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Problems with Sonos Connecting to iTunes via Synology NAS

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
September 8, 2022
20 replies
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I’m dredging up what seems like an older topic, but one with conflicting answers out there--connecting Sonos to an iTunes database on a Sinology NAS.

A few months ago, my Sonos system stopped connecting to my iTunes database, hosted on a Synology NAS with their latest DSM software. I'm not sure if the problem started with an update to the Synology’s DSM, or something else. I deleted and re-added the library, but to no avail. It’s odd, the library indexes, but whenever I try to play a song it says that the file cannot be found.

I did some initial online research, and saw that there--at least previously--had been issues because Sonos would only work with SMB1. But then I saw other posts that suggested the problem had been solved.

Fast forward a few months, and I finally had the time today to call Synology support. After two calls, nothing solved, second tech said they’d call me back in five minutes but never did.

First tech had me change settings to permit SMB1 communications, despite dire warnings from my NAS saying that it was not secure. The tech said that it was necessary. Ended call when my library was indexing after being re-added.

But the problem didn’t resolve--same error.

Called again. Second tech took my information, looked up case, gave me same advice. When I said I had done all of that, the tech said they’d call me back because they were having technical difficulties, but then never did. Both techs were kind and helpful, but nothing solved.

So I’m here. Any advice on the current state of things? Should things work with SMB2/3? Do I have to go back to SMB1 and take some additional steps? But, if that’s the case, is it safe to run with SMB1?

Right now, I’ve reverted to my older settings (SMB2/3) because the protocol changes the techs suggested messed up my Time Machine backups to the NAS.

Thanks in advance--hopefully I can get this solved. I have an extensive lossless iTunes library; streaming doesn't cut it for me. If I have to revert to SMB1, that’s also noxious--in addition to potentially being insecure, it looks like I’d have to choose between streaming my music or doing time machine backups to my NAS.

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Best answer by Subarctic Crawdaddy

One more update...I took a close look at the “Music” folder on my NAS (where iTunes lived, and realized it has an odd structure. Beneath the “Music” folder lives “iTunes.” Within “iTunes” there, is an iTunes Library file and a number of subfolders--including a “Music” subfolder where most of my music lives.

But, on this same level, there’s also folders titled “iTunes Music” (which contains nothing) and “iTunes Media” (which has further suborders, including another “Music” folder with a handful of albums in it. I’m not really sure how or why iTunes (uh….I’m sorry, Apple Music now) created a folder structure like this, but it seems a mess.

Previously, I was pointing Sonos to the “iTunes” folder right beneath the top level “Music.” Except for the weird speed-bump yesterday (really not sure what was going on there...), this is where I was getting the library indexing buy the “not found” errors when trying to play the playlists.

So, just to mess around, I pointed Sonos to the “Music” sub folder folder right beneath the “iTunes” folder, which is where most of my music seems to live. That worked, in so much as I can now play all of the albums in that folder (the vast majority of them)--just without the imported iTunes playlists.

I’ve also double checked, and I was still able to play music on my iMac via iTunes (uh...sorry, Apple Music). I’m assuming I’ll also still, therefore, be able to move music to my iPhone.

Thoughts? Worst case, I can live with this--it will take me a little longer to find what I’m looking for on Sonos, but at least I have access to nearly all of my music. Ideally, I would like my imported playlists back, but I’ll survive without them if this is the best I can do.

Show previous replies

Airgetlam

Not that I could think of, offhand. It wasn’t clear from your first post which OS you were running on your Sonos system.

You’ve double checked that the file permissions on the folder are open?

Beyond that, I’d be asking Sonos what errors are showing up in the diagnostic, assuming you ran it within 10 minutes of attempting the library index.

Bruce

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Subarctic CrawdaddyAuthor

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Thanks. I should have made it clear that I was S2 in my initial post.

Permissions are all good…

My next step, until/unless Sonos gets back to me, is to try a new, single album folder--both on my NAS and on another external hard drive that I use. Hopefully I’ll have the time to give that a shot this weekend.

Airgetlam

Did you get in touch with the technical support team, as suggested by the Sonos rep above?

Bruce

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Subarctic CrawdaddyAuthor

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I did, I talked with tech support before I created this thread. The folks where nice, but they couldn't help me. The first tech signed off when we thought we had solved the problem, while my library was indexing--but it didn’t work. The second tech had to hang up because she had a bad connection, and I never got a call back. I filled out a response to an email survey saying I still needed assistance, but haven’t been contacted yet.

Creating new folders from scratch is the last thing I can come up with to try; I’ll contact them again if that doesn't solve the problem (or at least doesn’t provide any insight). Hopefully I can try it tomorrow or Sunday.

Ken_Griffiths

I did, I talked with tech support before I created this thread. The folks where nice, but they couldn't help me. The first tech signed off when we thought we had solved the problem, while my library was indexing--but it didn’t work. The second tech had to hang up because she had a bad connection, and I never got a call back. I filled out a response to an email survey saying I still needed assistance, but haven’t been contacted yet.

Creating new folders from scratch is the last thing I can come up with to try; I’ll contact them again if that doesn't solve the problem (or at least doesn’t provide any insight). Hopefully I can try it tomorrow or Sunday.

