Local file appears but won't download

[stonekirby]

There are probably a lot of similar questions, but none of the solutions work for me problems nor are the problems exactly mine.

So forgive me if this is "yet another one of them sync problems".

I'm trying to sync local files to my iPhone but for some reason certain songs won't sync, absolutely frustrating. I do see the songs appear in the list of songs on my iPhone, but they stay grayed out.

I've already done/checked:

• I'm on the same wifi as my iMac
• I have enough space on both my iPhone and my iMac
• I'm most certainly not over the 3333 limit on my iPhone or the 9999 global limit of local songs
• I'm still sane
• I've re-downloaded the entire list, but the same songs stay grayed out
• I've checked if the song is already on Spotify (one of the solutions mentioned that it may try to use the server-side song and that's why it could break), but the songs are not on Spotify
• I'm still sane
• I, yes I did it as a last resort, deleted the entire Spotify app on both devices (iMac and iPhone) and re-installed and re-downloaded everything. Still the same songs stay grayed out

By now I'm thinking maybe it's not Spotify but the song which is wrong, corrupt or something in between. But:

• iTunes, VLC and other media players are playing it just fine
• It is an mp3 file (2 audio channels, 44.100 sample rate...not sure of it matters but hey I'm still sane)

So I'm kinda lost now here. Whenever I have the app open on my iMac and iPhone and I delete/add songs to the list. I see the list updated on both ends, but it just won't sync.

Still sane.

[Jacob]

Hey @stonekirby, thanks for coming to the Spotify Community!

I'm glad to hear you're still sane!

I'm going to see if I can help you, but your problem is very unique. Is the problem only rooted in specific songs or is it different when you re-download the list? When you downloaded these songs, were they from some different source? Or is there any other kind of connecting factor that you can find or think of? (If there's nothing you can think of, could you let me know what some of the problematic songs are and where you got them?)

Also, are you still sane?

Looking forward to your response 🙂

[stonekirby]

Hi Jacob!

Thanks for trying to help, just got checked and...yep still sane!

I'll try to clear things up. I think it is rooted in some specific songs, maybe it has a wrong encoding or something. The songs are downloaded from different sources, but there's nothing that should connect them.

One of the songs is from Soundcloud, the other one is from Youtube (maybe both sites are problem childs?).

Would it be helpful if I could send the URL or maybe the song, as in the file, itself? I'm not sure about copyright, legal rights and the sort though...

Might be worth mentioning too, but I'm still far from insane.

[Jacob]

@stonekirby,

Alright, yeah I'm going to send you a personal message for some follow-up on some of this 🙂

[user-removed]

Please don't correspond privately!! I have the same problem -- just one of my local files won't download. I have others that work just fine and are also downloaded from YouTube like this one, but this one just won't work on my phone! It plays just fine on my computer's spotify (I have a PC though), but for some reason it just won't sync on my phone no matter what I do!! Also still sane, but slowly losing my sanity the longer this doesn't work

[stonekirby]

Hi chloeacn,

Wasn't planning on keeping the solution private! What we meant is that sharing the song/url publicly could be a problem. Rest assured if (Jacob is still busy finding one...) there comes a solution it will be posted back here!

Don't lose your sanity just yet!

[Jacob]

@user-removed,

As @stonekirby mentioned, a solution will most certainly be posted here as soon as it's found, never fear 🙂

[stonekirby · Accepted solution]

@chloeacn

So my problem is solved. Here is what Jacob suggested and what I did in a nutshell:

- Re-download the song, but add it to a subfolder of your "Downloads" folder

Yeah, that's it...after that it synched.

Now I realize you're on PC (Windows?) but you should have a Downloads folder there as well right? You might try downloading (or moving the file you already had) to a subfolder, or different folder altogether, and add that folder as a source for your Local Files.

Hope it helps you somewhat too!

Still sane!

[cclawrence]

Having the same issue with 2 differences: 1) On Android and a Mac. 2) I can't get any local files to sync. Help?

[hkailmie]

Try undowloading and downloading again. If you are using your phone to download local files, you have to download on your computer or laptop first and then download on your phone over the same wifi

[Dumluk2002]

I stumbled on this by accident......I had two different WIFI settings available to me.  Worked tirelessly to sync to my mobile phone and it wouldnt.  So as a lark I changed both wifi to the other and VIOLA in about 5 minutes everything synced!!!! 

Hope that helps

[lucas_botta66]

Hello to all, I just got here now, and my problem is very similar to all said in this topic, but I have one more strange detail, the local files that decided to stop working are not shown in my computer, only in my android system, this just bothers me a lot, sorry for bad English, not a common language for me.

[stonekirby]

Have you tried any of the solutions in this thread?