Why have I have lost access to my music library on both Sonos S1 and S2 products?

J
Userlevel 2

I lost access to my music library (on my Mac Mini) after 7pm tonight - it appeared to coincide with an update on our MacBook (that I couldn’t avoid).

I have now lost access to my Music Library on both my S1 and S2 products - anyone know why that might be?

These are the messages I get:

S1

‘// Jamess-Mac-Mini/Music’ is no longer available. The device where the music files are stored may not be powered on, or the path my have changed.
Go to settings>System>Music Library>Music Library Setup to check the path.

The only options I get are to add/delete a music library

S2

Sonos was unable to add the music folder

Unable to add the shared folder “James-Mac-mini/Music” to your Music Library (913)

As I said, all was working until around 7pm tonight, then everything stopped. So disappointed.

 

 

58 replies

D
Userlevel 1

I have had the same issue.  Anxious to regain access to my Music Library on my Mac.

J
Userlevel 2

I have come to realise it’s not just me or something I’ve inadvertantly done - more the result of a deliberate decision on the part of Sonos, coupled with their staggeringly poor recent App update. 
 

I just do not understand the thinking behind either…

D
Userlevel 1

Hope they fix it soon or all 10 pieces of it will be on eBay..

J
Userlevel 2

I hear that, and have been considering what to do as well. What a shame…

D
Userlevel 1

I have to believe they're going to fix it.  I called support three times yesterday, morning, afternoon and evening.  First was a 60 minute wait, second was 65 third was 80.  

M
Userlevel 1
Badge

You are not alone. I lost my music library last night. To try to get it back, I updated my Sonos ios app and spent a chunk of this morning discovering the “updated” app doesn’t manage your music library. Sonos says it eventually will but you have to use the desktop app to do that for now. I went to my desktop, had to update the Sonos Controller, tried adding my NAS to the music library and am getting the same path “is no longer available” error that you are despite the fact that my NAS is powered on and accessible. I wish I had an answer for you. I will add that I thought this might be an SMB issue, having recently received a notification from Sonos that SMB1 would cease to be supported for NAS access in the future. I tried changing my NAS settings to use SMB2 exclusively in the hopes this might help. Unfortunately, no luck. I do hope Sonos does something about this soon as it is really annoying.

S
Userlevel 3
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“Listening to music” feature will be restored in a future update.

Until then we kindly ask you to instead listen to the deafening silence from SONOS regarding this debacle.

Ken_Griffiths

If you search online for SMBv1 or http library shares and their vulnerabilities, you will likely see why it’s not being supported in the new Sonos App. Microsoft haven’t included it Windows 11 too - it’s considered to be a security risk and so these things do help to encourage users to step-up to SMBv2.

Heres one link regarding SMBv1 security risks…

https://www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/smb-protocol-explained-understanding-its-security-risks-and-best-practices

I don’t personally know MAC OS very well, but I assume it’s a simple settings change to setup an SMBv2 shared drive. The instructions are probably online somewhere to make the changes required, or perhaps check YouTube. 

The guide for Windows PC’s are available posted HERE…but I’ve not seen a similar post for Mac computers at the moment.

NAS box shares are usually quickly configured by a drop-down selection of SMBv2/v3 in their configuration settings.

P
Userlevel 3

I have spent hundreds of pounds to have Sonos speakers all around the house, purely to play music from the large library on my Windows Desktop (all ripped from CD’s that I bought).  This has disappeared completely from the Sonos App, making my investment a complete waste.  Any lawyers out there? Surely the basis for a massive Class Action suit! 

I was such a fan of Sonos, it worked beautifully (ok, a few glitches) & I used to recommend to everyone. 

Why on earth would they do this?

Ken_Griffiths

I have spent hundreds of pounds to have Sonos speakers all around the house, purely to play music from the large library on my Windows Desktop (all ripped from CD’s that I bought).  This has disappeared completely from the Sonos App, making my investment a complete waste.  Any lawyers out there? Surely the basis for a massive Class Action suit! 

I was such a fan of Sonos, it worked beautifully (ok, a few glitches) & I used to recommend to everyone. 

Why on earth would they do this?

Well it’s probably not the case if you follow the instructions posted by the user @press250 in this link…

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-and-music-services-229131/adding-a-windows-smb-share-step-by-step-6892060

P
Userlevel 3

I hope you are kidding!  I didn’t buy Sonos speakers because I am a computer expert (though I am pretty efficient, having, more or less, kept up since the early days of IBM PC).  I just want to play my music through my expensive speakers, without hassle, as I have done for the last two years.

Ken_Griffiths

I hope you are kidding!  I didn’t buy Sonos speakers because I am a computer expert (though I am pretty efficient, having, more or less, kept up since the early days of IBM PC).  I just want to play my music through my expensive speakers, without hassle, as I have done for the last two years.

