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Help Spotify - totally unstable/unviable on 4.x

P

politzer

Well-Known Member
Has anyone found a way to get Spotify to work consistently on your Nexus?

Things I've tried:
Clear the data from the SD card
Uninstall and reinstall
Change the password on the desktop site and uninstall and reinstall

None of this works. I used to be able to get it to come up occasionally, but now I can't even get the app to open.
 
I wish that I had an answer for you. Mine has worked fine since day one. Just telling you this so you know it is possible for it to work well on ICS on the Nexus.
 
Spotify (Premium) has been working well for me on my GN. Been using it for about 1 month now.

Make sure you clear data & cache before uninstalling. If that doesn't work, then I would guess there is a conflict between Spotify and another app. Are you rooted and/or running a custom ROM?

If all else fails, do a factory reset and install Spotify first, then keep testing it as you install your other apps.
 
I've tried twice now to get Spotify up and running on my stock Nexus. So far, no dice. I'm definitely in the same boat as the OP. I dunno if it's maybe because I'm not using the paid version that there are features stripped out or something, but it's basically a confusing non-functional mess on top of continually force closing on me.

My sister, who's a Spotify evangelist and uses an iPhone, tried to get it set up correctly on my phone and finally threw in the towel as well. "I have NO idea how to get this to work right. It's like it doesn't want you to enjoy yourself."

So yeah. You're not the only one.
 
To the poster above me.

You cannot use any mobile device (iOS,android,BB etc.) without Spotify Premium. So that would explain why it has failed for you.

In general.

Basic functionality works. Buggy at times. The only thing that doesn't work is playing Synced music that is not in the Spotify database. If I manually copy over the song file to my phone, I can play. However, if I try to sync it through Spotify, no dice. Just crashes every time.

Really annoying. I wish they would give the app a lot more support. It is very frustrating at times. They have known about the app not working with Honeycomb (and it basically did nothing other than stream, but no offline) for more than a YEAR and still have never fixed it. That is extremely poor service.

Unfortunately Spotify is simply hands down the best music service, so I can't force myself to quit it.
 
Jake43 said:
To the poster above me.

You cannot use any mobile device (iOS,android,BB etc.) without Spotify Premium. So that would explain why it has failed for you.

In general.

Basic functionality works. Buggy at times. The only thing that doesn't work is playing Synced music that is not in the Spotify database. If I manually copy over the song file to my phone, I can play. However, if I try to sync it through Spotify, no dice. Just crashes every time.

Really annoying. I wish they would give the app a lot more support. It is very frustrating at times. They have known about the app not working with Honeycomb (and it basically did nothing other than stream, but no offline) for more than a YEAR and still have never fixed it. That is extremely poor service.

Unfortunately Spotify is simply hands down the best music service, so I can't force myself to quit it.
Click to expand...


If the free version doesn't work at all then, in my opinion, they shouldn't offer it in the market at all. I get they hope you download it and then upgrade, but the fact that the free version sucked so hard turned me off from buying it at all. I REFUSE to pay for an app just to get it to work, and from what you've said, there still are issues. I'm happy with Google Music and Pandora for now, and don't see the added benefit that Spotify would offer.

Plus, the fact that I've tried twice to get it running (not knowing I couldn't do it for free) and it didn't work has completely turned me off to the whole experience. Basically even if I knew I could get it running perfectly at this point, I wouldn't go back, simply out of spite. Petty? Yeah, probably. But you shouldn't let your potential customers play with your apps if you're going to intentionally cripple it so they buy the premium out of frustration. Speaks of ill will and broken trust to me.

As usual, your mileage may vary. Just giving my reasons for why I don't, and won't, use their service for the time being.
 
Roaddog said:
If the free version doesn't work at all then, in my opinion, they shouldn't offer it in the market at all. I get they hope you download it and then upgrade, but the fact that the free version sucked so hard turned me off from buying it at all. I REFUSE to pay for an app just to get it to work, and from what you've said, there still are issues. I'm happy with Google Music and Pandora for now, and don't see the added benefit that Spotify would offer.

