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Cannot play podcast, Ads continuously play

Cannot play podcast, Ads continuously play

I cannot play any podcast, whenever I click on a podcast episode, an ad begins to play and afterwards it is just ad after ad and never plays the podcast episode. I left it running and it was just nonstop ads for 15 minutes... restarted my browser and then restarted my computer... even logged off multiple times from my account. How can i fix this?

Plan

Free/Premium

Country

US

Device

Windows 10

Operating System

(iOS 10, Android Oreo, Windows 10,etc.)

 

My Question or Issue

I cannot play any podcast, whenever I click on a podcast episode, an ad begins to play and afterwards it is just ad after ad and never plays the podcast episode. I left it running and it was just nonstop ads for 15 minutes... restarted my browser and then restarted my computer... even logged off multiple times from my account. How can i fix this?

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14 Replies

I am having this same issue. Any update Spotify??

Hey @chirissaz - help's here!

 

First, do you mind trying a quick reinstall of the app and making sure you're on the latest version?
 

If that doesn't work, could you provide us with the exact steps to reproduce the issue?

Also, could you let us know if this is happening when playing a specific podcast, or does it happen with all of them?

Thanks! Keep us posted 🙂

Same issue here with web player. Just plays ads. The Joe Rogan Experience

Hey there @xb28ud8f_-sf,

 

Thanks for reaching out to the Community and welcome!

 

Can you let us know if that happens with any episode of that podcast, or if it's with a specific one? Also, let us know if the same happens with any other podcasts you try to listen to.

 

On another note, we recommend trying the web player using an incognito/private window and a different browser.

 

If the issue persists, could you try on a different device to see if that makes any difference?

 

Keep us posted. We'll be looking out for your reply.

CarlosEModerator
 
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Using windows, Chrome, Web player.

 

I was able to play two other podcasts. Crime junkie and The Daily.

 

Joe Rogan just plays ads over and over.

Hi @xb28ud8f_-sf,

 

Thanks for keeping in touch.

 

Just to confirm, did you try using an incognito/private window and using a different browser?

 

If possible, try using a different connection, like another WiFi network or a mobile hotspot, and let us know if the same happens.

 

Also, it would be helpful for us to narrow down the cause of the issue if you could try from a different device.

 

Lastly, remember to let us know if it happens with any Joe Rogan Experience episode or just with specific ones.

 

Keep us in the loop.

CarlosEModerator
 
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I figured it out. I'm using a VPN (Proton Mail). Worked after I turned the VPN off.

Hey there @xb28ud8f_-sf,

 

Thanks for keeping us posted.

 

We're glad to know it was sorted out. We don't support VPNs, as they might cause the app to misbehave. If you have any other similar issues, try disconnecting the VPN again.

 

If you have any questions or need a hand with anything else, give us a shout.

 

Cheers!

CarlosEModerator
 
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same here, spotify and a few others are filtering vpns somehow. (not an IT person)
tested multiple times, mobile and desktop, network wifi, cell only, same result.
turn off the vpn and it works, everytime

Happening to me too, in the app. On Windows, trying to play Joe Rogan's podcast, ads play non-stop, and the podcast never starts. It doesn't matter which episode it is, it never actually plays beyond the first few seconds. I'm not on a VPN. It happens only with Rogan's podcast, not with others.

 

Also, the browser version of Spotify seems to play Rogan's podcasts fine. It's the app that's the problem.

Hi there @photsauce

 

Thanks for reaching out about this. 

 

First up, it's well worth running a clean reinstall to get rid of any cached files that might be causing trouble. This one is more thorough than the usual one. 

 

If this doesn't do the trick, we suggest that you check your firewall and antivirus to make sure Spotify is set as an exception on both.

 

Let us know how it goes 🙂

EniModerator
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“Music acts like a magic key, to which the most tightly closed heart opens.”– Maria von Trapp

Thanks Eni. Looks like it's still doing it, unfortunately. Things I've tried:

 

- Before uninstalling Spotify completely, I tried just manually clearing the Spotify cache first. Didn't help.

- Then I uninstalled Spotify completely, checked for any remaining folders and deleted those, then reinstalled. Still didn't help.

- I'm using the default Windows antivirus, and the Windows firewall. As far as I can tell, I can't configure the antivirus, but I looked through the firewall rules, and saw a bunch of entries for Spotify, both inbound and outbound, all greenlit across the board.

 

I noticed something: after about 4 or 5 ads, the episode starts playing after all. But that's still like 10-15 minutes of ads all at once. At first I thought maybe the show had chosen to do that many on purpose, but I tried playing some episodes again in the web player in Chrome, and episodes there play either after a single ad, or no ads play at all in the first place. I don't have any ad-blocker installed in Chrome.

 

So I dunno.

Hi @photsauce

 

Great troubleshooting so far, we can add a few more steps to make sure we've covered all bases.

 

Would you mind trying to reinstall the app again with the steps we sent previously but while in Safe Mode?

 

If this doesn't make the difference, could you ask a friend or a relative to log in to their account in your PC to check if the issue persists with a different account?

 

Let us know how it goes 🙂

EniModerator
Help others find this answer and click "Accept as Solution".
If you appreciate my answer, maybe give me a Like.
 
“Music acts like a magic key, to which the most tightly closed heart opens.”– Maria von Trapp

Here is my experience:

First, on android 9, using the spotify app, some podcasts (that were working FINE previously) just did not play anymore. No ads, nothing.

 

So today, I tried playing one of the broken podcasts in the web player (using Firefox).

Suddenly, I get ads. but only ads.

Tried it again on Android, and low and behold, now I got ads there also. But only ads. No delicious podcast episode goodness.

 

Next, I checked my pi-hole logs (yes, I run pi-hole on my home network).

There I noticed a blocked item "traffic.omny.fm".

SO I google that. "Podcasts made easy". Hhhhmmm. Coincidence? I think not.

 

Alright, so I whitelist that domain...and voila, the test podcast (Marsfall in my case) now plays.

Don't know about the other failing podcasts, but I'm forming some suspicions regarding DNS block lists.

 

So: something to check for anybody who are experiencing the same issues, and happens to be running firewalls, antivirus etc.

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