Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Tidal playback issue for tracks over 7 minutes long

I am playing Tidal via Meridian Sooloos MC200. I add an album to my Sooloos library from Tidal and play it via my iPad or laptop. Albums/tracks selected to play usually play without any issues however, I've noticed that tracks over 7 minutes long will not play.

I get the following message on my iPad "A network or connectivity problem is interfering with Tidal playback" and on my laptop the message reads, "Tidal media is loading too slowly. A network or connectivity problem is interfering with Tidal playback."

This is consistent with all tracks originating from Tidal of over 7 minutes in duration. The same track plays okay from Tidal direct (not through the Meridian). For example a recently released album by Akufen - My Blue House - has 4 tracks. The first track - 6:57 minutes plays okay as do tracks three (6:50 minutes) and track four (5:00 minutes) but track two (7:16 minutes) does not play and is skipped.

The above playback issue applies to all tracks over 7 minutes in length played through the Meridian Sooloos interface only.

FYI a track of over 7 minutes on the same device which has been ripped from a CD to the internal hard drive plays okay.

I'm interested to know if anyone else is experiencing this issue and any possible resolution.

Thanks and cheers.
Bruce

A quick update.
Now I'm thoroughly confused?
Brad Mehidau (10 Years Solo Live) just played a track of 7:08 minutes okay.
Bjorn Torske (Byen) played as follows:
Track 1 (8:31) unavailable, Track 2 (7:54) unavailable, Track 3 (7:44) unavailable, Track 4 (8:25) unavailable, Track 5 (8:10) unavailable, Track 6 (11:05) PLAYED, Track 6 (2:55) PLAYED.
I have no idea what is happening.
Any advice will be welcome and appreciated.
Cheers.
Bruce

I have just had the same results as yourself playing the Bjorn Torske album via Sooloos.

This has happened to me before with some tracks, where apparently there are regionally or globally limited streaming rights.

An example is the first and third tracks on "Where have I known you before" by Chick Corea/Return to Forever: "Vulcan Worlds" and "The Shadow of Lo" - which never stream via Sooloos but do via TIDAL.

Although I have just noticed that both those tracks are between 7 and 8 minutes long - curious

Supplementary - the track "Flat Footed Woman" from the seminal Patto album "Roll 'em, Smoke 'em, Put Another Line Out" does not play via Sooloos. There are two versions of the album on TIDAL, one of which has two versions of the song - none of them will play.

Thank you Gianni. Most appreciated!

Tidal advise the following action:

- Confirm that the firmware is up to date for the MC200.
- Test changing the DNS settings.
- Reset your network equipment (WiFi router, modem, etc.). Make sure to have it powered off for at least 1 minute.

I've turned off and on the MC200 and reset the network equipment without success.
Changing DNS settings is beyond my ability.
I guess we won't get any support from Meridian.
Roon beckons!

Cheers.
Bruce

PS Tracks that won't play via the MC200 will play direct via Tidal.

I've been having the same issues on certain tracks and albums intermittently, regardless of track length. I'm pretty sure my network is fine. Sometimes the same track would work at a different time.

A few instances the album is no longer available from Tidal, sometimes the hyperlink was changed or replaced which can be fixed by deleting the album in the Sooloos library and re-importing it from Tidal.

There are also some tracks that won't play on the Meridian but work fine using the Tidal App on the computer (Mac), I'm not sure why. It's frustrating, and there won't be any supports from Meridian on this. I suppose that's a rent vs. buy tradeoff. I still think Tidal is a good deal even with the intermittent streaming issues.

OK, here is a weird one.

The album "Fear of a Blank Planet" by Porcupine Tree.

Track 1 - Fear of a Blank Planet - 7:28 - not available for streaming via TIDAL native, nor TIDAL through Sooloos.

Tracks 2, 3 and 4 - played via TIDAL, playing intermittently via TIDAL through Sooloos.

Track 5 - Way out of Here - 7:38 - plays via TIDAL native but not via TIDAL through Sooloos.

Track 6 - Sleep Together - 7:30 - plays via TIDAL native, and loads via TIDAL through Sooloos but then sticks at 0:00 with the network connectivity message.

Track 1 is unavailable in Roon also. I play the DVDA rip so I don’t care 😜

Hi, Gianni,

I've also tried "Fear of a Blank Planet" with the following result:

Track 1 doesn't play at all.
Tracks 2, 3 and 4 play via Tidal and Sooloos.
Tracks 5 and 6 play via Tidal but not Sooloos.

Interesting that track 3 (17:43 minutes) plays via Sooloos.

The exception to the 7 minute rule being track 3. This is the same as Bjorn Torsk (Byen) track 6.
In the absence of Meridian I intend to try Tidal Support again referencing these two tracks.

Cheers,
Bruce

I has similar problems a while ago with my ROON/TIDAL.
Some tracks are „not available“.
That was the message when i try to play them. In discussion with Roon i learned that that message depends on the music artists, dependent if they give or not give the distribution rights for certain areas. So a song here in austria could playable/available and others not, what can be played somwhere. I don not understood the logic that only some tracks where forbidden on a whole album, but..??

I doesn't have to do with the track lenghts. If its necessary can test more tracks that have issues as i have done very quick now.

Bjorn Torsk all tracks are playing from the double CD( two CD with each have three tracks).
Akufen - My Blue House all tracks are playing.
Brad Mehidau I tried some tracks of that 4 C box , no problems
Patton all tracks are play fine
Porcupine tree. Only the first track is „unavailable“ all remaining have no issues

I would be interesting in which area the first track is available,
and with proplem tracks if the „not available“ message appear ?

I've had this issue (tracks abruptly terminating and track skipping, followed by the "networking/connectivity" message) with Tidal over Sooloos for years. I've been unable to isolate any particular issue, having tried all the usual suspects and obvious network-related remedies. (Also, setting aside the "track not available" thing--Tidal loses the right to carry albums, or changes up the links to them, on a fairly regular basis, although I listen to a lot of indie stuff, so maybe more widespread there.)

However, I've not yet encountered track terminating/skipping with Tidal over Roon.

Draw your own conclusions. . .

I've also noticed previously available sound tracks or individual songs off albums that are no longer available to stream. No issues due to song length, yet.

Curiouser and curiouser!
All Tidal MQA (Masters) tracks play via my Sooloos regardless of track length.
Tidal FLAC 44/16 tracks play okay up to approximately 7 minutes, track 'Unavailable' between approximately 7 minutes and approximately 10 minutes and then stream correctly again after this!
For what it is worth I've provided examples to Tidal including a graph of the results which show a very clear pattern.
Not saying they can or will do anything about it. I'll let you know.
Cheers.
Bruce
Ps I don't believe that it has anything to do with geographical restrictions.