February 21, 2021

I only signed up for Spotify because I wanted to hear what Joe Rogan had to say about the crisis in Texas...

... but I keep getting this: 

 IMG_2434 

I was going to get interested in the other features of Spotify — maybe use it as my music source — but I'm only here because of Joe Rogan and Joe Rogan won't play. 

I tried Googling for an answer, and came up with hopeless junk like this. I'm about to give up on Spotify. They're asking $9.99 for their service. That would be a great deal if it worked. But if the app is balky and malfunctioning, they ought to pay me. 

ADDED: I wondered, who owns Spotify? Spotify is its own company, a Swedish company, with global headquarters are in Stockholm. "On 6 February 2019, Spotify acquired the podcast networks Gimlet Media and Anchor FM Inc., with the goal of establishing themselves as a leading figure in podcasting." It's a year later. You bought Joe Rogan. Make your podcasting work! 

BUT: I am able to play this podcast using my iMac (desktop), using the Spotify app. Within 2 minutes, they're talking about Ted Cruz going to Cancun. Joe asks a good question: What could Ted Cruz do about the problem in Texas? It's bad optics, but he had no way to help, did he?

UPDATE: It’s now a day later, and the Joe Rogan podcast is working fine. And I’ve become absorbed in creating playlists of music for myself. The app works very fluidly for that. I’d gotten out of the habit of listening to music, and this may change that. It’s certainly worth $9.99 a month. Quite aside from Joe Rogan, the music experience is quite elegant. I’m listening more, and I’ve completely shed the desire to own recordings.

74 comments:

rhhardin said...

I get those all over on Windows XP. It probably means you don't have the necessary player. Or it's in Australia.

rehajm said...

I tried to listen to him in the car earlier in the week. All I could hear was him having technical problems. Is he in Austin? The storm has knocked out most of their power and water...

Either that or they're Megyn Kellying Rogan.

Ficta said...

That's weird. I use Spotify on Android all the time, no issues. I just tried watching Rogan on my ipod and I got that message. Then I tried again, and it worked. Maybe a rare hiccup on their servers?

rhhardin said...

If you have an app for it, maybe it fell victim to apple's privitizing permissions recently and refuses to run without knowing your food choices.

I never download apps. Security vulnerability.

rhhardin said...

I downloaded an ad blocker (net plus on security, your browser runs much less third party code found in ads that might hit browser vulnerabilities), and some guy's app to convert text to morse code. Otherwise nothing.

Ann Althouse said...

Spotify paid Joe Rogan $100 million to move his podcast *exclusively* to Spotify. You have to use Spotify to listen to Joe Rogan now. Of course, I'm using the Spotify app on my iPhone.

I can play this podcast on my desktop. I just tried that. So it is there. It's just not working on the iPhone.

Expat(ish) said...

I have intermittent problems with the spotify app, mostly around saved files.

Try un-liking the podcast, this will move it off your phone. Then kill the app and go back. Try streaming it fresh now, WITHOUT liking it.

/tech_support_is_a_human_right

-XC

Matt Sablan said...

Never blame something on malice when stupidity/incompetence will suffice. Odds are there are just technical problems, especially the more layers of tech get involved. I generally try to use my cellphone for as little as possible, since it tends to not work as well as desktop versions of programs.

Ann Althouse said...

"Try un-liking the podcast"

Not sure I ever "liked" it in the first place. So... I have to search out this "liking" function...

Jeff Brokaw said...

I use Spotify every day on my iPhone, for both music and podcasts, zero problems like this. Never tried listening to Rogan though — might be some kind of fake “oops sorry we can’t play podcast because we like to deplatform content we don’t like” b.s.

Ann Althouse said...

"Odds are there are just technical problems..."

Yes, but I hate technical problems. This is a thing that's supposed to work great. That's the product. It has to work. If it has technical problems I don't want it.

MadTownGuy said...

Bad optics, or an opportunity to diss a prominent (R)?

Jeff Brokaw said...

Parts of their user interface seem a little balky and unnatural to me, but I have a technical resource to help me — my 19 year old son ;-)

Overall as a general purpose music and podcast app, I find it very useful. And the fact it’s not owned by Apple or Google, and therefore not controlled by them, is a big plus.

tcrosse said...

