Songs are always played randomly from list on BMW

[KaiReichert]

I am happily using the BMW Connected Music Player (without Smartphone). However one issue is that when playing any list it will play them randomly. I have disabled shuffle but it still plays randomly. Even if selecting a specific song it jumps ahead to another random song. How can I disable that behaviour ?

Plan

Premium

Country

Germany

Device

BMW Connected Music,Spotify Version 11.7.0

Operating System

BMW OS

[Vasil]

Hey @KaiReichert,

Sorry to see you've been having issues with your playback in the BMW!

There's a few troubleshooting steps we can try in your situation:

• Logout of and login to your Spotify account in the vehicle
• Remove and re-add the BMW Connected Music access on the Spotify account
• Delete and re-install the Spotify app from BMW ConnectedDrive Store
• Reboot your BMW iDrive system
• Check for any firmware updates 

In case nothing makes a change, we'd like to know if you're experiencing any of the issues outlined in this thread here. It's likely that the issues may have something in common, so it's worth taking a look into.

Much appreciated! Keep us posted on how things go 🙂

[camisi22]

Same problem here, Spotify version 11.7.0, BMW OS 7.

Songs in playing lists are not played in the right order. The first 4 or 5 songs are ok, but then the order is lost and random songs from the list are selected. I made a short video of the erroneous behavior that I could provide you.

[Yordan]

Hi there, @camisi22,

Thanks for joining the thread!

A short video which captures the described behavior in action would be greatly appreciated! If you're unable to attach it here in your reply, you can instead upload it to Google Drive and share the URL - just make sure the file is available to anyone with the link.

If possible, it's worth checking if using another Spotify account (a friend's or a relative's would do) makes a difference.

Cheers 🤘

[camisi22]

Hi Yordan,

I uploaded two video files to Google Drive showing the behavior:

1. in German: https://drive.google.com/file/d/160FR9TiAsQI64V-TEbySvBbA8Dsc6JGa/view?usp=sharing

2. in English: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1znKe4DMSlQ1SLRfFUmwVl1ZL9l5zZZf_/view?usp=share_link

Best wishes,

Carsten

[OscarDC]

Hey @camisi22,

Thank you for keeping in contact and for the videos you shared.

That's an odd behavior. To continue investigating this issue, would you mind confirming if it happens with the playlists of your library as well, or if it's just when using that Search function?

Also, could you confirm if you’ve tried it with a different account as @Yordan suggested previously? If not, keep in mind that it doesn't need to be a secondary account, if possible, you can ask a friend or family member to log in with their account on your car to see if it makes any difference.

We'll be waiting for your response.

[camisi22]

Hi @OscarDC,

I just checked: playlists in the library are played in the correct order, the problem only occurs on “generated” playlists under search.

I will try to find another person with a Spotify account. But I suppose it will be the same result, as the OP had the identical problem.

Best,

@camisi22

[KaiReichert]

Hi, I tried all steps. At least the ones who are possible to do (uninstalling is not possible). Tried everything else and did not help. 
It keeps shuffling. Even when I tap on a specific song in the list it jumps to a completely different in the list.

[Dessi]

Hey folks,

Thanks for checking and for all the info you've sent!

We'd like to report this to our tech folks for further investigation so it'd be great if you can send us links to the playlists, which are affected by this. 

We'll be on the lookout.

[KaiReichert]

To me I am seeing it on everyone. No difference to what playlist I listen to.

[Yordan]

Thanks for the details, folks!

We've forwarded the information to our tech team who'll investigate further. In the meantime, could you check if the songs in the queue on your phone match those in the BMW or are they in a different order?

Cheers 🤘

[camisi22]

Hi Yordan, hi Kai,

for me the wrong-order-issues don't occur on all playlist. As already mentioned, I do not see them on the playlists in my library.

For the "generated" playlists I conducted some experiments over the weekend.

I checked the following playlists:

- Search / Uniquely Yours / Daylist: Wrong order; songs were played in order 1-4-2-3-6-15-5-9-26-10-43-20-19-22-16-…

- Search / Uniquely Yours / On repeat: Correct oder (list contained 30 songs)

- Search / Uniquely Yours / Repeat rewinds: Correct oder (list contained 21 songs)

- Search / Your Genre Mixes / Classical Mix: Wrong order: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-14-22-13-12-43-11-37-…

- Search / Your Genre Mixes / Jazz Mix: Wrong order:  1-2-3-4-5-7-11-8-9-14-13-6-12-23-10-…

- Search / Discover New Music / Discover Weekly: Correct oder (list with 30 songs)

- Search / Discover New Music / Release Radar: Wrong order: 2-1-4-3-5-6-7-10-8-9-11-12-14-15-16-13-17-…

I haven't been able to identify any systematic pattern regarding which playlists are affected by the issue and which are not -except perhaps that shorter playlists tend not to exhibit the erroneous behavior.

Interestingly, the incorrect ordering varies from one playlist to another. However, it remains consistent during a given session: if I check the same playlist again after about five minutes, the (incorrect) order is exactly the same. Navigating back and forth within the playlist also yields deterministic results.

Strangely, the behavior appears to change overnight. For example, when I checked the Search / Your Genre Mixes / Classical Mix playlist the next day, the order had shifted to something like 2-1-11-6-8-15-... Meanwhile, for the Search / Discover New Music / Release Radar playlist, the order was correct the next day.

Following your suggestion to compare this with the playback order on my iPhone, I observed the following:

1. As long as the car is connected to Spotify, the affected playlists also appear with the incorrect order on the iPhone - regardless of whether I navigate using the car controls or the Spotify app on the phone.

2. When the car is not connected to Spotify (e.g., the car is turned off), the same playlists play in the correct order on the iPhone!

So, the issue only occurs when the car is connected to Spotify - but when it does, the erroneous behavior appears both in the car interface and on the phone app. Very odd behavior indeed.

Best regards,
Carsten

[KaiReichert]

Hi, I have to correct myself. I meant all of my generated playlist have the problem. I normally don’t use my own library.

So I can basically say I see the same behavior ( didn’t test it as detailed). But it appears to the same on Amy generated playlist generally.

Kai

[camisi22]

Any news yet from the tech team?

[Dessi]

Hi folks,

Thank you for your patience!

We can confirm that both Spotify and BMW tech teams are aware of this issue and solutions are being discussed. They are aware of where this stems from and are working on improvements but we cannot give a timeline for a fix.

The Community is always here in case you need help.