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Can't play song when changing audio device

Can't play song when changing audio device

Brief description of the issue:

Whenever I change the output device on my Mac, I cannot play any more songs on Spotify. I have to restart Spotify after the new output device is selected to be able to play songs again.

Steps to reproduce the issue:

  1. Start Spotify
  2. Play a song
  3. Pause song
  4. Connect to Bluetooth or Airplay audio device.
  5. Change the output device Multiple methods exists, I alt+click on my sound icon in the menubar and select another output device (see screenshot).
  6. Resume song in Spotify

Expected result:

Spotify resumes the song it was playing before the change of output device.

 

Actual result:

Spotify moves the progress bar of the song without producing sound. After 2-3 seconds the message "Can't play current song" appears at the top. Changing songs or hitting play/pause has no effect. I have to restart Spotify to listen to music again.


What steps you’ve tried already:

  • Reinstalled Spotify
  • Chose different output devices, both bluetooth and Airplay

Information:

  • Macbook Pro 15 inch Mid 2009 OSX 10.11.6
  • Spotify Premium Family
  • Spotify version 1.0.75.483.g7ff4a0dc
Screen Shot 2018-03-26 at 14.21.37.png
Reply
3 Replies

Hi

First of all, I really like the way you organized your question into understandable parts. Second, I'm cerain it is a bug in the system that needs to be looked at. Unfortunatley youll need to continue restarting until someone of a higher understanding of this problem answers. 

 best of luck 🙂

Any pointers on how I can attract the attention of "someone of a higher understanding"? This problem is also reported in 2016 (!) for Windows, so it would probably be very much appreaciated if it would be fixed.

Spotify support is not really helpful and only suggests general "troubleshooting solutions".

In a 16 message long e-mail thread spanning 6 weeks the following unhelpful suggestions were made by Spotify support (my comments are in italic; spoiler: no suggestions solved the issue):

 

  • Update OS software
  • Turn off High Quality streaming
  • Close any other apps I am not using (suggested twice)
  • Restart my devices
  • Restart my WiFi (suggested twice)
  • Try a different WiFi connection (suggested twice)
  • Try using their test account (username: cs_test_1)
  • Check if this happens on a different device
  • Have the Bluetooth device (the intended output device) close to the music device but away from personal computers (what?), microwave ovens and WiFi routers
  • Check if Bluetooth device (the intended output device) has sufficient power
  • Forget the Bluetooth device and reconnect
  • Set the Bluetooth devices as the default output device
  • Close Spotify while establishing Bluetooth connection (this is litterally the issue I want to solve)
  • Use Spotify Connect to playback music

Workaround

I found that using the Spotify web player works around the issue. I.e.: one can play music and switch audio devices without having to restart the web player. Pausing the music is necessary though.

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