Yes, but I hate technical problems. This is a thing that's supposed to work great. That's the product. It has to work. If it has technical problems I don't want it.

Try to act less white.

Matt Sablan said...

"Bad optics, or an opportunity to diss a prominent (R)?"

-- Both. Look, Republicans can't complain about bad optics when they walk into an obvious trap. It's like the time George Allen complained that he had been being hounded by a reporter trying to make him angry and say something stupid, and that's why he got angry and said something stupid. Of course that's what happened; everyone watching, even the Democrats, knew that the random outburst was what occurred after a targeted campaign of harassment. But, it didn't matter; what George Allen said was offensive enough it killed his political chances.

If you're a Republican politician, you have to realize that the deck is stacked against you when it comes to the media, so stop giving them free points. You don't get the luxury of hiding facts from them and murdering thousands of elderly people before they begrudgingly say, hey, maybe you did something wrong. You are held to a higher standard of empathy and competence than the left, and if you can't handle it, you're going to have to face the media/political consequences.

Sebastian said...

"Joe asks a good question"

That's so nice of him! Insightful!

"he had no way to help, did he?"

Well no he didn't! It's so good to note that!

Then again, Joe and you could save time and effort by adopting the Universal Theory of Progressive Instrumentalism.

Progs put out story = story serves as prog tool, hence asking good questions is beside the point. In fact, asking questions etc. etc. means meeting bad-faith propaganda in good faith, which only encourages the bad guys.

Joe and Althouse are better than nothing, but even better is facing reality.

Mark said...

Meanwhile AOC has raised a few million for Ted's constituents. Yeah, I suppose Ted lacks the support to do something like that.

Matt Sablan said...

AOC put out a tweet that directed people to donate to a charity. Real hard work; Cruz could probably have put out a tweet too... except last time he tried to tweet to make a positive change, he was accused of attempted murder and told to shut up and go away and stop harassing people.

Look, Cruz could have done more. But, let's not pretend that even if he had put out a tweet calling for donations, that he'd have gotten any positive press for it, or would not have been accused of having some alternative, nefarious motive for it. For God's sake, the man's wife and daughter are being stalked over this, and the airline unethically and illegally endangered his safety by leaking his private travel plans.

But yeah. If only Cruz had sent out some tweets.

doctrev said...

Matt Sablan said...
You are held to a higher standard of empathy and competence than the left, and if you can't handle it, you're going to have to face the media/political consequences.

2/21/21, 8:29 AM

Word. There's a good bit to appreciate about Ted Cruz, but there's a reason AOC and Beta are running fundraisers while being "visible" to Texans. Do they care about the state? Hell no. Would they happily demand even more wind power and even more vulnerability to climate change? Of course! But at the end of the day, you have to put to rest the idea that Senators can only help from Washington. Particularly under an illegitimate government that hasn't actually declared an emergency for Texas, even as people watch their homes get wrecked as a consequence of frozen pipes. I personally know a few myself.

Ted Cruz doesn't HAVE to get skilled at relating to the average American, of course, but it's going to crush him if he tries to run for President in 2024.

Browndog said...

Ted Cruz did nothing wrong.

NCMoss said...

Balky; isn't that a faked pitch? Althouse is usually pretty precise with her words.

DavidUW said...

Cruz, as a UNITED STATES Senator, has about 0.0 executive power in Texas.

I'd bet a lot of money the governor (despite being a R, I doubt very much he likes Cruz) tipped off the braying jackasses about Cruz to distract from the failings of the TX grid caused by his love of wind power.

jim said...

Ted Cruz ought to be using his influence and contacts within the federal government to bring help to people in Texas, as well as setting an example of civic engagement by helping a few people directly.

Unfortunately he has only negative influence and contacts ("oh Cruz, fuck him"). And, unlike you or me, he wouldn't know his ass from his elbow getting someone's generator working, fixing a burst pipe, plowing a driveway, etc, etc.

tcrosse said...

This whole farrago only hurts Cruz among those who hate him anyway.

Will Cate said...

Despite doing a fine job as an infinite jukebox, turns out that Spotify is a terrible platform for video podcasts. Rogan's audience is really complaining. YouTube was better.

Matt Sablan said...

"Ted Cruz ought to be using his influence and contacts within the federal government to bring help to people in Texas, as well as setting an example of civic engagement by helping a few people directly."

