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YouTube Music skipping tracks due to song not being encoded properly

  • 1 February 2020
  • 82 replies
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I keep getting this error randomly, after X seconds of playing a track. The same track will sometimes play through without error, so clearly its nothing to do with encoding since its intermittent.  Very frustrating since all I play is from YouTube Music.  Diagnostic 291296562.

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Best answer by Ryan S 1 May 2020, 19:19

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Same issue here with uploaded tracks in YouTube music.

I wanted to play a particular YouTube video on Sonos, but since it doesn’t support Google Cast, I did the following:

  1. Use one of those YouTube downloader sites to extracted the audio. (I tried it with both with MP3 and M4A.) This is a 40 minute long audio file.
  2. Upload the track to YT Music.
  3. Start playing the track on Sonos One SL.
  4. Trying to seek around just causes the stream to stop playing and seize up, and I eventually get the encoding error. Very frustrating.
  5. Other normal songs on YT Music (not uploaded) seek around without error.

These long 40 minute tracks are sleep / bedtime audio that I like to play. I want the audio quality of Sonos instead of my old bluetooth speaker. But they make it so incredibly difficult to play the audio I want to play on this speaker that I’m not inclined to buy another one for the bedroom.

Why the heck doesn’t Sonos even support Google Cast? I wouldn’t have to jump through all these hoops otherwise.

This needs to be fixed ASAP!!!

Still have this issue more than a year later - Sonos is just a boat anchor. Shame on Sonos for not resolving this issue. They merely blame YouTube Music instead of fixing the problem on their end. Frankly all was fine until Sonos quit having an iOS app that allowed streaming from iPhone music.

Hey everyone. Thanks for the ongoing engagement with this thread.

Currently, the Sonos team is aware of this ongoing issue and we are still working on a resolution.

Feel free to continue posting replies to this thread as we appreciate your feedback and patience on this matter.

Once there is an update further, we will gladly update this thread as needed.

Same here in the Netherlands.

Observed pattern

  • only with songs from YT Music (after migration from Play Music)
  • approx after 1 minute I get the prompt with the encoding issue
  • every song stops after 03:12 and skips to the next in the playlist
  • I have an S2 setup, no bridge anymore, no wired connections
  • only 1 router/AP
  • I previously noticed that I have one old Play 3 and 3 newer Play 3's in my setup
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There’s still no timeline for the fix, but I’ll check in with the team.

Userlevel 7
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The issue should be resolved, if everyone has updated their Sonos system to v11.1.

@Smilja is correct. I somehow missed this thread, though I notified others.

As of the last update, 11.1, the encoding issue with some YouTube Music tracks should be resolved. Make sure your players are all on that version by going into your Sonos app > Settings > System > About Sonos, you will see a version number there. You can also just go to System > System Updates to see if one is available.

Once you’re updated, you shouldn’t have any trouble playing YouTube Music. If you do, I recommend that you contact our support team directly so they can investigate. It’s possible that you’re running into an issue local to your system, but if you aren’t they’ll need to get some more details to take back to the team to investigate further.

Same issue in Norway and it happens A LOT. Lucky if I get to hear a 3rd of a YTM playlist.

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Thanks. I don’t see any errors playing YouTube music on that diagnostic. When was the last time you got one of those errors? Think you could recreate it, send a new diagnostic, and let me know which room you had trouble in?

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This is getting more than frustrating, 3 out of 5 songs are skipping, its a horrible user experience.

I’d like to know if this is a SONOS or a YT issue, since we don’t seem to be getting anywhere here.

If it’s a YT issue, please provide some details and I will raise on their side too, and we can all upvote and moan at them instead.


I agree.  FWIW, I contacted YTM support, and their advice was to reboot my computer.  (of course).

Maybe someone at Sonos can get better traction with them.

From what I recall, Sonos provides the API, and music providers are responsible for leveraging it and registering the service.  (In fact, I’ve reached out to other content providers to encourage them to enlist with Sonos...).  However, when it breaks, it’s frustrating for us paying subscribers…

 

Fingers crossed.

