Offline mode help! Tracks keep stopping about every minute...

[EmilyFrench]

Love spotify, especially to make mixes for long car drives.

However, lately, when I use offline mode (assuming this is the best option for driving to avoid uninterupted listening), the track will stop point blank after a couple seconds, which is infuriating. I've just been dealing with it because it will still let me re start the song where it left off, and continue to do so multiple times per song, and every song. So again, very annoying, but I need my music!!

I've tried playing with different settings, etc. and cannot figure out how to fix this. Please help.

FYI my current settings are: Offline Mode - ON,  Sync over 2G/3G ON, and on the playlists: Available Offline- YES

Also, can you explain the Sync over 2G/3G setting, when/why is this used?

Anddd, why are some tracks not synched? They're on my playlist on the mobile app, but a few are 'not available offline'. They won't seem to sync on the phone, does it help if I sync them on my computer?

Last but not least, once something is synced for offline, will it remain offline on my mobile?

Sorry, as you can see, I'm pretty confused. Thanks so much for all of your help and patience. I'd really appreciate it!!! Want this to work!!! 🙂

[ehohcaro]

Hello, I have EXACTLY the same problemS, and don't really like paying (Premium) and spending time creating playlists and syncing them for things not working in the end. And making me very nervous.
Silly me 😕

I hope we'll have some answers, I've just spent 3 weeks in India with only 1 track among hundreds synced for an offline use before the trip. And even that track stopped many times. Just for fun I guess.

Hopefully I've been using iTunes for years, I'm back to my basics.
I regret not being able to use Spotify with my iPhone to discover new bands before buying their music.

(I'm french by the way, living in France... If this detail could have any incidence ?)

[EmilyFrench · Accepted solution]

Hey, thanks so much for responding. i was surprised not to get a reply back from any spotify aids or experts.

so that's when i actually contacted spotify with my issue, and here's the info i got....

"Can you please try reinstalling Spotify on your iPhone:

1. Delete the Spotify application from your iPhone/iPod. To do this, press and hold the application until it hovers and then press the X symbol
2. Restart your iPod/iPhone
3. Install Spotify again from the AppStore

Before you can listen to the tracks offline, you must first let the tracks download to your device. Once a playlist has synced completely there will be a green arrow next to the playlist title. Please give your Spotify client some time to download the tracks when connected to the Internet before disconnecting.

If the tracks still refuse to sync, you should try a clean installation of the Spotify app.

1. Delete the Spotify application from your iPhone/iPod. To do this, press and hold the application until it hovers and then press the X symbol
2. Restart your iPod/iPhone
3. Install Spotify again from the AppStore

If that does not work, please also try syncing over a different Wifi network."

.... still there? i tried this, to no avail. 😞 so far, i'm still having the same problem. where i re-installed, re synched a playlist for offline mode to test it out, and the first song in stopped after 50 seconds of starting. back to square one :(.

i'm glad to hear i'm not the only one experiencing this particular problem, but boy is it frustrating! agreed, i thought to me, if this worked, that's what makes spotify worth paying for as a premium member. the fact that i've been having so many issues, as a paying member is upsetting. i use pandora for free with no issues 😕

again, i don't understand why other members are enjoying this offline feature seamlessly, what am i doing differently?

not to mention, i really don't have much at all on my iphone 3G, no gaming, no nothing. spotify and pandora are the whole reason i got an i phone, idon't use it for much else, so i still have plenty of GBs. it makes me wonder if mine is just outdated?

anyways, i would still really appreciate others chiming in so we can get this solved!

thanks,

em

[lobbylady]

I've been having the same problem since yesterday. At first I thought it was a problem with my iPod Touch. (It's a couple of years old.) But I played about 3 hours of music that was synced from my hard drive, and it didn't stop at all. Anything I play on Spotify stops in about 40 seconds.

I uninstalled and reinstalled Spotify and am getting the same problem.

[Palacius]

Hi! I'm from Spain (don't know if that might be of any help) and I've been having the same problem since this morning. I can still listen to all my playlists on the desktop version, but it's really frustrating, since I deleted almost all my music from my iPhone when I first downloaded Spotify...

[David]

Hello

> "Can you explain the Sync over 2G/3G setting, when/why is this used?"

This setting is available for when you want to sync tracks to offline mode without using WiFi. However, syncing tracks can be rather intensive on your data limit, so this setting is off by default. 

> "why are some tracks not synched?"

This might be related to some transcoding we are conducting over some of the tracks in the service at the moment. Richard explains this in greater detail in his post here. If you are experiencing some syncing that doesn't match this, however, let me know - It might be related to something else.

> "They won't seem to sync on the phone, does it help if I sync them on my computer?"

Generally I find it easier to sync tracks directly to my phone. Connect your phone to a Wi-Fi network, then select the playlist you wish to sync in Spotify. Then, at the top of the screen, select "Available Offline". The tracks should start to sync. When it's finished, you can take the app offline and play that playlist.

> "Last but not least, once something is synced for offline, will it remain offline on my mobile?"

That's correct. However, we require you to go online at least once every 30 days with your Spotify mobile app to ensure that your subscription is still active.

