I, like every other Sonos user, lost access to my beloved local music library curated from my personal “hard copy” musical collection and playlists when the new app was released. However, I was a lot better of that most because I had an old iPad with the “old” S2 app which was still able to play from my library. Every time it offered to update I refused point blank for that very reason.
Today however it appears that a device update has rendered the old app useless because it is now no longer able to control my Sonos speakers. I consider this an almost underhand and sneaky way to “force” me to use an app which no longer serves the purpose I originally intended it for and renders my expensive speakers a lot less attractive than they were.
A fix for this was hinted at being available “mid June” but still no sign.
PLEASE, PLEASE, when will this be fixed? And if the answer really is never, please come clean so I can attempt to offload my speakers on to someone who doesn’t need it want the facility I bought them for in the first place!
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This workaround (which I’ve been using successfully since the app update a few months ago) stopped working today. Seems to correlate to some new update. I keep my music in the local SSD of a Mac Mini, and run the app there. The Music folder is shared and i added that as the library using the workaround of pretending it’s a network drive. I Googled the issue and tried all the suggestions I could find - remove and re-add the share, remove and re-add the library, update the Mac app, nothing works. It shows the library and the playlists in the Mac app, but when you select a playlist it says “unable to browse music,” after spinning the wheel for a while. Help!
This does not work!! The “Manage” option in the Windows App/Web version is not existing anywhere since the update and as many other stated, the iOS app does not allow this either. Even if you have a NAS with SMB 2 or 3 you won’t be able to access your library as Sonos does not let you “manage” it.
Updates expected “June” are lies, the website Q&A and help function still cover the old apps. So are useless.
You wonder what they are working on or if they purposely wanted to “pxxx” off their long term customer base. At this point I am seriously debating to get rid of my whole system (5 Play 3’s, 2 Sonos Roam 2, 1 Move) and never buy from Sonos again as they basically “bricked”/defeatured my products that I paid for.
I have been aware of this problem for a while, it shocking that they haven’t fixed it yet.
I have been able to use the old app on my PC to get around the problem, so far OK.
I have had to rebuild my PC and have installed the old app again. For some reason when I scan my Music Library it installs it OK but now I have an individual ‘ALBUM’ entries for each track.
Have I missed a selection in settings somewhere that I have forgotten about?
On a second subject the old app gives me my album art but the new app doesn’t; is this another problem with the new app or is the a selection in the new app to show this album art?
Am experiencing exactly the same with this latest release which was, for me, nearly 4 weeks after the last update and not the stated bi-weekly. I did see some article today that stated Sonos were moving to 4 weekly updates, but I can’t find it now.
I keep my Windows app updated and it’s all working fine, so I’m not too concerned there. But it’s a much longer process to fire up my desktop that uses the Android app.
Why the app can’t instantly connect to the system as it did pre-May update is anybody’s guess. I put this mess down to pure incompetence in Sonos at the very top for releasing the untested app in May.
I can’t understand why, when I delete and re-install the Sonos app on my Android device, it isn’t picking up the music library settings from the Sonos system which is working fine with Windows. I installed the application on a (second) Windows laptop and it picked up the configured music library immediately. This is obviously an issue in comms between the Android app and the Sonos system, and I would expect any competent developer to have fixed such an issue in a matter of days.
I’ve got this exact same problem that started either this week or last week. And this is a while after the upgrade to the latest version that killed music library.
Why pulled the working app off???????
Build a new one behind the screens !
Not sure what you mean? I had to start from scratch with the PC, complete rebuild of windows, so obviously the app went. I have reloaded the OLD app on the PC and it is fine except for the problem I mentioned above “my Music Library it installs it OK but now I have an individual ‘ALBUM’ entries for each track” The ALBUM selection on the ‘Select a Music Source’
You can see that instead of ONE entry for the album it has nine listed, i.e. each song. This is not how it was before I rebuilt the PC and downloaded the old app again.