-- Last time he tried to do that, he was accused of attempted murder and told he shouldn't get involved, and his family most likely received death threats (I'm not sure that was ever reported, I'm just basing it off the fact he talked on the Internet, and pretty much everyone who talks on the Internet gets death threats.)

In what possible world do you see Ted Cruz advocating for something in Texas and it not being turned into as much of a negative about him as if he left to Cancun? The guy had a dog sitter and was accused of abandoning his dog! The best Ted Cruz could have hoped for is that they simply didn't talk about him, because remember, we had Donald Trump literally personally donating time to provide aid in disasters being reamed for it by the media because it was the wrong kind of aid or he was a distraction or something. There was no good play for Cruz here; the best he could hope for was to be ignored. But, with Cuomo's murderous actions coming to light, a distraction was needed, and so Cruz's "mistake" became a sudden outburst of pre-coordinated internet memes that proliferated through social media in the same way every left wing meme does.

independent said...

Cruz forgot the number 1 rule for politicians and ship captains. Stay in a crisis. For those who think it's all about politics, name a Democrat who got a pass for doing something similar.

jim said...

I guess Teddy's contribution is running away like a sniveling coward so that Texans might make a better choice next time.

Cornyn seems to realize that his job is to, at least, not abandon ship.

Mark said...

Matthew, so eager to excuse Cruz for not even trying. Give Cruz a participation trophy, he was on the field!

I hope you apply that standard to Biden.

Matt Sablan said...

Can I think of a Democrat who abandoned someone or people in need and was never really attacked for it?

Well, there was the time Ted Kennedy left a woman to drown. Or the time Barack Obama left a diplomat to be murdered.

You know, just spitballing off the top of my head here. But no, I can't think of a time where airline personnel have unethically and potentially illegally leaked the travel plans of a sitting Democrat Senator who was on vacation when there was a problem tangentially related to their duties.

Browndog said...

tcrosse said...

This whole farrago only hurts Cruz among those who hate him anyway.


Also the appeasers and common grounders that love to enforce the rules made by liberals that only non-liberals have to live by.

Matt Sablan said...

"Matthew, so eager to excuse Cruz for not even trying. Give Cruz a participation trophy, he was on the field!

I hope you apply that standard to Biden."

-- I've said Cruz should have done some genuflecting tweets or other ineffective but highly visible action; I just acknowledge he'd have gotten no credit for doing so, based on the fact LAST time he tried, he was accused of attempted murder and told to stop trying to help.

There's nothing Cruz could have done to help where we would not be sitting here talking about how that thing Cruz did was a mistake, or simply not talking about Cruz at all. He was never going to win; he made the choice that made it the easiest for his political opponents to cost him points.

And now, we're talking about how terrible it is to leave a dog with a dog sitter instead of governors who killed thousands and then lied to the federal government about it. Truly, we have the dumbest media and political class.

Michael said...

Althouse
Spotify is the gold standard for music. Read a review of a new artist or new recording and it is likely available already on Spotify. Way better catalog than Apple Music.

Leland said...

I don't know about Joe Rogan and Spotify, but I think this is about the best discussion of what happened in Texas. TL;DR - Texas power market does not provide incentives to retain excess capacity for situation like last week.

rcocean said...

"If it has technical problems I don't want it."

Exactly. why should there be "Technical problems"? You can pay Rogan $100 million but you can't put out a product that works?

To hell with that.

Iman said...

Trying as hard as they might to distract from Sonny Cuomo’s clusterfuck.

rcocean said...

What is the point of talking about Ted Cruz, except that Trump is gone, and the DNC-media decided he's the new Republican hate figure?

Iman said...

To say nothing of the skull-fucked Dementia Joe Biden...

Matt Sablan said...

"Exactly. why should there be "Technical problems"? You can pay Rogan $100 million but you can't put out a product that works?"

-- If it works on the desktop, but not the other device, I'd say it is unfair to assume Spotify is the problem. But, I don't use iDevices or Spotify, so I can't say for sure.

Original Mike said...

"Spotify is the gold standard for music. Read a review of a new artist or new recording and it is likely available already on Spotify."

Does it have classical music?

narciso said...

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/02/fantastical_energy.html

Browndog said...