Do the settings mentioned in this thread perhaps help you - I think SMBv2 is being used in this instance min & max …

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Subarctic CrawdaddyAuthor

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Update...so, I created a new folder on my NAS, titled NAS Sonos, added a few albums--and it worked!

Something has to be wrong with the iTunes NAS folder. Maybe iTunes did something that messed with it? Not sure what it could be.

Anyhow, that’s progress at least!

Not sure what my next step is going to be, I need to think on it and would happily entertain any suggestions. Some ideas:

Copy over the iTunes folders to my external HD temporarily, nuke the iTunes folder on the NAS, and then copy it all back into a new folder. Cross fingers that this solves problem.
Move all of my iTunes music to the new NAS Sonos folder, then move the iTunes database to the external hard drive and keep iTunes located there (there is enough room). Nuke old iTunes folder on NAS. This keeps things separate, so there’s no potential interference with iTunes causing problem with Sonos. I would loose the imported iTunes playlists, but that’s not a big deal--I don't have many mixes, I almost always play straight up albums. This would also de-link the two music sets, but that’s not a huge deal for me either.
Keep iTunes where it is, and move copies of albums to the new NAS folder. Doubles up music on NAS, and begins to push the NAS on storage (I have a LOT of music). Still has other disadvantages of 2 above.
Keep everything exactly where it is and keep trying to solve the problem. Not sure what I’d try next though. I gave the exact same access permissions to the new folder that Sonos had to the iTunes folder, and no other settings on my NAS have been changed.

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Subarctic CrawdaddyAuthorAnswer

Trending Lyricist I

One more update...I took a close look at the “Music” folder on my NAS (where iTunes lived, and realized it has an odd structure. Beneath the “Music” folder lives “iTunes.” Within “iTunes” there, is an iTunes Library file and a number of subfolders--including a “Music” subfolder where most of my music lives.

But, on this same level, there’s also folders titled “iTunes Music” (which contains nothing) and “iTunes Media” (which has further suborders, including another “Music” folder with a handful of albums in it. I’m not really sure how or why iTunes (uh….I’m sorry, Apple Music now) created a folder structure like this, but it seems a mess.

Previously, I was pointing Sonos to the “iTunes” folder right beneath the top level “Music.” Except for the weird speed-bump yesterday (really not sure what was going on there...), this is where I was getting the library indexing buy the “not found” errors when trying to play the playlists.

So, just to mess around, I pointed Sonos to the “Music” sub folder folder right beneath the “iTunes” folder, which is where most of my music seems to live. That worked, in so much as I can now play all of the albums in that folder (the vast majority of them)--just without the imported iTunes playlists.

I’ve also double checked, and I was still able to play music on my iMac via iTunes (uh...sorry, Apple Music). I’m assuming I’ll also still, therefore, be able to move music to my iPhone.

Thoughts? Worst case, I can live with this--it will take me a little longer to find what I’m looking for on Sonos, but at least I have access to nearly all of my music. Ideally, I would like my imported playlists back, but I’ll survive without them if this is the best I can do.

Ken_Griffiths

@Subarctic Crawdaddy,

I assume there’s no rush here, so I would personally choose to be slightly cautious and opt for two separate steps, copy the library folders in small batches to the external HDD (as a separate backup) and then also move the folders to the new folder on the NAS and test all continue to work at various stages within the new shared folder on the NAS.

When all have each transferred to the external HDD and new NAS folder, and you’re happy the library is still working in Sonos, I would then delete the original (now empty) library folder, check that the drive is error free with whatever tools/software you have available to do that …and then (if you prefer) try renaming the new folder to the original/preferred folder name and see if it continues to work when you change all to that new path and have re-indexed the library. This might also get your playlists working again too.

The copy of the library stored on the external HDD will surely be helpful too, as a backup of any music library is always a good thing.

I have my own library backed up to another NAS and it is on a separate HDD which is lodged off-site at my Brothers Home, as I would hate to lose any of it, through disk failure, fire, theft etc.

Ken_Griffiths

@Subarctic Crawdaddy,

Note my last post was in reply to your earlier post about copying your music to the new NAS folder, but I see now from your later post, you have discovered you were pointing to the hierarchical ‘iTunes Music’ folder. rather than the actual ‘Music’ folder (containing your music library) within the iTunes library folder structure… so I assume you do not need to copy things to the new NAS folder now … but I would still perhaps go on later to consider making a backup of your library elsewhere, as one day you may find such a backup useful.

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Subarctic CrawdaddyAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

Thanks again, Ken, and everyone else. As an update, after two weeks everything is going well. Still have access to all of my music via searching albums and artists, just don’t have access to my iTunes (err, Apple Music) playlists.

It’s odd that this turned out not to be, neither a Sonos or Synology issue, but an Apple issue. Piecing together the history, this probably started when I updated my iTunes to the latest version after the latest Mac OS upgrade. Not sure why that mattered, everything has worked perfectly through years of various upgrades. My guess is that if, from the start, I had tried to play albums instead of playlists that it would have worked fine.,

It would be nice to have my playlists, but I’ll get by. I’m just happy I was able to get through this without either making a change to my NAS settings that crippled my Time Machine backups or having to move my music library to an external drive.

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