Updates removed my local music library and now I get Error code 913

This customer complaint site may not be monitored by people who have the ability to make the corrections we need. I recommend people USPS write the CEO about their problem like I have. His name and address is below.

Patric Spence

Chief Executive Officer

Sonos Corporation Inc.

614 Chapala Street

Santa Barbara, CA 93101

BTW, the internet says that his annual Sonos income is $5+M. 

This obviously is a hot steaming stinking mess. 

I definitely got the sense the basic customer service agents are there to take abuse, let you vent your frustration, apologize, and say we are working on it, not much more.  
 

I’m sure the CEO is aware of the discontent but he is referring to it as a vocal 1%.  He is doubling down that this is a great app with a few growing pains.  In my experience that means his people told him not to put out the app till it was ready but he overruled them and now feels he can’t back down.  He can’t throw anyone under the bus because he is the one who decided to drive the bus off the cliff over the objections of his people.  
 

My guess is his plan is to ride out the app storm and hope the headphone sales numbers are good.  If the headphone numbers are good he tells the board of directors he saved the company and downplays any app complaints.  The reality is the complaints will eventually end.  Might be because people gave up but he can still present lower complaint numbers that they fixed everybody’s problems.  He will spin (lie) it was a rough app start that they quickly responded to and fixed.  He is already claiming 99% of the people love the app, so he obviously has no problems lying.  So me and people like me have soured on Sonos but how that translates in to lost future sales is hard to quantify.  A CEO who can fool the board with some smoke and mirrors can survive, especially noting most boards are CEO friendly if not actual friends of the CEO.  
 

So in my opinion telling the CEO is effective if he isn’t aware of the problem but not effective if he is the problem, and I think he is the problem.  Need to write the chairman of the board if my premise is correct.  

I was also angry, but thanks for PaulRB371, I tried the method to allow Music Folder permission and it worked!

 

Please right-click on the Music Folder > Properties > Advanced Sharing > Add Sonos Wireless HiFi System to Read/Write:

 

This is so stupid but it worked, i already been there setting it to “all”  so i was sure it would work, but instead your have to chose the sonos wireless option…but thx. it worked!

What a poor performance by Sonos.  Here is a cheap workaround.

Step 1 - Go on amazon and purchase a bluetooth reciever.  They are not expensive and there are many choices.  When it comes, go to your stereo cabinet and unplug the RCA plugs from your Sonos Port or Connect and plug them into the bluetooth device.  Unplug your Sonos Port or Connect and plug in the Bluetooth device.  Pair it with your iPhone or iPad and proceed to play your music through your stereo.

Step 2 - optional.  Take your Sonos device to goodwill and drop it off or alternatively stick it in a closet and periodically look at the internet comments to see if they ever fix the problem.

Ken 354, your suggestion for people to write the chairman of the board of directors is excellent. Thank you. Below is his name and address.

Julius Genachowski

Chairman Board of Directors

Sonos Corporation Inc.

614 Chapala Street

Santa Barbara, CA 93101

I seem by accident to have found an easy workaround. I have a Sonos Roam normally used outside in the garden. My music is stored in my iMac music folder. If I switch on the Roam and play anything in my music folder library by ticking the Airplay box in Music, I can play anything… albums, songs, playlists etc on the Roam without using the useless Sonos app.

But i then discovered that my other Sonos speakers were also playing the same music as the Roam because at some point in the past I’d grouped a couple of them with the Roam. And I discovered that the useless Sonos app on my iPhone does actually correctly indicate what I’m playing.

 So now I’ve completed grouping all speakers (using the Sonos app on my iPhone) and play anything everywhere directly from my own Library without it being added to the Sonos app … for which we wait with bated breath for Sonos to allow us to do.

it seems my Play One speakers even though old are compatible with Apple Airplay … which surprises me. I also get the occasional brief sound drop out while playing. Odd but not critical.
 

But I can’t see anyway of making them play music from library without first switching on the Roam. Anyone any idea how to do that ?

Terrible service from Sonos, They should bring back the old app now. There was nothing wrong with it. This update makes their products useless. It’s a disgrace. I can’t see any album artwork from my local library, basic features are missing and people can’t even play their music.

I did not read all posts, so maybe this is double.

For everyone who has this problem, and has his music on a Mac, here’s how I worked around it with a second (borrowed) Mac.

The thing I noticed in other posts of people with Windows machines who got everything working again, is that network access seems to possible. So I shared the folder that contained my music (not the standard Apple Music/iTunes folder, but I don’t think that should make a difference). I then created the same user account on the borrowed Mac as on my own machine. Logged into iCloud and everything, and installed the Sonos app. After installing that, it turned out that it had taken all preferences etc. from the Sonos app on my own Mac (the one with the music folder).

I then checked in Finder on the original machine what the path to my music folder was. That will normally be ‘your computer’s name>Users>your account name>Music>iTunes>iTunes Media’. In my case it was different, but you should still have a path that starts at your computer’s name. If you navigated to the folder with your music, but can’t see the path, hold the option key whilst clicking the last folder and you should see it in the bottom of your Finder window.

Now that you know the path, go to the Sonos app on your borrowed (or your own second) Mac, choose ‘manage>Music Library Settings, and click on the + to add a Networked Device. Then type the path to your own Mac containing your music, but with 2 backslashes in front, and backslashes where Finder showed you > arrows. So for most that path would be \\your computer’s name\Users>\your account name\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media.

The Sonos app on the second computer then should add the music folder, which can take a while (in my case 20 minutes for a 85GB folder over a 1GB network). After it is added, all Sonos apps in my network (on my own Mac, on my iPhone and my iPad) all updated to the new music library path, and I was able to play my own collection again.

Lastly I deleted the Sonos app, and then all my computer account info from the borrowed Mac.

It’s working, and hopefully will continue to work when Sonos rolls out an update… It’s a disgrace this happened, but I hope I can help some more ppl out.

I also found a way to listen to my Sonos speakers with files that were in my Sonos Windows Library.

The latest version of itunes works as a player.

Yes, the latest version of itunes with my windows computer communicates with my Sonos devices.

First, I copied all my music files from the hard drive on my computer to itunes.

Then, I clicked the small icon located top center leftish on itunes which allows me to see my Sonos speakers in a window.

I’m able to use the new crappy sonos app to group all speakers and adjust volume etc.

The itunes app also works to group all speakers and adjust volumes.

The SonoPhone app also works well as a controller.

One thing to keep in mind is that I’m using a Windows 11 computer and an iphone 13.

Not sure if other devices will work the same.

Updated by Tooting Jools: Update: I have found that my “iTunes Remote” app on my iPhone gives me full access to my music library in my W11 laptop via iTunes. So I have full access to my music on my laptop using my phone as a controller without using the Sonos app

I hope others are able to enjoy music again using their Sonos speakers.