Biden didn't even meet with his FEMA director until last Friday. Maybe they talked about their favorite pudding, as nothing came of it.

But, do go on about Ted Cruz. Maybe a Congressional democrat will demand his resignation. Oh, that happened almost immediately.

Ann Althouse said...

"Balky; isn't that a faked pitch? Althouse is usually pretty precise with her words."

"Balky" is an adjective. "Balk" is a noun, with a special baseball meaning, but many other uses. Also a verb, with one horse-related meaning: "To stop short as at an obstacle, to pull up, swerve. esp. of a horse: To jib, refuse to go on, or to leap, to shy; also of the rider, and of any one on foot, refusing a leap."

"Balky" means "Given to balking (as a horse); reluctant to proceed; contrary, perverse."

Examples:

1856 F. L. Olmsted Journey Slave States 197 Advice how to cure a balky horse: ‘Sell him, my lord.’
1897 R. Kipling Captains Courageous vii. 147 Young Olley's gittin' kinder baulky an' excited.
1957 Economist 21 Dec. 1052/2 When federal officials hoped to proceed to more substantial matters such as public housing and public assistance, the states turned balky.

Ann Althouse said...

"-- If it works on the desktop, but not the other device, I'd say it is unfair to assume Spotify is the problem. But, I don't use iDevices or Spotify, so I can't say for sure."

If their app won't work on an iPhone, they have a problem.

First Tenor said...

I would support Ted Cruz's resignation if it took place within half an hour of Andrew Cuomo's resignation. Cuomo's resignation has to come first. The Spotify issue is a conundrum for a "tech" company.

Original Mike said...

I use the word 'balky' all the time to refer to a device that starts and stops working intermittently.

Sally327 said...

What could Ted Cruz have done to help the situation in TX? We'll never know because he didn't try.

There's a famous story, at least I think it's famous, about how the then Queen of England (the current Queen's Mother) was asked during World War II if the children, the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, would be sent to Canada or somewhere for safety, and she replied that the children would leave England when she left England and that she would leave England when the King (George VI) left England and that the King would never leave England.

Ted Cruz is no King George VI. He couldn't even stick out a winter storm much less a World War. He would have been on the first transport out of London to safer parts I'm sure.

CStanley said...

Is there a free version and a premium?

I have been using it for a Bible in a Year podcast, didn’t think I had to pay for it. It’s been working fine on my iPhone.

stlcdr said...

A techie associate, who likes his apps and music, has dumped spotify.

Purpleslog said...

It works fine for me on an iPhone SE, an old MacBookPro, and an old Roku box.

Purpleslog said...

I'm not trying to make a funny...try powering off your iPhone and then powering back on.

stlcdr said...

The problem with a lot of user oriented technology is because we got used to it 'just not working sometimes' brought to us by Microsoft.

My opinion is that if it doesn't work all of the time - i.e. 100.0% - then it is broken ( srew your excuses, just make it fing work!)

Mary Beth said...

Ted Cruz is no King George VI.

You may think you are being clever. You are mistaken.

Browndog said...

Chris Christie says he have no sympathy for "unlikable" Ted Cruz.

Thus, making this meme not only necessary, but mandatory.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Sniveling Ted? Thought that seemed way out of line for Ted. Looked it up. It was nowhere near Mr. Cruz's realm. Back to Troll U. jim. No points, no score, no pay.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

@Althouse,

Have you checked to see if there's been a recent update that maybe you haven't loaded to your iPhone?

I know that sounds silly, like with the old "is it plugged in" support question, but you'd be amazed at how many times I've seen simple things like that cause problems.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Also, a reboot may help. I had similar issues with the Uber app on my iPhone once. Turned out all I needed was to update and reboot.

effinayright said...

jim said...

Unfortunately he has only negative influence and contacts ("oh Cruz, fuck him"). And, unlike you or me, he wouldn't know his ass from his elbow getting someone's generator working, fixing a burst pipe, plowing a driveway, etc, etc.
************

So you're flying down to Texas to help out, right?

Michael said...

Althouse

Spotify works perfectly on iPhone, iPad and MacBook Pro and MacBook Air.

LA_Bob said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
LA_Bob said...

"What could Ted Cruz do about the problem in Texas? It's bad optics, but he had no way to help, did he?"

