Connect on Windows Desktop Requiring Premium to play on Echo Dot

[schufford]

Connect on Windows Desktop Requiring Premium to play on Echo Dot

Plan

Free

Country

USA

Device

(Windows Laptop running Desktop App)

Operating System

(Windows 10)

My Question or Issue

For the past three days (October 18, 2022), the Spotify Connect feature on the Windows Desktop App, ver 1.1.96.785.g464c973a, shows my Echo Dot greyed out, with an explanation: "Premium required". 

If I start Spotify from the Echo Dot, directly, via voice command, it will show as connected in the Connect Devices, and I'm then able to control it from the Windows Desktop app. If I start Spotify from the Web interface, it allows me to connect from the Connect menu, there, too. 

I've uninstalled and reinstalled on my Windows laptop, hard re-booted both computer and Echo Dot. 

Thank you.

[Eni]

Hey there @schufford, 

Thanks for reaching out about this here in the Community. 

We recommend you log out everywhere and run a clean reinstall on all your devices by following these steps. It's also a good idea to reset your router or switch the internet connection the devices are using.

Also, we suggest that you check if the firmware of your Echo dot is up to date.

Let us know how it goes. 

[kuchta]

I am experiencing the same issue over the same timeframe. I previously had tried uninstalling and re-installing the app to no effect. Based on this reply, I did the "Log Out Everywhere" function and then did a full uninstall and re-install again and it didn't help. I also checked the iOS app to verify that it had logged me out. I logged back in and see "Playback restricted" on the Echo devices. The Google Home devices still show up fine.

I am using the Windows app (from the Microsoft Store) [Spotify for Windows 1.1.96.785.g464c973a] and am on the free tier of Spotify. I also rebooted my router and verified my Echos are on the latest firmware (at least they report they are up to date). I have also rebooted my computer and confirmed this is happening for me on a second Windows computer as well. The second one is Windows 11 (with the same Spotify version) and the first is Windows 10. I have not tested using the regular Windows installer yet, but will have to test that later.

Is this functionality definitely not restricted for premium users now? Is there someone that can verify that they can stream to Echos with the free tier of Spotify using the Spotify Connect functionality from a Windows computer?

[schufford]

Yeah, no love, here! 

I've signed-out, everywhere, uninstalled the Windows app, rebooted, reinstalled the app from the Windows store, ensured I'm on the same network, and without signing in through the Alexa skill (disabling the Alexa Skill), my Echo Dot was showing as unavailable. So, I enabled the skill, and re-linked my Echo Dot with my account.

In addition, I also changed my password, and rebooted my laptop. I've even tried signing in through Facebook, as well as via email address and (new) password. 

The problem persists. 

[kuchta]

Yea, if I have time, the next thing I want to test is creating a brand new Spotify free account and use a computer I haven't touched before to log into Spotify and see if things work on that account on that computer. It really seems like this functionality has been disabled on free accounts, but I would think that more people would be experiencing problems. @Eni, is there anyway to test this issue to see if it is happening outside of our setups? Is this an issue that we should report to Spotify in a different way? Thanks!

[Lyubka]

Hey there folks,

Thank you for you replies in this thread! 

That's something that we're currently testing. Apologies for any confusion created on our end. Spotify always strives to improve your experience and we're always testing new things in order to achieve that, so you or someone else may see something new or get a limited feature temporarily on the app. 

We appreciate your feedback and we'll make sure to pass it onto the right team.

As of now, if you start the playback from the Connect device directly (eg. using voice commands) you'll still be able to control it with the Desktop App. 

Hope this clears things up. If anything else comes up, the Community will be here for you. 

[schufford]

Hold on, here, for just a sec...

---

@Lyubka wrote:

"... That's something that we're currently testing. Apologies for any confusion created on our end. Spotify always strives to improve your experience and we're always testing new things in order to achieve that, so you or someone else may see something new or get a limited feature temporarily on the app..."

"... As of now, if you start the playback from the Connect device directly (eg. using voice commands) you'll still be able to control it with the Desktop App.

Hope this clears things up. If anything else comes up, the Community will be here for you.)"

---

_What_, specifically, are you testing? Making connection to/control of Connect devices a premium feature?! 

Thanks, in advance, for the clarification.

[schufford]

I also added a reply to this on Tuesday (US), probably Wednesday, your time zone, before you may have seen it, which was marked for moderation. It gave very specific steps that I had taken in trouble-shooting the issue, and related information about my computer, Windows 10 User Access Control (UAC), and my network setup. However, it has not been added to the thread, that I can see, and I can not seem to find it elsewhere. Can you please tell me what happened to this reply? 

Thank you!

[kuchta]

---

@Lyubka wrote:

That's something that we're currently testing. Apologies for any confusion created on our end.

As of now, if you start the playback from the Connect device directly (eg. using voice commands) you'll still be able to control it with the Desktop App. 

---

Thank you for clarifying and for providing a temporary workaround, but I hope this change doesn't actually go into effect permanently. If anyone else ends up on this page and you are trying to play a playlist in order on an Echo speaker, you may have to follow steps similar to these:

1. Say, "Alexa, play Spotify on Bonus Room Speakers" and wait for music to start playing.
2. Open up Spotify on your computer and you should see the currently playing music at the bottom. Select the playlist you want to play and hit the play button. You should be able to control it like before at this point.

[kuchta]

As of yesterday, the original functionality appears to be back. Hopefully it will stay that way!