When are Spotify stopping supporting Pioneer Receivers which support Spotify Connect?

[bradavon]

Hi,

I received an email yesterday to say Spotify are stopping support for my Pioneer Speaker soon.

- When is soon?

- Does stopping support mean Spotify just won't support it or it will stop working?
Stopping support means a company won't address issues but I believe Spotify are going to actually stop the feature from working.

- Why? There's no reason given why this is necessary.

The email rather bizzaely says:

"We want to make playing Spotify on your speaker and other devices better and easier"

How is stopping support better or easier? Why not just stop supporting it? So if it breaks too bad.

I only bought my receiver 2 years ago specifically as it supported Spotifty Connect. Spotify is in part more popular over rivals as Spotify works on so many devices, or did.

I guess like everyone else I'll need to buy a Chromecast Audio 😕

[gdvl]

It's little bit arrogant.

I bought a Pioneer VSX-S510 a few years ago - especialy for the spotify connect - , I choose for a spotify premium family subscription, and now I must hear spotify stops connecting to my amp.

Why of why ??

[Svanderh]

Same problem here on my Pioneer VSX-924 😞

[PaulVg68]

I am still able to use my iPad + Spotify + AirPlay. And when music is playing, I can use the Spotify app on my Android phone, which is then showing the iPad as device where Spotify is playing on, and then select other Spotify music using the android phone to play on that iPad device, which is then audible through my Poineer amplifier, which is connected by wire only. I bet you better read that again. At least, I found a workaround, but wouldn't call it a solution.

[Musicuriousity]

You can do the same with bluetooth but the problem is about the quality of
sound which is horrible through bluetooth and AirPlay. Your method is not s
solution as you said.

[hans-jürgen]

---

Bakersdozen schrieb:

Chat with support after orginal (very confusing) email was sent. Stated that the Spotify Connect feature would still work with my Amp VSX-528 moving forward. That's b*sh*t as i'm facing the same issue as all you folks are now too. 

I am wondering if we downgraded the app - would it still work? ie. install a previous version where it was still working. Does that make sense, or would that not work? Obviously not something I'm very happy about having to do, but could be a viable work-around.

---

Not sure if this updated support article was already mentioned in this long thread, but your Pioneer device is listed there as not being supported anymore, nor is there a firmware update for it:

https://support.spotify.com/us/listen_everywhere/on_speaker/why-cant-i-use-the-spotify-app-on-my-spe...

"The Spotify custom integration will be completely removed from the following models of Pioneer speakers:

XW-SMA1, XW-SMA3, XW-SMA4, VSX-923, VSX-828, VSX-823, VSX-528, VSX-S510, VSX-70, VSX-43, VSX-1023, VSX-1028, VSX-1123, VSX-1128, VSX-8231, SC-1223, SC-1228, SC-1323, SC-1328, SC-1523, SC-1528, SC-2023, SC-71, SC-72, SC-75, SC-77, SC-79, SC-LX57, SC-LX77, SC-LX87, X-SMC55, VSX-1124, VSX-44, VSX-80, VSX-1129, VSX-924, VSX-824, VSX-529, SC-LX58, SC-2024, SC-1224, SC-LX88, SC-81, SC-LX78, SC-85, VSX-1024, VSX-1029, SC-82, SC-87, SC-89.

Check out other ways to listen on your speaker."

The list of supported hardware devices on spotifygear.com seems to be outdated.

[donielw]

They heard us 🙂

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/2/6/16979102/spotify-ends-support-speakers-receivers-pi...

[Monorail_Matt]

Woohoo! The more it's out there, the more the dissatisfaction affects the company 

[Johaol]

For those of you who want to keep streaming music to your pioneer receivers I can confirm that chromecast audio works quite well for me as a replacement for the (now removed) built-in spotify-connect feature of my vsx 923 reciever (thanks for screwing us over Spotify) . Bought a ccaudio last weekend and connected it to my receiver via a mini-toslink to toslink cable (sold separately). I read somewhere that connecting the ccaudio via toslink would use the receiver's built in DAC instead of the ccaudio's DAC for the audio conversion which should result in better audio quality.

I would say that this setup gives me the same audio quality from spotify as I was getting from the built in spotify connect feature of my receiver so no change there.

BUT be warned... I do have some things that just slightly irritate me after switching to the ccaudio:

1. Raising / lowering the volume from the spotify app on my phone will now only affect the volume level of the ccaudio (it won't directly change the volume level of the receiver like it did before). 

