I've been using Spotify for about 6 months, and it's mostly OK. My wife also likes to listen to music, and it's irritating when I am listening to music in the car, and suddenly it stops because she started playing something at home, but OK, I get why that is.
I switched to the Spotify Family Plan, which I assumed would allow 6 devices/streams. I was surprised and dismayed to find out what this actually meant 6 different accounts, but OK, I get why that is.
So, I had to have her create her own Google Home account on her phone, then add her to my Home in the app, then created her own Spotify account and did home verification. Boy, this sure was a lot of what felt like needless busywork, but OK, I did it.
So, I am listening to music via google home in the living room while working. She is making dinner, and she asks the google home in the kitchen to play Lady Gaga or whatever. What should happen is that it starts playing Lady Gaga using her Spotify account, while the music keeps playing in the other room, using my own account. And that totally is how it works, as much as... 2 out of every 10 attempts.
What actually happens, virtually every time, is that whoever has the older stream abruptly dies with the statement "sorry, your account is already in use".
What I presume is actually happening is the Google Home isn't able to tell who is asking to play music. I know this happens sometimes, because when she requests something, it will respond with the female voice (which should be mine) instead of the male voice (which should be hers).
So, I understand why this happens, on a technical level. What I don't get is why Spotify is set up in such an inane manner. I'm still usually limited to one stream at a time despite theoretically paying for 6.
In any event, my Family plan ends tomorrow, so I guess my problem is "fixed." Whether I pay $10 a month or $15, we're still functionally limited to 1 Spotify stream and one Pandora free stream, so no real reason to pay the extra $60 a year for zero additional value or utility.
Frustrating.
Edit: Hey, I see you guys have the exact same problem with the Amazon Alexa devices. Nicely done.
Staff / Moderator/ 2 years ago in Social & Random