Spotify went crazy!!

[Tim Curtis]

As I read the librespot github repo issues log, there seem to be at least two different problems cropping up.

One is the inability sometimes to reach certain Spotify "AP" servers by their FQDN. This error prevents connection. It seems not to happen to all the users having problems but this is the reason some believe all one has to do is add some lines to the /etc/hosts file. 

The other problem has to do with a recurring issue with certain Spotify servers throwing "channel" errors. This error occurs after connection has been made and prevents playing the selected track.

It would seem these errors are affecting mostly European users. I have never seen them, which has made it impossible for me to gather my own diagnostic data.

However, anyone with a working knowledge of the Linux command line can gather their own diagnostic data.

First:

Using a host on the same LAN as your moOde player, visit the site https://apresolve.spotify.com in your favorite web browser to get the list of Spotify AP servers being offered in your region.

Here's the response I get using a Chromium browser on my Linux laptop connected to the Internet via an ISP located in Maryland/USA. (I prefer the way Firefox formats this JSON list but I couldn't easily copy the formatted output.)

Code:

{"ap_list":["ap-guc3.spotify.com:4070","ap-guc3.spotify.com:443","ap-guc3.spotify.com:80","ap-gew1.spotify.com:4070","ap-guc3.spotify.com:443","ap-gae2.spotify.com:80"]}

All of these AP servers are resolvable and accessible from my location but apparently librespot will use only the first instance in the list.
 
Then:

• Disconnect any Spotify app which may be connected to the moOde player
  
• Turn off the Spotify renderer in the moOde player's Audio Config panel.
  
• Start the following on the moOde player's command line
  sudo librespot --name SpotifyTest -v > SpotifyTest.txt 2>&1
  
• Using your favorite Spotify App, connect to the resulting "SpotifyTest" device
  
• In the Spotify App, select and play a track or at least a portion of it
  
• Disconnect the Spotify App from the "SpotifyTest" device
  
• Kill the librespot process you started on the moOde player's command line (Hint: use ctrl-C).
  
• Still on the command line, review the content of the file SpotifyTest.txt left in the current directory.
  

Candidly, I don't know if and which various keys in the output are "secrets" but the output is voluminous so I'm not posting all of it. Here's the beginning of the output collected on one of my moOde players

Code:

[2022-07-22T02:13:33Z INFO  librespot] librespot 0.4.1 88e64bd (Built on 2022-07-07, Build ID: KpGv9iLt, Profile: release)
[2022-07-22T02:13:33Z TRACE librespot] Command line argument(s):
[2022-07-22T02:13:33Z TRACE librespot]         --name "SpotifyTest"
[2022-07-22T02:13:33Z TRACE librespot]         -v
[2022-07-22T02:13:33Z DEBUG librespot_discovery::server] Zeroconf server listening on 0.0.0.0:34759
[2022-07-22T02:13:49Z DEBUG librespot_discovery::server] POST "/" {}
[2022-07-22T02:13:49Z INFO  librespot_core::session] Connecting to AP "ap-guc3.spotify.com:4070"
[2022-07-22T02:13:50Z INFO  librespot_core::session] Authenticated as "<<user id redacted>>" !
...

As can be seen, librespot connected to the first AP server in the list I presented above. This is where the first known error would become apparent.

Later in the output, after I had told my Spotify App to play a specific track, there appears the snippet

Code:

[2022-07-22T02:13:50Z INFO  librespot_playback::player] Loading <24 Preludes, Op. 28: No. 15 in D-Flat Major "Raindrop"> with Spotify URI <spotify:tr
ack:<<track ID redacted>>>
[2022-07-22T02:13:50Z DEBUG librespot_audio::fetch] Downloading file <<file id redacted>>
[2022-07-22T02:13:50Z DEBUG librespot::component] new ChannelManager
...

 
and, of course, this is where the second known error ("Channel error...") would become apparent. Any other types of errors you observe should be reported to the librespot github repo issues log.