Computer Expert? - well, I’m certainly no Windows expert myself either, but @press250’s step-by-step guide (with pictures) couldn’t be any simpler. It’s nothing my young grandson couldn’t sort and personally speaking, it seems simple enough to me, but it’s each to their own, I guess.

I can’t see how it would be any more difficult than setting up an SMBv1 shared library. I use a NAS box myself and that can be far more difficult than anything outlined by the user @press250. If you’re struggling with it though, then maybe find a mate/colleague that can perhaps sort it for you. 

M
Userlevel 1
Badge

Thanks for the link to the file sharing guide. Unfortunately, and correct me if I am wrong, I think it only applies to creating a share on a computer that is on at the time you want to access the shared folder and not to shares on network attached storage. For clarity, I am using a NAS drive that is configured to use SMBv2 to store my music library and it is this drive and shared folder that the Sonos Windows desktop controller will not allow me to access. I will be taking this up with Sonos support next week and will post anything I find out. Thanks everyone.

Ken_Griffiths

Thanks for the link to the file sharing guide. Unfortunately, and correct me if I am wrong, I think it only applies to creating a share on a computer that is on at the time you want to access the shared folder and not to shares on network attached storage. For clarity, I am using a NAS drive that is configured to use SMBv2 to store my music library and it is this drive and shared folder that the Sonos Windows desktop controller will not allow me to access. I will be taking this up with Sonos support next week and will post anything I find out. Thanks everyone.

I’m using SMBv2 for my NAS shared library and that’s working okay, but in my case the library share has been setup a long time ago.. do the steps, in the below link, not work for you to setup the NAS share….

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/use-a-nas-drive-with-sonos

M
Userlevel 1
Badge

Thanks for this. These are the steps that I followed and everything works fine until the last step. After entering the path to the music library share on my NAS drive and clicking next, the controller spends about 5 minutes or so “thinking” before returning the “path is no longer available” error. I checked that the shared music library folder is accessible through Windows File Explorer when I get the error message in the Sonos controller app so I’m not sure why the Sonos app is having trouble finding the music files.

Ken_Griffiths

Thanks for this. These are the steps that I followed and everything works fine until the last step. After entering the path to the music library share on my NAS drive and clicking next, the controller spends about 5 minutes or so “thinking” before returning the “path is no longer available” error. I checked that the shared music library folder is accessible through Windows File Explorer when I get the error message in the Sonos controller app so I’m not sure why the Sonos app is having trouble finding the music files.

Is the network profile for your PC set to ‘Private’ rather than ‘Public’ see this link…

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/configure-windows-10-network-and-security-settings

J
Userlevel 2

If you search online for SMBv1 or http library shares and their vulnerabilities, you will likely see why it’s not being supported in the new Sonos App. Microsoft haven’t included it Windows 11 too - it’s considered to be a security risk and so these things do help to encourage users to step-up to SMBv2.

Heres one link regarding SMBv1 security risks…

https://www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/smb-protocol-explained-understanding-its-security-risks-and-best-practices

I don’t personally know MAC OS very well, but I assume it’s a simple settings change to setup an SMBv2 shared drive. The instructions are probably online somewhere to make the changes required, or perhaps check YouTube. 

The guide for Windows PC’s are available posted HERE…but I’ve not seen a similar post for Mac computers at the moment.

NAS box shares are usually quickly configured by a drop-down selection of SMBv2/v3 in their configuration settings.

Hi, not sure I understand how music on my Mac is a security risk…? Apologies for my ignorance!!!

Ken_Griffiths

Hi, not sure I understand how music on my Mac is a security risk…? Apologies for my ignorance!!!

See the link included in my post or do a search on SMB vulnerabilities and you may see the risks associated with the sharing protocol.

M
Userlevel 1
Badge

I checked network settings as per the suggestion above; my network is private and there was an entry to allow Sonos through the firewall. There were two entries for the Sonos controller and nothing for the Sonos library service. I uninstalled and reinstalled the most recent version of the Sonos controller and let it configure the firewall settings. For some reason, the list of allowed apps now has 2 Sonos controllers, 2 SonosLibraryServices and 1 Sonos Desktop controller. They are all checked off under the Private column in the firewall settings. I was still getting the same error. I tried creating a new share on the root of my NAS and copied my music library files to that share. When I try to add that path in my Sonos music library settings, I get the aforementioned path “is no longer available” error almost immediately. I have tried tweaking the SMB settings in my NAS (allow SMB signing, force SMB2, allow SMB1 or SMB2), all to no avail. I still have full access to all my music library files through Windows File Explorer. I am at a loss.

