macOS 11.3 Music and AirPort Express AirPlay Problem (Cannot play more than 7 seconds)

Just an update about my recent experiments:

As I posted earlier, streaming did not work from MacBookAir M1 to AirPort Express V2 with latest firmware. I suppose it uses Airplay 2.

Today I downgraded firmware to 7.6.9 (no AirPlay 2 support) and all works fine whole day over AirPlay 1. 🤞

I'm having the same issue. It seems to be a problem with Music.app (I'm on 1.1.4.110) because when I set my Mac (an M1 MacBook Air) to use my Airport Express for sound output, and then play music on Music.app through the Computer->Airport Express, it works fine.

But when I set my Mac to play sound through the internal speakers, and then in Music.app I choose to play directly to the Airport Express, it'll play for about 7 seconds and then the sound stops. This wasn't a problem until I upgraded to Big Sur 11.3

Thanks!

I'm having a similar issue. I upgraded my Mac mini M1 to iOS 11.3 and when I try to play Music app and stream the sound from inside the app to my HomePod (the big one) using AirPlay, the sound stop after 7 seconds. But when I try to stream the sound not just for Music app instead for all Mac mini to my HomePod, works fine. I think is something with Music App and the AirPlay inside the App.

I have the same problem with an M1 Macbook Air, running Big Sur 11.3.1. When the Music application is freshly started, I am able to play Music correctly to my Airport Express 2nd generation speakers. However, if my computer goes to sleep, after waking up, when I start playing Music the music only plays for a few seconds, and then the speakers go silent.

If I restart the Music application, I am again able to play music correctly, until my computer goes to sleep again. I think it is a problem with the 11.3 update. With the Big Sur 11.2 Music application running on an Intel MacBook Pro, I never experienced this problem.

Building on an earlier post, I have had some success with the following workaround. Create an empty file on your Desktop named "fix-airplay.command" containing the following script:

#!/bin/sh

osascript -e "do shell script \"killall AirPlayXPCHelper\" with administrator privileges"

Make the file executable by opening the terminal, navigating to the file location (cd Desktop), and typing

chmod +x fix-airplay.command

To use it, quit Music, then double click this item and enter your user password, then re-open Music. On my system, airplay starts working again, at least until the next sleep...

(The command kills the airplay helper process, which immediately restarts. You can also do this by hand if you prefer. This method opens a terminal application window, but you can set the terminal to auto-quit itself in Terminal > Preferences > Profile > Shell > Close if the shell exited cleanly.)

No, not solved on macOS 12.1. It seemed to work a bit more often than before, but I still had many cases where sending audio using AirPlay 2 to an AirPort Express with the latest firmware would fail (in the sense that I would not hear any audio).

The only thing that has worked for me so far, is downgrading the AirPort Express firmware so that it only uses AirPlay 1 (as described above).

Thanks a lot samelot. Best workaround so far.

I have wrapped your script into an AppleScript which quit Apple Music, kills the AirPlayXPCHelper, and reopens it without the need for manually granting access. If you use the Podcasts App (which I think have the problem) the script should be change a bit.

Just open "ScriptEditor", copy/paste the script below, fill in the correct USER and PASSWORD in line 1 and 2, and save it as an application. The script can be dragged to the Desktop or Dock for easy access and you can give it logo of your own choice if you wish (why not make a pain-in-the-*** look nice ;))

Next step is to launch it automatically after the Mac wakes up.

set usr to "USER"
set pwd to "PASSWORD"
set app_name to "Music"

if application app_name is running then
	# Quit Apple Music if it is running
	tell application app_name to quit
	# Kill airplay
	do shell script "killall AirPlayXPCHelper" user name usr password pwd with administrator privileges
	# Wait for 1 secs.
	delay 1
	# Reopen Apple Music
	tell application app_name to activate
else
	# Kill airplay
	do shell script "killall AirPlayXPCHelper" user name usr password pwd with administrator privileges
end if

yes... Same problem but more details:

The airport express (2 different ones) are at revision level 7.8.1 newest version.

When 11.3 came out, on my M1 MBP, streaming to the airport express stopped working. the status shows Selected (in any app and control panel and top menu bar) and sound stops on internal speakers.... but nothing from the attached airport express.

It still plays audio on the Apple TV device... just not the Airport express.

I happen to have a product by Rogue Amoeba called Airplay installed... it still works to the Airport express, Apple TV and other Airport Express (all at the same time).

I hoped that the new 11.3.1 update would fix the problem but it does not.

In addition, when connecting to the Airport express, It always asks for the device password even though the password is stored in the keychain.

My conclusion: There is a bug in 11.3 that killed airport express. This is not good. I hope that it is on the bug list to be fixed soon.

thank you

I have so far found 3 workarounds:

• Reboot the machine, streaming works from Apple Music until first sleep (cumbersome)..
• Caputure the audio with Panic Airfoil and send to the speakers (requires a licence).
• From Apple Music: Send audio to my APPLE TV first, then to my AIRPORT EXPRESS, then remove the APPLE TV output.

The second workaround is pretty easy and has not been mentioned earlier I believe, it may work with alternatives to AppleTV output.

Maybe the bug depends on what other Airplay devices are present on the network?

Very disappointed about this bug but have found that the third workaround:

Stream to Apple TV first the Airport next and then disconnecting from the TV has worked quite consistently for me on both the Music and Podcast Apps.

I have found that turning off (put hard drive to sleep whenever possible) in the energy saver control panel on my M1 iMac takes care of the problem. I haven't had the issue at all for 4 days now. I'm not sure if it's the best thing for my hard drive but I can finally airplay to HomePods even after the screen has been off.

Can confirm this happens for me on latest versions at time of writing:

After the first hibernate after a reboot, Apple Music app is unable to airplay audio to an Airport Express. Workarounds that work for me:

A reboot (though once screen goes off from inactivity, i need to do this again)

Connecting to an Apple TV 4th gen first then adding the airport express as a second (concurrent) output then unselect the Apple TV. I dont need to be playing audio at the time for this to work.

Apple Music app version 1.1.5.74, MacOS 11.4, Airport express 7.8.1

iOS devices work fine and reliably stream audio to the same airport express

Come on Apple, what happened to It Just Works??!

I have exactly the same problem when streaming to Sonos One (it is running latest updates from Sonos). If the music app is closed and re-opened, streaming does work beyond 7 seconds. However if the macbook pro m1 is let go to sleep and the music app has not been closed, it will not work again until it's restarted yet again. It started when I jumped to OS 11.3. 11.3.1 did not solve the issue.

When the music stops, it also stalls out on Apple TV 4K and on the local speakers too.

-Alex

I just finished a phone call with Apple Care. This is what I've been told:

Apple is aware of this problem since May. Engineers are working on it and do not need further details. There is no known workaround and it is unlikely to be fixed before macOS 12.

Did the 11.5.1 update, managed to test it for 5 minutes before work. First time I ran Music and clicked on an Airport Express, it failed. Second time and every subsequent time it works, past the 7-9 second failure (loss of sync?) it had been having for some time. Quit Music, restarted, worked with no issues. Have played 2 songs out to 60 seconds, works fine.