I’m seeing this too. It’s caused by “Artist” metadata. You’ll see a duplicate entry for each *unique* “Artist” in the album.
In the Albums view if Artist and Album Artist are different, then there is an entry for each unique pair. If Artist and Album Artist are the same, then there is only one entry in the Album list..
I will not edit my metadata, I’ll wait until the library processing is better polished.
Thanks @jgatie. I’m aware that the library can be managed through Windows or MacOS, but my issue is I cannot access it from a mobile device ( iPad or phone). When I’m out on my decking with a Roam or Move, it’s a tad unwieldy to go back inside to fire up a computer just to select or change the music.
if I could index etc in Windows and select it from my phone it would be a start , but all I get is a brief message to the effect that “ Something went wrong”! We really need a full fix.
Why pulled the working app off???????
Build a new one behind the screens !
@JAB73 - thanks for pointing me to this, I had missed it. I sincerely hope they mean this July as following the “surreptitious“ update of the software on my speakers the only (mobile) access to my music has been removed despite me not updating the app that previously allowed it
I’m perhaps fortunate as the new Sonos App is working well for me and my own setup. In some cases meanwhile, there’s still the ability to use Alexa/SVC/Other voice control, AirPlay, Bluetooth, line-in, Direct Control (Spotify/Amazon) etc. or other Apps like Soro, HiFi-Cast, SonoPad, MusicStreamer, Plex/PlexAmp or Emby, BubbleUPnP and ‘Roon’ to play to the Sonos speakers anyway - so some are perhaps not confined to using just the Sonos App, which is not an audio player anyway, it’s just a ‘remote’ … I’m not complaining at all myself, as there’s always been so much choice and the Sonos speakers have always sounded great to me anyway.
If the new App isn’t working with a Sonos setup, then (if practicable) it maybe best to reproduce the issue(s) seen and immediately submit a Sonos system diagnostic report from within the Sonos App, note it’s reference and then contact/chat with Sonos Support Staff via this LINK and see what the Staff can perhaps suggest to resolve the matter.
Why pulled the working app off???????
Build a new one behind the screens !
Not sure what you mean? I had to start from scratch with the PC, complete rebuild of windows, so obviously the app went. I have reloaded the OLD app on the PC and it is fine except for the problem I mentioned above “my Music Library it installs it OK but now I have an individual ‘ALBUM’ entries for each track” The ALBUM selection on the ‘Select a Music Source’
You can see that instead of ONE entry for the album it has nine listed, i.e. each song. This is not how it was before I rebuilt the PC and downloaded the old app again.
@The Krollmanns If your music library (not settings) does appear again, can you inform us if you can use it please? i.e. Select and play something from Artists, Albums, Folders, etc.?
@marner Will do.
If the library is showing up in the old app and not in the new, it is probably still being shared via HTTP, which is no longer supported due to security reasons. Delete the old library using the PC app, then follow these directions to add an SMB v2/v3 share to the system:
I would also double check the link to setting up a share in Windows, there may have been something you missed.
UPDATE,
Following an upgrade a couple of weeks back my Music Library “appeared” on the home page again. I duly went into the “Manage” option and was able to add the path to the share. ALthough at that time the “Detect Music Library” return an error. I suspect this was becasue the library was bening scanned and indexed (slow time) becasue a day or so later “Music Library” magicall appeared on the Home page, and joy of joys, it showed all my music (albeit with the VERY) annoying problem of showing each track of a compilation album as an album in it’s own right ! And I was able to play selected music
However some days later I had a message that my speakers needed an update and I foolishly complied thinking it would be an improvement. The result is that this upgrade removed Music Library from the Hom page of my iPhone and iPad apps again. The NAS share still shows as added Music Library path although “Detect Music Library” returns the not found error. This really is exasperating beyond words.
