You cannot connect the Play:1 to a Mac.  It’s a networked speaker.  You can connect the Mac and Play:1 to your local network and then use the Sonos app to play from various sources, including music stored on the Mac.

Do you have a Sonos system set up?

Yes I have the system set up and working  - but it only lets me used it to play from Radio sources.

Where do you want it to play from?

If you want to play music files stored on your Mac, this should help

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/257?language=en_US

Well, what I would like is that it plays whatever comes out of the audio output of the Mac. Be that a YouTube video, an mp3, a game, or whatever it may be.

It cannot do that because it does not have the audio in jack needed to do that. And even if it did, there will be a sync issue caused by the 70millisecond delay in the play 1 putting out the sound, that may affect the experience for some of your use cases.

It’s the reason why Sonos has never advertised any of their speakers as computer speakers. There are some who have gone a slightly different route, as explained here. 

And there is no way to make Airplay work with the Play:1 ?

Isn’t there some sort of service that just takes the virtual audio port and turns it into a broadcast that Sonos can understand?

Or am I just describing airplay here.

No, the PLAY:1 was designed long before AirPlay was a standard, there is not any capable electronics  inside that can decode the signal. In order to use AirPlay, you would need a Sonos One, which was designed and manufactured much later. 

I think maybe the question in your title should have been asked before you bought the Play:1.

I got it for free, years ago. It was just laying around because back then I tried it out and found that it doesn’t do anything I would fine useful.

Figured, now, 8 years later, I’d try again to see if things have improved. Apparently they didn’t and it’s just useless to me. 

Too bad

I suggest you put it on eBay so that someone who understands what Sonos is can buy it and make use of it.  You might be surprised at what it will fetch.

good point!

alright, thanks guys

Unless your entire use case revolves around the computer, you will find the play 1 to be a very good way to play music from the likes of Spotify etc, of a sound quality that belies its size. As you must know, the likes of Spotify allow you to choose what you want to play, and when you want to play that.

It can also wirelessly play local music files from a server, if you prefer.

The thing is that the play 1 is too advanced for your use case if that case is tied to the sound card of the computer. There are many cheaper speakers out there that can do that better.

This is why it still commands a better price when sold as used than the typical home audio kit.