Feature Request: Export and Import Sonos Playlists

  • 25 February 2013
  • 216 replies
  • 28928 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.

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216 replies

Userlevel 2
I've been working on my playlists recently which are mostly from my Deezer subscription.  I am concerned now that I have no way of backing them up!!

Sonos, please can we have this feature looked at?  This is another thread that is well over two years old with maybe 2 or 3 comments from Sonos staff.

@ryan. you are right. but the fact that the tool exists means that it isn't all that "tricky" to create, and the only question is why Sonos doesn't release it (even as a "use at your own risk" tool) after YEARS of users begging for something like this. Its just so uncharacteristic of SONOS, which is in every other way the best and most responsive company I've ever dealt with.
There is a viable (and easy) way to export Sonos paylist.

1) install mediamonkey (your Sonos should show up as a media server)
2) access "saved queue" under any of the sonos devices
3) select your sonos playlist
4) create a new playlist within mediamonkey (right click)
5) go to tools/scripts/export all playlists
6) go here: http://soundiiz.com/#/converter

you can't easily import your playlist back into a sonos playlist, but really since sonos is too **stoopid** to implement basic functionality, I would suggest just playing your songs in the sonos app from within one of the other services
I've been working on my playlists recently which are mostly from my Deezer subscription.  I am concerned now that I have no way of backing them up!!

Sonos, please can we have this feature looked at?  This is another thread that is well over two years old with maybe 2 or 3 comments from Sonos staff.

@Ryan, I don't buy all this talk of technical challenges, that simply is not the case. I can see froma simple network trace that your Sonos Desktop application is using a SOAP API and DIDL-Lite schema to communicate with the Sonos devices. If I browse my playlists and add/edit them I can see details of the tracks and locations being sent in the messages.

With a lot of effort I could no doubt build my own export/import solution but that would require me to learn about DIDL the Sonos SOAP API (which you do not publish) and replicate a lot of functionality that already exists in your desktop controller.

For your development team this should be a relatively trivial task. They have access to the existing code, should be familiar with how it functions and have the correct technology skills. If they really are struggling with such a simple task then I would be seriously worried.

Basic function for export. Use existing API to pull list of tracks, at a minimum this would include just the URI but ideally should also include the artist, album and track name. This can then be saved to a local backup file. The import will recreate the playlist based on the URIs. If the source location is no longer valid then the user should have an option to select a new location to search for the track.

Please don't make me write this myself! This is something you should provide and not expect your loyal customers to have to solve themselves.
Userlevel 3
Badge +2
I've been working on my playlists recently which are mostly from my Deezer subscription.  I am concerned now that I have no way of backing them up!!

Sonos, please can we have this feature looked at?  This is another thread that is well over two years old with maybe 2 or 3 comments from Sonos staff.

@Ryan

I too am surprised at Sonos's attitude.

I have 9 Sonos speakers, and have recommended Sonos very many times.

Your words "only works on certain versions of the software" are interesting, why not rewrite to be compatible with Version 5.4 onwards?

This really is a deal breaker for many people, and once a potential customer has bought alternate kit they are probably lost to Sonos for ever.

NJSS
There is a viable (and easy) way to export Sonos paylist.

1) install mediamonkey (your Sonos should show up as a media server)
2) access "saved queue" under any of the sonos devices
3) select your sonos playlist
4) create a new playlist within mediamonkey (right click)
5) go to tools/scripts/export all playlists
6) go here: http://soundiiz.com/#/converter

you can't easily import your playlist back into a sonos playlist, but really since sonos is too **stoopid** to implement basic functionality, I would suggest just playing your songs in the sonos app from within one of the other services

Thanks for this. It does at least provide a way of backing up the titles and route to recreating anything lost in a disaster situation. I'd never heard of Soundiiz either and that looks very useful.
There is a viable (and easy) way to export Sonos paylist.

