Audiobook chapters playing in disorder

[Vasil]

Hey folks!

We received reports that the chapters of some Audiobooks are playing in disorder.
This is being looked into.

[Vasil]

In case anyone is still experiencing it, please follow these steps:

1. Start a different playlist.
2. Turn shuffle off. If shuffle was off, turn it on and then off again.
3. Play an Audiobook.
4. Pause its playback.
5. Connect the phone to the car via Bluetooth.

The playback should resume automatically and the issue should get resolved for you as well.
Hope this helps!

[Maria]

Hey there @sekhonp01,

Thanks for the question!

The app version might differ slightly depending on your device. However, if you're using the app on a mobile device, the latest version should be 8.9.12. Could you double-check if you have an update available by following the steps mentioned by @Ivelina earlier in the thread?

Hope this helps! Let us know if you need anything else. 

[Vasil]

Hey folks!

Thank you for your patience while this is being looked into.
For anyone who hasn't provided these details, please let us know the following:

• A link/URI of the affected Audiobook(s)
• Your Spotify app version
• Your device information (make/model/OS version)
  
• Date, timestamp and time zone of the issue
• If this happens with or without Bluetooth/ Connect

Many thanks! We'll keep you posted 🙂

[sekhonp01]

Device info: Google Pixel 7a, Android 14 update 05 Feb 2024
Spotify version: 8.9.12.599

I can explain more in the way this bug manifests, even with the latest version, that may help the developers. This is not just an issue with audio books but also other playlists, as I have seen the same behaviour playing podcasts from my "Your Episodes" playlist. I didn't take any screenshots at the time so will have to describe it. Bear with me, as reading through this you will see why it applies to audiobooks too and this is not an issue specific to audiobooks.

1) I went to "Your Episodes" and started playing a Joe Rogan podcast. As I had started it from "Your Episodes" I saw that my "Next From" queue had also populated with other episodes in my "Your Episodes" playlist, these were podcasts from other artist playlists that add been added to my "Your Episodes" playlist. There where about 5 episodes in all. I was listening on my bluetooth headphones.

2) I paused playing at some point, disconnected my headphones and stopped listening.

3) Some point later I got in my car and the phone connected to the car bluetooth. I opened the Spotify app and it automatically started playing the Joe Rogan. However, when I looked at the play queue, I now saw that the "Next From" queue was populated with only other Joe Rogan episodes in a random order. As the Joe Rogan artist's playlist has a huge number of episodes the "Next From" queue was also very long and again in some random order.

My conclusion is this:

A) Under certain scenarios, when the Spotify app continues playing after connecting to a car bluetooth speaker (I have never experienced this happen with headphones but multiple times in the car), the "Next From" queue is forgotten and is rebuilt. The Spotify app looks at the currently playing track. It then rebuilds the "Next From" queue from the original playlist that track is from (if such a concept exists?), randomising it. In my example, it didn't even rebuild the "Next From" queue randomly from my "Your Episodes" playlist that the track had originally been started from but from the Joe Rogan playlist.

B) For some reason this process is not easily repeatable, sometimes when I repeat steps 1/2/3 above this bug occurs sometimes it does not, I am not sure what the difference is.

C) This is also exactly what I have seen for audiobooks. The "Next From" queue is rebuilt from the currently playing chapter selecting random chapters, including those previously played.

[keeprofthetrees]

Spotify version 8.9.12.541

iPhone 13 pro

ios 17.2.1

 book https://open.spotify.com/show/3WkU32KVrk9lCTcVC5DPpl?si=9tIB18eaRQ663-Ke_Fi7wQ

Yeah, spoiler alert! I was listening to Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, and the queue jumped ahead several chapters, and I heard a devastating new piece of information I was nowhere near in the book…

The issue is most evident when you swipe to skip to the next chapter. Swiping right NEVER takes me to the correct next chapter.

on a side note, this book should have section AND chapter numbers in the title. There are multiple chapters 1-6 and it’s nearly impossible to find your place again once it’s been lost. 

i hope Spotifys tech team can take it from here.

 

[PP59]

Chapters are skipping

https://open.spotify.com/show/05khw7BChccHU6Y74e6rqH?si=W2l9mkSMSF-ljRC6NQ1jXw

Android 14

Spotify version 8.9.14.543

[Salady]

The queue looks fine but nonetheless the chapters only sometimes play in order. Same on any audiobook I have tried, it's rubbish.

[timsea]

It happens to me multiple times a day. This is what I’ve figured out so far:

- When I first started the book it was playing in order

- As I listen in the car, I stop & start multiple times & sometimes close the app from running in the background on iphone

- When I reconnect to car it starts playing from where I left off. 
- Once the chapter finishes it jumps to a random chapter

- I check the que & it’s all shuffled

- I click the 3 dots then ‘go to audio book’

- Click the chapter I want to start from. This seems to reset the que back on order. 
- Book plays in order until I stop/start & the above happens again. 

[Muglyte]

I will secure screenshots the next time my audiobook decides to randomly pick a chapter.

While listening, it will sometimes just choose an out of order chapter and continue as if I was just listening to a Playlist. This also seems to happen most often while either my app is being started by an exterior audio device (my headphones or my vehicle), or when the app has refreshed somehow while listening.

This happened to both a friend of mine, and myself. He's on a Galaxy S21+ and I am on a Galaxy S22 Ultra. We both have the current (as of 2-21-24) app on the play store.

However, when I booted up my Spotify app this morning, it did load the Playlist out of order for my audio book. For my friend, it has happened during Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yaros, and for me during Hunger of the Gods by John Gwynn.

I don't know exactly where to suggest looking for this bug, but I do want to revive this thread because it is infuriating to be on Chapter 8 or 9, and suddenly it goes to chapter 60, or even back to the Opening Credits.

Thanks!

[Designerstuart]

I agree it's related to a car, which is why I could not repeat the problem when I last posted. I updated the app yesterday, and when I got in the car afterwards, it shuffled the audiobook again. Different book this time.

[4footfury]

https://open.spotify.com/show/5L4vA4KbIAQnkgXX8h20G2?si=lbA1oQjyRXOWlt88xFK8pA

Spotify version 8.9.16

iphone13. 17.2.1