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Hello - hope someone out there can answer this as I’ve tried everything.  I recently purchased a new computer and have reinstalled the Sonos app.  I have also reinstalled my iTunes and re-established the correct music library path.  Even though the legacy path with former computer name has been purged, Sonos is still trying to use this to play music, so I only get an unable to play message.  I have gone rounds with this removed, reinstalled, reset everything including the Sonos app but nothing seems to work.  What gives?

Note:  the music path setting is correct but the error message when trying to play clearly shows the legacy path.

Interesting. When you changed the path on the new computer, the Sonos app was open, and connected to your speakers?

That data is stored on the speakers themselves, all of them, and not at all in the app itself. If, when you changed the data, you weren’t connected to the speakers (for any reason, including temporary disconnection) then that data wouldn’t be stored properly. 

Have you submitted a system diagnostic, and called Sonos Support to discuss it?

There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.

When you speak directly to the phone folks, they have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your network and Sonos system.


Thanks Bruce, I’ve tried every possible scenario to make this clear and work -- the system just continues to look for old path even though the old path has been removed in my library settings.  If the data is stored on the speakers themselves, wouldn’t purging all that is in the app and starting over theoretically work?  I have cleared the queue but don’t see how to delete any playlist showing under Sonos Playlists.  Even with the new and legacy path deleted under library settings, the playlists still display in the app.  The system diagnostic is just a running list of it trying to play from legacy path and contacting support directly is my next step.  Just figured this was simpler and a community member like yourself would know.  Also, I found this string

but don’t see ‘My Sonos Tab’ referenced in this portion:  In the Sonos App remove any previously saved  playlists and album/artist/tracks shortcuts to the previous library from the ‘My Sonos Tab’ - is this an older version?


SONOS Playlists include the file name for each track. Since the path name has changed, the file names are no longer valid. Sometimes the library indexer figures this out, sometimes not.

I’m not an Apple Music user, I don’t know how Apple Music will react to a path change.


You could export broken Sonos playlists using my iOS app (see profile), edit them for the new PC name, then import them back into Sonos. A user did exactly this on here a few months ago.


SONOS Playlists include the file name for each track. Since the path name has changed, the file names are no longer valid. Sometimes the library indexer figures this out, sometimes not.

I’m not an Apple Music user, I don’t know how Apple Music will react to a path change.

Thanks Buzz, I’m not either, just happen to have a very old iPod which has since expired on me but all my tunes are in iTunes including ones I burned from old CDs.  I’m just surprised this isn’t easier. 


You could export broken Sonos playlists using my iOS app (see profile), edit them for the new PC name, then import them back into Sonos. A user did exactly this on here a few months ago.

Thanks controlav!  And where do I find this iOS app?  You say see profile but I’m not following - my profile, your profile?  The only Apple thing I’ve ever had is an old iPod that expired on me recently. 


 

And where do I find this iOS app? 


This is the one.


 

And where do I find this iOS app? 


This is the one.

Thanks but that is my Windows app which can’t import/export playlists. My iOS app is https://apps.apple.com/us/app/phonos-plus/id1511326524


 


This is the one.

Thanks but that is my Windows app which can’t import/export playlists. My iOS app is https://apps.apple.com/us/app/phonos-plus/id1511326524

Sorry, my mistake.


Thank you again to everyone who replied to this - since my last update I have been on calls with both Apple (to sort out my legacy iTunes) and Sonos (to figure out why the library doesn’t sync properly).  While I’ve been able to get some things working, it’s still a disaster and makes no sense whatsoever.  I matched my iTunes path with the library path for Sonos.  Some things play, most don’t.  Playlists don’t sync, Sonos still tries to play from the old path that has long been purged.  I’ve deleted playlists because of this and tried to recreate them which only created more problems.  Just all around disenchanting and exhausting.  Why is this so hard? Everything is scattered and disorganized now whereas before I had a single resource/location music library and several playlists via iTunes that synced perfectly w Sonos.  Has anyone else started over using existing music files? 


Thank you again to everyone who replied to this - since my last update I have been on calls with both Apple (to sort out my legacy iTunes) and Sonos (to figure out why the library doesn’t sync properly).  While I’ve been able to get some things working, it’s still a disaster and makes no sense whatsoever.  I matched my iTunes path with the library path for Sonos.  Some things play, most don’t.  Playlists don’t sync, Sonos still tries to play from the old path that has long been purged.  I’ve deleted playlists because of this and tried to recreate them which only created more problems.  Just all around disenchanting and exhausting.  Why is this so hard? Everything is scattered and disorganized now whereas before I had a single resource/location music library and several playlists via iTunes that synced perfectly w Sonos.  Has anyone else started over using existing music files? 

With regard to your issues with local library playlists for use with Sonos…

I personally find that straightforward UNC paths direct to each of the chosen local music library tracks, as a single ‘one-line’ entry in a text file (with .m3u extension), seems to work best for each playlist.

Here are a couple of ‘example’ entries (as seen in a text editor) to hopefully demonstrate what I mean, but clearly your own network path will be different to your PC or NAS library storage.

\\192.168.0.1\MyNAS\MyLibraryShares\Music\Genesis\Trespass\The Knife.flac

\\192.168.0.1\MyNAS\MyLibraryShares\Music\Genesis\Trespass\Stagnation.flac

I always also choose to strip out everything else from any exported playlist file, including these ‘directive extensions’ that .m3u playlists may (often) contain…

  • #EXTM3U - file header
  • #EXTINF: - track information/title

Note: Some .m3u playlist files may contain other types of ‘extensions’, which can all be removed. See this link :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M3U

These extensions are not required for Sonos use, so I personally found removing ALL worked best for speed of loading the playlist.

In addition to the format stated above, the netbios name of the host NAS/PC also works well in place of the LAN IP address. Example:

\\MyWindowsPC\MyLibraryShares\Music\Genesis\Trespass\The Knife.flac

I have gone onto convert all my playlists to the above format and have just opted to place them in a separate folder within the local iTunes library, but they can be stored anywhere in the library that you’re indexing when using the UNC path for each track.

Using the above method I was able to get a 25,000+ playlist load to a Sonos player queue in a matter of a few seconds, well within the  Sonos 15 second timeout period.

Anyhow, I hope that assists.