So after 30 mins through chat and over an hour on phone with support, airplay is now working from my iphone, but still not iTunes or Apple Music from my Windows 11 aps.  Had to do a full system reset one by one to get it to work.  I’m thinking it might be an issue with either Itunes, Apple Music, or my PC.  Tried rebooting router and PC again, but no luck.  I guess phone is better than nothing.

I have been using Airplay from Apple Music for years and never had a problem until I added 2 Sonos Era  100s. They will not connect if I reboot everything they work for a few minutes and then lose connection. My Arc and Sub work fin, so I can only assume the firmware for the 100s needs rewriting

Rather than making an assumption, have you called Sonos Support directly to discuss it? Even if there is a firmware issue, wouldn’t it be better to let them know, and provide hard evidence that they could pass on to someone who needed to do this rewrite? Or if it happens to be a local issue, get it resolved so you can use AirPlay 2?

When you speak directly to the phone folks, they have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your network and Sonos system.

Hi Bruce tried calling twice   - both times I was 7th in the queue and after 10 mins I was still 7th. A couple of months ago it was 2 hours on the phone to get the Mac app to read my music library. It wasn’t possible until the app was updated. I don’t think I have ever owned anything this buggy. Whatever happened to “it just works”?

I’d have tried a router reboot aswell as the speakers, as Apple use their own version of mDNS for device discovery and it’s on the list of things to try when AirPlay doesn’t work on ANY brand of device, including their own HomePods. Here’s a list of things I put together from the Apple community…

• Restart all devices and try to AirPlay again
• Remove and reinstall the App being used for Airplay on the sending device
• Toggle off Bluetooth, or if already off, try turning it ‘on’ on the sending device
• Turn off Cellular Data for the sending App (if relevant).
• Disconnect from any other Bluetooth devices (like speakers)
• Connect to the same WiFi network access point
• Reset your network settings on your iDevice in Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings
• Disable ‘Private Address’ MAC Spoofing in the iOS Network connection 
• Disable WiFi calling.
• Update iOS, and speaker firmware/software
• Move your devices away from other electronics and closer to the main router
• Renew your devices DHCP lease via the router configuration pages or better still, reboot the router.
• Switch off any Security/VPN software installed on the sending (mobile) device

Theres also this I found from the Sonos community here…

1. Open the Sonos app
2. Go to Settings » System/Manage » About my System
3. Find the IP address of the Sonos device
4. Open a browser on a device connected to your local network
5. In the address bar, type http://hIP address of Sonos device]:1400/tools.htm (the whole thing should look something similar to this… “http://192.168.0.125:1400/tools.htm”. You may want to bookmark this page.
6. Click the “mDNS Announce” button at the bottom of the page.
7. You should see a simple page with nothing but “Success”. You can now close the web browser.
8. You should now see the Sonos device appear in the AirPlay list of devices to connect to.

Hope the above proves helpful.

Hi Ken

thanks for your advice - I tried all those things. 
The router said success for both devices. They were originally visible anyway to my Mac / iPhone / iPad just wouldn’t connect. Now they are not even visible to any device. The Arc is still fine and works as expected. However, also now on the Mac App I have lost access to my music library as well . The App said it required an update, but when I tried to do the update it just crashed - 3 times and then I gave up. So now I am back where I was just after buying these wretched speakers. Basically useless as all I want to do is listen to my music. 

Sounds like you ‘may’ have some intermittent mDNS/SSDP device discovery issues if your devices are not showing up in the Sonos App.

The original Sonos app used a wire protocol called SSDP (Simple Service Discovery Protocol) which is based on an IP multicast to the address 239.255.255.250. Sonos once stated that they found some networks in which IP multicast is not working, often because routers also use SSDP for their own purposes, and sometimes forget to pass the messages on to other network connected products, like Sonos, when they're done. So over time Sonos have provided a parallel (non-standard) implementation of SSDP over IP broadcast, which is typically not blocked by the majority of routers.

