Song Not Encoded Correctly

  • 26 March 2016
  • 87 replies
  • 37201 views

Good evening. I've had my Sonos Play:1 for a few weeks now and just started having issues with songs skipping completely. The error log reads 'song not encoded correctly.' I'm not entirely sure what this means, considering all of the other songs on the album play without issue. Is it a connection issue? Like I said, I've only had it for a few weeks, but this is the first time I've had a problem. Thank you!

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87 replies

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @rbrown From where I’m sitting the issue could very well be the switch. If the switch is managed, please check the settings to make sure that it is compatible with Sonos. 

Can you re-enable the Wi-Fi interface on your Beam and then detach the Ethernet cable and run a test with your players directly on Wi-Fi rather than a partially wired set-up?

How far would you say the Kitchen player is from the Router and could it be wired as a part of any further tests if necessary?

Userlevel 1
Badge +3

Hi @rbrown From where I’m sitting the issue could very well be the switch. If the switch is managed, please check the settings to make sure that it is compatible with Sonos. 

Can you re-enable the Wi-Fi interface on your Beam and then detach the Ethernet cable and run a test with your players directly on Wi-Fi rather than a partially wired set-up?

How far would you say the Kitchen player is from the Router and could it be wired as a part of any further tests if necessary?

The switch is a Mikrotik 941-2nD, I’ll check tomorrow to ensure its compatible.

I can certainly enable WIFI and disconnect the ethernet yes, I’ll do that and report back.

The kitchen player is 4m from the router line of sight.  I can wire it for tests yes. 

I’ll report back tomorrow with the Beam on WIFI, and check out the switch settings.

Userlevel 5
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Excellent @rbrown I’ll await an update and additional data. 

Userlevel 1
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Morning Jean,

So I disconnected ethernet on the Beam and enabled WIFI.  Playing on the kitchen I am still seeing songs skipping.

I checked my switch configs and it is using RSTP, I am not entirely confident in setting up the STP so before I start playing with that, is there any other test we could perform to determine if its definitely related to that?

In case it helps, diag report for the tests this morning is 618560680

Userlevel 1
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I should add, even though the beam is now on wifi, it is still connecting to the same switch/ap as before, just via wifi instead of ethernet, so probably the STP is still affecting in the same way.  Perhaps if I switch off the beam entirely?

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hey there @rbrown thanks for running that test. It looks like your Cisco switch is also operating on a different Wi-Fi channel which can kinda throw a wrench in things. If possible you will want to have these operating on the same channel. each of your two speakers is now communicating directly to two different access points which may be a contributing factor in this.  Can you tell us any specs on your Cisco and Routerboard access points?

Can you also test audio playback with your Kitchen speaker wired directly to your main router? 

Is it possible to temporarily take down your switch and access points to test playback with only your router broadcasting? 

I realize that this is a lot to ask but it will help us zero in on where in your network the snag is so we can eliminate it.

Userlevel 1
Badge +3

Thanks for all the help and advice so far Jean.  Yes I have 3 APs and they are on channels 1,6,11 by design, so you say I should switch all to the same channel?  I can, however it not ideal as you know for wifi design/coverage/throughput.

My main router is a Mikrotik 951G-2HnD which has a wifi AP on chan 1, it is downstairs and should be what the kitchen connects to.

I have AP/switch upstairs which is a Mikrotik 941-2nD which is connected via ethernet to the router downstairs,  It is running on chan 6, and the Beam is ethernet connected to this.

I have a 3rd AP which is mostly used for outdoor devices, and it a Cisco AIR-AP1142N-E-K9 running on chan 11.

Let me know if you need any additional info on any of them.

 

I will try playback with kitchen directly connected and report back, and then do the same on wifi with the other APs shutdown.

No worries at all on the tests, I appreciate your assistance!

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @rbrown thank you for the update and the additional information. 

If you have your Sonos players on the the WiFi network then you will want to keep your access points on the same channel.

If you have a player wired to the network then you will want to keep the Wi-Fi enabled on that player so that the the two speakers can communicate through direct routing to each other.

The fewer jumps the data has to make between the router and the speaker, the cleaner the playback will be in general.

I’ll keep an eye out for an update on your playback and any additional diagnostic reports from your system.    

Userlevel 7
Badge +22

With a multi AP network or one with a lot of new features you give up a lot by dialing it back to be compatible with Sonos gear. I’ve been much happier with wiring at least one Sonos device to my main LAN and moving from Standard (using your WiFi) mode to Boost (using the SonosNet wireless) mode.

That lets me exploit my WiFi system’s full capabilities with no Sonos restrictions. I do only use two channels for my APs though, keeping the best quality one open for my SonosNet connectioins.

