Skip to main content

Sonos One Google assistant and Youtube music premium

Error: Playback paused because this account is being used in another location

Sonos one bought in the UK, for at least 30% of songs it just skips the song and shows the above error.

 For example while playing Indian Summer by Jai Wolf

Add me to the list, tried all the suggested fixes above, unsurprisingly with no effect.

I’m using S1 app and various Google Home devices. I just now received the ‘playback paused error’, after I used Assistant to ask for a track specifically. Google successfully processed the request and the correct track appeared in the app, but it didn’t play and the app showed the error. I located the exact same track in YTMusic and it played no problem. I also searched for the track manually in the app, and it played it fine. So at least on this occasion, the problem seems to be between YouTube and Sonos, but only if the request comes via the assistant.

 

I can only guess that maybe at the point that Sonos tries to play the track, maybe the assistant is lingering on the request still, and that is actually where the YTMusic account is ‘in use’. All I’m asking is “play xxx”, the Assistant may well still be considering (for want of a better word) playing it on itself (the Home device I’m talking to) and not passing it to the Sonos. I wondering if I define a Sonos speaker in the initial request it will bypass the problem? Or remove YTMusic from my Assistant completely (probably not even possible). I guess I’ll have a look.

 

I’m adding this issue to my list:

  • Account incorrectly labeled ‘in use’: can’t play music.
  • Using Android app to search ‘Podcasts and shows’ and the app crashes: can’t play music.
  • Browsing through my library and only a small percentage of my ‘artists’,  ‘songs’ or ‘albums’ are loaded: can’t play music. 

I really don’t care at this point if the issues are with Sonos or Google, I’ve had enough. I’d really love these to be ironed out, hence my input here. But it’s increasingly clear that this is the way my system will quickly deteriorate as Sonos itself suggested it would via the end of updates during the initial announcement of the whole S1/legacy fiasco. So I’m not too surprised, but very disappointed. 


I have this problem too. It’s intermittent. I tend to go back and forth through the day between (1) Android phone + YouTube Music app + Bluetooth speaker and (2) a Sonos Play:1. The issue happens to me every day or two.

Right now it’s happening with Jennifer Castle / Monarch Season.

Some observations:

  1. Open Sonos app on my phone. Search for JC/MS. Try to play it. Result: “Playback paused because your account is being used in another location”.
  2. Open Sonos app on my Macbook. Search for JC/MS. Try to play it. Result: same as above.
  3. Open Sonos app on my phone and find anything else (e.g. random album from my library). Try to play it. Result: works fine.
  4. Go to YouTube Music app on my phone. Find JC/MS. Try to play it on my phone. Result: works fine.

Is it possible that Sonos has cached this error condition somewhere for this specific album, and isn’t actually checking back with YT Music?


OK I investigated a bit more and this does seem like a caching issue to me. I can force the issue to happen if I play an album on my Macbook in YouTube Music (e.g. through the web app) and then try to play it at the same time through Sonos. Predictably, and correctly, Sonos gives the “account is being used in another location” error.

However, if I STOP the music in the YouTube Music app and then try again to play it through Sonos, I continue to (incorrectly) get the “other location” error. At this point the album is completely inaccessible through Sonos. I imagine that at some point (hours? days?) later Sonos will clean itself up and allow me to play the album again, but I can’t seem to do anything to force it to re-check the album.

Note that I can continue to play OTHER albums through Sonos just fine.

Some concrete steps to reproduce this:

  1. Play Album A in YT Music (e.g. phone app, web browser).
  2. Play Album A through Sonos at the same time. Expected (correct) result: will fail in Sonos with “other location” error.
  3. Stop Album A in YT Music.
  4. Try again to play Album A through Sonos. Expected (incorrect) result: will fail in Sonos.
  5. Play Album B through Sonos. Expected (correct) result: works fine.
  6. Play Album C through YT Music app and then simultaneously through Sonos. Expected (correct) result: will fail.
  7. Play Album A again through Sonos. Still fails!
  8. Play Album B again through Sonos. Still works!
  9. Play Album C again through Sonos. Still fails!

Exact same issue here.  Using YouTube Premium since Google Play got canned.  SONOS Playbar and numerous Ones throughout the house and intermittently a song will not load and the ‘other location’ message is shown.  I am also experiencing songs losing sound half way through for 4-5 seconds and then coming back on.  Wifi is through a brand new Google Nest Hub using NBN and speeds over 60mbps.  No other wifi issues in the house.  This issue has been around for over 12 months and its annoying a fix is still not applied.  Dropped thousands on the gear and it keeps falling over! 


I have the same issue as well - only happened since Sonos stopped supporting Play Music and forced me to switch to Youtube Music.  Diagnostic number is 992642682.  Trying to play Barber of Seville via Youtube music.  SImilar to other members, I don’t really want to sit on the phone with call support.  Given that multiple people have this issue, I think Sonos should research it and provide an online answer.


I have the same issue as well , does not play all the songs, it is totally random, YouTube Music need to just add casting to Sonos like Play Music, problem solved.