1) install mediamonkey (your Sonos should show up as a media server)
2) access "saved queue" under any of the sonos devices
3) select your sonos playlist
4) create a new playlist within mediamonkey (right click)
5) go to tools/scripts/export all playlists
6) go here: http://soundiiz.com/#/converter

you can't easily import your playlist back into a sonos playlist, but really since sonos is too **stoopid** to implement basic functionality, I would suggest just playing your songs in the sonos app from within one of the other services

I am mystified why this doesn't exist yet.  I can't even cut & paste the track list from within the Sonos app... why?!?!  I'm reduced to taking screenshots from within the app if I want a record of my Sonos playlist, dumbest thing ever.
There is a viable (and easy) way to export Sonos paylist.

1) install mediamonkey (your Sonos should show up as a media server)
2) access "saved queue" under any of the sonos devices
3) select your sonos playlist
4) create a new playlist within mediamonkey (right click)
5) go to tools/scripts/export all playlists
6) go here: http://soundiiz.com/#/converter

you can't easily import your playlist back into a sonos playlist, but really since sonos is too **stoopid** to implement basic functionality, I would suggest just playing your songs in the sonos app from within one of the other services

all my music is stored on google play, how can I get it to play a sonos playlist?

thanks,
Userlevel 2
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Surprised there has been no response from Sonos.....
Seams like this could be handled many different ways...

I'd be happy enough if you could export the playlist to a text file and re-import it.

Come on Sonos - listen to us!
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.
Now I too have lost 3 years of playlist compilations after inadvertently resetting the system, when trying to reconnect to my network. There also seems to be no way of, which I can see, of saving the queue to a Napster playlist. Does anyone know how that can be done?   
Userlevel 7
Badge +18
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.
It's a shame. 6 months ago I asked politely to be given an explanation why Sonos is not offering this basic option. And if they plan to, when they will. All I asked for is a 'yes' or 'no' and a timeframe. I've heard nothing since. As if they couldn't care less.
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.
2 years and no status assigned. Kind of makes the whole concept of status pretty pointless.
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
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.
We have a policy not to disclose timelines or roadmaps for development, but we have these Idea's set up so that we can get more feedback from our customers on what they'd like to see for the future. We're being careful not to assign statuses to Ideas that don't necessarily have a status set internally.

In other words, we don't want any Ideas that sit at Under Consideration for 2 years without a change, when we can't say much more about what we're planning for it. 

This is a good idea, and we've passed it to the development team as a suggestion, but we don't have any update to share on its status. As soon as there's news we'll let everyone know, but there isn't currently anything to share.
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.
Sonos may be forced to implement this option later this year under incoming European data protection regulations - the new regs include the right for consumers to transfer their data between services.
Userlevel 7
Badge +18
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.
@Ryan S.
Thanks for having this idea passed on to the development team and thanks for informing us about just that. I hope this idea/wish will make it into reality.
any update on this? is it possible to export playlists yet? 😞
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.
That Sonos statement sounds like a junior politician in training. Says absolutely nothing. I cannot believe that they still get away with this lack of export/import/backup functionality. Smell the coffee Sonos - the competition is coming.
Stony silence as usual. I think our strongest leverage will be as an earlier poster said, data laws. That should scare them into action.
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.
Interesting to observe how this discussion has turned from constructive and friendly 3 years (!) ago to rather harsh and unfriendly, and I can fully see why. We also have a holiday home, have now invested four weeks into perfecting about 5 different playlists, and now I am actually contemplating taking pictures of these lists as Sonos doesn't let me export them - how silly is that??

Neglecting key interests of customers, like Sonos obviously does by not allowing playlist exports (and by the most crappy Spotify interface, btw..) has never paid off. I can already see someone else doing a much better job at improving customer experience and grabbing market share from Sonos. Ignorance at work, hard to believe.
Badge +1
Maybe, at a minimum, Sonos needs to consider an opt-in setting to replicate the configuration content like Sonos Playlists to cloud based servers. They could be Sonos servers or third party cloud storage providers. There is already some kind of relationship between the Sonos components and Sonos servers.. if this relationship was extended to include configuration data, this would ensure the simplicity of the Sonos Experience. It could be a free service, or it could be a small fee subscription service. If Sonos doesn't want to roll their own servers for this, then how about just being able to sync the content (encapsulated as required) to Dropbox or some other cloud storage provider.

