music library after latest app update

With my original Sonos purchasing (starting 15yrs back) it was a wondrous experience. I seem to recollect plugging everything in, following the CLEAR instructions and ‘hey-presto’ networked music in any/all room(s) AND auto-indexing/updating of my music library ….. thousands of tracks from previously purchased CDs as well as numerous ‘digitised’ LPs. I was a Sonos convert 😍 and felt the cost to be well worth it for the ease/simplicity of use coupled with the speedy & friendly support for the odd occasion that something went wrong. Halcyon days indeed😎

HOWEVER …… I’ve now ‘lost’ the simple/speedy access to all MY music and instead I’m presented with 

“if SMB1 on the NAS you'll never see your library again. You need a file store which has smbv2/3 protocols installed” as well as “controller is V16.2 (build 79052294) ….  the App is Build 80.01.11-release+202450520.c129f372c” 🤔WTF?!

I’m not intending to ‘decry’ all the well intentioned help contained within these community forums but (message to Sonos) “what happened to the simple/clear plug’n’play system that I bought into?”😥 If i was a pioneering, techie and I hadn’t paid hundreds (if not thousands) of pounds for something that no longer seems to exist none of this would matter BUT ….. WTF!?!😝

These features should never have been removed in the first place. Appalling work from the developers. They should be ashamed. 

Me too. Feature removed?

SONOS has become pathetic. 

Not to nitpick, but they weren’t removed.  The app was a ground up rewrite, so they were left out.  No difference in the outcome, but a very different cause.

I’m at wits end now with this app. The only thing my current system is capable of doing is playing radio (indexing NAS and streaming don’t work). My system is playing radio as we speak and I went to turn it off but my app is telling me this! Really Sonos. Get this sorted if you’re listening. It can’t even do the basics. It’s a joke right and we’ll all wake up soon with our old system restored and we’ll be able to listen to our cherished lifelong music collections…….?

Think I’ve run into this issue today!.. Phoned the tech line which suggested 90 min wait.  Gave up and tried the online chat.  Well after almost 2 hours was told it needs tech person to help, and to the phone number with reference.

My music is on a Synology NAS, and from the logs can see that SMBv3 is being used by the Sonos players.  I can select music from my library using the Windows PC app, and it plays ok on the Sonos player.  I can then see the playing music in my Android app but cannot interact with it, cannot browse artist etc..  A shocking bit of test and integration on Sonos part here.

If your library is visible in the PC/Mac app, some users have found that resetting the Android/iOS app and then restarting and choosing “Connect to existing system" will make it show up on the mobile app.

Possible (but tedious) help for lost libraries as an interim until Sonos wake up from their slumber…..

I have been unable to get anyone to confirm if its the new app (80.whatever) or the the forced firmware upgrades the breaks the smbv1.  Fortunately when apple upgraded all my apps (thank you) I ignored the “your system needs upgrading” while I investigated, and so my firmware is still running 16.1.    If the firmware has been upgraded to 80.pileofcrap then this may not help, but it may be worth a try anyway as no-one has confirmed that.   

I have a very old NAS (from my first investment in Sonos in about 2006 when you HAD to have a music Library) and it cannot be upgraded.   So I am in the process of building a new one - I am not that upset about the demise of smbv1 support but am VERY upset that they only told us that AFTER upgrading….  

So to try and keep things running I first downloaded Sonophone and that once again saw my Library and artwork and restored all my playlists.   I then decided to buy a cheapish Android Tablet (as I am all IOS) and followed the instructions on this forum to use apkmirror to download the 16.1 android version of S2.   With that in place I now have my LIbrary accessible and working so I have some breathing space to build a new NAS. 

Hope that helps someone, I suspect the support team have as much of a clue about whats going on as we do.   But whatever anyone says allowing us to reinstall the old app (and firmware) - even if that involves a factory reset - is completely viable option.  and would give the dev team some breathing space - under the current pressure you know more will get broken than fixed.   Preventing a rollback (which should always be built into a release as a failsafe option) is purely a Management decision, and shows not only a complete lack of “courage’, but how little they care about their “ most loyal, longest tenured customers”……...

When this problem started, the first thing I did was install the prior version Android app via the APK website, but that didn’t help.  Still can’t see my Library.  Also, the Windows PC app can’t see my Library either.

So I think it’s safe to say that the firmware update to the hardware is indeed part of the problem

So I have no idea if this will work, but I have been wondering about this…… and if desperate may be worth a shot…    Be interesting if any Moderators or other experts can chime in as this is all theory….

If you have at least two or more speakers/components in your system, disconnect one of them from the exisiting system, and do a factory reset on it as outlined here, which looks like its up to date as it includes headphones (!!!)……..

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/reset-your-sonos-product

Then take your 16.1 android app, disconnect it from your original system, and set up a ‘new’ system with the reset speaker.   You may have to turn off the ‘old’ system so it doesnt see it, and possibly invent a new Sonos account or preferably dont have an account as it may try and force the upgrade.   I guess if it does that you could download the S1 app and according to the ‘world of sonos’ you should be able to connect a reset speaker to an S1 system.   But if you can get either a new S1 or S2 system working then see if you can access your library still, and check what firmware they then have.   You will have to reindex and Playlists will have gone (from the new one) as they are stored in the speakers, but if you can keep one on the old system and run Phonus Plus (controlav in these forums wrote that) that may save them (although only if they can see the old Library).   

Full disclaimer again, no idea if this would work, but if I had completely lost access to my library I would give it a shot (assuming you have 2 or more components in your system).   Ideally leave on speaker on the now useless system as if they do every figure it out then you may get your playlists back.  

And if this is all bollocks then I apologise for wasting your time, but in the absence of any kind of sense of urgency from Sonos in restoring our music I figured it might be worth a shot.   I think they are spending more time fire fighting than figuring out how easy it would be to let us roll back until they fix it.