Userlevel 1
Badge +3

Hi Jean, I just connected the kitchen directly to the router and disabled wifi, the very first song I played skipped out with the error, diagnostic immediately after : 1254483636

 

Let me know if I need to test anything else.

 

@Stanley_4 , thank you, I agreed with your opinion to be honest regarding wifi setup, however if I have to change it I will.  I removed WIFI credentials from the app this morning, assuming that will then utilise SonosNet and therefore I would not have to mess around with my WIFI setup.  I did this but sadly it still had the same issue, many songs erroring.

Userlevel 1
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@Jean C. 

I ran some extra tests to be sure;

  • disabled wifi on all APs (including router)
  • shutdown the ethernet port for Beam upstairs

There is one song that nearly always skips after a few seconds, this time the song made it over a minute in (but still skipped eventually).  Ive been listening for about 5 minutes since, and ….well I was just about to say it seemed better, but no, another has skipped (I am kind of glad, because in theory these addiotnal steps I took shouldn’t make any difference).

Another diagnostic in case it helps: 1184413131

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @rbrown, for the purposes of testing this configuration, please don’t disable the Wi-Fi interface on whichever player is wired. 

The communication directly between these two devices is a part of what I’m looking at in your system.  

Userlevel 1
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Apologies, performed again with wireless enabled (but the credentials wiped), not sure if I need to readd them for this test?

Diagnostic with last song being a failure: 1972383753

Userlevel 5
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Hi @rbrown thank you for that. 

I’ve been over on the other thread that you linked to regarding playback issues and this looks like an issue that we are already working to fix as we mentioned. 

Hopefully there will be an update on this soon. Keeping the Wi-Fi operational on each player will help these two devices work together better and can effect playback overall. 

This issue seems limited to one particular service and we are working to resolve it.  

Userlevel 1
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Brilliant thanks Jean, I’m pleased its an issue on YT/Sonos side rather than my setup tbh!

Userlevel 5
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Glad that we could help out @rbrown. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with other questions about this or any other issues you might experience. We’re all happy to help out. 

Hi there. Has there been any updates to this? I am still getting this Song not encoded properly on certain songs on YouTube music. 

I’ve been over on the other thread that you linked to regarding playback issues and this looks like an issue that we are already working to fix as we mentioned. 

This issue seems limited to one particular service and we are working to resolve it.  

Skipping here as well everyday…sonos/YT

Diagnostics at 1942137154

I’ve been over on the other thread that you linked to regarding playback issues and this looks like an issue that we are already working to fix as we mentioned. 

This issue seems limited to one particular service and we are working to resolve it.  

Skipping here as well everyday…sonos/YT

Diagnostics at 1942137154

An other one this time with SonosNet 1930608066

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hello @perosb  

Thank you for reaching out with your diagnostic reports from your Sonos system. 

It looks like you have a network that is operating with several different routers or access points so the Sonosnet set up is going to be your best bet.

Is it possible to wire the Beam directly to the network instead of the right-rear surround Play: 1?

Is the Sonosnet configuration working any better in this regard than running your system on WiFi?  

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @RyanP73,

Welcome to the Sonos community and thak you for reaching out about this issue.

Can you submit a diagnostic report from your app so that we can evaluate your Sonos system for interference?

If you post the confirmation number I will be more than happy to look it over for you. 

It looks like you have a network that is operating with several different routers or access points

Yes correct, but it was the same when there were only 2 Google Wifi.

 

Is it possible to wire the Beam directly to the network instead of the right-rear surround Play: 1?

Plugged in now.

 

Is the Sonosnet configuration working any better in this regard than running your system on WiFi?  

No, I’m afraid not. No major change with Sonosnet+beam with cable.

Diagnostics here 133450856 and here 25150434 @Jean C. 

 

edit: changed sonosnet to channel 11 and restarted Beam but same 454620320

edit: I cannot reproduce this with Google Play Music

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @perosb,

Is your Beam wired into a network switch or directly into your Ubiquiti router?

 

Hi @perosb,

Is your Beam wired into a network switch or directly into your Ubiquiti router?

 

It’s connected to a switch and then ubi router.

I understand you want to troubleshoot but I refuse to believe this would make a difference. I have 250mbit fiber, streaming multiple 4K videos works, playing games etc, but playing a single 256kbit audio file doesn’t. GPM plays 320kbps mp3a which works ;(

 

edit: I also tested grouping together some (3) google home mini as a group and no issues there (except the sound quality ;)

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hello @perosb,

I can understand your frustration but everything in the diagnostic reports at this time is pointing to a communication issue between Sonos and the internet.

In your most recent diagnostic, your Beam is grouped to your Play: 3. Can you un-group these and test playback on the home-theater system only?

Can you then group the Play: 3 and your Ikea Lamp to the Vardagsrummet Beam to see if the playback behavior changes.