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CuzFeeshe
Enthusiast I
April 9, 2023

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

  • April 9, 2023
  • 144 replies
  • 24859 views

Since the 15.2 release there is quite a few songs that display this error when trying to play them.  These seem to be mainly songs that are not lossless.  They were purchased over time from Apple Music.  They will still play if I use the Apple Music app, but they will no longer play from Sonos app.  I suspect some lossy codex broke with latest release. Occurs with all my Sonos products.

Is this a known issue? 

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    Pinned Reply By Corry P

    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.

    144 replies

    Show previous replies
    rickyyo
    Lyricist I
    July 19, 2023

    I have the same problem with YouTube music. The whole system is hardwired so it seems ridiculous it is a network issue. I'm guessing they can't reproduce it.

    PnButler
    Lyricist II
    July 19, 2023

    Same problem here. Works fine on some Sonos apparatus , but not on others , so definitely a Sonos problem, rather than Apple or Wi-Fi. But seems to be taking months to resolve. 

    djbolt
    Contributor I
    July 24, 2023

    I continue to get this error on Apple Music and YouTube Music.

     

    it happens on single speakers, paired speakers and multi speaker TV setups.

     

    it happens on all 15 of my speakers.

     

    it is ongoing for a couple months with no fix happening.  

      DudeDad
      Avid Contributor I
      July 24, 2023

      Here’s the latest I recd from Sonos:

      ”The issue discovered with 15.2 is an Apple issue. It's something they put in a temporary fix for in late March, and have a permanent fix planned later this year. Again, this issue is a very specific issue that effects uploaded tracks, and always effects those same tracks.”

      So Sonos rolls out an upgrade that breaks Apple Music playlists and it’s an Apple problem?   The songs play fine in Apple Music from the Sonos app except if you play them from an Apple playlist in the Sonos app  

       

       

      djbolt
      Contributor I
      July 24, 2023

      You know where I don’t have a problem is playing music on my HomePod… so strange that Apple is the problem.

      Ken_Griffiths
      Ken_Griffiths
      July 24, 2023

      You know where I don’t have a problem is playing music on my HomePod… so strange that Apple is the problem.

      The HomePod linked to your AppleID is not a 3rd Party device - it would play your Apple DRM protected tracks anyway, if indeed that is the issue that’s causing these error messages.

        djbolt
        Contributor I
        July 25, 2023

        I don’t even have a HomePod.  This is happening to me on YouTube as well so I don’t accept that this is an apple thing unless it has to do with iOS Sonos app

        pacerss721
        Lyricist I
        July 25, 2023

        I've been having this issue for the last 2-3 weeks. I use YouTube music (either from my Android phone or Google home assistant). So the problem doesn't seem to be with Apple/iOS... 

        Ken_Griffiths
        Ken_Griffiths
        July 25, 2023

        I've been having this issue for the last 2-3 weeks. I use YouTube music (either from my Android phone or Google home assistant). So the problem doesn't seem to be with Apple/iOS... 

        I ‘think’ there are perhaps also other reasons why the same error message shows aswell, such as occasions when the playing audio buffer empties and the device skips to the next track. So maybe try a different WiFi/SonosNet channel (depending on what your speaker is using) and see if that maybe resolves the issue.

          DudeDad
          Avid Contributor I
          July 28, 2023

           

          Here’s the answer from the Level 3 Engineee at Sonos, which means Apple has to figure this out. 

          “Apple returns an invalid identifier for tracks that have been uploaded. It's part of the support for Atmos formatted music which was launched with 15.2. Before 15.2 the Sonos products weren't checking for this identifier, so the error didn't occur. Not all Sonos products can support Atmos, which is why not all Sonos products were affected.

          Apple tags tracks in their catalog correctly, which is why you get a playback failure with the uploaded track your playlist is pointing to, but searching for the same track in the catalog plays fine.”

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