Endless buffering, greyed-out tracks, growing storage: a troubleshooting order
Sort the symptom into one of three buckets before touching anything: only a few tracks affected means licensing; every track buffering means bandwidth or quality tier; sign-in works but playback is entirely unresponsive means the local environment. Three checks, usually under five minutes, and no reinstall.
Step one: try another track
Pick something unrelated. If it plays, the original title has a licensing problem — either the licence lapsed or it is not available in your region. Nothing on the client side changes that, so stop troubleshooting and pick another version of the song.
Step two: drop one quality tier
If everything buffers, move down from lossless or high. Lossless needs several times the sustained bandwidth of the tier below it, and on shared or weak connections that shows up as constant buffering.
| Tier | Data per hour | On a weak connection |
|---|---|---|
| Standard, 128 kbps | approx. 55 MB | Rarely stalls |
| Higher, 192 kbps | approx. 85 MB | Occasional buffering |
| High, 320 kbps | approx. 140 MB | Noticeable buffering |
| Lossless, 900 kbps+ | 400 MB and up | Frequent interruptions |
Step three: check the local environment
- Switch networks between Wi-Fi and mobile data. If it clears up, the previous connection or its DNS is the cause.
- System clock: make sure automatic time sync is on. A large drift breaks session validation, which can look like a successful sign-in where every request then fails.
- Proxy tools: the most common desktop trap. In global mode playback requests may be intercepted; switch to rule-based mode or add a direct rule.
- Background limits: audio cutting out shortly after the screen locks means battery optimisation froze the process. Set the app to unrestricted.
- Free space: if the cache cannot be written, playback stalls repeatedly. Leave at least 2 GB free.
Cache and offline downloads are not the same thing
- Cache: written automatically as you listen, bounded by the limit you set, oldest entries evicted first.
- Offline downloads: tracks you chose to save. No limit applies and nothing is removed unless you remove it.
That is why clearing the cache rarely frees much space. Delete offline tracks from download management instead, or relocate the download folder. On desktop the cache and download folders can point at different drives, which is worth doing if you have both an SSD and a larger disk.
Avoid third-party cleaners that delete files inside the app directory. Removing index files leaves playlists visible but every track marked as needing a fresh download, which costs more time than the space saved.
Quick reference
| Symptom | Most likely cause | First action |
|---|---|---|
| A few grey tracks | Licensing status | Pick another version |
| Everything buffers | Bandwidth or tier | Drop one tier |
| Stops after screen lock | Battery optimisation | Set app to unrestricted |
| Signed in, requests fail | Clock drift | Enable automatic time |
| Storage keeps growing | Offline downloads | Clear downloads, not cache |
Summary
Licensing, bandwidth, local environment — in that order. And remember that cache is evicted automatically while downloads are not. Setting locations are in the usage guide; short answers are in the FAQ.
Related questions
Does clearing the cache delete my playlists?
No. Playlists and favourites live in the cloud. Clearing the cache only means the next play of the same track has to buffer again.
Can greyed-out tracks be restored?
Not from the client. Grey means the licence for that title has lapsed or it is not available in your region. Reinstalling, clearing cache or changing devices makes no difference.
I cleared the cache but storage barely dropped. Why?
The space is taken by offline downloads, which are separate from cache and are never evicted automatically. Delete them from download management, or move the download folder to larger storage.
Next: Download · Usage guide · FAQ
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