Maureen Dowd might have praised him had he stayed in Texas and frozen to death.

On a more substantive note:

https://judithcurry.com/2021/02/18/assigning-blame-for-the-blackouts-in-texas/

n.n said...

A tale of wind turbines, photovoltaic panels, gas pipelines, electric motors, and a climate of regulations. How green they were to go Green.

After more than 16 trimesters of witch hunts, warlock trials, protests, and self-incriminating impeachments, Cruz knows that you're Planned if you do, Planned if you don't.

Jim at said...

Meanwhile AOC has raised a few million for Ted's constituents.

Yeah. Because she really gives a shit about Texas residents and isn't using it as an opportunity to poke a finger into Ted's eye.

Maybe Cruz should return the favor and help dig graves in her district for all the dead bodies Democrats created with their COVID response.

Jim at said...

For those who think it's all about politics, name a Democrat who got a pass for doing something similar.

Obama jetting off to a fundraiser in Las Vegas the day after his inaction got four Americans killed in Benghazi.

What do I win?

Patrick Henry said...

If people (including our host) understood how close to magic any of the computing technology we use is, they'd be a bit more tolerant.

Computer chips can be described as "capturing lightening in sand" (sand is primarily silicone). Programming is controlling the flow of lightening in the sand. It's amazing any of it actually works, including the technology that brings us this blog.

That said, I doubt the problem of playing Rogan's podcast on Spotify is a Spotify not properly providing an app that "just works". It could be an iPhone hardware glitch, it could be an iOS glitch, it could be a Spotify app glitch. It could be a network glitch. It could be a Spotify server side glitch. It could be a glitch with the hardware used by Spotify's servers. It could be a combination of any of the above. The best advice has already been given: try turning it off and on again. "It" being your phone.

Matt Sablan said...

Why didn't Dan Crenshaw get loads of free, positive press for his work in Texas?

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

Matt Sablan said...
Why didn't Dan Crenshaw get loads of free, positive press for his work in Texas?

They're not afraid of Crenshaw.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

YouTube still has clips.

link

doctrev said...

Matt Sablan said...
Why didn't Dan Crenshaw get loads of free, positive press for his work in Texas?

2/21/21, 3:05 PM

The media is never going to credit any Republican with doing the right thing. I don't love Dan Crenshaw, but doubtless he's benefiting from his work among the people who matter- Texan voters. I doubt Beta's work is going to translate into votes when he starts talking about how Texas needs renewables. Actual engineers I speak with claim that the Texan grid simply wasn't prepared for this- which makes some sense, you don't need winterized transformers as badly as you would in Fargo- but NBC's risible attempt to claim that wind/ solar represented a minimal slice of the power outage clearly shows how badly the renewables argument will proceed in Texas for the foreseeable future.

walter said...

If just listening, I use the free web spotify player. Does require a log in

MikeR said...

"Joe asks a good question: What could Ted Cruz do about the problem in Texas? It's bad optics, but he had no way to help, did he?" Well, I was wondering that too. What is a Senator's role in local problems in his state? Is it like the President, coordinating national response, or does he really not have a role in that time-frame.
I am completely sympathetic to the idea that Sen. Cruz has far more responsibility to his small daughters, who are completely dependent on him for their vacation, than to a stateful of people who only need him for the optics.

320Busdriver said...

Yes you can find classical and any other kind of music. My wife and kids all use Spotify on their I phones. It’s great for making playlists too.

hstad said...

Look there's enough blame for everyone for the Texas' energy problems from this Winters Storms. Foremost among them are in no particular order: Climate Change silliness - Wind Turbines and Solar; Texas politicians and bureaucrats not preparing the grid after the 2011 Winter Storm; Energy Industry; Overregulation of Energy Industry - Feds and State. I found this one hilarious - State of Texas requested DOE relax emissions standards before the Storm hit and where denied. How the DOE came to that conclusion was amazing. Especially, since after the 'Storm' hundreds of thousands of portable generators where turned on and imported into the State of Texas. So much for 'Energy Bureaucrats' knowledge of emissions.

tcgullett said...

Ann-

“The Spotify Play” is the -unauthorized biography- of Spotify and pretty fascinating. It came out about a month ago and is available in all of the usual formats including Audible.