Windows Desktop App: Long songs start over

[wisepeppy]

When streaming on-demand music, sometimes while it's in the middle of a track, the desktop app will suddenly stop and restart that track from the beginning. Happens fairly regularly (several times during a workday of listening). This is entirely spontaneous and not a result of anything I'm doing - it can happen when I'm not even touching the mouse or keyboard, so it's no accident. v. 15.0.3.0

Moderator Edit: Changing title for clarity

[pancolcc4e]

It's a shame. Because of this single issue, I canceled my membership. And it's not like it's just a matter of not hearing that one song in it's entirety; because it restarts, the next song in the list never plays- that one long song just keeps starting over. Pandora really needs to fix this.

[SRV]

I have the same issue and stopped using the Windows desktop app. I'm looking into other services to replace Pandora, which I've been a paid subscriber of for many years. 

[MariaPandora]

Sorry for the trouble @SRV!

Can you please share the name of the song along with the time and date it played?

Let me know!

[nmeek1]

My post on 8/5/24 listed songs, their run times, and the time at which they started over. I did not make note of the time of day that I played them. I have not taken notes since.

However, I did just confirm that 'Loose Yourself - Live at Civic Theater, Newcastle, Australia' just restarted at 5:17 (1/21/24 @ 4:23 PM Central)

[HandoverFist]

It did it yesterday on Pink Floyd Animals on tracks Dogs track 2, Pigs
(Three Different Ones) track 3 and Sheep track 4. Then it did it on
Porcupine Tree Anesthetize Live, Anesthetize track 4. You need to
understand that it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the track but
the length of the track. If the track is over 10 minutes long it's probably
going to do it. Anywhere from around one third to one half of the track it
will just start the track over. I then forward to the spot it did it and
the rest of the track plays. If I don't do anything the song plays to that
spot and starts over and it keeps doing it until I click on the time bar
then the track plays to the end.

It's hard to understand with as many people that are having the issue that
you can't seem to get a handle on it. It's almost like you don't care.

Another user responded to this email with the same complaint and they are
now so frustrated that they are looking for a different service and I'm
closer thatn I've ever been to switching as well.

Please fix it!!

[LeonPandora]

@nmeek1 @HandoverFist Thanks for providing that information.

I've passed your comments and experience to the appropriate parties for further investigation.

Thanks for your patience in the meanwhile!

[pancolcc4e]

They lost me as a subscriber.

You've been notified about this problem over and over. You have no intention of solving the problem.

Moderator's edit: merged comments.

[pancolcc4e]

You've been notified about this problem over and over. You have no intention of solving the problem.

Moderator's edit: merged comments.

[BDunster]

I too am experiencing this issue. Any song longer than about 7 minutes restarts itself over and over again until I manually skip it and then things continue to work normally. This only happens with the Windows app, it happens on every computer I've used it on including a Windows 10 laptop, Windows 11 laptop, 3 different mid tier gaming PCs running Windows 10, all of which have 16GB of RAM or more, some have Windows and Pandora installed on SATA SSDs, a mixture of Samsung and Western Digital drives, and some have Windows and Pandora installed on NVMe drives. There's a mix of AMD and Intel processors in there too from older stuff to brand new current gen stuff including a Ryzen 7800X3D. It's clearly an issue with the Pandora for Windows app. 

A couple of songs it's happened on consistently and always at the same point in the song
Metallica, Call of Ktulu (no matter which album it comes from)
Avenged Sevenfold, I Won't See You Tonight Part 1

If I start the song and drag the slider halfway through the song and let it go it'll move on to the next track normally. Sounds like some memory buffer somewhere is getting clogged up or something and crashing. 

[AdamPandora]

@BDunster I definitely understand your frustration.

Your feedback has now been added to the ticket we have open with our engineering team regarding this issue.

Thank you for your patience. 

[BDunster]

Thanks Adam, any word on when this is going to be solved? It’s been a problem with the desktop app for years now.

Thanks,
Ben

[HandoverFist]

They just don't seem to care, I've been complaining about this for over 2
years and they don't seem to have any idea. It's hard for me to believe
that no one on their DEV team has had the issue with as many in the forum
that do. I'm probably going to switch to a different service soon.

It's just sad that they don't care.

[MOHLovesAlaska]

@wisepeppy This was an issue I was experiencing about 3 weeks ago, try these steps. It resolved my issue. 

• Update Pandora: Ensure you have the latest version of the app installed.

• Check Internet Connection: Make sure your internet connection is stable. Sometimes, a weak connection can cause playback issues.

• Restart the App: Close Pandora completely and then reopen it. This can sometimes resolve temporary glitches.

• Clear Cache: Go to your device's settings, find Pandora, and clear its cache.

• Reinstall Pandora: Uninstall and then reinstall the app to see if that fixes the problem.

• Check for Conflicting Apps: Other apps might interfere with Pandora. Try closing other applications while using Pandora to see if the issue persists.

Take care and GOD bless.

[wisepeppy]

I've resolved this issue by no longer using the desktop app. I bought a stereo to put by my desk so I can stream music from my phone using the mobile app. Kinda crappy I was forced to go this route, but the desktop app was janky in a lot of ways and I have no reason to go back to it now. 

[MOHLovesAlaska]

@wisepeppy sorry to hear that. At least you have a way to listen to your music. My problem was conflicting apps running simultaneously. 

Have a great weekend, take care and GOD bless.

[SRV]

I submitted a ticket with Pandora Support over a month ago, gave them all the information they asked for, and have not received a solution. There is obviously a reason Pandora is choosing to not solve the issue.

[pancolcc4e]

You really need to stop asking that. You've been told over and over about the problem and you need to fix it so you don't lose anymore subscribers over the issue. It's to the point that I believe the "problem" may have been intentionally baked into your technology to lower royalty costs.