Sonos and Mac OS 10.15 Catalina

Again... Really? 

Catalinas music app does not generate .xml files at all. That’s the fundamental problem. iTunes did. 
I don’t want to appear rude, but making categorical statements as though you know about this doesn’t help when the advice provided is incorrect.

I agree with bowlerbrown

I have many fault reports with Sonos “support” it’s been a disappointing experience. Evasive, inaccurate, disingenuous, misleading and just plain rudeness characterise the responses. 

sonos … a practical lesson in buyer beware.
 

@Swindled  with the Music App (version 1.0.2.37) you can still export your music library (File->Library->Export Library) and playlists (File->Library->Export Playlist) manually. To be clear: these xml files are not handled correctly by the SONOS App (version 10.6). A workaround for this is discussed in another thread https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/apple-music-on-mac-os-catalina-exported-playlists-to-nas-6834549

My advice is based on own experience. It is not my intention to mislead people.

The Sonos players pull the same file from the old iTunes structure that this video shows, the ‘iTunes Music Library.xml’ file. If someone wanted to try to make the file manually, the steps in the video are the same, ignoring the part about the DJ app. The steps within the renamed iTunes app are the same.

The new Sonos controller for Mac will automatically create this playlist file when you create the music share, and the Sonos players will go to that location to grab the imported playlists.

There is currently a solution for this in the Sonos software, so the steps should be to remove any existing music shares in your Sonos app, and then use the latest Sonos software to create the music share. That should be all you need to do to get your imported playlists to come up. If that’s not working, our official advice would be to contact our support team directly and work with a technician. Most likely, any issues are unique to your specific computer or setup, and we can help sort that out. If something else does come up that’s a trend across other systems, we’d need the data from support calls to investigate what might be happening.

I am using my old Mac Mini as my music source, using Mojave OS.  Please let me know when it is safe to move on to Catalina.

There doesn’t appear to be any response to my recent posting from Ryan. Is this significant?

BowlerBrown wrote:

I’m sorry to be persistent but this Is important. Are you categorically saying that when I update my macOS to Catalina from Mojave, (as it is at present with everything working well with my iTunes library playing perfectly in the Sonos app, including imported iTunes playlists), nothing will change, with my library and imported iTunes playlists operating just as they have always done?

if you are saying this why do people like pomm4tous still say they have problems?

I would like to add that I am surprised that an international company appears to be dealing with this issue so unprofessionally.

Mac OS Catalina was released nearly 2 months ago. And yes I have posted half a dozen fault reports with zero outcome...eventually they start sending messages saying “We wanted to follow up and ensure that your case was resolved. If you need anything else, simply reply to this email and let us know that you need help” replies to this message are just ignored.

and for the folk blaming Apple....Sonos constantly put out undocumented software updates. Don't accept the update and the app doesn't work properly (or at all) and neither does your speaker. THERE IS NO STABLE ENVIRONMENT HERE. Sonos update whatever they want, whenever they want, and are happy to rely on the performance of other system platforms and the clients operating systems for their own livelihood - but they see nothing wrong with being in-compatible with those platforms....that ain't supported anymore. (Thanks for your money). Interesting thousands of other companies (yes thousands...just look at the Apple App Store) seem capable and motivated to support this OS.

Sonos have done this before … Sonos features get dumped and blaming Apple …   https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-software-228995/sonos-no-longer-support-ios-streaming-6826666  ...Poster who seeks support is strenuously attacked by ‘customers’ who have no need of the dumped feature ...nice. 

I took over $2000 of Sonos gear (Mint condition) to cash converters (not the best place to get the best price for anything...but if an item is popular you can get an ok price for it) ...thought I might get a few hundred for it....was offered $50 for the lot. Says it all. 

A bit of good news here. To recap the issue from a previous posting: After updating to macOS Catalina, the Sonos app on macOS and iOS no longer recognized my imported playlists from the Apple Music (formerly, iTunes) app. Despite assurances from Sonos that a Sonos app update would fix the problem, it didn’t work for me.

FYI that, in my situation, I store my entire Music library on an external drive. I have no music on the Mac internal drive.

After much great help from Ryan, Jason and Mike from Sonos, the problem (at least in my case), now is solved. Here is a summary of the solution.

1. You need to be running the most current versions of Catalina and Sonos.
2. You need to remove your music library (or libraries) from within the Sonos app by going to Manage > Manage Library Settings
3. Then, on your internal drive, you need to ensure you have a folder named iTunes, located in  ~\Music\iTunes. And yes, you need this even though iTunes no longer exists. (This, by the way, was the issue that affected me. I did not have this folder on my Mac.)
4. Now, go back to the Sonos app and re-add your music libraries in this sequence. First add your internal library (~\Music). You need to do this, even though (as in my case) you have no music stored on your internal drive.
5. Then, still within the Sonos app, re-add the music library from your external drive.
6. As this point, Sonos will index your music, and it will create an XML file within the ~\Music\iTunes folder. This is the file that holds your imported playlist info, which Sonos now will recognize.

If this helps anyone, please express thanks again to Ryan, Jason and Mike.

Seems like good news for you pomm4tous but have you any ideas what to do if your music library is not stored on external drive?

Thanks for sharing pomm4tous! An interesting addition about that specific file structure requirement. I’m sure the development team is looking into that, but for anyone who might still be having trouble, it’s a great step to try out.