Irregular music/playlist behavior

[Terriblegumballs]

Plan

Free

Country

North America

Device

ASUS Laptop

Operating System

Windows 11

My Question or Issue

When I try to play a song, it begins rapidly skipping through songs and ads and doesn't stop until I pause it. No song plays past the 0:10 mark, after that it's just silence and if I try to replay it then it starts rapidly skipping again. All songs and playlists do this, and it can't tell the difference between two songs when I press play/pause on a main album. 

[beth-a-knee]

That sounds annoying.

My playlists are also acting strange. At least it will play one song from my list but then it switches to a random song (yesterday/today has been 80's rock) and will not continue my playlist until I go back and click on the play button or another song from the list. This happens repeatedly and is frustrating!

[Terriblegumballs]

It's at least good to know that someone else has this problem, personally it's more worth it to use YouTube and download an AdBlocker at this point. 

[Alex]

Hi folks, Thanks for your posts.

@Terriblegumballs, Can you let us know if this is happening on the Web Player or the Desktop app and when exactly did it start happening? If it's happening on the Web Player, try using a different browser and see if that makes a difference.

@beth-a-knee, It looks like your issue is a bit different than the one in the OP. Can you make sure that your play Queue is cleared when you start playing a playlist/ album. Also, try switching off the Repeat, Shuffle and Enhanced (if available) buttons, and see if the playlist keeps switching. It would also be helpful to know if you can see what playlist your playback switches to, is it something you've previously listened to or to Playlist Radio.

Looking forward to your replies.

[Terriblegumballs]

It is on the web player, I noticed it about 2 days ago (I used it a week ago and it was functional). I changed browsers to see if that helped but nothing has changed 😞

[Alex]

Hi there @Terriblegumballs,

Thanks for the reply.

Can you try Logging out everywhere and clearing your main browser's cache and cookies. After that log back in.

If that doesn't do the trick, you can try removing your hosts file:

1. Open Notepad as an administrator (right-click - Open as Administrator)
2. go to File - Open and navigate to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc
3. Choose "All Files" instead of "Text Documents" next to the File Name box. You'll see a handful of files. Pick hosts and click on Open
4. When the file is open, you will see a block of text with # in front of each line and might see entries like 0.0.0.0 website.com127.0.0.1 website2.com
5. Check for any entries with Spotify in the address. Examples may look like: 0.0.0.0 weblb-wg.gslb.spotify.com0.0.0.0
6. If you do find any lines with Spotify, please remove them
7. Save your changes and restart Spotify

Let us know if that makes a difference.

[Terriblegumballs]

Alex, 

Logging out and clearing cache did not work, I also tried searching the files for any Spotify host data (using Notepad++) and nothing turned up. I am afraid this did not solve the issue. 

[Alex]

Hi there @Terriblegumballs,

Thanks for the reply.

This issue sometimes comes up when there is some corrupted browser cache somewhere or when a browser is about to release a new version update, but since it happens on multiple browsers for you and you can't find anything in the hosts file, the issue could be network related. If possible, can you try connecting to another network, it can be a mobile hotspot WiFi from your phone. It's also a good idea to switch off any type of VPN you might be using.

If the issue keeps happening even with another network, can you let us know if it's happening when your playing straight from your PC's speakers or you're connected to a Bluetooth speaker or headphones?

Cheers.

[Terriblegumballs]

Different networks result in the same problem. I wear headphones while listening but they're attached by cable (no Bluetooth). 

I hope that the problem can be resolved, it is not clear to me what is wrong. 

[Lyubka]

Hey @Terriblegumballs,

Thanks for getting back to us!
 

We'd also recommend to give this a try in an incognito window. Open a private window on your browser and test if the issue persists. 

There is also a slight chance that your PC's sound sample rate is causing this issue, so head to Sound Settings, check it and make sure it's set to anywhere from 44.1 kHz to 192 kHz. Spotify doesn't currently support a sample rate higher than 192 kHz.  

On Windows another solution for this can be updating your sound drivers. Read more about how to do that here.
 

Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes.