Best answer by Ryan S
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Sonos and Mac OS 10.15 Catalina
Userlevel 2
Tried using Sonos with Golden Master of Catalina and its a no go. When I add my music library on an external drive it does so normally but NO songs in the folder are recognized. Wonder if it has to do with Music being the new app for music instead of iTunes?I was able to see music added if it was on the internal drive of the machine.
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I acknowledge all the help given by Ryan S and others but please would SONOS SUPPORT post full instructions following a fully tested solution. Surely this is the least that should be done.
Userlevel 7
+26
Can anyone confirm that the problem is resolved in Catalina and everything operates as it used to with Mojave?
Yes, it should be resolved now. Generally a fix doesn’t get included in release notes if it doesn’t have broad enough attention, or in some cases, when the software team decides to include it a little last minute. I suspect it was the second one this time around as they wanted to get it out to people before the holidays.
The problem I was seeing, and still am seeing, is that Sonos is unable to find, display and play my Imported Playlists from iTunes. Even with the latest bug-fix updates, my Imported Playlists still do not appear in the Sonos app. And yes, I have run the software updates, removed and re-added my music library within Sonos, turned all devices off and back on, etc.
So, from my perspective, the problem is not fixed. But again, I’m not sure that I am experiencing the same problem as others on this thread. Can anyone confirm whether they now are able to see iTunes Imported Playlists in the Sonos app?
This is the issue that should be fixed. When you create a music share using the Mac Sonos app, it’ll create the XML file needed so that imported playlists get indexed by Sonos. That XML file is also updated by the controller when it does a manual re-index from the Manage menu. You said you’ve already removed and re-added your share, which is all you should need to do. If you’re still having trouble, I’d suggest that maybe it’s a permissions issue, so check that the Sonos app is allowed at mentioned earlier in this thread. Other than that, it’d probably be best to give us a call and work with a technician to investigate further.
We have now sorted my lack of music out by doing the following.
Things which made Sonos work
Uninstalled using CCleaner
Removed Sonos and Sonos Library from Settings > Security & Privacy
Rebooted
Installed Sonos from scratch
Tried adding Library - no dice
Granted Sonos Library Full Disk access in Settings > Security & Privacy
Granted Sonos Full disk access in Settings > Security & Privacy
Sonos now plays my own library and Sonos created playlists again
Things which made Sonos work
Uninstalled using CCleaner
Removed Sonos and Sonos Library from Settings > Security & Privacy
Rebooted
Installed Sonos from scratch
Tried adding Library - no dice
Granted Sonos Library Full Disk access in Settings > Security & Privacy
Granted Sonos Full disk access in Settings > Security & Privacy
Sonos now plays my own library and Sonos created playlists again
Granted Sonos Full disk access in Settings > Security & Privacy
Sonos now plays my own library and Sonos created playlists again
Took my son about 2 hrs to work this out. Hope yours is working ok now.
This was helpful. Granting full disk access to SonosLibraryServer and to Sonos.app restored the visibility of my music library within Sonos.
Now we’ll wait and see if Sonos comes up with a solution for imported playlists.
Thanks.
After granting access I had full access to my music library and my imported playlists. If your xml file isn't there perhaps you can recover it from a pre Catalibackup?
Userlevel 7
+26
I've added Alan's details to my post so all the needed information should be in one spot regarding Catalina and Sonos.
Userlevel 7
+26
Thanks for the details Podsnap. I checked out the two diagnostics together and the first one does show it indexing the files, but the second one doesn't show a completed index. There are some access errors, but I can't be certain based on just those logs on what is causing the issue. I don't think this is related to Catalina in particular, but it'd be great for the team to work with you to get a closer look at the system. You mentioned reaching out to support already, but I'd recommend contacting the team live to continue.
Sonos doesn't connect to the iTunes app, or the Music app. It looks for the data where it's stored, without going through Apple's software.
Does it still see your previous music? Or have you checked to see how the new Music app is saving the files, in terms of the format? It's possible that you need to mess with the settings for saving "new" music in order to be sure it is being saved in a format that Sonos can read.
Does it still see your previous music? Or have you checked to see how the new Music app is saving the files, in terms of the format? It's possible that you need to mess with the settings for saving "new" music in order to be sure it is being saved in a format that Sonos can read.
A bit of good news here. To recap the issue from a previous posting: After updating to macOS Catalina, the Sonos app on macOS and iOS no longer recognized my imported playlists from the Apple Music (formerly, iTunes) app. Despite assurances from Sonos that a Sonos app update would fix the problem, it didn’t work for me.
