Unable to sync playlists between Nexus 7 and PC

[adinoOfTachmon]

Hi

I am unable to sync playlists between my PC (Windows 7) and spotify on my Android Nexus 7. I have started, stopped and restarted spotify on both devices a number of times now. I have used the sync feature before so I know it works (at least it did before now). Both devices are connected to the same WiFi network. I have checked my firewall settings and spotify is allowed to accept both TCP and UDP inbound connections. Is there anything else I have to do?

Thanks.

[Joe]

Hi. If your Nexus doesn't show under "Devices" on the desktop spotify client then there is a communication problem. Try disabling any security/antivirus software and firewall on the desktop and see if the Nexus, with Spotify running, appears under devices. If it does, you'll know that one of your apps is blocking it.

If your mobile does already appear under "devices" the problem is elsewhere, so please shout for more help 🙂

[adinoOfTachmon]

Hi Joe, 

Thanks. I've tried disabling my firewall and my antivirus software and tried again but no luck. Do you know if it matters that I am unable to see the Nexus device on the Windows "Devices on my network" list?

Thanks.

[Joe]

The crucial thing is that it needs to appear under devices in the desktop client. If the client can't see it, it won't synch. It won't appear on your network, as far as I know. Has it worked in the past? Do you have any sort of security running on your router which could be interfering? The nexus is connected to your wifi?

Sorry, more questions than answers at the moment 🙂

[adinoOfTachmon]

Oh yes! It has worked in the past. I stated that in the original post. And yes! The nexus is connected to my wifi.The ip addresses are different only in the last of the 4 quads so that must mean they're on the same network, or not so? I mean PC: xxx.xxx.xxx.123 and nexus: xxx.xxx.xxx.154 (not acutal addresses!). I know that the subnet masks can mean they appear on different segments but I am unable to check the subnet mask for the nexus. The PC however declares it as 255.255.255.248.

[adinoOfTachmon · Accepted solution]

Now this is interesting. The syncing works fine right now. I did find these set of instructions to be helpful though. I'll post them here and here's the link to the original post. Thanks to Rex S. for the original post.

Some folks have trouble getting Spotify to see their mobile device in the Devices tab of the Spotify desktop app. I had this same problem and finally tracked it down to the Windows Firewall.  These instructions are for Windows 7, but should apply to XP as well:

1. Open Windows Firewall

Simple way: hit the windows key, then type "allow a program" and it should filter down to "Allow a program through Windows Firewall".

Explicity way: Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Windows Firewall > Allow a program or feature through Windows Firewall

If you are on XP and cannot follow the steps above, try following this guide:http://support.microsoft.com/k-- you want to grant access to "c:\Program Files\Spotify\spotify.exe"

2. Allow Spotify to communicate through Windows Firewall

Scroll down the list of programs until you find Spotify and then make sure that the proper box is checked for the network you are on.  

This is where my problem was.  Spotify installs itself and requests a public security exception so that it can connect ot the Spotify servers, but to sync over wifi with my mobile device I also needed to have the Home/Work (Private) box checked.

3. Click OK

Once I did this I made sure the mobile app was running, and then I clicked on the devices tab in the Spotify desktop app and after a few moments the Spotify desktop app populated with my iPhone and a message that it was syncing and the whole page filled with all my playlists that I could select for sync.

Notes:

I verified this whole process again by disabling the Home/Work (Private) access in Windows Firewall, and restarted the Spotify app and again my access was disconncted.  Once I checked the box and hit OK I woke up my iPhone again, ran the Spotify app and all was connected again.

For others who say that they tried a few days later and it just "worked" it may be that they connected to a Public network (like a coffee shop) and in that case Spotify would have been able to connect to your mobile device if it too was on the same Public network.

[Joe]

Glad to hear you got it working although I'm a bit puzzled why turning off the firewall didn't produce the same effect.