Pandora Down for 3 Days on Denon

H

herbu

Audioholic Samurai
This is the 3rd day Pandora has been unavailable on my Denon X4000. Called Denon tech support two days ago. The guy said they knew and were working on it. Pandora continues to work fine on all other devices.

If memory serves, this is the second time in the last year for this problem. I wonder why Denon has a problem when nobody else does. (BTW, I love my X4000.)
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
This is the 3rd day Pandora has been unavailable on my Denon X4000. Called Denon tech support two days ago. The guy said they knew and were working on it. Pandora continues to work fine on all other devices.

If memory serves, this is the second time in the last year for this problem. I wonder why Denon has a problem when nobody else does. (BTW, I love my X4000.)
Each manufacturer has their own agreement with the provider- it could be similar to when a cable/sat provider and a local station can't come to an agreement on the price. If this is the case, I'd like to see Pandora's argument- they, Spotify and the others pay musicians/artists almost nothing.
 
H

herbu

Audioholic Samurai
it could be similar to when a cable/sat provider and a local station can't come to an agreement on the price.
That's another thing that's quite frustrating. Seems like it happens every few months. Now we have an Apple TV box and can watch most stuff anyway, albeit w/o the ability to skip thru commercials. Think I'm gonna also get the Amazon Fire TV box. Between the 2, we should be able to get about anything. The cable/sat companies better wise up.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
This is the 3rd day Pandora has been unavailable on my Denon X4000. Called Denon tech support two days ago. The guy said they knew and were working on it. Pandora continues to work fine on all other devices.

If memory serves, this is the second time in the last year for this problem. I wonder why Denon has a problem when nobody else does. (BTW, I love my X4000.)
They are short of money that is why. Working on it means they are taking to Sienna corp for more pocket money.

It is well know that Denon Marantz failed to refinance due to severe financial losses. They are now a year in to a revolving credit agreement with Sienna corp. That runs out in two years and then what happens is anybodies guess.

Four possibilities.

1). Bankruptcy.

2). They get bought by a junk purveyor.

3). They get bought by a high end manufacturer and rebrand as a luxury high end manufacturer.

4). They make what is probably a smart decision, and rise prices substantially and go for the higher end and cut out the money loosing lower end.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Seems to be specific to your model, no issues with my 4520 and use Pandora daily on it.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
That's another thing that's quite frustrating. Seems like it happens every few months. Now we have an Apple TV box and can watch most stuff anyway, albeit w/o the ability to skip thru commercials. Think I'm gonna also get the Amazon Fire TV box. Between the 2, we should be able to get about anything. The cable/sat companies better wise up.
I have heard that AV manufacturers pay Apple almost $100 for every piece that uses AirPlay. Not being employed by one of them, I don't have access to the actual cost, but in addition to Apple, they have to pay Spotify, Pandora, VTuner, (I think) Rhapsody and whoever else. That's one of the reasons I would prefer that the receivers don't even have this stuff- a Sonos Connect or a HEOS Link would probably cost less than all of the other charges and it does more. I would rather buy an AVR that performs better as an AVR than add bells and whistles. What I'd really like is for the video section to be modular and upgradable- it's unlikely that more amplifier channels could be added once the chassis is assembled, but HDMI boards change size and shape all the time. Fortunately, Denon is installing HEOS in some of the new AVRs, so the charges are mitigated, somewhat. Add an AppleTV (or something similar) and an antenna- pretty much covers most of what a lot of people watch. I have Roku and they work well enough plus I can cast from my iPhone.
 
Last edited:
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
They are short of money that is why. Working on it means they are taking to Sienna corp for more pocket money.

It is well know that Denon Marantz failed to refinance due to severe financial losses. They are now a year in to a revolving credit agreement with Sienna corp. That runs out in two years and then what happens is anybodies guess.

Four possibilities.

1). Bankruptcy.

2). They get bought by a junk purveyor.

3). They get bought by a high end manufacturer and rebrand as a luxury high end manufacturer.

4). They make what is probably a smart decision, and rise prices substantially and go for the higher end and cut out the money loosing lower end.
Or, maybe they strip off the streaming apps and either build it in/offer a discount on HEOS to their customers who buy their products. I would rather control streaming from a hand-held device, anyway. I think there's too much clutter in these and it adds to problems with reliability and end user confusion.

When I was in college, our structural design teachers taught us SIB-KISS. Electronics manufacturers must not get this lesson.
 
