Podcast playback speed for certain shows slower on Echo Dot devices

[MustardQueen]

When I ask my Echo devices to "play ____ podcast from Spotify", they stream it at a decreased speed. I have never ever messed with speed settings in Spotify nor Alexa app. I tried to fix it but it already says it's playing at "1x" speed in both the Spotify and Alexa apps.

There is a thread on Reddit with lots of people reporting this issue this week, too. 

Did y'all make some kind of changes this week that had to do with playback speeds on Podcasts?

Please HALP!

~MQ

[steveaddeo]

OK, I just spent the last hour with Amazon customer service and it hasn't helped at all. I've reset, removed, added, etc devices and it still messes up certain podcasts. 

[steveaddeo]

agreed, it seems like a spotify issue. 

[steveaddeo]

Gun for Hire Radio, Gun Lawyer play fast while Riding Shotgun with Charlie plays slow. Yes, I like to stay informed on firearms... shame on me. The podcasts should still work. 

[MustardQueen]

Hi @Ivelina

For the last ~2 months, it seemed like the issue wasn't as frequent as it was back in October when I first reported it. However, within the last week or so, it's happened EVERY TIME I ask an Echo device to "play _______ podcast from Spotify." It's like it was fixed for ~6-8 weeks but now it's broke again? 

Amazon has previously said they can't help (in my thread, they said to 'contact us' and when I did that, I spent hours on different days reporting it and was never successful. Sounds like at least 1 other person in this thread has had the same experience). Here is my post: 

https://www.amazonforum.com/s/question/0D56Q0000CLoVtOSQV/spotify-podcasts-playback-speed-slows-down...

~ A week prior to my post in October, I saw someone said "Spotify removed the playback option and the backward option for regular users. You cannot even toggle the song. You cannot forward a song. You cannot add music to queue anymore..."  -

Y'all made changes to the playback function which might be related and/or the root cause of this issue. Was this ever investigated?

[steveaddeo]

Well, its getting worse. I was trying to listen to Trax By Avenged Sevenfold (also a podcast) and it is like .5x slower. I just listened to this podcast a few days ago and it was fine. 

[Tbahn102]

Definitely still happening for me on two of my podcasts Two Hot Takes and Father Knows Something. Anyone know if this is happening on Google devices or is it isolated to Amazon  devices? I can't believe this has been going on since October and Spotify still hasn't found a fix. So frustrating.

[Shkermaker]

Hi, just to bump this - I listen to the AutoAlex podcast every week at work and this has just started happening. I tried the disable and reconnecting; doesnt fix issue. @Mods - would a video demonstrating the issue help? 

[Maria]

Hey there folks,

Thanks for reaching out!

As we mentioned earlier in this thread, our teams investigated this and Amazon are the ones looking further into this. In this case, we recommend reaching out to Amazon support directly. Feel free to also have a look at this thread on Amazon forum for more info.

Cheers!

[bodzio007]

Hi Maria, have you identified the root cause of the issue? Is it on the Amazon end? If that's the case, could you please tell me what the root cause is?

We've been going back and forth with you guys, and it's becoming frustrating. Amazon has already told us to contact you, and you're saying we need to contact them. The way you're handling the support is more irritating than the issue itself. Is there anyone who can take responsibility for this incident? It's clearly a global problem, and it's affecting all users for some time now.

We have a group of people who are willing to provide examples and test it together with you. Why aren't you taking advantage of that? Do you not have any SMEs who could investigate the issue?

[markhobley]

Same problem here. I was listening to a series of podcasts, they all played normally. The Alexa device started playing the wrong podcast, so I ran the spotify app to get back to the right place. I then changed the playback device back to the echo show and now my podcast sounds like it plays back at the wrong speed. However, I looked at the clock for time progression as the podcast plays and the seconds do not  seem to be noticably accelerated, but I didn't do a time trial with a stopwatch. I will do more testing. The podcast sounds normal on a tablet via spotify app. It only sounds smurfy on the Alexa devices. 

[KH571]

I’m having the same issue except it’s playing podcasts too quickly 😭

[blitzdings28]

I've the same problem and it is really annoying.

@Spotify: Please fix!

[spuninthe231]

Experiencing this same issue! Has there really not been a solution since the original post in October 2023?

[steveaddeo]

Yes. **bleep**ing ridiculous. They continue to blame each-other while nothing gets fixed. I can't believe I spend money on this and have considered cancelling Prime and Spotify over it at this point.

[steveaddeo]

They both suck. Literally 5 months of this now. 

[beats3527]

To vote on adding playback speed controls for all connected devices, please upvote this idea:

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Live-Ideas/Enable-speed-controls-when-connected-to-another-device-A...

[Podcastnerdi]

Wow I've had this same problem for what seems like forever, not only with Spotify but Amazon's own music app! I always just assumed that it was supposed to be this way, just like you used to be unable to play podcasts on streaming devices. It's ridiculous that this issue hasn't been resolved after over a year since opening this thread!