Unable to play podcast "This American Life"

Hi @louiset, 

Thank you for reaching the Sonos community and for letting us know about your concern. We appreciate you for filling us up with the steps that you have performed with your Sonos system. Let me share some information with you. This error message “Unable to play “episode title”.  The song is not encoded correctly.” when the streaming was interrupted, caused by wireless interference or network congestion. Do you have any Sonos device wired to your router via an Ethernet cable? To help you out with this, please send in a diagnostic report and reply here with the confirmation number, let me take a look it for you. Let us know if you have any further questions or concerns, we'll be glad to assist you. 

happening here too. Playing Rachel Maddow podcast. Plays fine from start if left alone but try to scrub to a later point gets "...not encoded correctly" error. Happens with both Stitcher and Tunein versions.

Diagnostic number 466744785

Google search shows this happening to people for many years but I landed here before finding solution.

Hi @louiset,

Thanks for your response and for submitting the diagnostic report. Let me help you out with this.

Based on the report,  there's interference in your wireless network that is caused by wireless congestion and an audio playback failure, the reasons why you're unable to play selected content. Also, some of your Sonos speakers are offline (Play:1 and Connect). The only Sonos device showing in the report is your Sonos PLAY:5.    

To help you out with this, let me suggest the next troubleshooting to refresh the connection of your network and your Sonos devices.

1. Sequential reboot and needs to be performed in order
   • Unplug your network devices (modem, router, any wireless access points on the network) from the power and wait for 60 full seconds before you plug it back in.
   • Once the router is back online, unplug all your Sonos devices from the power.
   • Please wait 15 seconds before you plug back them back in.
   • Force close the Sonos app from your iOS or Android device.
   • When the status light on your Sonos speakers are solid white, get back on the Sonos app and check if you're connected.
   • Test playback from and observe Sonos performance.
2. Reduce wireless interference. Wireless interference can occur when two or more wireless devices compete for the same WiFi space.
   • Relocate the affected speaker(s) to determine if it is a wireless range issue.
   • You can also find instructions on how to reduce wireless interference in our short video.
3. Hardwire another speaker to your router (not to your modem).
   • Observe your Sonos system performance.
4. Change the wireless channel on the Sonos app
   • Settings > System > Network > Networks > SonosNet Channel > Set it to 6
   • Observe your Sonos system performance.

 
Let us know how you get on with the advice above and run another diagnostic report. Kindly include the confirmation number in your response for us to check. We’ll wait for your reply.

Hello Rowena,

thank you for your reply but I have not yet submitted a diagnostic report.  I think you have confused me with grassynoel who also replied with a similar issue.  I will submit a diagnostic today.

regards,

Louise

Hello Rowena,

I have now submitted my diagnostics.  Reference number is 1199202499

regards,

Louise

Hi @louiset, 

Thank you for your response and for updating us. Sorry for the confusion. Let me check your diagnostic report to help you out.

Based on the diagnostic, an audio dropout due to sync errors were detected in your Sonos system, an audio playback failure causing why unable to play selected content, and a potentially bad ethernet cable connected to the Sonos Connect. This could be the reason why you're experiencing the issue.

Let me suggest the next troubleshooting to refresh the connection of your network and your Sonos devices.

1. Sequential reboot and needs to be performed in order
   • Unplug your network devices (modem, router, any wireless access points on the network) from the power and wait for 60 full seconds before you plug it back in.
   • Once the router is back online, unplug all your Sonos devices from the power.
   • Please wait 15 seconds before you plug back them back in.
   • Force close the Sonos app from your iOS or Android device.
   • When the status light on your Sonos speakers are solid white, get back on the Sonos app and check if you're connected.
   • Test playback from and observe Sonos performance.
2. Change the wireless channel on the Sonos app
   • Settings > System > Network > Networks > SonosNet Channel > Set it to 1
   • Observe your Sonos system performance.
3. If available, replace the ethernet cable on your Sonos Connect.
   • Observe your Sonos system performance.

Let us know how you get on with the advice above and submit another diagnostic report for us to check. Just include the confirmation number in your response so that we can look up the information. If you have any further questions or concerns, we'll be glad to assist you.  

I have the same issue, with Stitcher for many podcasts including This American Life. It happens when I pause or rewind, and sometimes it won't let me start at all. I did the sequential reboot and switched to another wireless channel as instructed above. It is still not working. 

My reference number for the submitted diagnostics is 1130379650. Thank you for troubleshoot information. This has been happening for at least a year

I have followed section 1 of the instructions provided and done a full sequential reboot.  Play a new podcast, stopped it, then tried to restart it.  i got the same error. 

I then followed section 2 of the instructions and changed my wireless channel.  That’s when things went from mildly irritating to very bad.  I lost all connectivity - got the message “Unable to connect to SONOS”..  I called support who had me go through most of the reboot steps again, and now have asked me to connect my Playbar via ethernet cable to the router.  It is beyond me how a problem with a podcast playback could lead me to this position. 

After much restarting, I now have sound coming from my playbar, but no other speaker.  That will have to do.  I told the support person I have already spent too much time on this problem today.  It’s not her fault.  Maybe I’ll call back when I have more time.  But I have become less and less impressed with the SONOS system.  it’s time to consider alternatives.  

Hi folks, thanks for getting back to us and describing your concern. We appreciate all your effort in trying to resolve the issue. At this point, I would recommend contacting our phone support for more in-depth troubleshooting steps. It would be great if you can provide our team with your full network setup including the make and model to check for hardware compatibility. Please let us know if you have any further questions or concerns, we'll be glad to assist you.  

I have also experienced this issue in the last 24 hours while trying to play Nice White Parents - a podcast made by Serial / NY Times.

I have read all of the above thread and refuse to believe this error requires some convoluted reboot and system reset. In some cases it seems this ‘remedy’ has caused further system problems.

I think this is something Sonos need to investigate and get back to us with a remedy….