Constant dropouts, tracks stop starting ... wondering if other service would be better ...

[spiritdave]

Let me start by saying I LOVED Spotify and recommended to everyone.

I pay happily.

Or ... did.  Now, I get stop starts, drop outs and disconnects from the service... and now playlists play one or perhaps two or three songs in a row and then just stop.  Not a disconnect... because playing from the following track will work fine.

Seriously, I'll give it one week.  If it's not sorted in one week from me posting this, I have to cancel.  I love the service, but it's broken as hell and has been for sooooo long now. 

Thanks and I hope someone can explain to me why these problems exist and how to fix them.

Running Mac OS Lion 10.7.3, Late 2011 24.ghz i7, 8gb Ram, 100mb Internet connection with Virgin Media, connected via network cable.  It's not the internet connection.  I can stream youtube videos and surf the internet fine while these Spotify issues arise.  And it's not a ports issue that's changed here because I've changed literally nothing.  Unless Spotify have changed their system.

[bhb]

Experiencing dropouts every day for some time now. This was never a problem earlier (playing Spotify since 2008). To change DNS on PC's to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 was no help at all. This was suggested by support staff, but they would not garantee anything. Right they were. Tells me they are working hard to resolve this issue. I really hope this is a fact, otherwise I can easily imagine lots of customers leaving the ship soon.

Who wants to listen to music destroyed by frequent dropouts week after week?

Spotify will have to upgrade their system and their sw to resolve issue. Period.

Addendum: I even talked directly to Daniel Ek (co-founder), but when he realized what was the problem, he vanished from the conversation and was never heard again...

[spiritdave]

See, the 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 thing ... I did that last week ... and while I was getting drop outs all day every day before, since doing that I've not had ONE dropout ... Maybe it's not that but that's a good coincidence if it isnt!

[bhb]

Just wait and see ...   😉

ehr, meaning listen!

[spiritdave]

Yeah ... no doubt ... but like I say ... a week of zero problems so far, so I'm just happy with that 😛  I am looking into Sony's Music Unlimited at the mo, but they only have mobile clients ... I want a Mac client, and then I'm jumping ship from Spotify 🙂

[bhb]

The DNS "fix" is not an official fix, Spotify says it will work for some, for some time ...   😞

[spiritdave]

I know ... but as I say ... Sony Music Unlimited.  When they release a Mac client, I'm ditching Spotify.  And I will suggest it to everyone I know too.

[bhb]

Spotify should listen, before it's too late!

[djwh1]

Hi,

I noticed you said you've been chatting with spotify support staff - how did you manage that?!

I have looked around but can't find a number to call, can you point me in the right direction or let me have the number please?

It would be much appreciated as I have now lost the ability to play my offline playlists on my mobile, despite having been a premium user for well over a year. I made the mistake of reinstalling Spotify on my Android device to try and cure the drop out problem and now I can't access the service offline at all! 

They are specialising in testing my patience.

Cheers.

[bhb]

Hi there,

I twittered Daniel Ek (co-founder of Spotify) on @eldsjal to fire up the support staff. I don't think they have got any phones smileytongue:

[bhb]

My wife hit the nail just right when she found the most suitable name for this service, for the time being -

STOPIFY.
Not bad, huh?

[cohenfs]

For me, the stops and starts from my PC happen in the evening, never in the morning or afternoon. I'm speculating that it has to do with traffic on the servers. If that's the case, then shame on Spotify for not being able to accommodate the number of paying customers it has. Spotify seems not to care. I don't see a reply from their staff at all in this thread.

[Peter__]

---

@cohenfs wrote:

For me, the stops and starts from my PC happen in the evening, never in the morning or afternoon. I'm speculating that it has to do with traffic on the servers. If that's the case, then shame on Spotify for not being able to accommodate the number of paying customers it has. Spotify seems not to care. I don't see a reply from their staff at all in this thread.

---

Since Spotify uses p2p technology on the desktop, the busier the Spotify network is the faster the streaming to your client should be since there are more nodes to get tracks from. It is much more likely that during peak times your ISP is limiting p2p traffic which Spotify uses. 

If you have access to the web player (play.spotify.com) give that a go next time Spotify drops out on the desktop and see if it streams fine. 

Peter

[quillnote]

I've been having the same problems of Spotify dropping out of continuous playing of albums and playlists.  .Album tracks simply stop and do not continue to the next track.  Spotify has been failing in the service and I may need to unsubscribe.  Why don't they respond to this problem?

[Joe]

@quillnote Could you give a bit more information?

What device and operating system are you having problems with and which spotify version? When did you first notice this and is it the same all the time or does it get worse at certain times of the day?

[quillnote]

Hello,

The dropout problem happens inconsistently while plying though an album or playlist. One or more track will play and, without warning, will not begin playing the next track.  It has happened most recently during the evening hours (EST or GMT -5) and later when I use Spotify for bedtime listening.  I stream on three devices at different times, one being a Dell laptop running Windows 7, 32bit and the other an iPod, 2nd gen running on ios4, and a Samsung Galaxy III, with Android 4.1.2.

All Spotify versions are the latest since, and having had problems with Spotify, I install and reinstall Spotify on all three devices frequently.  When I do a clean install, the problem seem to go away, but only temporarily.  I will be keeping a close eye on more specifics of the problem as I continue to stream.

I hope this information helps, but if not please let know.  I hope to continue with Spotify because I really like the service, streaming, music selection, downloading and playlist features that other services do not include.

Please let me know if you have any insights or advice on these issues.

Thanks,

Jim

[Joe]

Thanks for the information. It sounds like you may be experiencing the issues described in this thread (among many) and, if so, keep an eye for a staff post there once the issue has been resolved.

[Peter__]

Hey Jim! 🙂 

Thanks for the extra details, would you be able to do some additional troubleshooting? 

If you could catch the console output for Spotify on your Dell Laptop the next time this issue happens (so when you get a playback stop, check the console for errors and copy the last few messages) and post them here or PM them to me? I'm trying to collect some extra details to help the Spotify guys with their debugging. 

Thanks!

Peter

[quillnote]

@jwylot
Thanks for the reply.

Jim

[quillnote]

@Peter

Thanks for the assistance.  Yes, I will perforn "console output" with ctrl-alt-home with Spotify open, right?  How do I copy the last few lines on that (DOS) command line window?

I will be happy to send this informaton along for your use.

Jim

[Peter__]

On the title bar for the window, right click and then select Edit > Mark. Then select what you want, then right click on the title bar again and select Edit > Copy. Then paste here! 🙂 

Peter