Unable to play song ‘song’ - the song is not encoded correctly. Issue since 15.2

Yes, it will then play from the playlist without any issue. I have course have to add it back to the playlist, because I previously deleted it, but once I do that it works just fine from the playlist. 

Thanks! One more question - did you delete it just from the playlist then re-add it, or did you delete the song from your library, re-download it, then re-add it to the playlist?  Either way, it would take me HOURS to do that for each of my playlists.  I wrote to the CEO today - one thing they can do from an optics perspective is to roll-back to the software version before the one that caused this problem, fix the issue, then re-issue the updates - and explain to users what they are doing and why - better than radio silence and customer service reps who are not up-to-date on this pervasive issue.

Deleted completely from my entire library. 

I’m having a similar issue attempting to play podcasts from IHeartradio. This makes me think it’s not an apple issue, but an issue of some missing codecs in the latest version of Sonos’ updates.

Up until the release of app version 15.1 the songs that I now cannot play directly to Sonos air play enabled speakers played without any issue to those speakers. This is a Sonos app issue that it would appear they have no intention of or no idea how to rectify their mistake! 

I am having this issue as well. I’ve taken down and rebooted all my Sonos devices, and updated software on all devices that I use to listen to Apple Music on Sonos. I refuse to get on the phone with Sonos to just have them tell me to do that again. If they don’t pay attention to forums such as this one and fix the problem, I think the solution is to start looking into other ways to listen to music, like Amazon Echo. That sounds to me as if it may be the easiest, least time consuming, and perhaps even least expensive solution in the long run.

Just had this happen - difference is the error occurred when I was using Android app so start music. Switched to iPad, and the music (same songs/album) played correctly with no errors 

This is driving me absolutely bonkers. Like 1/3 of the songs I have in an Apple Music playlist are getting this error when played directly via Sonos app. If I airplay the song to the speakers directly, they work fine. If I delete the song from my library (not just remove from playlist) and re-add to library/playlist, it works just fine in the Sonos app again. It is absolutely not a Wi-Fi coverage/networking issue as I’ve seen suggested across different google results. 
 

I refuse to do the delete/re-add dance for hundreds of songs, so I guess airplay it is until this annoying bug is fixed. Not sure how this got through their QA, and especially for so long. 

Same issue but not with apple music, but with TuneIn Podcasts.

Here's how:

1. In the Sonos app I search for: Nora Pure (new search method)
2. I open recent shows and select: Nora En Pure - Purified Radio
3. I click the three dots and add this to My Sonos.
4. From this screen I can click on a podcast and it will start.

The above is fine, but there is an issue here:

1. Kill and start the Sonos appication 
2. In My Sonos I see my added podcast of Nora En Pure
3. I open it and select the same postcast to start as before
4. Here comes the error: Unable to play - the song is not encoded correctly.

If I do the search again, I can play the same podcast. This has been an issue for a long time.

Hi @The Etron 

Thank you for reporting the issue with TuneIn Podcasts - we were able to replicate the problem and are now investigating.

For everyone else, please note that there are multiple reasons for the “not encoded correctly” error occurring:

• Apple Music used to (years ago) provide music tracks with Digital Rights Management (DRM), which results in Sonos being unable to play them. Re-downloading those specific tracks would be the only way to fix this. Other sources may have done the same.
• Failed WiFi transmissions can also cause this error. Our support team can identify if/where this is happening and assist.
• Actual errors in the files themselves can also cause this error - if this is the case, the same files will produce the error each time, and probably at the same point. Again, replacing the files will be the only way to resolve. Most likely to be seen with Music Library rather than with music services.

I recommend each of 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 and what it reports.

I hope this helps.

Edit: I should add that if there were an issue with our software rather than encoding/transmission issues, we would also need to you get in touch to have the issue documented and investigated.