funny how they dont work