FYI that, in my situation, I store my entire Music library on an external drive. I have no music on the Mac internal drive.
After much great help from Ryan, Jason and Mike from Sonos, the problem (at least in my case), now is solved. Here is a summary of the solution.
- You need to be running the most current versions of Catalina and Sonos.
- You need to remove your music library (or libraries) from within the Sonos app by going to Manage > Manage Library Settings
- Then, on your internal drive, you need to ensure you have a folder named iTunes, located in ~\Music\iTunes. And yes, you need this even though iTunes no longer exists. (This, by the way, was the issue that affected me. I did not have this folder on my Mac.)
- Now, go back to the Sonos app and re-add your music libraries in this sequence. First add your internal library (~\Music). You need to do this, even though (as in my case) you have no music stored on your internal drive.
- Then, still within the Sonos app, re-add the music library from your external drive.
- As this point, Sonos will index your music, and it will create an XML file within the ~\Music\iTunes folder. This is the file that holds your imported playlist info, which Sonos now will recognize.
If this helps anyone, please express thanks again to Ryan, Jason and Mike.
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This is exactly the same level of support that I have had. Frustration all the way. If Ryan S takes it up maybe some resolution can be achieved.
my reference is
Re: Sonos - Here to Help [ ref:_00D1N2JMtd._5002KheHRK:ref ]
Userlevel 7
+26
Hi everyone, as BowlerBrown just mentioned above, there were some changes made in the Sonos 10.6 software for Catalina compatibility. If you haven’t tested it out yet, go ahead and make sure you’re all up to date, and then you should be able to add your music library and find your updated playlists. There are steps here to update your music library in the Sonos app. Let us know if you see any trouble and I’ll get the feedback to the team.
If you’re still having trouble with your playlists, check out this guide for some troubleshooting suggestions as well.
Hi there,
IS THIS THE SOLUTION? IT WORKED FOR ME: (until the next issue at least...) 
I just though I’d share what has worked for me: I have a Play:1 and two Ones, and when I installed Catalina on my iMac, I couldn’t access my music library any longer. So, I messaged Sonos on Messenger, and they suggested the following, which worked - it’s now set up as it was before. Step 1 below alone didn’t work, but after Step 2, the problem was solved, so I’d recommend doing both. Also maybe throw in a computer re-start etc (although I don’t think I actually needed to do this). So:
- Check the System Preferences -> Security and Privacy settings of the computer. From there select the Privacy Tab and scroll down to and select “Full Disk Access”. From this screen make sure Sonos has permission. You'll also want to ensure Sonos has permission under Files and Folders (which is below).
- Remove your music library from the Sonos App and then re-add it by first opening Sonos Desktop Controller App for Mac (computer, not the phone app). From the “Manage” menu, select “Music Library Settings”. Click on the folder you would like to remove (the whole music library). Click - (minus) and confirm you wish to remove the library from Sonos. Then Re-add the Music Library by clicking on the + (Plus) button in the same area (If you use iTunes or are not sure where your music is stored, leave “In My Music folder” selected. If your music is located outside of the My Music folder, select the appropriate option) - I have iTunes and left it as it was, with “In My Music folder” selected.
So this worked, and for now my speakers are working again. I’ve shared this to try to help others suffering the same nonsense.
Liam, I had to have the grandson come over and follow your suggestions. We were able to load the music library, if that is correct terminology? The music from my Mac Mini appears in the Sonos Controller on both the Mini and MacBook Pro. The music appears in my iPhone Sonos app and I am able to play and control the speakers from the iPhone. I cannot get our iPads to display music or control the speakers. I will again contact Sonos support. thanks for your work around.
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Seems like good news for you pomm4tous but have you any ideas what to do if your music library is not stored on external drive?
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Please would you post actual details of permission adjustments in simple terms. I am sure this would help interested subscribers. Failing this please arrange for a PM giving concise details. Thanks in anticipation.
has pomm4tous now resolved his issues. If he has that would give great confidence.
Userlevel 7
+26
Thanks for sharing pomm4tous! An interesting addition about that specific file structure requirement. I’m sure the development team is looking into that, but for anyone who might still be having trouble, it’s a great step to try out.
Userlevel 7
+26
I think the permissions listed here earlier in the thread should do the trick. And I can’t give you any specifics on
Userlevel 7
+26
Seems like good news for you pomm4tous but have you any ideas what to do if your music library is not stored on external drive?
