The Sonos Brexit and pragmatic ways past it - ADVANCED APPROACHES

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C
Userlevel 6
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I’ve had an email from the developer … hope he can advise on this.

Is your nas always on and accessible to the mac?

C
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No, that isn't visible. I am now trying to just use the first one, just the / - it is at 450 and scanning, but the content count is still at 0! Will wait it says scanning over and see what happens.

File formats are Apple Lossless and Apple AAC, that should not be a problem.

I’m still not sure how the mac sets the path to your  nas …  Did you check Settings to see if there’s a mapped drives tab ?

K

No, that isn't visible. I am now trying to just use the first one, just the / - it is at 450 and scanning, but the content count is still at 0! Will wait it says scanning over and see what happens.

File formats are Apple Lossless and Apple AAC, that should not be a problem.

C
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This spam filter is a pain!

Been trying to follow the setup video - seems they drill down from /   to  Users  in order to set the path - look there to see if you can spot the nas folder SharedMusic

Clutching at straws because I don’t have a mac to try any of this out

K

And - what format are the music files - mp3?

And - Check in mymedia Settings - is there a tab for Mapped Drives ?

 

Detailed reply with screenshot caught in spam filter; we need to wait for it to get released.

K

In my case, I need voice as part of any advanced solution as well; I suspect that any that have used voice will say the same. I started thinking voice was a gimmick, but now find it very convenient to start/stop music when I am not at my desk or in any place with a phone at hand, easily accessible for controller use. 

The neat thing that Amazon did for me is that soon after Dots entered my home, they released the bargain priced Echo Show 5 that also brought in album art, that filled in big miss for me from Sonos, after coming from CD players had LED matrix strips that showed track names. And the lack of album art added to the fact that almost all of my NAS content is available via streaming services, meant that the NAS fell into disuse. 

Using it would need voice commanded start and album art - which would also be something that Sonos  cannot do, even with any modern unit. 

Hence this exploration of My Media, not just as a Sonos Brexit measure, but to get the NAS back into play.

K

Just the General tab in Settings, and files are Apple Lossless for CD rips and Apple AAC for iTunes downloads.

And see the attached - it shows contents for only the Sample media folder, the 3 songs downloaded. which are the ones that play when the Show is told to Open Media.

/Shared Music returns a cannot be accessed message.

C
Userlevel 6
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As far as I understand, /Volumes/Public/SharedMusic  should work 

You could try /Volumes/Public  - see what it picks up if anything

Diid we try just /SharedMusic  ?

What is the line in sonos?

 

And - what format are the music files - mp3?

And - Check in mymedia Settings - is there a tab for Mapped Drives ?

 

chickentender

^^^ “The Primo doesn’t have that last ounce of liquidity”.   LMAO.  Stopped viewing the video at that point.  These audiophile reviewers are quite amusing.

Hahahaha. They are certainly that.

As far as incorporation, it was the bit later that relates specifically to squeezebox and LMS that folks have been discussing here that seemed topical.
As well as the HDMI output specifically for external screen; there’s been a want of visualization in play locations (not by myself really) and could provide some creative options toward that end.

chicks

^^^ “The Primo doesn’t have that last ounce of liquidity”.   LMAO.  Stopped viewing the video at that point.  These audiophile reviewers are quite amusing.

chickentender

My problem with Darko is typified in this video - he will keep 5 things, one on top of each other that are basically the same device, say that each one is better than the one below it, and not do a single level matched blind test to back up his subjective opinions. While I could not hear any difference in my Connect compared to a Marantz KI Signature SACD player, back in 2011, which also had a DAC in it that had many alpha numeric characters in its description in the manual. Neither could I hear what a USD 1500 Musical Fidelity DAC did in my system, that weighed more and was larger than most HiFi amplifiers, and even had a couple of valves in. And feet that turned from red to green to tell you when the valves had come to operating temperatures! All this, in my audiophile past life, and it was that Tube DAC that caused my “enough of this nonsense” moment.

So all that he offers is what the HiFi magazines did before I stopped reading them - information about what is available in the market.

No real opinion here on Darko or SQ. Just shared that as an overview for what seems to be quite a capable little unit for streaming. He goes into a number of ways to incorporate it which I thought would be helpful to some. That’s about it.

C
Userlevel 6
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As far as I understand, /Volumes/Public/SharedMusic  should work 

You could try /Volumes/Public  - see what it picks up if anything

Diid we try just /SharedMusic  ?

What is the line in sonos?

 

 

K

SharedMusic is a folder that contains a few folders all of which contain music files. Sonos isn't bothered with these, once it is pointed to SharedMusic it finds all tracks in all sub folders below SharedMusic.

C
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In Finder if you select SharedMusic do you get a list of the WD files?

 

I have to go out for a couple of hours ….  this must be easier than this!

K

The count remains 0 after scanning.

C
Userlevel 6
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Hmm … what happens if you type in /Volumes/Public/SharedMusic

K

Here it is, and folder names look unfamiliar!

 

C
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How about a screenshot?

K

It looks similar, with some more line items.

But there isn't one that says WDmycloud.

C
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In mymedia dashboard, under Watch Folder’ option  what is listed? 

Here’s what I see for Pi:

 

K

@castalla

See the screenshot for how the Finder looks like: the Sonos controller is pointed to WDMyCloud and thence to the last SharedMusic folder - nestling inside that are more folders, all that contain music files. Sonos does not care about that arrangement, it just accesses all music tracks that are in the various folders within the SharedMusic folder.

But in the MyMedia dashboard, I cannot see the WD in this fashion.

 

K

The present status on the Mymedia is that I am able to have Echo Show play with artwork the sample media that is downloaded into their app, that is hosted on my Mac. So proof of concept is established for local music. Now we have to see if this can be extended to music that is sitting on the NAS.

If Sonos via a controller hosted on the Mac can access and play music from the NAS, logically this also should be possible. Except that I have found that there are so many twists and turns that are not in plain sight where networking is concerned, that apparent logic is easily defeated.

Awaiting response from mymedia support...email sent to them.

K

My problem with Darko is typified in this video - he will keep 5 things, one on top of each other that are basically the same device, say that each one is better than the one below it, and not do a single level matched blind test to back up his subjective opinions. While I could not hear any difference in my Connect compared to a Marantz KI Signature SACD player, back in 2011, which also had a DAC in it that had many alpha numeric characters in its description in the manual. Neither could I hear what a USD 1500 Musical Fidelity DAC did in my system, that weighed more and was larger than most HiFi amplifiers, and even had a couple of valves in. And feet that turned from red to green to tell you when the valves had come to operating temperatures! All this, in my audiophile past life, and it was that Tube DAC that caused my “enough of this nonsense” moment.

So all that he offers is what the HiFi magazines did before I stopped reading them - information about what is available in the market.

chickentender

@Kumar  … I wasn't sure if I should add this here, or in the other “pragmatic” thread, but thought you and others may be interested in a video by Mr. Darko half a year ago that I just stumbled across. Mentions, off-hand, a number of devices covered here and elsewhere (and references a previous video he did that I’d already seen quite some time back on network streamers other than - and in relation to - the Sonos Connect) and is otherwise a good watch.
 

 

K

Yes thanks @Ryan S. 
I will copy/paste only the latest conversations from the PM with @castalla , now that Ryan has restored our filtered out thoughts.

@castalla said this: 

Get it working on the Mac first.
Setting up a Pi is relatively straightforward ... if you have a standard NAS setup. What is your NAS?
My response:

WD My Cloud NAS, a 2016 model. I doubt it can host the application and make it work. Hopefully Pi won't have a problem to access the music files that sit on it.

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