I have a Denon HiFi with Spotify Connect built in. Sometimes what I am listening to, quietly, gently (CD, Airplay, Digital In, etc) is interrupted and the unit switches to Spotify Connect playing some random music. Often the volume is then drastically increased. This can even happen in the middle of the night when the unit is off (I have been forced to swich off 'Network Control' to disable this, but now have to manually turn on the unit when I want to listen, and it doesn't stop the issue when the unit is already on and listening to something else)
This is EXTREMELY annoying!!!
First I thought that it was a bug in Spotify, that somehow, somebody's music that they were trying to stream to their own hifi was accidentally being routed to mine. Then I wondered if my Spotify account had been hacked, but I only have a 'free' account, and can therefore not even stream to my own hifi, which requires 'premium'
I have come to learn that this is being passed off as a 'feature' of Spotify Connect. That a user, any user, who once in the dim distant past had access to my Wifi network, and at that time connected to my Hifi, can now stream music to my hifi at their whim, over the internet, wherever in the world they are, controlling volume, tracks etc....... and THERE'S NOTHING I CAN DO TO STOP THEM!!!!! I cannot switch off Connect on the hifi, deleting my own Spotify account will have no effect, and I cannot somehow delete their device or spotify account from some list of devices/accounts that are allowed to stream to my hifi. Only the opposite is possible - they must delete my hifi from their list of Connect destinations.
This is ABSURD!! The user may be an ex-lover, partner , housemate or lodger who is determined to persecute me, or a friend of a friend who once played music on my hifi at that party years ago, or even an electrician or plumber who I gave temporary access to my wifi (and subsequently changed the wifi password) in order to order that urgent part or make a phone call to the office, all of whom can now accidentally or intentionally just stream music into my home whenever they feel like it. The only way I can prevent this is to unplug and never switch on my hifi. ABSURD!!!
I don't even use Spotify Connect to my hifi, which requires premium, and it wasn't why I bought that model. I just assumed that it would remain an unused feature like half the sockets on the back. But No, someone else can use it, and I can't stop them!!!
I notice this has been raised several times as an issue, but each time Spotify says it doesn't reach the required number of 'Kudos' whatever they are. Shame on you Spotify. This is not a 'feature', this is a very serious issue. My home is being invaded. Get it sorted!