Alexa/Echo Devices

[rhosk]

Plan

Premium

Country

US

Device

iPhone 14 Pro Max

Operating System

Windows 10 Pro

My Question or Issue

Hello, 
I have a strange issue. I've "downloaded a local file" track (MP3) and added it to a Playlist and when I select the track, all of my Echo devices grey out. I'm sure there's a good reason for this, but I can't figure it out. Is it DRM, or bitrate or what? A message pops up (attachment) that says I need to import the file. Is there a special way to "import" files? 
Thanks!

[Alex · Accepted solution]

Hey there @rhosk,

Thanks for the post.

Local files can only be played on your phone or PC, since they can be stored on that device. You won't be able to play local files via Spotify Connect on other devices, like you've experienced for yourself.

This is not due to copyright protection, but because the Spotify app acts as a ordinary music player app when you play local files, and it doesn't actually upload and convert them to Spotify data on our servers, so they can't be streamed to other devices which don't contain the downloads themselves. 

Hope this clears things up. 

[rhosk]

OK, makes sense. You mentioned "phone and PC"... I can't seem to play it on my phone. The song is there, but simply greyed out. Is there a setting somewhere to locate the file on my phone? 

Thanks, Alex.

[Lyubka · Accepted solution]

Hey @rhosk,

Thanks for getting back to us!

The audio file, that you want to play within the app on your phone, needs to be physically present on your device's storage in order to be played by Spotify. 

If you think you've uploaded this track before try searching for the song in the Search Field on your device. If you find it and you still can't play it you might need to re-upload it following the steps in this article. 

Let us know how it goes and if you need a hand with anything else, the Community is here for you.

Cheers!