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How to duplicate Favourites and Playlists from existing Sonos 1 to the new Sonos 2

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
May 25, 2021
10 replies
1120 views

I would like to buy a Roam but this only works with Sonos 2 and I have a Bridge and Play 5 that only work with Sonos 1 (I also have 2 x Play 3 and 1 x Play 1 which should work with Sonos 2).
Currently I have the Sonos 1 app running on my Win 10 PC and Android phone.
Router is BT Smart Hub (1).

My plan is to move the Play 5 to my workshop and leave it and the Bridge working with Sonos 1.
Then install Sonos 2 app on Win 10 PC and Android phone, then add the existing 2 x Play 3 and 1 x Play 1 plus a new Play 1 (to replace the Play 5) and new Roam to Sonos 2.
This means I will have a hybrid setup with both Sonos 1 (via Bridge) and Sonos 2 running on the same network

My questions are;
Is this setup feasible, will Sonos 1 (via Bridge) and 2 run on the same network?
Can I link the new Sonos 2 to the same music folders on my Win 10 PC as currently linked to the existing Sonos 1
I understand that the two systems will be completely separate so how can I duplicate my Favourites and Playlists from the existing Sonos 1 to the new Sonos 2, keeping them on the Sonos 1.

TIA - Martin

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Best answer by Ken_Griffiths

Seems sensible to upgrade your existing system as you mention and to start from fresh with the S1 App and the older components. It is a touch more complicated, but may save you some time. See the below suggested steps:

To do things easily, you are best to simply power off all your Sonos devices. Uncable the Bridge from your router and cable an S2 compatible speaker (eg Play:1) to the router in its place.
Power on just the S2 compatible speakers only at this point and they will appear in your S1 App. Then upgrade those and the Sonos Household to an S2 system, via ‘System/System Tools/System Compatibility Check’ and follow the onscreen instructions.
After the upgrade, I suggest you then goto ‘Settings/System/Network/Manage Networks/Update Networks” and add your WiFi credentials to all your S2 system devices. You can then uncable the wired product (Play:1) and all being well all these devices will run on your WiFi.
When all is working fine with your S2 App, you can go onto to reset the S1 Controller App in order to setup your separate S1 System, but see below…
This may prove to be the slightly tricky part, when going this chosen route, you may find that after you factory reset the Sonos Bridge and the old Play:5 to create your new S1 separate setup, that you may not be able to setup a new S1 Household until you have first removed the S2 App from your mobile controller, but my suggestion is to try it first and see. So if it doesn’t work, then remove the S2 App, before trying the new S1 setup again.
And finally… After you have setup the S1 System successfully, then reinstall the S2 App and on opening it, choose the option to connect to the "existing system” … you should be prompted to press the ‘join’ button on one of your S2 devices.

You should end up with an S2 system with all your existing services, settings, playlists etc; and a ‘new’ S1 system that you will the need to configure with your chosen services etc.

Hope that assists.

Ken_Griffiths

My questions are;
Is this setup feasible, will Sonos 1 (via Bridge) and 2 run on the same network?

Yes both will run on the same network and you can use the same Sonos account for both S1/S2 systems.

Can I link the new Sonos 2 to the same music folders on my Win 10 PC as currently linked to the existing Sonos 1

Yes just link the library in the S2 App as you do now in the S1 App

I understand that the two systems will be completely separate so how can I duplicate my Favourites and Playlists from the existing Sonos 1 to the new Sonos 2, keeping them on the Sonos 1.

TIA - Martin

I just manually setup my S2 App to ‘mirror’ my S1 App, but there are 3rd party tools online (apparently) that will export and import playlists etc between the two. I think they may come at a cost and personally speaking I found it easier to do it myself - it only needs to be done once and in my case just took an hour or two.

M

martingchapmanAuthor

Avid Contributor I

Ken,

Thanks for the swift and detailed reply, very helpful.

I don't really want to have to mirror the S1 to the S2 manually as this would take me some time.

On thinking more about this maybe I could upgrade the existing S1 and compatible items to S2 as I believe this will retain all the existing Play lists and Favourites.

I can then install the S1 app as a new network and connect the Bridge and Play 5 to it.

It seems the process, via the existing Android S1 app, is to first remove the Bridge and Play 5 (this will also reset these items to factory default condition). At this point the 2 x Play 3 and Play 1 will loose connection to the S1 app as they are currently connected via the Bridge. I assume I should then connect the 2 x Play 3 and Play 1 to the S1 app wirelessly via the BT Smart Hub. Then I can upgrade the S1 app to S2 which will also upgrade the 2 x Play 3 and play 1 to S2.

Is the above approach correct?

Having deleted the Bridge, will I be able to connect the 2 x Play 3 and Play 1 to the BT Smart Hub wirelessly (remember they were connected via the Bridge) without having to reset them back to factory defaults (which I assume would erase any Play Lists and Favourites).

TIA - Martin.

