My custom playlists in Spotify grayed out (won't play) in sonos


Recently the playlists I created in Spotify wont play through my Sonos system. The lists work fine on my PC's and sevices when using the Spotify app. While the playlist title appears in the playlist on the Sonos interface (desktop, Ipod and android) the songs themselves are greyed out.

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14 replies

Userlevel 7
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Hi Dan,

Are the songs on your playlists stored on your computer? If so, the Sonos system won't be able to connect to them through Spotify. Sonos can connect to songs from Spotify on your playlist, but can't connect to Spotify to read your playlist, then connect back to your computer to read the songs.

Try creating the same playlist through Spotify, but only use tracks from Spotify and see if the same issue happens. Please let us know if this works or not.
When I got the system over a year ago they imported from my itunes playlist. They worked fine for over a year then they became greyed out. I looked at a playlist last night and the songs I added recently are still active.

I am not sure but since the new app update I think this is when I lost the songs. oddly enough I have no issues with the playlist in the Spotify app at all. it is just in Sonos.

That's what I dont understand. Spotify has no issues with the playlists at all. It is only when I use Sonos to access my Spotify playlist that I have the issue.
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
When I got the system over a year ago they imported from my itunes playlist. They worked fine for over a year then they became greyed out. I looked at a playlist last night and the songs I added recently are still active.

I am not sure but since the new app update I think this is when I lost the songs. oddly enough I have no issues with the playlist in the Spotify app at all. it is just in Sonos.

That's what I dont understand. Spotify has no issues with the playlists at all. It is only when I use Sonos to access my Spotify playlist that I have the issue.

Hi Dan,

To get this sorted out, it would be best to continue support over the phone. We've created a ticket for you: 150415-000721. Please give us a call and we'll help out, you can find our phone number and hours here: Contact us.
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
Hi Ian,

The Sonos system can access iTunes playlists through music shares on your computer or through your mobile device's library. Sonos can also access Spotify playlists. However Sonos is not able to access iTunes playlists through the Spotify library. This means that iTunes playlists uploaded to Spotify can't play through Sonos as the Sonos system can't access Spotify then reach back to your computer.

To get access to your playlists you can set up a music share: How to set up a music share.

You can also access the playlist through your mobile device: How to play music from your smartphone or tablet.

Another option would be to recreate the playlist through Spotify as your Sonos system can play playlists made up of Spotify tracks.
I'm having this problem with my Sonos app on my iPhone. Just the one single playlist won't play - the message "Unable to browse music" appears. All other playlists work fine. Any suggestions?
Userlevel 7
Is the Playlist residence on your iPhone or are you streaming from iCloud? Sonos will recognize a streaming Service but it will not play music streamed through your iTunes library. Also, I'm not referring to Apple Music.
The Spotify playlist is saved onto my phone. However, I have other playlists saved onto my phone which play through Sonos, and playlists which aren't saved onto my phone which play through Sonos too.
Userlevel 7
Kaysee

Sorry I assumed your problem was with iTunes. My browser loaded hinky and placed Jeff S's post just above yours. Go Figure??
Anyway ....I doubt that your issue is with Sonos as a whole. The internet is loaded with issues surrounding Spotify and Sonos and most point to posting in the Spotify Community for assistance: https://community.spotify.com

You can also run a diagnostic and post the reference number here for review by Sonos staff or you can call them direct. I wish I could be of more assistance. May be someone else will have had a similar experience and read your post. Good luck to resolve your issue.

Cheers!
Same issue here. I have hundreds of playlists that I imported from iTunes years ago. For the most part they play fine in Spotify with only occasional mismatched or unavailable tracks. As far as I knew until now, they were just like any other Spotify playlists. However, I just got the Sonos system and now none of them will play at all, apparently because they were imported and not initially created within Spotify. Is there any way to recreate them with Spotify-native tracks other than manually adding each song from scratch? Anyone know of any good third party apps that will do this automatically?
I am having the exact same issue. Spotify plays the vast majority of my itunes imported playlists without a problem (and it uses songs from Spotify to do this, it is not accessing them from my computer - I use Spotify out and about all the time), but they are all grayed out when I look at my Spotify playlists in Sonos. If anyone has an answer or solution, would appreciate, I've created so many itunes playlists over the years, I really don't want to recreate them all manually.
My solution to this problem:

1) Import iTunes playlists into Spotify
2) Create a new playlist within Spotify for each imported iTunes playlist (they will all be empty initially)
3) Open up one of the iTunes playlists in Spotify, select all the songs, drag and drop songs to the newly created native Spotify playlist
4) Repeat for each iTunes playlist
5) Newly created playlists are playable in Sonos

Enjoy 🙂
Dear chriso59,
Solved the problem, thank you very much.!!! :D:D:D
I changed my 80 play list this way and it works correctly in my SONOS app.
I have more than 20 years selecting music

You can follow me on Spotify as Lalo Diener

Best Regards:D
@chriso59 -- I know this discussion was 8 months ago, but your solution just solved a problem that was plaguing me for months. Thank you!
Another thank you. Just set up my Sonos yesterday and ran into this problem right away. Since all my playlists are collaborative, I was able to drag the songs within the playlist to a new playlist and then back again without having to share new links.