H

herbu

Audioholic Samurai
Day #5... still down.
On their tech support site you can see this happens every year or two. They say Pandora makes changes that cause the problem, and they have to write code to accommodate. Hmmm. I wonder why it's only some models... and are Yamaha products/engineers better than Denon? Never had or heard about this on Yamaha AVRs.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Day #5... still down.
On their tech support site you can see this happens every year or two. They say Pandora makes changes that cause the problem, and they have to write code to accommodate. Hmmm. I wonder why it's only some models... and are Yamaha products/engineers better than Denon? Never had or heard about this on Yamaha AVRs.
You must have lots of options for getting Pandora to your Denon, right?
 
ParadigmDawg

ParadigmDawg

Audioholic Overlord
Pandora has never worked right on my Denon. I use a Google Cast and it works perfectly but I tend to use Spotify more than Pandora.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
I prefer the Pandora app in my Denon but have it available thru my tv, D* box and PS3 as well as other avrs/devices in other rooms. Reminds me of the issues someone had with the vTuner streaming internet radio app on an Onkyo model (yet my Onkyo didn't and still doesn't have the issue).
 
H

herbu

Audioholic Samurai
14 days and still down on Denon.
The Denon support page says: "Please be advised that due to certain changes implemented at Pandora, some of our products have been temporarily unable to connect to the Pandora service. Our Engineering Team is currently working with Pandora to resolve this issue and we hope to have a resolution soon."

Funny that the Pandora "changes" didn't throw a monkey wrench into any other hardware carriers I have. I wonder what is so unique and difficult about the X4000.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
14 days and still down on Denon.
The Denon support page says: "Please be advised that due to certain changes implemented at Pandora, some of our products have been temporarily unable to connect to the Pandora service. Our Engineering Team is currently working with Pandora to resolve this issue and we hope to have a resolution soon."

Funny that the Pandora "changes" didn't throw a monkey wrench into any other hardware carriers I have. I wonder what is so unique and difficult about the X4000.
jdsmoothie over on avsforum indicated it affected newer avrs than 2012 from Denon, thus why my 4520 wasn't affected. My 2011 Onkyo avr is now having sign-in issues, after I double checked (don't use it on that unit as often). Some Pioneer owners have reported issues as well....
 
H

herbu

Audioholic Samurai
OK. Now it's been over 5 weeks. Pandora STILL doesn't work on my Denon X4000. The Denon Customer Help site still has the same message as a month ago... "temporarily unable to connect".

I paid for this feature. It was there when I bought the system. Now they have taken it away. I have been very supportive of Denon and their stuff. But if I can't trust them to maintain a feature present on their system when I buy it, how can I continue to buy or recommend them? How can anyone?
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
OK. Now it's been over 5 weeks. Pandora STILL doesn't work on my Denon X4000. The Denon Customer Help site still has the same message as a month ago... "temporarily unable to connect".

I paid for this feature. It was there when I bought the system. Now they have taken it away. I have been very supportive of Denon and their stuff. But if I can't trust them to maintain a feature present on their system when I buy it, how can I continue to buy or recommend them? How can anyone?
This is obviously a business decision. The fact is Denon/Marantz are trying to stay in business. More likely than not they will fail. They need to cut features that require a license, raise prices or both.

Any of the above is better then going out of business or the name being sold to a jink purveyor, the latter being the most likely outcome.

I think you should cut them some slack. You have numerous ways of getting that junk service without having to do it via a receiver. Cut them some slack and encourage top notch products and not junk streams.
 
H

herbu

Audioholic Samurai
I think you should cut them some slack. You have numerous ways of getting that junk service without having to do it via a receiver.
Yes, I have other ways to get Pandora... and do.
And after 37 years in Mfg Quality, Lord knows I understand "business decision".
Given your alternatives, I would certainly support that decision.

I would not support deception and false advertising. It is the lack of honesty and credibility that would give me pause.

If it is indeed the business decision you offer, why do they continue to say it's "temporary" and their engineers are working on it? I can't believe you would really support that business decision.
 
H

herbu

Audioholic Samurai
Now 7 weeks down. The good news is that there is an update on the Denon Cust Serv site...xxx

Updated: 08/10/16


Please be advised that due to changes implemented at Pandora, some of our products have been temporarily unable to connect to the Pandora application. Our Engineering Team is currently working to resolve this issue with a firmware update. We hope to have updates released within the next few months for all models affected.


They list all models and their projected fix date, or "TBD". It's hard for me to imagine their engineering team is really working on this. Maybe a summer intern or co-op on the team. And I'm still disappointed in their response. Several months is too long for a firmware patch of a disabling problem.
 

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