I had a party yesterday with my Sonos System...


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I had a birthday party at my house yesterday.

During the evening people asked me to put on music that was not in my free services choices. (You have to pay to listen to quality music on Sonos), so instead of subscribing again and again I decided to go to my computer and transfer all my music to folders on my smart phone (android galaxy s20 updated).

This is where the problem comes in... I open my Sonos app (because nothing works without it) and... it can't even find my music files.

Imagine that Sonos lists everything according to its taste and in its own way, so that it is impossible to find each other.

So I have 2 choices left according to Sonos APP, either press SONGS FOLDER and everything will play pell-mell or select manualy each song after the other on the thousands of useless folders that Sonos has created for me.

I tested on the SONOS PC version and everything works fine but not on the mobile app. But it was too late...(See screenshot) https://ibb.co/CQzrZDF

Here is the only way I found to work around this problem: I have to import my music folders from my computer and then I can access my personal music folders by going to the mobile app - Music Library - folders .If I want to find my folders transfered in the mobile apps (from this mobile device) NO folders are displayed.

If the SONOS programmers would offer us the ability to cast our PERSONAL music DIRECTLY from an SMART application like VLC PLAYER (like Google and others do) well, that would save us a lot of headaches. But no, it seems too complicated, why make it simple when you can make it complicated. Perhaps to encourage people to subscribe to paid services?

So needless to say that once again, it was Amazon Music app that saved the evening. I can tell you that to have a successful evening with Sonos equipment is quite an achievement!

What a shame.


12 replies

@Thewizard2000,

I don’t understand your post, why didn’t you just play the music stored in your PC library direct to your Sonos speakers using your mobile controller App? - there’s just no need to transfer anything to your mobile, given the setup you outline in your post - Here’s some screenshots from my local music library, none of the tracks are stored on our mobiles or tablets…

 

@Thewizard2000,

Perhaps this link will help you to setup access to your shared computer library:

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/257

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@Ken_Griffiths

why didn’t you just play the music stored in your PC library direct to your Sonos speakers using your mobile controller App? - there’s just no need to transfer anything to your mobile, given the setup you outline in your post - Here’s some screenshots from my local music library, none of the tracks are stored on our mobiles or tablets…

Ken, 

that's exactly what I did, I discovered this procedure recently today but I don't understand why it doesn't work with my music stored on my phone...

I didn't have time to figure out the reason for the problem, because my guests were at my house. Sonos is not user-friendly AT ALL, it's always complicated and in addition we should be able to cast directly from our other applications like VLC to avoid all these worries.

@Thewizard2000,
There are various ways to play your local music on Sonos - the link I posted earlier, is for playing any music library held on a MAC, PC or NAS box. 

This next link briefly outlines how to play the music stored on your Android mobile.

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3198

There are various other methods of course, like playing audio over Bluetooth, or Airplay, or perhaps over an analog line-in connection, aswell as streaming/casting your audio over WiFi from a number of Apps in addition to the Sonos App, but some things can depend on the Sonos products you have available in your Sonos Household and the types of controller in use. 

Many regular users here, probably don’t find Sonos all that difficult based on familiarity and experience, but like many computerised smart-home multiroom audio systems these days, there is a bit of a learning curve when starting out, but it’s perhaps a case of reading a few of the support documents and/or watching the various support videos available online and via the community support pages here.

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@Ken_Griffiths

 

This next link briefly outlines how to play the music stored on your Android mobile.

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3198

It is not a complicated procedure. It involves three steps:

  1. Open the Sonos app for Android.
  2. From the  Browse tab, tap This Mobile Device.
  3. Choose the music you want to play.

 As I explained to you in previous messages, it does not work to find my music folders.

 

There are various other methods of course, like playing audio over Bluetooth

Bluethoot have a very low range of sound quality and not always stable comparatively to wifi streaming. Also i’m not sure that Bluethooth works for multi-rooms.

