Hi-
I have a system that includes two Play 5s, a Play 3, five Play 1s and a bridge. I can almost always stream music from online stations with no problem. But my efforts to play my own music have been a disaster for quite some time. I technically have the ability to play my music library (all of which is in FLAC format), but I rarely can make it through an entire album without buffering problems that cause the system to stop and then skip the track. The problems are even worse now with the Covid-related national slowdown in internet performance.
Admittedly, my system has not been advanced. It’s consisted of trying to stream my music stored on external hard drives, a desk top, a laptop and a tablet (I’ve tried all of those separately). Nothing has worked.
I’ve read a number of posts about NAS drives, and am wondering if connecting an NAS directly to my router, my bridge or my 1st gen Play 5 would solve the problem. But every time I try to find a solution, I feel like I’m just going further and further down a rabbit hole. Each option leads to another complexity and another potential problem, without any clear solution. It’s enormously frustrating that, with all the money I’ve sunk into my Sonos system, there still seems to be no easy way to play my own music.
Anyway, now that I’ve vented a bit, if anyone can offer some guidance, perhaps on buying and implementing a basic NAS, I’d be grateful.
Thanks-
Jeff