Plus, the fact that I've tried twice to get it running (not knowing I couldn't do it for free) and it didn't work has completely turned me off to the whole experience. Basically even if I knew I could get it running perfectly at this point, I wouldn't go back, simply out of spite. Petty? Yeah, probably. But you shouldn't let your potential customers play with your apps if you're going to intentionally cripple it so they buy the premium out of frustration. Speaks of ill will and broken trust to me.

As usual, your mileage may vary. Just giving my reasons for why I don't, and won't, use their service for the time being.
Click to expand...


But that is the point, there is no free version. The app is a service offered to those who pay for it. They say it right from the beginning.
 
Again, not true. https://market.android.com/details?...EsImNvbS5zcG90aWZ5Lm1vYmlsZS5hbmRyb2lkLnVpIl0.

You can download the app for free, log in to your "free" account that you've set up online and... that's about it. You just end up wandering around their menu system for awhile cursing at them for not letting anything work right. Then, I suppose, you go and buy the subscription out of... good will? A masochistic desire to see if paying makes the experience better?

I see on their description that the app is basically a vehicle to get you to the premium version, and that's more clearly stated now than it was the last few times I tried to get it to work. However, the app IS a free download and they weren't clear about you "needing a *paid* subscription" anywhere in their literature previously. (Still isn't make perfectly clear IMO.)

I'm not dissing the service as a whole. LOTS of people love it, and have sung it's praises. I'm just saying as a dude who's trying to keep his costs down so he can afford things like a wedding and a honeymoon in the near future, it was frustrating that my desire to stay on the "free" side of the aisle wasn't clearly marked out as not possible. Nowhere in the app did it state or prompt me to upgrade to increase functionality either, btw. It just ran me in circles through a confusing menu system that didn't actually DO anything.

If you love it, that's great. I'm not someone to pay for a subscription service sight unseen however. Different strokes for different folks. I know I can get a free 30 day trial now, but again, the previous experiences I've had have soured me on the whole deal, and I'm perfectly content with my Google Music and Pandora setup currently.

There are a HOST of other free music/radio services, so paying just isn't something I'm interested in doing.
 
I think the main idea behind the mobile app is for those who have already tried the free desktop app and decided that they wish to have the service on their phones. They then purchase the premium service.

So if you'd like, you can try it for free on your computer, then proceed from there. I would assume that is Spotifys idea as well. But I can see how you could be confused.
 
Jake43 said:
I think the main idea behind the mobile app is for those who have already tried the free desktop app and decided that they wish to have the service on their phones. They then purchase the premium service.

So if you'd like, you can try it for free on your computer, then proceed from there. I would assume that is Spotifys idea as well. But I can see how you could be confused.
Click to expand...

It would make more sense if when you logged into the app it immediately prompted you to subscribe to the service. Would take the guesswork out of, "is this supposed to work or do they want me to buy something here?"

Glad it works for some, and, truth be told after all of this discussion and banter I think I'm going to give the 30 premium on my phone another shot. Unless it blows my socks off I doubt I'll pay for it, but now that I've figured out that (I'm an idiot and) phone app = premium, I guess they deserve a chance to impress me before I continue rampaging across the interwebz badmouthing them all over creation.

God I'm a sucker.
 
My bad Roaddog. Actually, I hadn't looked at the app details on the Market page for some time. Looks like it has changed quite a bit since I signed up. I don't recall there being any free trial back then. Back then, it was either you paid for mobile streaming, or you could only use the app as a local music player.

So it sounds like they're having issues getting the free trial of Spotify to work on Android, which is too bad because the Premium version is great. There must be some difference in the files that are installed when you switch from the free-trial-version to the Premium version. Because I can tell you the Premium version works great. I don't think I've had a single FC with Spotify Premium. But you've stated you don't want to pay a sub. fee, so it sounds like Spotify is not for you.
 
I'm the OP. After giving it a couple of more weeks and having even more trouble - ultimately I couldn't even open the app at all - I've thrown in the towel and moved to MOG.
 
Spotify used to work on my gnex. Doesn't anymore. I choose a song to play, it starts loading, then brings up "INFO
OK"
And it doesn't play the song. does it with every song I try.
 
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