Today it is working much better for google play music...so far.  But YouTube still seems a bit off as a song just cut off - but how I would know whether it is Sonos or service...that is another drawback to this system.  Great when it works but difficult to troubleshoot yourself.

Maybe something has been improved as I did not change my network.

Indigomirage asked about escalation...

I did send emails of complaint to a customer service rep and also used the link to email the CEO.

i am frustrated by this streaming problem having happened at all as well as about the upgrade path which I consider to be inappropriate.  I wish to understand why it is necessary to have split systems or miss out on all features, even if some equipment could not support the new features.  Sync and control seem fundamentally sound so I don’t know why they need to lose control over older speakers.

I got a response to the CEO query from Sonos and have a telephone call meeting set up with a Sonos supervisor of some sort on the 20th (first date available) so will hear what they have to say.

I have the same issue with Youtube Music. About 1/3 of songs skip, usually after less than 30 seconds.

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I've had the same with Mixcloud, can't be an encoding error (as reported) as it's same song that's been played many times before..

Same issue with YouTube music premium in UK. I am playing on Beam with two Play 1’s as surround. I had Spotify premium up until last month and had no issues with it.

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The issue should be resolved, if everyone has updated their Sonos system to v11.1.

 

I hadn’t seen any mention of this in the release notes, so hadn’t tried.


However - so far, so good.  This is fantastic.  I will keep my fingers crossed, and hope the good results continue.

(If any issues, I’ll reach out)

Seriously - THANK YOU.

Same problem in Austria

Yep, same here in the Netherlands.

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It’s still up to Youtube, so asking here in the Sonos forums doesn’t get that nail hit on the head as it should. Assuming you’re paying for a YouTube account, have you contacted them directly? They’re much more likely to listen to a paying customer than they are to Sonos, I’d think. Nor do I expect them to have people reading these forums. 
 

The ‘patch’ needs to come from YouTube on their servers. The best Sonos can do is take what information is provided to them. 


Well - I was trying to make a pun on the word ‘patch’ there.  Had to try… ;)

However, you are correct, I think.  I’ve reached out to the YTM folks to see if they have insights.  It’s hard to push this stuff uphill though as a consumer (even a paying one).

Would love insight into where the issue stands wrt resolution.  Whether the cause/effort sits on the YTM side or the Sonos side is irrelevant to the end user - since the user cannot fix it directly. he/she just needs to know who’s responsible for coordinating the resolution, and wants feedback as to the progress…

Fingers are crossed.  Eyes too.

I just started having this issues this weekend, anybody else?

Same issue here.  YouTube skipping tracks :( - Australia, tried on three different phones same issue

Just came here to say this is STILL AN ISSUE. Also using Spotify free in the meantime. Please can somebody fix it. YouTube Music is the perfect solution for us because we watch a lot of YouTube so enjoy the ad free benefits while watching on our smart TV. Please fix!

Same issue in sweden. Using Google play music until youtube music is fixed.

Hello there. 

 

I’m using YouTube music for a few days now, trying to forget about Google play music (sigh) and I have this issue too. 

Often : a complete loss of connection to the service (while connection is good and the youtube music android app works fine)

Randomly : the message “song not encoded properly”

Like every 10 songs or so : a “scrouiitch” in the stream, very brief, very high tone. 

 

version 11.2.3. Located in France.

Diagnostic id #1105175534

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Same encoded error and skipping on tracks on Youtube Music on uploaded tracks transfer from Play Music. I don't have this problem with the same tracks played with Google Music or when using any other service on Sonos.

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It’s usually a network error, rather than an encoding one… Could be a duplicate IP address.  Have you tried doing a full shutdown/restart in the recommended manner?

Hi, I searched previously and saw network was often blamed, more specifically packet loss.  I am network engineer by trade however, definitely no dup IPs, and packet loss is not seen either.  I experience this issue on both my Sonos, one is wifi, the other is rj45, so I am struggling to believe its network related.  I will try the restart however and report back!

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