I think in this day, export and import to a local computer and trying to manage and protect that content locally is "old school". Cloud storage solves problems like this with ease, especially for those of us who are already streaming our content from the cloud.

Another value proposition of export to a cloud storage provider, is that it provides a "common interface store" to enable replication or sync of Sonos Playlists across households; for those of use that have multiple Sonos Networks/Households.


To add some fuel to the concern about losing playlists. It is my understanding that in a multi-component Sonos system that configuration content is distributed to all the components in the Household (Sonos Network). As such, in a multi-component system, if a component failed and was replaced, it would get the content like playlists from the other components in the household when it was re-added. BUT, in a single component system, like a Connect on a wired connection, if the component were to fail, everything would be lost. I have a configuration in exactly this situation: A single Connect on a wired Ethernet Connection with many playlists defined. If I had another Sonos component on that network I would be somewhat protected if the Connect failed, but if I don't what options are there: None.

in the interim, I'd just be happy with a report of what's "in there." Specifically and minimally per playlist, playlist name, tracks (artist, album, track name), and order.

From reading back through this thread and Ryan S's comments, I am sure that Sonos Development is working on this and want to make sure what they do is right for the Sonos Experience. I would like to add that with music service provider playlists and Sonos playlists, it does get a little blurry as to where one should be creating playlists. One of the great features about Sonos is that it allows one to have a hybrid content playback experience from a single controller point of view and as such a Sonos Playlist can be constructed with tracks from various sources .. and that is a very powerful strength of the Sonos system. Of course with this comes some weaknesses, specifically this topic and another feature request I posted about having an icon to represent the source of the track in either playlists or the queue.


I think in this day, export and import to a local computer and trying to manage and protect that content locally is "old school". Cloud storage solves problems like this with ease, especially for those of us who are already streaming our content from the cloud.



Old school or not there are a lot of people who do not have a reliable persistent connection to the Internet and who will not buy products that require one. It is great to have cloud storage as an option but only if it is in addition to local backup and restore and not instead of it.
Stop dreaming Sonos will never let you access to your own playlists. This is their best defense against switchers.
There is a viable (and easy) way to export Sonos paylist.

1) install mediamonkey (your Sonos should show up as a media server)
2) access "saved queue" under any of the sonos devices
3) select your sonos playlist
4) create a new playlist within mediamonkey (right click)
5) go to tools/scripts/export all playlists
6) go here: http://soundiiz.com/#/converter

you can't easily import your playlist back into a sonos playlist, but really since sonos is too **stoopid** to implement basic functionality, I would suggest just playing your songs in the sonos app from within one of the other services


Anyone tested this? I am not able to place the exported xspf-Playlist into soundiiz converter window Playlist File, it says only "Chargement" and nothing happens. When tested with another xspf it works, difference I see is for example tag "creator" is missing in exported file from Sonos.
All I have wanted to do for the last few years is to be able to export Sonos playlists to a spreadsheet so that I can look for duplicates or gaps. Surely not so much to ask? The lack of that just makes me build playlists elsewhere. Surely not good long term for the Sonos business model?

Surprised there has been no response from Sonos.....
Seams like this could be handled many different ways...

I'd be happy enough if you could export the playlist to a text file and re-import it.

Come on Sonos - listen to us!

Userlevel 6
Badge +12
+1

I just assumed such a simple thing would be working flawlessly but it's not even there.
8-/
Get. on. it.

Backing up & restoring preferences are crucial Especially as I've added all these radio station streams manually & there is no way (I can see) to export or import them back in.

It took hours to put them in one.at.a.time.