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Which Music folder to share/add to play local music library?

  • December 29, 2024
  • 4 replies
  • 153 views

Since the last update in mid-December I have lost access to my local music folder.  It was working for months and then when I tried to update it in Sonos because I added some music to my library it wouldn’t work.  I thought removing the library and re-adding it would help but I haven’t been able to add it using the path that used to work.  I keep getting a message that the music library is no longer available or may not have power, which doesn’t make sense since my library is on my iMac’s hard drive.  The path that used to work went to the iTunes folder (see image below) but when I read the latest instructions about adding a local music library it says to share/add the “Music” folder; however, I have three “Music” folders (see image below).  Which one am I supposed to share/add?  Thank you for any help.

 

 

Best answer by Corry P

Hi ​@SWeaver01 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

Sorry to hear of the issues you’ve been having with accessing your Music Library.

SWeaver01 wrote:

I keep getting a message that the music library is no longer available or may not have power, which doesn’t make sense since my library is on my iMac’s hard drive.

When you add a Music Folder, the speakers are trying to access it via the network (it is not the Sonos app that is trying to connect) and if it receives no response whatsoever, it will produce that error - it is only a guess. But, it does tell us that the issue is not that the computer is saying “no”.

I recommend that you pick the folder that I have marked in green, because the file that contains your iTunes playlists (underlined in green) is in that folder, and you want it included.

Does the folder you have marked as 3 (or it’s sub-folders) actually contain any music files? If not, it can probably be deleted safely, though I don’t recommend emptying your trash folder afterwards until you are sure that deleting it has not had any detrimental effect.

Note that the folder you add must be configured in macOS as a network shared folder, and you must use the 3rd option in the Sonos app (add a network share).

If you continue to struggle, I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and what it reports.

I hope this helps.

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4 replies

Corry P
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  • Sonos Staff
  • 8614 replies
  • Answer
  • December 30, 2024

Hi ​@SWeaver01 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

Sorry to hear of the issues you’ve been having with accessing your Music Library.

SWeaver01 wrote:

I keep getting a message that the music library is no longer available or may not have power, which doesn’t make sense since my library is on my iMac’s hard drive.

When you add a Music Folder, the speakers are trying to access it via the network (it is not the Sonos app that is trying to connect) and if it receives no response whatsoever, it will produce that error - it is only a guess. But, it does tell us that the issue is not that the computer is saying “no”.

I recommend that you pick the folder that I have marked in green, because the file that contains your iTunes playlists (underlined in green) is in that folder, and you want it included.

Does the folder you have marked as 3 (or it’s sub-folders) actually contain any music files? If not, it can probably be deleted safely, though I don’t recommend emptying your trash folder afterwards until you are sure that deleting it has not had any detrimental effect.

Note that the folder you add must be configured in macOS as a network shared folder, and you must use the 3rd option in the Sonos app (add a network share).

If you continue to struggle, I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and what it reports.

I hope this helps.


  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • 7 replies
  • December 31, 2024

Thank you ​@Corry P !

The iTunes Music Library.xml file was actually in the iTunes folder (not the iTunes Media folder) so I shared/added that one and it worked.  I couldn’t get the 3rd option in the Sonos desktop app to work so I tried adding it with the iPhone app and that is what worked.  Another thing I discovered was that I had to turn off all energy saving settings so my computer wouldn’t go to sleep during the scanning, which took over 3 hours (I have 25,000+ tracks).

Thanks again for your help!


  • Lyricist III
  • 7 replies
  • January 13, 2025

My local music library was mostly working lately, setting aside the insane number of duplicate entries when a song has multiple performers.  But last week a signficant chunk of my library vanished from Sonos when I tried to sync with my Apple Music/iTunes library.  At minimum, it looks like any artist associated with a new album that I added to Apple Music has been removed.  Has anyone else run into this new and latest issue with Sonos?

 


Corry P
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  • Sonos Staff
  • 8614 replies
  • January 14, 2025

Hi ​@marcabrown58 

Sorry to hear of this new issue you are having. I don’t recall hearing anyone report this particular issue before.

If another re-indexing does not help, I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and what it reports.

I hope this helps.


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