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As others have experienced, I continue to receive the "The device where the music files are stored may not be powered on" error when I attempt to index my library. It begins to index, then craps out with the above error message which is not helpful and not even true as my library is right on my MacBook where the Sonos app resides.

My library has about 10,000 songs. It is curated from my CD collection and iTunes market. 

My library is currently being managed by Apple in one share file. 

I leverage comments and grouping info to create smart playlists.

I see no practical way of splitting up this library into multiple share files -- honestly that is a ridiculous proposal suggested by Sonos support.

It is also suggested that cumulative meta data has a limit…. does anyone know how to assess if this is really the case? And if it is the problem, it is technically solvable. 10,000 songs with meta data is “little” data compared to what can be handled in today’s “big” data world.

Does anyone have additional insight?

Like many in the community, I have spent thousands of dollars on Sonos speakers, sub, connect, etc…  Is Sonos putting enough resources on the problem? When is an anticipated fix?

I hear crickets.

 

Apart from compilation folders grouping by the Album Artist, I think Sonos have fixed things with local libraries. You just need to ensure you are not using an HTTP/SMBv1 share and ideally setup a read-only share using the SMBv2 (or higher) protocol and check the user account that has access to the shared folders is added to the Sonos App with the correct credentials. I would personally suggest using the Sonos mobile App for the setup of the library too.

Here are some further links that might perhaps assist…

st you to setup Sonos access to the share…

https://support.sonos.com/en-gb/article/share-your-macos-music-folder-with-sonos

https://support.sonos.com/en-gb/article/add-your-music-library-to-sonos

https://youtu.be/kjhKhDuvgDY

Hi Ken, If my library is on my Mac, how would I use the Sonos mobile App?

Hi Ken, If my library is on my Mac, how would I use the Sonos mobile App?

Just add the network UNC path to the shared library folder. You can use the Netbios name of the MAC, or its IP address, followed by the folder share. Here are two fictitious examples:

//MyMacPC/Music 

//192.168.1.1/Music

Then add the PC account username and the password assigned to that account that you have given ‘read only’ access to the shared folder, as described in the links in my earlier post.

Hope that assists.

Note if you are using the IP address, then I recommend you reserve the address for the MAC PC in your routers DHCP reservation table to make it static.

If you use the netbios name of the PC, then ensure it’s no longer than 15 characters in length and do not include these non-alpha-numeric characters in the name:

period (.)
backslash (\)
forward slash (/)
colon (:)
asterisk (*)
question mark (?)
quotation mark (“)
less than sign (<)
greater than sign (>)
vertical bar (|)

Note too that PC Hostnames are used by DNS Servers for name resolution on the Internet and on the LAN and for that avoid using these characters in the PC Name too…

comma (,)
tilde (~)
colon (:)
exclamation point (!)
at sign (@)
number sign (#)
dollar sign ($)
percent (%)
caret (^)
ampersand (&)
apostrophe (‘)
period (.)
parentheses (())
braces ({})
underscore (_)
white space (blank)

Thank you. I am starting with the NetBios option. I tried this using the Sonos Mac App and it did not work. I will see how it works from the Mobile App.

Also, just to say you that you can use the desktop controller App to setup the library, but if you do then only use the 3rd option to link to the shared folder (used for NAS shares etc.) as the first two options in the Desktop App are for HTTP shares only, which are no longer supported by the new Sonos App.

The folder share must be implemented using SMBv2 (or higher) only.

Yes, I tried the NAS option on the desktop -- it found the Music file, started to Index and then I received the error message saying the “computer was powered off and music no longer available”. This is why I believe it may be some kind of data limitation.  

 

My MacBook is up to date with SMB v2.

 

It does not work from the Mobile App…

I will probably need to hear back from Sonos Level 2 or engineering support…

It is frustrating because ApplePlay does not support my current Connect and ConnectAmp… so the music library is critical. I a bunch of Sonos equipment, but my main listening area is my higher end Bowers & Wilkins with ConnectAmp.

Thank you for all of your help and information.

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