Shairport-sync: Shairport-sync is being used by someone else.

[priyambaid]

I installed shairport-sync in Beagle bone black device. I followed the following link for installation:
https://github.com/mikebrady/shairport-sync.
I am having systemd init system in my device.
Sometimes I get the error: "shairport-sync is being used by someone else". Even though I am the only one using it. Sometimes a service restart works and sometimes I have to restart the Beagle bone black device. Sometimes that even does not work.. Can you help me?

[mikebrady]

Thanks for the post. Can you post the exact error message please?

[gyubokbaik]

It's "RaspberryPi is being used by someone else", if I'm running shairport on raspberry pi named RaspberryPi.

Every time it happens, I have to reboot the pi to make the connection clean..

[gyubokbaik]

If shairport is "kick-able", this issue wouldn't exist.. what parameter do I need to change to make the shairport connection kick-able by new device?

[mikebrady]

Thanks for the post. This message only should come up if Shairport Sync is or has recently been playing a stream. If the player disappears suddenly, Shairport Sync will wait for two minutes before dropping the connection. So, when these messages come up, has a previous player (maybe you yourself) been using Shairport Sync and then disappeared without signing off? What players are you using? If this is caused by you having to reconnect following a dropout, then I suggest you check your network — look at the suggestions in the TROUBLESHOOTING page.

[flyingblindonarocketcycle]

I am having this same problem and could use some clarification. If I am playing my iphone through shairport-sync on a raspberry pi, and my wife wants to hijack the raspberry by playing her iphone on that same raspberry, she gets the message Shairport-sync is being used by someone else. Is that proper behavior? Is there a setting that lets new connections kick off the current connection?

[mikebrady]

Yes indeed, it is proper behaviour, but you can allow “hijacking” — In the configuration file, look for the sessioncontrol section then find the allow_session_interruption setting, uncomment it and change the setting to “yes”, save and restart Shairport Sync or reboot.

[flyingblindonarocketcycle]

Thank you for your help and for all the work you've put into to shairport-sync. I greatly appreciate it and I'm having fun playing with shairport-sync to learn linux and raspberry pi.
I did as you suggested and changed allow_session_interruption to "yes". (I had to learn a lot to get that one simple thing accomplished,... nano, sudo, putty...)
Unfortunately when I test the change it seems to crash the raspberry or at least it is stopping shariport-sync. The phone says it cannot connect, all audio stops. and the shairport-sync is no longer listed as an airplay device. HEY wait a minute! I was going through the process again so I could report exactly what the phone says when everything goes south and now, it just works. I used VNC to get to the raspberry desktop, opened the "run" dialog box and typed in "shairport-sync". The shairport-sync showed up on the iphones again and it just works now. Not sure what I did wrong but thanks again for your awesome efforts.

[mikebrady]

Good work. It’s worth noting that commands and settings have to be precisely and exactly specified, otherwise they won’t work and may even prevent the whole system from working...

[priyambaid]

Sorry for late reply...
The following is the exact error message I am getting
Airplay speaker not available
"Shairport" is used by someone else

We are using Default music player in iPhone

[mikebrady]

Thanks for the update. As I wrote in the previous posts on this thread, this is usually a sign that something is wrong with your setup, usually an intermittent network problem. However, you can allow Shairport Sync to always allow a new connection, as mentioned above.

[priyambaid]

Thanks for the reply. My device is statically placed and according to me it is unlikely that it is a network issue. How can find the exact problem (intermittent network or any other). Could you please guide me?

[mikebrady]

Thanks. I suggest looking at the issues mentioned in the TROUBLESHOOTING page first, particularly the power management stuff. Have you checked these these out?

[flyingblindonarocketcycle]

You should try the allow_session_interruption that mike mentioned and see how that goes.

[a-x-]

I had an issue with network connect interruptions. shairport thought that device uses the shairport, but it was disconnected in fact. i tried reconnect, but shairport did not allowing it.

@mikebrady, Thank you, this workaround was helpful for me
/etc/shairport-sync.conf:

//      allow_session_interruption = "no"; // set to "yes" to allow another device to interrupt Shairport Sync while it's playing from an existing audio source
allow_session_interruption = "yes";

[mikebrady]

Pretty sure this has been addressed in more recent versions of Shairport Sync! Closing this inactive issue. Please open a new one if necessary.