Sonos and Mac OS 10.15 Catalina

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.

I think the permissions listed here earlier in the thread should do the trick. And I can’t give you any specifics on @pomm4tous‘ case, but they’re welcome to tag in and share if they’d like to. If you’re asking if it’s been resolved for some people, the answer is emphatically yes. This should be a fix for everyone, though it seems there are a few cases like yours.

I’m sorry to be persistent but this Is important. Are you categorically saying that when I update my macOS to Catalina from Mojave, (as it is at present with everything working well with my iTunes library playing perfectly in the Sonos app, including imported iTunes playlists), nothing will change, with my library and imported iTunes playlists operating just as they have always done?

if you are saying this why do people like pomm4tous still say they have problems?

New issue for me with Sonos and Catalina:  All of my playlists are now duplicated in Sonos after updating the library.  Help!  I guess better to have two than none, but….

the video is showing how ‘rekordbox’ (a dj software) is able to read the playlists but has nothing to do with the SONOS APP.

in that case remove all (xml) library files in the iTunes directory except the ‘iTunes Library.xml’ and update the Sonos music library (‘Manage’ menu, ‘Update Music Library Now’).

Really ? 

If you have upgraded to Catalina, there is no iTunes directory. There is no iTunes. 

no answer? Hopefully cause it’s the weekend and not for other....

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.

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

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.
 

@Swindled  with the Music App (version 1.0.2.37) you can still export your music library (File->Library->Export Library) and playlists (File->Library->Export Playlist) manually. To be clear: these xml files are not handled correctly by the SONOS App (version 10.6). A workaround for this is discussed in another thread https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/apple-music-on-mac-os-catalina-exported-playlists-to-nas-6834549

My advice is based on own experience. It is not my intention to mislead people.

The Sonos players pull the same file from the old iTunes structure that this video shows, the ‘iTunes Music Library.xml’ file. If someone wanted to try to make the file manually, the steps in the video are the same, ignoring the part about the DJ app. The steps within the renamed iTunes app are the same.

The new Sonos controller for Mac will automatically create this playlist file when you create the music share, and the Sonos players will go to that location to grab the imported playlists.

There is currently a solution for this in the Sonos software, so the steps should be to remove any existing music shares in your Sonos app, and then use the latest Sonos software to create the music share. That should be all you need to do to get your imported playlists to come up. If that’s not working, our official advice would be to contact our support team directly and work with a technician. Most likely, any issues are unique to your specific computer or setup, and we can help sort that out. If something else does come up that’s a trend across other systems, we’d need the data from support calls to investigate what might be happening.

I am using my old Mac Mini as my music source, using Mojave OS.  Please let me know when it is safe to move on to Catalina.

There doesn’t appear to be any response to my recent posting from Ryan. Is this significant?

BowlerBrown wrote:

I’m sorry to be persistent but this Is important. Are you categorically saying that when I update my macOS to Catalina from Mojave, (as it is at present with everything working well with my iTunes library playing perfectly in the Sonos app, including imported iTunes playlists), nothing will change, with my library and imported iTunes playlists operating just as they have always done?

if you are saying this why do people like pomm4tous still say they have problems?

I would like to add that I am surprised that an international company appears to be dealing with this issue so unprofessionally.

Mac OS Catalina was released nearly 2 months ago. And yes I have posted half a dozen fault reports with zero outcome...eventually they start sending messages saying “We wanted to follow up and ensure that your case was resolved. If you need anything else, simply reply to this email and let us know that you need help” replies to this message are just ignored.

and for the folk blaming Apple....Sonos constantly put out undocumented software updates. Don't accept the update and the app doesn't work properly (or at all) and neither does your speaker. THERE IS NO STABLE ENVIRONMENT HERE. Sonos update whatever they want, whenever they want, and are happy to rely on the performance of other system platforms and the clients operating systems for their own livelihood - but they see nothing wrong with being in-compatible with those platforms....that ain't supported anymore. (Thanks for your money). Interesting thousands of other companies (yes thousands...just look at the Apple App Store) seem capable and motivated to support this OS.

Sonos have done this before … Sonos features get dumped and blaming Apple …   https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-software-228995/sonos-no-longer-support-ios-streaming-6826666  ...Poster who seeks support is strenuously attacked by ‘customers’ who have no need of the dumped feature ...nice. 

I took over $2000 of Sonos gear (Mint condition) to cash converters (not the best place to get the best price for anything...but if an item is popular you can get an ok price for it) ...thought I might get a few hundred for it....was offered $50 for the lot. Says it all. 

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.

1. You need to be running the most current versions of Catalina and Sonos.
2. You need to remove your music library (or libraries) from within the Sonos app by going to Manage > Manage Library Settings
3. 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.)
4. 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.
5. Then, still within the Sonos app, re-add the music library from your external drive.
6. 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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

Hi BowlerBrown. Apologies if I was not clear. Yes, my music library is on an external drive. But the problem really had nothing do to with the location of my library. It had to do with the missing XML file, which in turn stemmed from the missing iTunes folder.

At one point I tried moving some of my music files to my internal drive, pointing the Apple Music app to that drive, and then rebuilding my Sonos index from that location (and from that location only). I even disconnected my external drive to remove one variable from the equation. But that did not fix the problem, as I still was missing the necessary iTunes folder. That folder seems to be required on the internal drive, regardless of where your actual music library is stored.

Hope that is a bit clearer.

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.