Ken_Griffiths

I checked network settings as per the suggestion above; my network is private and there was an entry to allow Sonos through the firewall. There were two entries for the Sonos controller and nothing for the Sonos library service. I uninstalled and reinstalled the most recent version of the Sonos controller and let it configure the firewall settings. For some reason, the list of allowed apps now has 2 Sonos controllers, 2 SonosLibraryServices and 1 Sonos Desktop controller. They are all checked off under the Private column in the firewall settings. I was still getting the same error. I tried creating a new share on the root of my NAS and copied my music library files to that share. When I try to add that path in my Sonos music library settings, I get the aforementioned path “is no longer available” error almost immediately. I have tried tweaking the SMB settings in my NAS (allow SMB signing, force SMB2, allow SMB1 or SMB2), all to no avail. I still have full access to all my music library files through Windows File Explorer. I am at a loss.

I believe the Sonos Library Service is an http share, both that protocol and the SMBv1 protocol, are not viewable by the new Sonos App, but both should work for you using the desktop controller, once you have setup the share and indexed the library. 

B

I have spent hundreds of pounds to have Sonos speakers all around the house, purely to play music from the large library on my Windows Desktop (all ripped from CD’s that I bought).  This has disappeared completely from the Sonos App, making my investment a complete waste.  Any lawyers out there? Surely the basis for a massive Class Action suit! 

I was such a fan of Sonos, it worked beautifully (ok, a few glitches) & I used to recommend to everyone. 

Why on earth would they do this?

Fully agree with your comments. I'm in the same position.

M
Userlevel 1
Badge

Well, I tried calling technical support today about this issue and was informed it would be a 65 minute wait on hold. I am guessing Sonos must be really swamped dealing with the fallout from the recent “updates”. I didn’t bother waiting so I guess I will have to be patient and trust that Sonos is aware of the music library issue and is dealing with it. Hopefully there will be a patch that fixes this soon.

T

In my opinion Sonos has done this intentionally in order to collect a license fee from services like Amazon Music, Spotify, Plex and so forth.  By doing this they are FORCING their own clients to abbandon their paid for music collections and pay a monthly fee to streaming platforms.  Then the kick-back to Sonos occurs.

skullc
Userlevel 7
Badge +12

In my opinion Sonos has done this intentionally in order to collect a license fee from services like Amazon Music, Spotify, Plex and so forth.  By doing this they are FORCING their own clients to abbandon their paid for music collections and pay a monthly fee to streaming platforms.  Then the kick-back to Sonos occurs.

Thing is I am a streamer and I am not updating the app and am looking at replacing the system so it will backfire in other ways 

I stream play vinyl and I use my astell and kern player to play my digital music using line input 

what I find strange is they seemed to have moved everything to the cloud and they sold SVC as secure non cloud voice control unmonitored and unrecorded notso long ago

so what changed now you have to to change volume via the cloud and control your entire system and playlists on servers?

 

Network= livewire cpe pro 3 +eero 6 pro wireless
S
Userlevel 1

The Emperor’s New Clothes and the BBC TV sitcom “Yes Minister” come to mind.

I have been an early adopter of SONOS, initially purchasing Gen1 Play 5 and Play 3 as both stereo pairs, then play bar and sub and play1s. 

Extremely disappointed with SONOS when they tried to force purchases of GEN2 products by bricking GEN1 speakers. However on that occasion SONOS responded to customer dissatisfaction by reversing this and allowing GEN1 products to continue working.

Given the expense of SONOS products I would expect that they last at least as long as passive speakers from the days of analog/analogue tech. Not so. Both my Play3s have died and there is no direct or third party repair support from SONOS.

This latest S2 App failure and the failure of SONOS from the CEO down to acknowledge their customers in a respectful manner should be recognised honestly for what it is. SCAM is not too strong a word. 

I am not naive or as credulous as the SONOS CEO or Board seem to think their customers are. Nor am I ignorant of how corporations function. It is common for those who are appointed or promoted to senior positions of management to possess and display political skills, sycophantic and psychopathic qualities in equal measure to incompetence while deflecting blame for failure to those in the organisation with real technical expertise and intelligence whose advice is accepted in direct proportion with how they agree with or not with their employer’s decisions however flawed they may be. No one gets promoted by pointing out that the emperor has no clothes.

It would appear that the only course of action open to SONOS customer base present and future is the mounting of a Class Action. It is apparent that the CEO and Board are disingenuous when they claim that their primary reason d’être is to produce quality audio products and deliver exceptional customer experience. Clearly profit is driving this company above anything else to the extent that the business decisions result in a customer outcome equivalent to theft.

I can only recommend to family, friends and the general public to reject SONOS as a home audio solution and choose a manufacturer that demonstrates ethical behaviour in equal measure to technical proficiency.

It is courageous to admit when one is wrong, it is incompetent to pretend otherwise.

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