2. My receiver doesn't automatically switch inputs and start playing music when I start casting music to the ccaudio (like it used to do), I now have to manually switch input to the correct one using the receiver's remote when I want to listen to music. 

3. When I switch off my receiver the music doesn't stop streaming to the ccaudio (like it used to do). No big deal just a thing I noticed. 

4. Ccaudio is wifi only (no option of connecting the ccaudio via a network cable), doesn't bother me but it might be a problem for some. 

The good news is that the ccaudio works with many other streaming services as well so I think I'll cancel my spotify subscription and try Tidal Hifi instead.

Just thought I'd share my thoughts if any one else is thinking about buying a ccaudio for your receiver. 

[bradavon]

@ Deechtewber:

Thanks. How would that help though? The current app was working fine until a few days ago. To which version?

This isn't possible on iPhones too, only Android and you'd never be able to update the app.

[bradavon]

@ therealzGrac

How do yyou mean you've lost track skipping? This is done in the app.

Spotify Connect from the Receiver you could change the receiver's actual volume. This isn't possible with Chromecast Audio but it's not a big deal really.

[bradavon]

I bought a Chromecast Audio a while ago for other services so will use this. It's silly when I had a built in solution but oh well.

At the end of the day I can't see this being reversed, so we're all forced to find alternatives.

[bradavon]

The simple truth is only Microsoft in the tech world support products for a decent amount of time (10 years per product).

They all cut off products after 2-3+ years and these receivers are all older than this.

I disagree it's wrong but it's the reality. I can't see Pioneer releasing loads of different firmware for different models.

[bradavon]

Interesting that Verge article says Denon and Yamaha are releasing firmware for theirs.

[Bakersdozen]

Thanks for testing the older .apk version - i hadn't had time to do this yet. Well that busts my quick fix theory out of the water. 

Next thought is some sort of class action ? Thoughts?

[Ezpunkx]

It's unacceptable . 

Goodbye Spotify. Why would I ever spend any money on another device when tomorrow they might decide to no longer support it . I spent $700 on my AVR and now I loose the functionality I use the most .

I have lost trust in Spotify and they will no longer get my $, and I will convince everyone I know to cancel their accounts as well . 

[Bakersdozen]

Email response from Pioneer Australia

Thank you for your email, I can understand your disappointment and frustration with the situation.

As you may or may not be aware, the decision was made by Pioneer Corporation in Japan to sell the Home AV business off in late 2014/ early 2015. I understand the receiver you purchased was sold and marketed by Pioneer Australia at the time of purchase, however, we are no longer privy to firmware, support or service solutions from the parent company. However, with the sale of the Home business, Pioneer Australia no longer have access to firmware, parts, support material or any potential communication relating to these kinds of issues.

I have contacted the new distributor and support team of Pioneer Home AV equipment, to see if they can shed any light on the situation. (Powermove : http://powermove.com.au/brands/Pioneer.html)

Please be advised, we may have to forward your query onto the relevant department at Powermove to attempt to find a solution.

[angust63]

Well, this **bleep** royally. Spotify Connect worked well on my Pioneer Elite SC-85 up until at least a few days ago. It still works on my Denon receiver and Samsung R5 Wireless Speaker. If this doesn't get resolved, I'm cancelling my subscription. 😞

[tjakobi]

Could someone maybe explain or quote again, why Pioneer will not update their firmwares? was that question already answered? I temporarily switched to some Panasonic’s ALLPlay devices.. we also have a family subscription. I think that, switching to a a different music streaming provider is not a solution, as all of us like Spotify, but I am wondering why all of us do not have a detailed answer from Spotify and Pioneer JP..

[tjakobi]

and something generally, looking to the history of Spotify iOS App versioning.. They only writes: “improments bla bla foo boo”, nothing detailed. Attached a screenshot in german..

I hate this. Apple should control this. But that is maybe the future of software developing. Eat or die!

[csdozier]

Not happy.. I bought pioneer receivers becuase of the spotify integration.  I can use Airplay but I dont like it as much as spotify connect.  I have 2 pioneer receivers, a VSX-1124 and a VSX-1130.  The VSX-1130 seems to be still working, but I wonder for how much longer.   

Now my kids are going to be yelling at me when they try to connect to the VSX-1124 which still shows up as a speaker and it wont work.. 😞

I see other manufacturers updating firmware, why not Pioneer?