Is it too much to expect that a mobile app, released to the public, should either work, or allow downdrading to the previous working version? PLEASE Sonos, follow the pigin Latin and “Extractum digitalis” and provide us with a workable app or useable workaround !
Before this debacle I was on the point of comtting to a new speaker with “Line in” facility so that I could play some of my vinyls but at the moment that is RIGHT ot of the window
I’ve re-added my Sonos library to the (Android in my case) app following the update on July 22. In fact I’ve re-added it several times. “Music Library” shows occasionally in my Sources, but when I go into it and click any option, e.g. Artists, Albums, Folders, etc. it only ever shows “Something went wrong”. This is just poor.
I’m livid that my Sonos systems are still unable to access and use the same music it did on the old controller app from my Mac. This is utterly ridiculous that still in late July their “fix” doesn’t. I’ve made whole folders shared, I’ve “Managed” in the Sonos app with the latest update and my reward is still the same garbage: Unable to add the shared folder to your Music Library (913). Funny! The old app that I can’t use anymore still could and my Music app has no trouble either, but I’m still cut off from my library of thousands of songs on my Sonos speakers for MONTHS. Call for service support and have a 40 minute wait that I don’t have time for. Utterly botched rollout, Sonos. Utterly botched patch or fix too months later!
Thanks. As we wrote above, the existing music library share is an SMB2 share, configured as described in the article, and it's working fine in the Windows app.
Sorry to say, but if it is working fine in the Windows app and not in the mobile app, it’s not using SMB v2 sharing. It’s probably using HTTP, which is the default for the Windows app. Delete the current share using the Windows app, and follow the directions here (make sure you use the link for installing a share on Windows):
Latest update (80.0.06-release+2-240717) for Android seems to have removed the ability to see/manage/use the Music library at all. I see no reference to it in any menu, folder, etc. I was able to basically use it after the disaster of version 80 coming out but this supposive fix in this release:
Added setup, configuration, and search for local Music Library
instead made it worse.
I am giving Sonos until the end of August and then am selling all of my stuff if this is not fixed by then. It’s essentially useless to me now.
Why pulled the working app off???????
Build a new one behind the screens !
Not sure what you mean? I had to start from scratch with the PC, complete rebuild of windows, so obviously the app went. I have reloaded the OLD app on the PC and it is fine except for the problem I mentioned above “my Music Library it installs it OK but now I have an individual ‘ALBUM’ entries for each track” The ALBUM selection on the ‘Select a Music Source’
You can see that instead of ONE entry for the album it has nine listed, i.e. each song. This is not how it was before I rebuilt the PC and downloaded the old app again.
I’m seeing this too. It’s caused by “Artist” metadata. You’ll see a duplicate entry for each *unique* “Artist” in the album.
Thank you for sharing. I’m on Mac OS so the Windows NAS drive isn’t usable for me, but the first link just is explaining that we’re more advanced and can’t just use the Music Folder button because of them stopping support for http: music links? I’m unclear here what my fix is, or if you’re sharing that with a “913” they’re saying my remote speaker won’t pull music from my desktop Mac any longer by design choice? Hope that’s not the correct read!
Hi @kcjohn00, the key takeaway is the old (pre-April 2024) mechanisms that permitted click-click-super-easy access to your local library music are no longer supported. The only supported mechanism is to use the native file sharing built into MacOS to share a directory over your network (at which point that shared directory looks the same as if it were on a NAS) and then add that Music Folder in Sonos.
Here is a Sonos article that outlines the process on a Mac …
So it is a bit more work than it was a few months ago, but plenty of users are successful in accessing their local library music from a Mac.
