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Unknown playlist items

E

I recently uninstalled and re-installed the Sono desktop controller - the reason being is that the displayed playlist did not reflec the playlist I have setup in iTunes. Specifically I now have under imported playlists, 11 (eleven) instances of a playlist called “downloaded”. There is no such playlist setup in iTunes! The contents of these playlist include non-playable songs (“Unable to play, the saher does not exists”) Its is pointing to an old share which is no longer in use.

Is there anything I can do to solve this annoying problem?

Thanks

Ed

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Best answer by Corry P 23 February 2021, 12:06

Hi @Ed Schlatter 

Are you still having this problem? If so, I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team so they can remotely connect to your computer and fix this for you. 

If you want to take care of it yourself, you need to find a file in your music folder on your computer called "iTunes Music Library.xml" or “iTunes Library.xml” and rename it to have “.backup” at the end, then ask Sonos to update it’s music library.

When Apple changed from iTunes to the new Music app, they changed they way they save playlists too (no longer using this file). This resulted in Sonos being unable to import playlists. Now, the Sonos app reads Apple Music playlists and saves them in the file named above, so that when the speakers access the folder, they find the file and import playlists. Deleting or renaming the file forces the Sonos app to re-read the AM playlists and write them to a new copy of the file. As Apple Music no longer updates this file, yours might be out-of-date.

Please check Apple Music on your computer after making this change to make sure nothing has gone wrong with your playlists - if it has, undo the renaming of the file and get in touch with our technical support team. 

I hope this helps.

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13 replies

Annazel S
Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hello @Ed Schlatter.

Thanks for reaching out and welcome to the community! Let me see what I can do to help you.

Sonos imports your playlists from playlist files in your shared music folder. If some or all of your Imported Playlists are missing, it means Sonos wasn’t able to find or read your playlist files. 

You may see this article and follow the suggestions that will help you  find and add your missing playlists:

Imported playlists missing from the Sonos music library

 

Hopefully, that helps but if not, please submit a diagnostic report when it happens, I'd start by reviewing your system and see if there’s anything causing this issue.

 

Let us know how that goes.

 

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J

Hi. It may be annoying,  but I suspect Sonos is doing what it's been told to do . Check in the Music Library Setup to see what folder or folders are included in the Music Library, and which playlists they contain. 

Corry P
Userlevel 3
Badge +10

Hi @Ed Schlatter 

Are you still having this problem? If so, I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team so they can remotely connect to your computer and fix this for you. 

If you want to take care of it yourself, you need to find a file in your music folder on your computer called "iTunes Music Library.xml" or “iTunes Library.xml” and rename it to have “.backup” at the end, then ask Sonos to update it’s music library.

When Apple changed from iTunes to the new Music app, they changed they way they save playlists too (no longer using this file). This resulted in Sonos being unable to import playlists. Now, the Sonos app reads Apple Music playlists and saves them in the file named above, so that when the speakers access the folder, they find the file and import playlists. Deleting or renaming the file forces the Sonos app to re-read the AM playlists and write them to a new copy of the file. As Apple Music no longer updates this file, yours might be out-of-date.

Please check Apple Music on your computer after making this change to make sure nothing has gone wrong with your playlists - if it has, undo the renaming of the file and get in touch with our technical support team. 

I hope this helps.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
E

Hi Corry

 

Thanks for your suggestions which I followed to the letter….so far so good.

After updating the music library -which created a new xml - I noticed that as before I have in the list of imported playlists, 11 instances of a playlist “Downloaded”. Where does this playlist come from? I dont see such a playlist in iTunes.

Appreciate your help.

regards

Ed

 

Corry P
Userlevel 3
Badge +10

Hi @Ed Schlatter 

Thanks for trying that. How many paths do you have listed under Manage Music Library? Are there any old paths there that Apple Music doesn’t save downloaded tracks to? I assure you Sonos isn’t fabricating these Downloaded playlists, so there must be something somewhere. Is your music library in a non-standard location? If so, what is in the standard location? If there are any surplus itunes library xml files, rename or delete them.

I hope this helps.

 

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
E

Hi Corry

I did indeed found another (older) xml file in another drive. After deleting it, the problems really started!

My music library is located at G:MyMusic. I update the music library in Sonos but an XML was not created. I then went to “Music Library Settings” and noticed that it was pointing to the “wrong” directory my-PC\My Music. I scanned gain and it did find the library in the proper directory. After updating the library, again no XML has been created which means I can not see or access the library.

Any help is appreciated.

Regards

Ed

 

 

Corry P
Userlevel 3
Badge +10

Hi @Ed Schlatter 

At this point I really do recommend you get in touch with our technical support team. They will be able to remotely connect to your computer and investigate this for you.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
E

Corry,

I dont think that will be necessary. After my last mail to you, I uninstall and re-installed Sonos.

It did find my library and after the update I had my playlists - needless to say, as well as the numerous “Downloaded” playlist mentioned before. I search all my drives and found only one iTiunes Music LibraryXML - the one created by Sonos and stored in the proper directory. So it remains a mistery where they come from.

Though it is a nuisance, I can live with it.

Thanks for all your help.

Regards

Ed

 

Airgetlam

Sonos doesn’t create any library files on your computer. It only reads files that are stored there. The data is then stored on each Sonos device. 

Bruce
Corry P
Userlevel 3
Badge +10

Sonos doesn’t create any library files on your computer. It only reads files that are stored there. The data is then stored on each Sonos device. 

Until the advent of the iTunes app becoming the “Music” app, this was correct. As Sonos speakers try to import the playlists from the xml file which “Music" no longer creates, when you now index music, the Sonos App reads the “Music" app’s playlists (from where ever they are now stored) and writes the xml file in the shared folder so that when the speaker accesses the folder via network, it can find that xml file and import the playlists on it. This happens because the speakers cannot access the new location of where those playlists are stored. 

Removing this file can often fix problems with missing/extra playlists, but we recommend you rename the file instead of deleting it, in case you need to back-track.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
Airgetlam

Thank you for the correction, that’s an interesting change!

Bruce
Corry P
Userlevel 3
Badge +10

Thank you for the correction, that’s an interesting change!

 

No worries. Why Apple affected the change, I have no idea.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
Airgetlam

I’m sure it was to be annoying. Apple doesn’t like standards, unless they create them. 

Bruce

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