Play button and Recording not working

I'm having difficulty completing my lessons, thanks to the play button and record button not working.

I've had issues in the past where I would click record and see that it hears me, but the microphone icon would turn pink and not allow me to click it again. I would close my tabs and browser and restart, and that would usually fix it. Now however, the play button isn't working either and restarting the browser isn't fixing it. I've tried on two different phones and ran into the same problem. 

I'm working around it by using the app on an older phone, but the app will not launch on my new phone.

Is anyone else experiencing these problems or have a potential solution? I can't keep using my old phone, since I don't always have access to WiFi when I do my lessons.

I'm having the same problem, using a PC. I reported it in the Rocket German forum 2-3 days ago, as it seemed to be working ok in other languages. But now it seems to be happening in those as well.

It seems to work for a while, half an hour say, and then stops. I don't know if it's to do with how long I'm logged in or the number of responses that is the issue.

I'm glad I'm not the only one! Hopefully that means it's something they can identify and fix.

It seems to happen to me right when I get started, but lately it's been getting stuck part way through the dialogues. It's very frustrating to not be able to completele a lesson because the tool isn't working!

Can confirm I am having the same issues.

I am having the same problem, across multiple browsers and Apple devices.  It started happening two days ago, on 25 July 2021.  It seems worse in Level 2, but I am not certain.  Also, it is intermittent--the problem comes and goes for me on some devices and browsers.

Same issue with me for Spanish. Problem appeared a few days ago and is intermittent.

I would love to see a response from the Rocket team. I can't listen to the audio lesson, conplete the dialogue or do the writing section today.

Nicholas, my guess is that they renamed some audio files incorrectly, when they updated some of the material recently.  Some browsers and some platforms are pointing to the correct audio files, and others are not.  I have already purchased Spanish levels 1, 2, and 3 for $200; so my money is gone.   This kind of issue--not having reliable working audio files for language-learning software--would be fatal for the future sales of their company if we posted such reviews widely on the internet.   I think we should give them a few more days to fix the issue, but the lack of response here is indeed worrisome.

I hope the Rocket team is monitoring this thread because this problem is serious for them.

Similar issue e.g.5.8 Putting Direct & Indirect Object Pronouns Together in Rocket Spanish.

I push the record button and “garbled playback” comes to me before the page reverts to “reload”. I push reload and end up back at the beginning of the lesson. It happens in some other lessons also.

Unable to hear audio as of this morning (28 July, British time); Apple Macbook; Chrome.  I am able to record, but no audio playback. Level 1 Italian revision, lesson 3.8.  Fine on level 2, lesson 9.6.

Level 1 3.8 works fine on the app (iPhone).

Hello Everyone,

Thank you very much to all of you for getting in touch with us with this feedback! We are aware that some users have been experiencing an audio issue with several courses and our technical team is looking into it. So far, they have found and addressed a problem that had to do with playing back the recording of your own voice on the desktop version of the site; however, from the comments here, it seems as though some people may be experiencing problems playing the native speaker audio rather than their own audio recordings.

If you are experiencing problems playing the native speaker audio, could you tell us if you are experiencing it

1. in all of the Reinforcement activities at the end of the lesson,
2. in the phrases in the lesson body (i.e. audio example sentences to practice throughout the lesson),
3. in the main audio track in Interactive Audio lessons, or
4. in all or several of the above?

We are also currently working on the understanding that the problem is mainly affecting browsers; however, some of you mentioned having the problem on devices. If you are experiencing this issue on the app, could you tell us what version you are using?

We greatly appreciate your taking the time to help us narrow this problem down, and offer our sincere apologies for this issue. We understand that it is frustrating when things aren't working as they should, and hope to have everything running smoothly again very soon!

Kind regards,

Liss

Hi Liss,

My experience has been using two android phones. I typically complete my lessons in the android Chrome app, and have experienced the native speaker audio not playing on both devices. 

I have been unable to play the “Listen to the full lesson” (lesson 15.4 of italian), the “Play It!” (Lesson 15.3, it gets stuck on “Veramente no. Tu non hai visto…” and won't continue), several of the native speaker recordings throughout the course and MANY of the native speaker recordings in the “Hear It! Say It!”, “Write It!” and “Know It!” sections.

I am working around it by using the app on my older phone, which has not had any problems. I have not been able to get the app to work on my new phone because it crashes on launch, but I did submit a separate ticket about that.

Hi Everyone,

Thank you very much for getting back to us with those details, NicholasL23! Your experience seems to tally with much of what Peter--252 has reported on the German forum, which included issues playing the native speaker audio in the Reinforcement activities, Play It! conversation, Play It! “Play as” activity, and lesson phrases. He has also noted problems playing back his own recordings in the Hear It! Say It! and Know It! activities as well as in some lesson phrases, in spite of the recent fix.

At this point, it appears that the issue is only affecting the browser versions of the courses, and not the apps. 

If anyone notices additional symptoms for this issue, please do chime in and let us know about them! For now, I will be passing on all of the details kindly put together by NicholasL23 and Peter--252 to our technical team, and we will hopefully have a solution in place very soon. 