Hi @VanAxe, Thank you for reaching out, and welcome to the community. Sorry to hear about this issue on Youtube Music, have you tried to remove and readd the music service on the Sonos App to check if that will work? And are there multiple accounts that are logged in on the Sonos App?

Let us know what you have in mind with the advice above.

The Sonos community is always here to help.


Thanks for getting back to me :)

 

have you tried to remove and readd the music service on the Sonos App to check if that will work?

Yes, a few times, in fact it is the same songs it can't play every time. And many others for example I was playing new albums from YouTube music and 3 of the songs from the album would not play others would. Every odd.

 

And are there multiple accounts that are logged in on the Sonos App?

No only me, I am the only one with the app installed, this never happened in Google Play , it would play every song but it's no longer thanks to Google.

 

Thanks Brent

 

 

 


Hi @VanAxe, thanks for the update and the information that you provided. So that we can check the current status of your Sonos system and the Music service, I’ll ask you to submit a diagnostic report to investigate further what could be causing this issue. You may reply to the thread with the confirmation number to assist you with this issue.  

Please, feel free to let me know if you require any further information.

We're here to answer any further questions you have.


Thanks just sent

 

Your confirmation number is: 2000299843


Hi @VanAxe, thanks for the update and for sending a diagnostic report of your Sonos system, upon checking, Google play music is still associated with the Sonos App. Kindly remove the Google Play Music account and just leave the Youtube Music and let’s check if it will be fixed. 

Let us know what you have in mind with the advice above.

The Sonos community is always here to help.


Ok removed Google Play Music, still same problem, you should be able to replicate this as well, I have a few songs that will not play but did play when using Google Play Music through the Sonos app.

 

Thanks again for your excellent support I am sure I am not the only person with this problem. 

 

Thanks


Hi @VanAxe, thanks for the update. Sorry that the issue persists after removing the Google Play Music on your Sonos App. So that e can have this checked further, I'll ask you to kindly contact our phone support team for further assistance and more in-depth troubleshooting steps. They would request for remote access with your device controller where you have the Sonos App to check what could be causing this issue. 

Let us know how it goes and we're here to answer any further questions you have.


Hi Simon thanks for your help, I personally don't think  my phone is the issue I can replicate this on three other phones, the issue looks like it is YouTube and Sonos and reading other post I am not the only one. My is YouTube not letting us cast directly to Soon?

 

 

 

 


Hi Simon thanks for your help, I personally don't think  my phone is the issue I can replicate this on three other phones, the issue looks like it is YouTube and Sonos and reading other post I am not the only one. My is YouTube not letting us cast directly to Sonos?

 

 

 

 

 


Hello there @VanAxe, thanks for the update, about your concern, since you tried and replicated the issue with 3 other devices and it’s still the same, We need further support for this issue.  kindly contact our phone support team for further assistance and more in-depth troubleshooting steps and so that they can create a troubleshooting ticket for this issue. 


Keep us posted on how it goes and we're here to answer any further questions you have.


Same issue here

 

diagnostic Numbers: 692801181

Song example:

Dye My Hair - by ALMA

Queen elizabeth - by cheat codes

 

then it just skips

 


I can play songs fine via voice commands. I can then replay the song if I press play again in the app after the song finished playing. but if I search for the same song again I get the error. 

 

So something is going on within the Sonos app. A previous poster guessed its related to caching/buffering and this seems like the most conceivable idea so far. 


I’ve been having the same problem. I’m using Sonos 5 (Gen 2) and have three of them around the house. I tried playing Bicycle Race by Queen and was not able to. My diagnostic number is 975838229.


While trying to play songs by Hozier via voice command I now also had the issue that it would not play any songs. Spotify is playing without issues though. But I have a YouTube Premium account specifically for also having no ads on YouTube, don’t want to then also pay for Spotify.


Exact same issue here. Oh my God I'm so tired of Sonos, there's always something wrong. If it was just possible to cast to the stupid speakers, all this would be solved. I'm throwing my **** Sonos speakers in the trash and buying some B&o instead, at least you can cast to those (and they sound better). 

 

*Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the community guidelines.*


Same issue here, very annoying. Sonos stability is just not what it used to be, like all the app crashes in S1 Android app, embarrassing. Things used to just work, like with Apple, which was a major plus for Sonos. 


Hi folks, thanks for reaching out, and welcome to the community. Sorry to hear about this ongoing issue with your Sonos system. So that we can create a troubleshooting ticket for this issue. I'll ask you to kindly contact our phone support team for further assistance and more in-depth troubleshooting steps.  They may request remote access to your device controller and check for the error message and give additional instructions and options about this issue. 

Keep us posted on how it goes and we're here to answer any further questions you have.


Hi Simon,

The link you posted just tells me that there is no phone support in my region. 

But, seriously, the issue has been described in detail here, and many people are having it, why don't you just start working on it?


And if you look further up in this thread you can see that people already posted their diagnostic number.