Our posts crossed, and I didn’t see yours. The change here was that he needed to add an iTunes folder inside his Music folder structure. If your music is on an external drive, make sure you also have that iTunes folder in Music on the internal drive as well. Just to make sure all of the right structures are covered.
As someone alluded to early in this thread, there are some subtleties regarding accessing albums/songs through Sonos under Catalina for some systems. Having succeeded in accessing my albums after moving the music to another HD (discussed below), I thought I’d move it back to the HD where I couldn’t access the music. Sure enough, copying to another HD and back again did the trick. Now I can access my music on from the same directory structure under Catalina as I could under the previous version of MacOS.
However that and a file clean-up process caused me to lose all the Metadata associated with Apple’s Music-formerly-iTunes app (which I hope and assume will someday be readable by Sonos again). Drat.
The solution to that I found on MacRumors involves locating the latest iTunes library file (iTunes Library.itl), moving it to the Users/[user/Music] location and renaming it “Music Library”. The suggestion was to remove or hide the Users/[user]/Music/Music directory/directories. Then open the Music App with the Option key pressed. You are asked to identify a library and you select this newly renamed “Music Library” file. That cause the Music app to create a new Music directory (Users/[user]/Music/Music) and place within in it the Music Library file you created under the name Music Library.musiclibrary. Anyway, this worked for me. All metadata (smart folders, etc.) was recovered and works fine under the Music app. And, of course ( ;) ) Sonos still finds the music also.
(previous update to my original gripe)
Just a quick note as I previous complained about being unable to use my Sonos Play:1 with my on-disk albums under Catalina (iMac 2017). Turns out that this is a problem specific to the external HD I was using. I moved the same Music library to another HD (both SSD by the way) and the Sonos app found all my albums. Music again sounds great.
(previous gripe below)
Just upgraded to Catalina; such a mistake. I find that if I move an album to my iMac's root drive (where System lives), Sonos is able to find it. Unfortunately my Music library is on a different HD drive connected to the iMac. Apple's Music app (formerly iTunes) has no trouble finding the music but despite futzing with permissions for the directories and drive and recommended changes to Security settings, I have not found the trick that would enable the Sonos App to recognize my album/song files.
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Sorry to ask but please explain how to add the iTunes file that you talk about and what should it contain. I thithink we might be close to resolving the issue. I look forward to the reply.
After days of reading these forums, here’s what’s finally worked for me. I have my music files on a NAS. Artists and albums were ok but playlists would not play.
- I exported the .xml Library from Music to the NAS
- Opened the .xml file with TextEdit
- Find and replace ‘.localized’ with nothing
- FInd and replace ‘1-’ with nothing
- Save and close
Updated Music Library in Sonos and my playlists were playable.
Correction: Find and replace ‘/1-’ with ‘/’
Userlevel 7
+26
If you go into Finder and look at your folder structure for your username followed by “Music”, what else is listed there? You should have a folder called “iTunes” there, followed by the artists. If you don’t have that iTunes folder, you can add it by making a new folder by clicking on File > New Folder and then moving the files into it.
The structure should look like:
./Users/BowlerBrown/Music/iTunes/…
If your music is on an external drive, just make sure you’ve got this file structure on your internal drive, you don’t need to put your music into it.
Really ?
If you have upgraded to Catalina, there is no iTunes directory. There is no iTunes.
Catalina has indeed replaced iTunes by the Music App and altered the file locations. If you still have kept the iTunes generated .xml files with the old file structure SONOS will be fine. However any library or playlist .xml file generated by the Music App will not work.
Again... Really?
Catalinas music app does not generate .xml files at all. That’s the fundamental problem. iTunes did.
I don’t want to appear rude, but making categorical statements as though you know about this doesn’t help when the advice provided is incorrect.
I agree with bowlerbrown
Surely it is time for all this confusion to end and Sonos give concise details and instructions on how to get the Sonos app. working correctly with Catalina and with imported iTunes playlists showing correctly. It appears that the Sonos technical people are not convinced by their apparent updates.
I have many fault reports with Sonos “support” it’s been a disappointing experience. Evasive, inaccurate, disingenuous, misleading and just plain rudeness characterise the responses.
sonos … a practical lesson in buyer beware.
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The thing that I am not clear about is the said iTunes folder. Can you explain what is contained within the folder? or am I being thick? don’t answer that.
Userlevel 7
+26
The thing that I am not clear about is the said iTunes folder. Can you explain what is contained within the folder? or am I being thick? don’t answer that.
If your music is on an external drive, you don’t need to have anything in that folder, it just needs to exist.
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