How to resolve Device Playback Error?

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RichardT asked · Dec 27, 2020 at 11:30 PM

How to resolve Device Playback Error?

I have developed an AudioPlayer skill to play music mp3 files from my personal collection. The audio files are hosted in a folder at an https URL and are freely accessible. The skill works perfectly on a 2^nd generation Echo Dot. It also works correctly in the Alexa app on my Android phone, and in the Alexa client for Windows 10. The skill does NOT work on a 3^rd generation Echo Dot. When I try to run the skill on the 3-g Dot, the dialog works correctly up to the point when the music should start playing, then silence. The error message "Device Playback Error, MEDIA_ERROR_INTERNAL_DEVICE_ERROR" appears in the log.

The skill is written in node.js and is a modified version of a sample skill I obtained from github.

I would appreciate any help to debug this problem. Is there any way to get more details of the cause of the error? Does the 3-g Dot do more rigorous checking for compliance with audio file requirements than the 2-g Dot?

Thanks

RichardT

alexa skills kit audioplayer

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2 Answers

Answer 1 · 2021-01-13T19:42:42Z

Kinisoftware answered · Jan 13 at 07:42 PM

Hi!

Based on my experience creating a skill with AudioPlayer I can say that users with that issue had to update the Echo Dot firmware to fix it. MEDIA_ERROR_INTERNAL_DEVICE_ERROR usually means that, the device cannot reproduce the audio for some reason (Amazon has to work to improve error messages for sure).

At first, working on mobile/windows client would point to an issue with the audio format but if it works in the Echo Dot 2nd gen it might be a firmware issue (try to update it and reboot the device).

Just for double check, what are your file specs? I mean it is a mp3 file, right? I guess you check already this page with the requirements > https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/docs/alexa/custom-skills/audioplayer-interface-reference.html#audio-stream-requirements.

When I had issues with the audio format I've used Audacity to open the file and export to mp3 with the default settings.

Hope I was able to help you. Let me know if you have more issues.

Cheers!

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Answer 2 · 2021-01-12T18:42:21Z

Gaetano@Amazon answered · Jan 12 at 06:42 PM

Hello and thanks for posting!

Can you share the skill-ID and the full URL of the audio stream so I can have a better look at it?

Regard,
Gaetano

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How to resolve Device Playback Error?

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