Spotify can't play, nor log me in on desktop

[-Red]

Plan

Individual Premium

Country

United States

Device

Desktop

Operating System

Windows 11

My Question or Issue

I have a group of issues with my Spotify Desktop app - the main one being that there are random songs in my playlists that the app refuses to play (Spotify can't play this right now. If you have the file on your computer you can import it.) but that will play normally if I try to play them on mobile or through browser.I've had issues like this before and I "fixed" them by switching to an earlier version of Spotify until the issues were resolved on the most updated version, so I went to do that today as well.

I used to always log in via Facebook despite not having used Facebook in years, so before I uninstalled; I logged into my account, added email and password as a login method, then switched to a version of spotify I kept from ages ago that has always worked 100% for me. To my surprise, the email and password I had JUST set up didn't authorize me to log in(Invalid username/password - Auth:2). I thought I might've put in a typo somewhere so I reset my password again (this time with show password on) and it didn't fix the issue. I cannot log in with this method and I am clearly entering the correct credentials. I went back to my account on browser (chrome) and added Google as a login method and had to navigate two more issues (one was that the app wouldn't install because I'm on an admin account? Of course I'm on an admin account??? The other was that the app then wouldn't open a browser tab to log me in) before finally getting back into the desktop app.. and still not being able to play any of those bugged songs. 

I read through a few other threads already and I've

- Done a few computer restarts

- Done several app uninstalls and reinstalls

- Cleared my browsers cache, then uninstalled and reinstalled the browser

- Set my sound devices to use a bitrate of 44.1k or lower 

- Made certain I'm running updated audio drivers

- Allowed spotify through my firewalls

and still the issues persist. I've been tolerating this song bug for months now and these constant issues with desktop app are getting exhausting. It feels like it has been ages since I last had a single year of spotify without the app having some issue that made me question what I'm paying for.

[Ivelina]

Hey there @-Red,

Thank you for posting this thread in the Community and for all of the shared details. This helps us with the investigation.

First, it's worth mentioning that we strongly advise against downloading and using older versions of the Spotify app and it would be expected to encounter performance issues with older versions (the login issue you're experiencing might be caused by this). We’re always updating the app with improvements and new features, which older versions might not support.

Regarding the random songs in your playlists and the error message "Spotify can't play this right now...", there's other users that are experiencing the same thing in this thread and if you've not already done this, it's recommended to turn off Smart Shuffle as suggested by the user here, as well as to go to your audio settings and disable any effects or similar settings that may be enabled at the moment.

You mentioned going over a reinstall, but just to be on the safe side and to get rid of any leftover files that may be causing issues, please check and follow the steps here for a more detailed clean reinstall of Spotify. 

After that, as it's possible to download the app both from our website and the MS store, you can download the app version which you weren't using so far. 

Appreciate the cooperation and keep us posted.