Thank you all very much for your patience, and our apologies once again.

Kind regards,

Liss

Thank you for the responses, Liss.

I use Rocket Spanish on four devices: (1) my Mac desktop; (2) a different Mac desktop; (3) my iPad; and (4) my iPhone.  I use the app version on my iPad and my iPhone.  Rocket Spanish appears to keep track of my progress across all the devices; it seems to synchronize appropriately.  But it does not do so perfectly, especially when I have listened to audio files.   

The devices seem to be able to record, but they are not playing your audio files uniformly.  So, when we are prompted by the speaker and asked to respond, the exercise will not work.   Also playing dialogs is impossible.

Now here's the interesting phenomenon: the issue seems to be intermittent.  But it is persistent, and it started suddenly this week.  I hope this information will help your team.

I have the same issue in Rocket Italian. I tried on PC, Mac, different browsers, mobile app, etc. The issue is also widespread within the lesson, meaning that it is not one specific area in each lesson. It is occurring in many places, but some single items appear to work but there is no pattern to it. Unfortunately, not being able to play the audio means the course is basically down for me. I am hoping they are fixing this as it certainly seems like a system issue on the Rocket side versus individual users all having a configuration issue or similar. 

Per my comment above: Lesson 3.8 Italian works fine now for sound in ‘write it’.

I am having the same problems as yesterday (on chrome/using a pc). 1. When practicing the conversations, the program will stop halfway through when the native speaker is supposed to respond. 2. Many of the play and record buttons in the “know it” lesson areas are unresponsive. And it is random which will work and which will not.

Level 2; 9.6; Hear It Say It; pressing the icon for sound, no sound!  I re-reported this as resolved but fault has reoccured.  

Safe to say that based also on other comments, this issue is randomised and changes location each day.

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for getting back to us with what you're experiencing! Feedback like this is very useful, as it lets us know where to look for the cause of the problem.

Our technical team has been able to connect the issue to a change in the latest version of Chrome, which was released about a week ago, and they are working to resolve the problem. 

Once again, thank you for your patience, and we hope to have everything sorted out very soon!

Kind regards,

Liss

Hello again!

Just to update you all: our tech team has been able to set up a temporary fix for the problem at this point, and are testing a more permanent one that should be ready to roll out on Monday.

With the temporary fix, you should be able to play the audio for about 75 phrases in a given lesson before the issue kicks in again. After that point, a refresh of the browser should reset things and you will be able to keep going.

We realize that this still isn't ideal, but hope that this will allow you to continue with your learning over the weekend until that permanent fix is ready on Monday!

Best wishes,

Liss

It's a prompt and pragmatic response to a complex issue, Liss.  Thanks to all concerned.

Chris

As of today the record and play buttons are now working. I'm using Chrome Version 92.0.4515.107.

Still keeps hanging after a number of responses. e.g. partway through the Play It! exercise.

My version of Chrome is 92.0.4515.107, same as David. I don't know if that helps.

Fortunately the refresh button seems to restart the audio etc for a while. 

As of yesterday, I'm back to encountering the same problem. I wasn't able to complete the Play It! or Write It! Sections, and refreshing the page only worked for about 8-10 examples before the problem started again.

I love Rocket Italian, but this problem is driving me crazy. And while I'm sure the back to school sale was planned in advance, it feels like terrible taste to ask me to purchase more of a product when the product I purchased isn't working.

Hi Everyone,

I'm sorry to hear that the temporary fix didn't hold out for long! Our tech team has been working hard on finalizing a more effective, permanent solution, but unfortunately weren't able to get it fully ready to roll out on Monday as they'd hoped. 

However, there is some very good news: Chrome has released another new version, which fixes the problem caused by the last one. The new version number is 92.0.4515.131; if you update to that, this issue should be completely resolved. (If you are unfamiliar with how you can update your browser, you can find a handy guide here.)

Our apologies again for the inconvenience that this issue has caused. We know that this was very frustrating and we greatly appreciate your patience and all of your help as we tried to get it resolved. Everything should run smoothly once you've updated your browser; however, if you still experience any problems at all, please do let us know! 

Best wishes,

Liss

I've upgraded my Chrome and it seems to be working fine now!

Thanks Liss for all your efforts, and to the tech team.

I would like to thank the Rocket Languages technical team for their good work on this problem.  My software for Rocket Spanish has been functioning very well for about five days now.  Thank you again for your good work and prompt attention to detail!

It seems to be a problem with the website, it just stops working for me as well after about a half hour. 

Hi Dean,

Have you upgraded Chrome to the latest release (as Liss advised a few days ago)?

I'm assuming you're using Chrome, as that was apparently the problem.

Hi Peter--252, EricF19, and Dean V!

Thanks so much for letting us know that everything is back to working normally for you, Peter--252 and EricF19. We're glad to hear it! :)

Dean V, please do let us know if you're still having problems after upgrading your browser to the latest version of Chrome (92.0.4515.131). As Peter--252 mentions, that should resolve the issue and sort everything out!

Best wishes,

Liss