Ken_GriffithsAnswer

Seems sensible to upgrade your existing system as you mention and to start from fresh with the S1 App and the older components. It is a touch more complicated, but may save you some time. See the below suggested steps:

To do things easily, you are best to simply power off all your Sonos devices. Uncable the Bridge from your router and cable an S2 compatible speaker (eg Play:1) to the router in its place.
Power on just the S2 compatible speakers only at this point and they will appear in your S1 App. Then upgrade those and the Sonos Household to an S2 system, via ‘System/System Tools/System Compatibility Check’ and follow the onscreen instructions.
After the upgrade, I suggest you then goto ‘Settings/System/Network/Manage Networks/Update Networks” and add your WiFi credentials to all your S2 system devices. You can then uncable the wired product (Play:1) and all being well all these devices will run on your WiFi.
When all is working fine with your S2 App, you can go onto to reset the S1 Controller App in order to setup your separate S1 System, but see below…
This may prove to be the slightly tricky part, when going this chosen route, you may find that after you factory reset the Sonos Bridge and the old Play:5 to create your new S1 separate setup, that you may not be able to setup a new S1 Household until you have first removed the S2 App from your mobile controller, but my suggestion is to try it first and see. So if it doesn’t work, then remove the S2 App, before trying the new S1 setup again.
And finally… After you have setup the S1 System successfully, then reinstall the S2 App and on opening it, choose the option to connect to the "existing system” … you should be prompted to press the ‘join’ button on one of your S2 devices.

You should end up with an S2 system with all your existing services, settings, playlists etc; and a ‘new’ S1 system that you will the need to configure with your chosen services etc.

Hope that assists.

M

martingchapmanAuthor

Avid Contributor I

Ken,

Thanks again for the swift and detailed response, appreciate you taking the time to detail a suitable upgrade process for me.

All the above makes sense and I will give it a try in a few days when I have more time.

A couple more questions if I may (hopefully the last).

Is it the case that a copy of all the Play Lists and Favourites are held in each speaker and the App just provides a GUI to manage and synchronise the system.

If this is the case, I assume connecting one of the existing speakers directly to the router by cable is the best way to ensure that the App can access at least one speaker and the stored Play Lists and Favourites, which it can then synchronise with all the others once they connect via wireless.

Thanks also for the tips regards setting up a new S1 network. I am tending to think now that I would be better off not to bother with this and try and sell on the Play 5 and Bridge, may have some value to anyone sticking with an S1 system.

Thanks again for your help - Martin.

J

John B

Hi. My memory has gone slightly hazy on this, but when i split my system I used the ‘compatibility checker tool’ in the app to lead me through the upgrade. I ended up with my playlists and favourites in S2, but had to factory reset and set up a new system to leave my Connect in S1, and so lost the playlists etc there.

I think it is going to be difficult, if not impossible, to duplicate everything across S1 and S2, but I could be wrong.

I think your instinct not to bother with this is a good one. The Bridge is now old tech and may not last much longer. The Five’s sound quality is significantly better than the Play:5 gen1 and it is far more future proof. I would take advantage of the 30% discount, get what you can for the gen 1 on eBay, and enjoy a fully integrated sound system for the next X years.

(I only kept my Connect separate because I never group my hifi with other speakers and don’t make much use of playlists.)

Ken_Griffiths

@martingchapman,

You are correct and as John mentions the setup you have now, (i.e. all the Music Services, Playlists, Favourites etc.) will all carry through from S1 to S2 during the compatibility upgrade route.

It’s entirely up-to you what you do with the older S1 devices, but just to quickly mention you could consider the Sonos upgrade offer, giving you a discount voucher for new Sonos products, before deciding what to do with those devices, they will still work after that upgrade, but if you do sell them on, to just let the buyer know you have used the offer. HTH

controlav

Lead Maestro

You can copy and play Sonos Playlists between S1 and S2 systems on the same network using my iOS app (see Profile). You can also Export Favorites, but (so far anyway) cannot Import those.

Author of the leading independent Sonos apps for Android, MacOS, iOS, Windows and Xbox.

S

sjw

Local Superstar

My nephew has managed to split his system into S1 and S2 so has lost all of his settings and Playlists from the remaining S1 system (for reasons still only known to Sonos).

However, he does use iOS.

@controlav , is your App called Phonos? I assume it’s from the App store - I can see that the description mentions an upgraded version for playing full Playlists. Is the ability to transfer the S2 Playlists back to S1 in the basic version? If not, what is the cost?

Thanks (still hoping for an Android version :-)).

controlav

Lead Maestro

My nephew has managed to split his system into S1 and S2 so has lost all of his settings and Playlists from the remaining S1 system (for reasons still only known to Sonos).

However, he does use iOS.

@controlav, is your App called Phonos? I assume it’s from the App store - I can see that the description mentions an upgraded version for playing full Playlists. Is the ability to transfer the S2 Playlists back to S1 in the basic version? If not, what is the cost?

Thanks (still hoping for an Android version :-)).

Yes that is the one. Playing between S1 and S2 systems does require the one-time payment of $0.99

I have started on an Android version but progress is slow, don’t hold your breath.

Author of the leading independent Sonos apps for Android, MacOS, iOS, Windows and Xbox.

S

sjw

Local Superstar

Cheers. So transferring Playlists is free in the iOS App.

Android version is certainly something I'd have - and pay for. 👍

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