 

or Airplay,

As I told you earlier Sonos puts us at the mercy of its paid services for the AirPlay service. If we want to play our personal music Sonos App does not find our folders except on the computer and does not allow us to use AirPlay in all of our streaming apps. ChromeCast is User-Friendly, not Sonos with whom you have to pay.

 

 or perhaps over an analog line-in connection,

The analog line should not constitute a solution to circumvent an existing problem. The analog line is there as a courtesy and convenience.

Sonos' goal is to have a wireless system. The goal is to be able to walk around the house while having permanent access to the sound system. If my phone is wired, the interest of the Sonos system is gone.

 

but some things can depend on the Sonos products you have available in your Sonos Household 

All my sonos products are 3th generation.

 

there is a bit of a learning curve when starting out

I've had my products for 2 years, so I spent 2 years testing them and I can conclude that they are simply not user-friendly. Things are what they are.

 

You seem to have a remarkable talent for misunderstanding what is said to you. And for aggressive responses to those trying to help you.

You are of course entitled to your view that Sonos is difficult to use.

What is a 3rd generation Sonos product?

Did you look at the link @Ken_Griffiths posted for playing music stored on an Android device and did you confirm that you have the music stored in the right location?

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@Thewizard2000: In various other threads, you have bemoaned the lack of a multi-band graphics equaliser, the inability to play music at 120% volume, as well as the difficulty in controlling the system. You were going to sell your system and buy something different, as I recall. In your words 6 months ago: “

I'm going to sell all this to a youngster and I'm going to buy myself a real professional sound system.”

Is this latest concern the “final straw” for you? 

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@

Did you look at the link @Ken_Griffiths posted for playing music stored on an Android device and did you confirm that you have the music stored in the right location?

 

Yes, I just added a new music folder in the official folder named 'MUSIC' in android and nothing changed.

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@

Did you look at the link @Ken_Griffiths posted for playing music stored on an Android device and did you confirm that you have the music stored in the right location?

 

Yes, I just added a new music folder in the official folder named 'MUSIC' in android and nothing changed.

Exactly what sequence of steps are you taking? Please explain what you do and what error messages you receive. 

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@nik9669a

Hahaha no I didn't sell my system. In fact, sonos has great quality in sound and hardware quality. It is just at the level of the application and the functionality that there is a lack. I believe in the long-term potential of sonos.I managed to circumvent certain equalizer problems by setting the bass to +10 and the treble to +9. It just lacks updates in terms of connectivity to various applications. This should be universal for all applications such as TV channel applications (airplay) for those who do not have playbar with arc features.

Exactly what sequence of steps are you taking? Please explain what you do and what error messages you receive. 

I do not have any error messges. The folders just don't show up. It doesn't matter, I got around the problem by adding them directly to the library from my pc. But maybe an update on the application would be good for the future.

 

Happy easter to everyone.

Happy Easter to you too.

The Music folder needs to be directly in the root directory. (although that should be the case automatically).

In the APPs section of your Android device settings, does Sonos have Storage permission?

@Thewizard2000,

Well anyone who perhaps may have seen my past posts in the community here, will likely notice I almost always use iPhone/iPad to control my Sonos devices, but thought I would just dig out an old Android tablet from storage and charge it up to see if the copying of music folders onto the device would work for me. I first had to install the latest Sonos App on the tablet.

I then opted to install the ‘FE File Explorer’ App on the device and setup a network link to a Windows 10 PC, rather than cable the tablet to the PC.  Using FE I copied some music folders from the PC to the Android storage over the local network.

I then opened the Sonos App and went to the services tab, scrolled to ‘On this Mobile Device’ and the music folders appeared instantly... so it definitely works by following the instructions that the Sonos support document provides. It’s not exactly ‘rocket science’ to sort these things. Here’s a screenshot from the tablet taken a short time ago…

It’s definitely not difficult to do these things, but in my own case, I would sort the music and playlists long before any party was due to start anyway.

… and just to add, I hardly ever use the Android operating system, or the tablet for that matter. So if I am able to sort this, I think anyone familiar with how Android works, should be able to sort this.

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