Hope this explains a little more. Your tracks desyncing is probably related to the encoding process we're going through, so you should only need to resync the tracks once. However, if you're still resyncing the tracks over and over again, please let me know. 

[Palacius]

David, thank you very much for your answer, but I think that our problem is different: When we are using the offline mode, the songs stop playing for no reason. At least on my case, I can't even pause or resume them, they just won't work. However, when I exit the app and launch it again, the song keeps playing (but eventually stops again).

I have deleted the app and installed it again, but the problem persists.

I use the app a lot, so it's quite annoying... I still love what you guys are doing, though 😉

Hope you can help us!

PS: Sorry if my English sounds weird or something, it's a bit rusty...

[bobbygill]

This is now happening to me as well - Spotify has worked brilliantly on my iPhone for the past 2 months. However since late last week, songs just stop mid-playback when being played in either offline or online modes. It is about 1-2 minutes it will stop, usually at the same spots in the song.

I have done all the remediation steps:

- uninstalled

- restarted

- installed

- let all playlists complete offline syncing before playing

- continues to happen

I've gone through this process numerous times, over different wifi networks, plugged into USB, etc... It will not fix it. 

Very frustrating considering I am paying to be able to listen to Spotify on my iPhone. Hopefully I will not come to regret that decision.

[Palacius]

I would really appreciate if you could give us an answer before you charge us for the next month of Premium membership. The only reason I use it instead of Unilimited is the app, and since it's not working, there's really no point on paying for it. I'll upgrade again as soon as it is fixed.

[lobbylady]

I fixed the problem! By canceling my premium and moving over to Rhapsody. I find their catalog is at least as good and maybe better for the music I listen to. And albums download to my iPod faster. I was sorry to let Spotify go -- we shared many good times together -- but their problem solving and customer service just left a lot to be desired!

[augustustouch]

I am having the same problem. On the laptop, songs play fine, but anything i've added in the last week or so won't sync to my ipod touch, and the songs that are on there play for about 40/50 seconds and then stop. very frustrating, and can no longer justify paying to be a premium user unless it gets fixed!

[SirPlays]

The same just started happening to me today. My offline playlist will play a song for about 50 seconds and then stop. I can forward to the next song and it will play for 50 seconds and then stop. I've exited the app, reinstalled, connected in online mode, nothing fixes the problem. Even in online mode the same happens.  I am a premium subscriber. 

[Palacius]

I don't know that your version of iOS is, but after upgrading my iPhone to 5.0 it started working again. I did it like a month and a half ago and I have never had the same problem again. Hope it helps.

[madgart]

I have had spotify premium for a few months now, and have been loving it up until a few days ago. I am traveling in france and have been using my phone to play the tracks and playlists that I have synced to play offline. A few days ago it stopped allowing me to do this on my phone and said "your thirty day trial is over"-- I am confused because I was not aware of being on any trial.. my account says I still have full premium.. which should allow me to play these offline playlists off of my phone without being connected to the internet. now all of the songs that I used to be able to play without any issues at all have red exclaimation points next to them and when I click on them it says they are not synced even though they were a week ago... on my computer it says all of these songs are synced. I am confused and frustrated and would really like an answer to this problem. Thanks!

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@EmilyFrench wrote:

Love spotify, especially to make mixes for long car drives.

However, lately, when I use offline mode (assuming this is the best option for driving to avoid uninterupted listening), the track will stop point blank after a couple seconds, which is infuriating. I've just been dealing with it because it will still let me re start the song where it left off, and continue to do so multiple times per song, and every song. So again, very annoying, but I need my music!!

I've tried playing with different settings, etc. and cannot figure out how to fix this. Please help.

FYI my current settings are: Offline Mode - ON,  Sync over 2G/3G ON, and on the playlists: Available Offline- YES

Also, can you explain the Sync over 2G/3G setting, when/why is this used?

Anddd, why are some tracks not synched? They're on my playlist on the mobile app, but a few are 'not available offline'. They won't seem to sync on the phone, does it help if I sync them on my computer?

Last but not least, once something is synced for offline, will it remain offline on my mobile?

Sorry, as you can see, I'm pretty confused. Thanks so much for all of your help and patience. I'd really appreciate it!!! Want this to work!!! 🙂

---

[Kk62]

This is exactly what is happening to my music. How did u fix it?

[yellowstar]

I'm having the exact same issues. And use my galaxy note 4 for the same reasons. Music. I have spotify premium and get so frustrated when the songs just stop. No reason. Pandora works better. Though I want my spotify to work!!!! That's why we pay for it!!! Lol
I'm almost ready to ditch this service all together.

[Portboypj · Accepted solution]

If you play the song from start to finish when you have internet connection it will play uninterrupted in offline mode. For some reason the Spotify app wants to verify a song is synced too quickly when it's not. I usually put the partially synced songs in a playlist and then play it when I get internet connection ( usually on silent when I go to bed)

[derektakiaferro]

I am still dealing with this problem over and over. Looks like it has been a regular problem since 2012. When will it get fixed?