Spotify can't play this right now

[alfordbt]

Plan

Premium 5+ years

Country

US

Device

PC with Focusrite 2i4 and Rokit 8 monitors

Operating System

Win 11, updated as of 12/10/2021

gigabit internet

all audio components verified as working (cables, monitors, system settings, audio interface) 

My Question or Issue

I've been using hyperx cloudflight wireless headset no problem. I connected the scarlett 2i4 with two rokit8's and immediately received the "Spotify can't play this right now. If you have the file on your computer you can import it." message. I played some youtube videos and competitor streaming music apps to confirm that the audio output was working correctly. I launched the spotify web app and did not receive the same message but received only muddled audio through one monitor. I then tried the desktop app and did not receive the "can't play" message but it produced poor audio through only one speaker. I closed the web app, tried the desktop app again and received the message.

Every other non-spotify audio source seems to have no problem. I applied settings changes suggested in the forum (disable hardware acceleration, uninstall/reinstall, enable/disable auto adjust, etc...) and nothing avoids the warning message (except the web app scenario described above). Headphones continue to work so this seems to be related to the Focusrite 2i4 but that setup has no issues with any other sound input, only spotify.

[alfordbt]

**Manually download the appropriate driver from focusrite's site**

The default driver download on Windows 10 (and Windows 11) will not be correct. I was able to reproduce this error and fix multiple times and appears to only affect Spotify (presumably some DRM conflict). For my Scarlett 2i4 I used the Windows: USB Driver 4.65.5 successfully in windows 10 and 11 OS.

If there is some way to sticky this fix it'll save the next folks hours of frustration.

[MafeG]

Hi @alfordbt,

Welcome to the Community and thank you for posting!

Since you've already performed some basic troubleshooting steps, we suggest you take a look at this thread and follow the steps suggested there, as they are relevant for advanced audio interfaces.

Let us know how this goes.

[alfordbt]

**Manually download the appropriate driver from focusrite's site**

The default driver download on Windows 10 (and Windows 11) will not be correct. I was able to reproduce this error and fix multiple times and appears to only affect Spotify (presumably some DRM conflict). For my Scarlett 2i4 I used the Windows: USB Driver 4.65.5 successfully in windows 10 and 11 OS.

If there is some way to sticky this fix it'll save the next folks hours of frustration.

[Mario]

Hey @alfordbt,

Thanks for posting this here in the Community. Great stuff.

Sure thing, pinning the post to the top. Sure folks will appreciate 🙂

Cheers!