Feature Request: Export and Import Sonos Playlists

  • 25 February 2013
  • 216 replies
  • 28931 views

Userlevel 4
Like many users, we use Sonos in two different houses. We have two NAS's of music that I'm planning on keeping synchronized with RSYNC. What doesn't sync or cant get exported are Sonos Playlists. It would be great to be able to ad-hoc export them and then to import them as well. Using the UPnP interface, I've noted a Java program that can export playlists, but importing them is a bit troublesome. It would be great to have this feature.

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

216 replies

Userlevel 2
I also have had a need for a backup of playlists. As after spending considerable time creating a number of playlists, I then had a need to do a factory reset. The results, which are now obvious, was the loss of months of playlist generation, If I had had an option of backing up the playlists and then restoring after the reset, it would have made the whole process far less stressful. My admiration for Sonos took a dent that day. Barry
Userlevel 1
I have also had to do a reset and bemoan the loss of my playlists. Sonos does it all so well, and I think the system is fantastically designed but this is letting us, the consumer, down on basic functionality. Rule 1 always have a back-up! Mick
Userlevel 1
What can I say that hasn't already been said, the only thing that lets Sonos down is the back up function,
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
And seems like an easy thing to implement to. I lost all mine a while back . . once I get to point I have a lot of them again and don't want to lose them . . I am going to take an old bridge I have I don't use anymore. Hard Reset it and add it to the system. Then unplug it and store it aside somewhere. Then if I ever need to start the system from scratch again I can just disconnect all my other devices and start the network again from that backup bridge.
Userlevel 2
Sonos already has this. They used it to allow me to backup my playlists when they were helping me with a problem. It is a simple file called PLAYLISTEXPORTER-PC.exe (though the 2012 version I have doesn't seem to work anymore, probably due to recent updates) and there is another called (you guessed it) PLAYLISTRESTORER.exe that restores the exported playlists to your Sonos unit. The point is that the support folks at Sonos use these tools all the time, so why not just release them?
Userlevel 1
Badge +1
This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled Import and export playlists. If you have 2 or more Sonos systems at different locations, it would
be so helpful and easy to export your playlists and import them at the different location. This would save a lot of time and is a big convenience.
Maybe a kind of syncing-option would be great as well !!
This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled I love my playlists - how do I backup/recover them. I've spent a lot of time making playlists. How do I back them up in case my PC dies. If they are backed up how would I recover them. All my music is already backed up.
+1
Export for backup purposes of course AND with a possibility to import them on iTunes when earing music on the road with an iPod. thanks.
This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled Export playlist from Sonos. It would be great to be able to export my Sonos playlist and then be able to re-import them again.  Two reasons why:
1. Backup of my playlists.  Some of the have taken a long time to perfect.
2. I recently moved my library from a PC to a NAS device.  That broke all of my playlists.  A simple export, search and replace and then re-import would have solved that problem.  Instead, I had to recreate them all manually 😞
Userlevel 2
Badge +2
Okay Team Sonos! That's a year we've been asking for the functionality of saving/exporting playlists - I think it's about time we were given an update on where this sits in your priorities.
Userlevel 1
Quote from Mike Lucas "I recently moved my library from a PC to a NAS device.  That broke all of my playlists".
Hadn't realised this broke the playlist.
Now there is another reason why this feature needs to be implemented.

Come-on Sonos, too many people have been asking for this. Get your great tech guys working on this as a matter or priority.

* SONOS is all about having a great way to listen to your music.
* Playlists are all about an individual's personal music preferences, and they become very treasured.
Not being able to save your playlist (or export them) is a huge missing feature to a premium product.
Badge
+1 for at least be able to export "sonos playlists"

In my case me, my wife and kids have made nice "Sonos Playlists" but there is no way (as far as i know) to export them in for example XML or M3U format to be able to use them on a MP3 player and/or phone for example.
+1

I lost all my playlists when I added a new Sonos component which became the main "bridge" for my setup...
I lost all my Playlists by moving my  Sonos parts to other Rooms during disconecting. It's a big mass.

Sonos -> Please be so kindly to start immediately to find a solution for that.

Even a full backup with restore function will help in the first step. (I'm sure, this functions exists in your development box, it's just not user ready.)

PS: Generally is the quality of the components and functions top. But without the posibilities to save his work, a lot of users are forced to switch to other components.

best regards
Peter
Userlevel 7
Badge +18
Please, please, add the possibility to save, import, export and edit Sonos playlists. Due to my own mistake I just lost a carefully constructed playlist by saving it as a playlist already present. My error, sure. But if I had the possibility of replacing it with a backup I wouldn't have had any problem at all.
Userlevel 2
time to stop begging. sonos doesn't answer this request. they have the tool to do this because their techs do it. They don't want you to have the tool and I don't know why. But years of asking has produced nothing so probably time to stop.
I was just told to add my voice to this conversation. I am switching NAS, I don't want to lose my playlists. Or should I just always make sure to only use Spotify?
Userlevel 1
Badge
For what it's worth, you can connect to the Sonos with Media Monkey (even the free version) and access the playlists. From there you can save the playlist as m3u. I had to use a text editor from there to do some formatting cleanup, but it did work. Also allowed me to see my duplicates in the listing and help organize it better. Makes for a decent solution for exporting from one Sonos to another, or backing up your playlists.
Unbelievable how Sonos can irritate their biggest fans! ... I stopped using sonos playlists all together and use Spotify to manage my playlists ... My biggest irritation is the arrogance of not even explaining why exporting/importing and sorting playlists are not being offered.
I guess once you've bought into their product line they have no reason to listen to you anymore. Although it does give you incentive to look at other options.
Userlevel 2
Medimonkey findet Sonos Playlisten unter Medienserver/Saved Queues. Diese kann ich markieren und mit Strg+E in eine Wiedergabeliste exportieren.

Diese exportierte Liste habe ich dann in Excel geöffnet, absteigend von a-Z sortiert und dann unter Daten die Duplikate entfernt.

Wie bekomme ich sie jetzt wieder in Sonos zurück?

l.G.

Frank
Userlevel 2
Badge +2
Have to say that Sonos is constantly updating the software, and offering people the opportunity to help improve it, and while I'm 100% behind the basic ability to export playlists, I'm very happy with the kit overall. I've taken to saving playlists to Spotify - not ideal, and I have to pay to do that. It's time we had an answer on this - there's obviously a reason they've not enabled it, maybe copyright? I really don't know... Come in mods - step in and give us a proper response - we know you're listening 😉
I agree. But that's why it is so odd that there is no official response to this. Most of the time if I have some small thing, customer support is quick and good. And really this doesn't seem like something that hard?
Userlevel 2
Badge +2
I'm with you Douwe! I assume that enabling the saving/export of playlists has some kind of knock-on affect that end-users are missing - it's all guesswork from our point of view isn't it? I lost all of my playlists last year - gutting.
Userlevel 2
As selzhanik mentioned, you CAN export sonos playlists. Mediamonkey is free and it can see your sonos playlists just as easily as it can see your music library. Just export them as m3u files to any folder on your computer that you like. You can even set mediamonkey to export them every night as a backup.