Music Playback Stopping

Just updated to Android Plex app version 5.4.0, still pausing after about 5 minutes.

I’m having this same issue under Android 7.0 with locally synced music. I have 2 different model phones; an HTC 10 running Android 7.0 and a Samsung S7 running Android 6.0. The S7 running Android 6.0 is able to playback all synced music without issue. The HTC 10 running Android 7.0 stops very consistently on specific songs if playback is started on a specific preceding song.

@ā€œMovieFan.Plexā€ is there any update on this? This issue makes the Android Plex App nearly unusable for music on Android 7.

Edit: I’ve noticed that if the phone is plugged in (not running on battery) this issue does not occur and playback continues smoothly.

@Jman420 I would recommend that you stop using Plex for music. Plex has repeatedly proven that they don’t care about their customers or the issues they’re experiencing.

From one of my previous posts on this thread:
That being said, if you’re looking for something (vastly) superior to Plex for music playback, I highly recommend Subsonic. I’ve been using it for about six months now and couldn’t be happier. I can choose how many songs to cache (caching, what a strange idea). Personally, I cache 1 song while on mobile data and unlimited songs while on WiFi (up to my 500MB cache limit). Subsonic also implements an imperfect version of gapless playback which involves you hearing maybe a pop/click or a small silence between songs, but that is infinitely better than Plex’s approach of: play to the end of a song, then start downloading the next song, which results in silences of up to 20 seconds in my experience (not exaggeration).

@lanerussell Thanks for the suggestion. I went with Plex mainly for its Synology NAS support, which is what I run my PMS on. I’ve found some tutorials for installing Subsonic on a Synology Box and might give that a shot.

@Jman420 - Thank for the ping. The devs have identified the problem with the way the app handles pausing based on other phone events. There are changes being made to audio/video playback in general which should also address this issue. Unfortunately these changes are not small and will take a little time to get it all done. Hopefully, it will be done soon, but I don’t have any timeline.

@ā€œMovieFan.Plexā€ - It’s been abundantly clear for the past couple years that Plex would like to supplant iTunes as a general media manager. It’s been equally clear for more years than that many people would very much like someone (anyone!) to step into that void. but Plex’s inability to do simple things like, oh, play an MP3 while we jog pretty much render your efforts moot.

Frankly? I’d be happy if I could use Plex to synchronize content between my phone and my server. Then I could use just about anything to play it back. but you hide your files deep where the non-jailbroken can’t get to them. It’s like this DVR announcement today - yaay! you can record stuff off my silicondust! But, like, watching my silicondust? still a janktastic user haxie that you guys don’t support.

I understand that there are a lot of moving parts and an infrastructure that doesn’t automagically do what everybody wants but these half-measures are killing you. ā€œyes you can listen to music, just don’t expect to listen to an entire song.ā€ ā€œyes you can record live television, you just can’t watch it.ā€

I would love to buy an nVidia Shield and dump my entire multi-terabyte library on it and be done. But plex’s kinda-sorta-will-work-when-we-figure-out-how approach to releases gives me, at least, zero confidence in your roadmap.

And I’m not handing over my media to a company without a decent roadmap.

Pretty much what @kleinbl00 said.

I say this with some conflicted feelings…, but this has been the story with Plex for years. Years.

Numerous times I’ve been on the edge of purchasing a Plex Pass in order to support development, and almost unfailingly, Plex in one form or another takes a downward/sideways step in functionality/usability/reliability.

My specific issue today is the Plex app on Android 4.1.2 (an old Xoom tablet).

When the device is slept, a track that was already playing will complete, but the app will not advance to the next track until the device is unslept.

My apologies to the Plex devs, who I’m sure are trying hard…, I know I sound a bit like the old joke:

One person says: the food is not very good here.
The other person says: yes, and in such small portions.

I would love to pay for Plex…, but for a long time, Plex has been sabotaging whatever faith it seems to require for me to take that step.

As an aside: It’s not like Google really does much better. Sure…, Play Music would be an alternative for tunes, but amazingly, The Goog has semi-recently broken compatibility with Tegra 2 devices such as the Xoom, and a fair portion of their app suite, including Play Music, is unusable for folks with those devices.

Sigh…, thus begins the search for alternatives. Heck…, maybe cassettes…

Still an issue in Plex for Android version 5.6.1.505

@Jman420 said:
Still an issue in Plex for Android version 5.6.1.505

Can confirm this on HTC 10 with Nougat. Still not fixed :frowning:

Same here, also HTC 10 with nougat.

I came back to attempt to listen to music on plex since it’s been a while since I tried it. I actually lasted a day or so without any playback stopping. I thought it was resolved and I setup a playlist to listen to on the car ride to work. And then I get 10 minutes into my drive and it starts again. I couldn’t even finish a single song. When I get to work I start to listen on my headphones and it works more and less and then again. Stopping every other song. It’s infuriating. All the awesome features plex has for music utterly useless with the current state of the app.

However, since plex is a DLNA server as well other things can use it. Currently my solution is Bubble UPNP. It downloads the music and plays it back flawlessly.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bubblesoft.android.bubbleupnp&hl=en

Sucks I can’t even use the stock app to do a main function of the app.

I have the same problem :frowning:
Phone : One+ 3
OS : Android 7.0
App version : 5.6.1.505

+1
Phone: HTC 10
OS: Android 7.0
App version: 5.7.0.113

Playback of music useless without internet at the moment!
Does not finish any synced song, just stops. Forwarding beyong stopping point does not continue playback.

6 months and counting…

please fix

This issue seems to be fixed in the latest update for Plex for Android (v5.7.1.225) for locally synced music. Can anyone confirm that the issue is fixed for streaming?

Which kinda sucks, cause now I really like the Pulsar Music Player…

Edit: Disregard above comments. Issue is still present in v5.7.1.255

I have 5.7.1.255 and the music stops in about 10-12 mins (while in airplane mode). haven’t tested airplane mode with bluetooth nor non-airplane mode.

@labashosky2010 said:
I have 5.7.1.255 and the music stops in about 10-12 mins (while in airplane mode). haven’t tested airplane mode with bluetooth nor non-airplane mode.

Yeah, my bad. I think I tested this morning with the phone plugged in (dumb oversight on my part). Just re-tested and playback stops after roughly 10-12 minutes with locally synced music.

So, issue still present in Android for Plex v5.7.1.255.

@ā€œMovieFan.Plexā€ Can we get a timeline, roadmap or anything related to fixing this issue?

Issue still present in Android for Plex v5.7.2.302

I’m also seeing this issue (among others: issue 1, issue 2). For me I’ve noticed that it’s only with FLAC files. The music will stop suddenly and then skip to the next song.

I’m using Nexus 6, Android 7.1.2