Amazon Music Glitching

[DaveA]

It's a buffering issue. Whereas Spotify downloads all or most of a song at a time, Amazon music (at least on Rivian) is downloading a small portion of the song. So, loosing cell connection for 10 seconds on Spotify is not an issue on Amazon music / Alexa it is.

But it wasn't doing this for 3 years...worked great...just started a few updates ago.

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[Feetdry]

I pay extra to subscribe to Amazon Music Unlimited and for last few months, I get the same kind of coverage as others are expressing here. I hope they find a fix because I am about to cancel the premium service.

 

[Mark_AZR1T]

For me, the Amazon Music glitching started specifically with the 2025.10 release after having been stable for quite some time (had some issues early on after I initially took delivery but this eventually cleared up with software updates). I've always suffered from glitchy Alexa (immediate hangups, etc) and this extends to my other in-home Alexa devices and not just the Rivian. The Rivian Alexa issues tend to be most common when leaving the house and transitioning from wifi to the vehicle's cellular data. But it can happen any time. I also notice Alexa glitching around certain intersections where I've been assuming the cellular data network is congested due to high device density.

A fix for these can't come soon enough! If they would at least get things back to where they were prior to 2025.10 I'd be much happier.

Exactly for me as well on both our Rivan's.

 

[defcon888]

After four months of listening to Amazon music glitching getting worse and worse, I had a service appointment at the Gaithersburg service center (took 65 days). They kept the car for a week, and even though I sent them videos of the glitching in progress, they claimed it was essentially my fault because I wasn’t using the right solid state hard drive for my gear guard camera recordings. While I found that hard to believe, I bought the drive they recommended and of course it made no difference. I also showed them that whether there was anything plugged into the USB ports or not the glitching continued. I realize that they were not taking me seriously so I called Rivian corporate service and asked for a recommendation, and they sent me to the Glen Burnie service center, which I got into the next day. (I know, unheard of to get an appointment that fast.) They kept my car for four days, but two of those were Saturday and Sunday. The tech called me and said the car passed all of the electronic diagnostics, including troubleshooting all the wiring. They had done a ride along with me, and knew that the glitching was an actual real thing, so they checked with Rivian corporate and found out that Rivian had determined that there was a software anomaly between Rivian and Amazon that needed to be resolved that was more than just this glitching. Apparently some people (including on this forum) have reported Alexa refusing to acknowledge you or do what you tell it to do, even though the commands are prescribed Rivian commands. Corporate says this will be fixed in an upcoming software update, although there is no timetable for that. I am used to waiting for software updates after eight years with Teslas, and three years as a Tesla beta tester, so this is not an issue for me. I’m just glad to know that they understand the problem and will fix it eventually. I’ve attached a video so you can see what I’m talking about in action.

This is why I don't use Alexa or Amazon music. I am sticking with Apple Music+ and Spotify. Have had little to no issues with either one. I don't have my music on an extrenal SSD drive, so if there is a glitch, I wouln't know.

I like Apple Music more than I thought I would. I like when albums are utilizing the Dolby Atmos.....the music comes alive with all the speakers (Meridean Gen1 R1T).

 

[Tony R1S]

Glad it wasn't just me... I decided to try out Amazon Music with their free trial, so the timing is bad. Spotify works perfectly. I'm also very disappointed there isn't any way to navigate my playlists on the screen and select tracks like Spotify and Apple Music. Alexa's voice recognition is a miss most of the time when it comes to track/album/playlist names..

 

[Meengr2]

How do we get Rivian to prioritize? Show we log tickets with support?

 

[Jakelake]

I have experienced bluetooth skipping when playing music using Spotify. It's been a problem for about 8 months or so. I took it to SC earlier this past summer and they told me they could not duplicate the problem. As soon as I drove away it did it. I don't experience this problem with any other Bluetooth speaker including the Rivian camp speaker so I'm pretty sure it is a vehicle issue. Has anyone experienced the skipping problem while using Spotify? If so has anyone figured out a fix that works other than taking it to the SC and having them tell you they can't duplicate the problem?

 

[Irish76]

But it wasn't doing this for 3 years...worked great...just started a few updates ago.

For the most part, the song glitching was fixed for me two updates ago. Still happens, but rarely and only briefly. As far as Alexa ignoring car or music commands, playing the wrong song, etc., I suspect Rivian will ignore this as they plan to replace Alexa with Gemini. Perhaps that AI will be smarter, and handle more vehicle-centric commands as well. Unfortunately I don’t know if that’s going to retrofit to non-new build cars. I would think it’s a SW issue and doable, but….

 

[Irish76]

For the most part, the song glitching was fixed for me two updates ago. Still happens, but rarely and only briefly. As far as Alexa ignoring car or music commands, playing the wrong song, etc., I suspect Rivian will ignore this as they plan to replace Alexa with Gemini. Perhaps that AI will be smarter, and handle more vehicle-centric commands as well. Unfortunately I don’t know if that’s going to retrofit to non-new build cars. I would think it’s a SW issue and doable, but….

Here’s what ChatGPT thinks…
As of now, Rivian has announced that it will be moving from Alexa to Google's Gemini platform for its in-car assistant, which is part of a broader shift toward integrating Google's services and technologies into their vehicles. However, Rivian hasn't officially specified if Amazon Music will remain an option.

That said, it's likely that Rivian will continue to offer Amazon Music as an option for drivers, especially given the popularity of the service and Amazon's continued involvement with Rivian through their partnership. However, it is also possible that Google’s own music service, YouTube Music, might be more tightly integrated into the new system.

For the most accurate and up-to-date information, I'd recommend keeping an eye on any official announcements from Rivian, or updates within their vehicle software or support channels. But given the overlap between services (Amazon and Google), it's reasonable to think that multiple music streaming services will still be available, including Amazon Music.

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