Hi @press250 , thanks for the reply, but unfortunately it doesn’t help. My local music is on a Synology NAS running DSM 7. I also have a Windows Desktop and Laptop with the latest Sonos Windows app on there. When I remove the Sonos app from my mobile device, shut it down and then reboot/reinstall it, as well as connecting to the speakers in my system, I would expect it to pick up the same local library configuration as in the PC & Laptop. It doesn’t. If I manually add the music library into my Android app with the same settings as the PC & Laptop, whenever I tap any of the music library options (Artists, Albums, Folders…) the mobile app always shows the message “Something went wrong”. The Android mobile app (running on Android 14) does not work with my NAS (min SMB 2).
Our Android app is now on version 80.07.05-release+20240825.fd7bb7c. No progress with regards to our music library, though. It hasn't shown up yet in that app version. Playlists are still not available on the home screen, either.
Opening the app can result in anything between showing the correct status of our devices to not recognising our system at all and asking us to "get connected". It's as if no configuration information is retained between app runs.
The Windows controller app was updated recently, too. Luckily it still works fine and recognises our music library and plays our Sonos playlists.
We're getting increasingly worried that this is already the end of the line for the Android app, and that it won't get any better and further than this. We're dreading the day when the Windows app is upgraded to this new platform or discontinued, and we lose access to our music library and playlists forever.
Despite all the explanations and apologies from Sonos we just don't understand what's so difficult adding support for an SMB file share and playlists to this new app design. Is this because it's being developed with a tool or programming language that lacks support for these protocols? Is it lack of knowledge or experience by the developers? And why does the Android app not remember the configuration and network settings between app runs? How can this have gone so wrong and gotten so bad?
The local music library is still hopelessly screwed up. Mine is on a Synology NAS, where it is always been, and is properly set up as SMB 3.
The music library regularly disappears from the iOS app. Sometimes it will reappear on its own, but that is rare. It usually sticks around for a day or two, then I have to re-add it to get it to come back.
Indexing in the new app is ridiculously slow compared to the old S2 app and the S1 app. Sometimes when I re-add the music library, it seems that the system knows about its existence or somehow reconnects with its original database as the indexing is lightning fast.
As with everyone else, compilations don’t index correctly. I get individual albums for all the tracks if I’m lucky. Sometimes these individual tracks will play, but most often they won’t. Most of the time the compilations (including orchestral albums which often have different composers, or conductors, or sometimes different orchestras) have multiple album entries comprised of one track each. All of the entries have the same track. If they play (which they usually don’t), all of the single tracks in the multiple albums show that they are all playing simultaneously.
These are repeatable results. Happens every time I have to re-add the library and the albums & tracks that are screwed up are always screwed up in the exact same way. As a former software engineer, I know that this pattern indicates that the code, while flawed, is stable. There isn’t some random process that needs to be hunted down. The code just needs to be rewritten by someone competent. I also suspect that the database gets so corrupted by the flawed code that the system simply gives up on the database and asks that it be added again in an effort to reindex what is already there.
This certainly shouldn’t cost $30 million or more, unless one starts counting lost sales, carrying costs for inventory that isn’t selling, lost EBITA, and similar costs that aren’t tied directly to the recoding effort. Sonos claiming such inflated losses, while also complaining that they can’t reproduce the errors in their labs, is pure gaslighting. Spence needs to be fired, along with the head of software development and anyone else in the chain that created this mess.
@marner We're still stuck on the app version 80.06.04-release+20240801.4ae19ff. Our music library appeared only once in this app version, and we haven't seen it again for the last three weeks.
The app seems to recognise an existing playlist that we loaded into the queue of one of our speakers. It shows the playlist's name, and in the queue view it displays the songs with title and contributing artist(s), not album artist (which could be the reason for the messed up indexing), and no album art, either.
We're still using the Windows app to manage everything. The Android app is only good for pausing and resuming playback, and adjusting volume.
@JAB73 - thanks for pointing me to this, I had missed it. I sincerely hope they mean this July as following the “surreptitious“ update of the software on my speakers the only (mobile) access to my music has been removed despite me not updating the app that previously allowed it
Rumours are the update might be next week, but like everything, we shall have to wait and see what happens.