Note that the two known problems are due to Spotify's services. See the librespot github repo issues log to get a feel for how the librespot devs feel about them.

Regards,
Kent

You may want to post a link to this analysis in the librespot repo. It may be helpful for the dev's.

[Falco]

Very weird issue. I had problems yesterday evening (in NL) but this morning Spotify streaming through MoOde works again. And I did not do anything to fix it.

Temporary with the Spotify Services then I guess....

My bad, I was not playing through Spotify Connect, but from pc connected to same speakers. Problem still persistent unfortunately....

[TheOldPresbyope]

As I read the librespot github repo issues log, there seem to be at least two different problems cropping up.

...

You may want to post a link to this analysis in the librespot repo. It may be helpful for the dev's.

Thanks, but I was just summarizing what's already known over there in a form I thought would be accessible to moOde users.

It occurs to me that, although in these new digs my LAN and my ISP support both IPv4 and IPv6, all my interactions with Spotify seem to be via IPv4. Working in a pure IPv6 environment might introduce new wrinkles that I'm unaware of. I don't see how that alone would lead to "it used to work and now it doesn't" complaints though.

Regards,
Kent

[rph-r]

Same problem for me...

[ycdtosa]

Adding 104.199.65.124 ap-gew4.spotify.com to the hosts file worked for me, ap-gew4.spotify.com is the first entry in the list from https://apresolve.spotify.com .
I am located in the Netherlands, running version 7.6 .

The comments on github suggest that more breaking changes are coming: https://github.com/librespot-org/libresp...1193087640

Regards, Willem

[roderickvd]

I will make some time and soon do a librespot point release to blacklist this broken access point. Are there more defunct APs that any of you have encountered? If so please add them to this issue: https://github.com/librespot-org/librespot/issues/972

Edit: fix is here: https://github.com/librespot-org/librespot/pull/1026
Please verify and I can do a release the coming few days.

[Tim Curtis]

I will make some time and soon do a librespot point release to blacklist this broken access point. Are there more defunct APs that any of you have encountered? If so please add them to this issue: https://github.com/librespot-org/librespot/issues/972

Edit: fix is here: https://github.com/librespot-org/librespot/pull/1026
Please verify and I can do a release the coming few days.

Many thanks :-)

After you release it will take our project a few weeks to build, test and publish a new librespot package. Are there recommended workarounds that users can try in the meantime? 

I've seen a couple but have not tried them myself.

1. Add --ap-port=[some random port] to librespot launch params.
2. Add 0.0.0.0 apresolve.spotify.com to the file /etc/hosts

[roderickvd]

I will make some time and soon do a librespot point release to blacklist this broken access point. Are there more defunct APs that any of you have encountered? If so please add them to this issue: https://github.com/librespot-org/librespot/issues/972

Edit: fix is here: https://github.com/librespot-org/librespot/pull/1026
Please verify and I can do a release the coming few days.

Many thanks :-)

After you release it will take our project a few weeks to build, test and publish a new librespot package. Are there recommended workarounds that users can try in the meantime? 

I've seen a couple but have not tried them myself.

1. Add --ap-port=[some random port] to librespot launch params.
2. Add 0.0.0.0 apresolve.spotify.com to the file /etc/hosts

Yes, both will work. For the first the random port must not be 4070, 443 or 80.

[roderickvd]

I just released v0.4.2 to deal with the broken ap-gew4 and ap-gue1 access points: https://github.com/librespot-org/libresp...tag/v0.4.2

From here on development will shift to the new API which does not suffer from the same errors on these access points. This is targeted for a v0.5.0 release in the future. While the new API brings exciting new things (and a higher quality decoder) it is also likely to introduce new bugs and some regressions. So this v0.4.2 may be the most stable librespot yet, but unless something big comes up also the last one to be based on the old API.

[starbender]

2. Add 0.0.0.0 apresolve.spotify.com to the file /etc/hosts

This method does not work for me.

Spotify connects to moode spotify and suddenly disconnects. After that, spotify connect is not visible anymore.