The SSDP protocol is mainly disused today on modern networks, replaced by a different protocol called (multicast) mDNS . The protocol is similar in nature (IP multicast), but is implemented by the iOS and Android operating systems as a service for apps, like Sonos, to use. 

Sonos’ initial thinking was that, as the "official" iOS and Android-implemented network device discovery protocol, it would be more robust than their home-grown SSDP implementation. 

However, just to be sure, Sonos decided to run BOTH protocols in parallel, as they have invested a lot in getting thousands of Home networks correctly configured for SSDP. An initial mistake was that there were some bugs in that parallel implementation. However it is under stall that this issue is now repaired, so the Sonos App should be trying to discover your speakers concurrently with each of a) SSDP, b) SSDP-tweaked-to-run-over-IP-broadcast, and c) the native iOS/Android implementation of mDNS.

Sonos state in this link that multicast device discovery with the new Sonos App is equal to or better than the previous S2 Sonos App - see this link:

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/the-new-sonos-app-and-future-feature-updates

Anyhow my thoughts are it’s perhaps either a router issue in your case (maybe a setting needs addressing to resolve the multicast discovery, or it could be something installed/running on your mobile device that’s getting in the way of the packet data, such as a VPN client, or blocker etc.

My suggestion is to to reproduce the issue(s) seen and then (if practicable) immediately submit a Sonos system diagnostic report from within the Sonos App, note it’s reference and contact/chat with Sonos Support Staff via this LINK and see what the Staff can perhaps suggest to help you to resolve the matter.

Thanks Ken - it looks like a long telephone call ahead.

I would maybe grab some screen captures or videos of what you see, when devices show and don’t show. Also when the Era’s do or do not Airplay and at those moments take a diagnostic report within the Sonos App. Maybe do a diagram outline of your network setup too in advance and then give Sonos Support a call. That should then hopefully help save you some time during the call.

I hope you get the matter resolved. It sounds frustrating, but hopefully the Sonos Staff will help you to solve the issues.

Thanks Ken - yes I have taken screen shots and sent them to support already.

Peeps just try to restart your router. This works for me advise from Sonos Support

Looking at all the comments on here, I have tried everything listed on here through my own research before calling support.  When I called support I spent over an hour on the phone with them doing resets with screen sharing.  We were finally able to get Airplay working from the iphone, but not my ipad or my computer or laptop using the itunes app or the apple music app.  At the end they said it must be a problem with my computer and my ipad.  I’m out of options at this point, I guess having it working from my phone is better than nothing, but I’m not adding any more Sono’s speakers.  I picked Sonos and the Era 100’s because they were compatible with Air play, so since Airplay isn’t working, I just purchased a JBL charge 5 and it works fine with Airplay from all devices.

Hi Rizzo780 
I have come to the conclusion that having already had 2 long telephone sessions with them that they don't know what the problems are.
The Airplay issue, I believe, is with the firmware on the Era 100 as my Arc works perfectly on Airplay and never drops out. So it is not an issue with my router,  computer, phones, or iPads as they try to suggest. I do not need/want to reboot my router and computer every time I might want to listen to something, not that that makes any difference.

The library issue - I need to use airplay as the Sonos app does not allow me to add my music library, so the app is only any good for playing random music from Amazon or Sonos Radio unless you pay a premium subscription. Over the years I have converted my 5000+ albums and this is what I want to listen to. The support did get it sort of working once but my playlists weren't available, but now the app just crashes if I try it.

I can confirm that I will not be buying anything else Sonos from a review I have just read, apparently many other people haven't bought Sonos because of these issues) - the sound is good, but a smart speaker that won't connect is pretty useless. I am currently sat listening to my music on a pair of 1970s JBL L122s powered by a 1980s Nad amp and it never misses a beat.

I am returning my speakers to the retailer as not fit for purpose so will let you know how that goes. NOW - which new JBL speakers shall I get with a WiiM?