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Avid Contributor I
June 4, 2024
Answered

Play:1 - Still useable for wifi and Airplay?

I used to use Sonos frequently (daily, for many years), but over the past 4 years or so, have been more and more frustrated and have gone through long periods without directly using the system because when I’d start to use it, I’d have to fix things first. That happened today with a Play:1.

I have several Play:1 devices in my system, which spans 2 buildings, each building with a different wifi network. Today I just wanted to play what was on my iPhone through my Play:1 while taking a break on my porch. But this Play:1 didn’t show up on my Airplay list. Some of my other Sonos devices did, including some One SL devices.

I tend to prefer to use ethernet for devices that don’t move around and the Play:1 was on ethernet, but that’s part of the same LAN my wifi covers. So I tried to enable wifi and the new app showed that wifi wasn’t working. I tried to update the network name and password, but there was no way, on the phone app, to update that information.

I went to my Mac and ran my Sonos app on it. It needed updating. Oh, wait - I remember this. I updated it and the same thing happened that happened repeatedly in the past: It had an error, couldn’t update, opened the old version of the program, then made me update it. Yeah, been through that loop, so I deleted it and downloaded the latest from Sonos, installed it, and had to update it again - this time it worked.

But in the Mac app and phone app, there’s no way to edit or update the wifi information for my Play:1. (Which I know I’ve bought in the past 4 years or so, back when I updated my Sonos network to replace older components. I also have removed my Play:3 components, which I had to find out, on my own, were no longer useable with Sonos.)

Does the Play:1 not work with wifi anymore? Can I use it with Airplay?

Honestly, I’m finding Sonos to be more and more work and less and less easy to use.

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Lead Maestro
June 4, 2024

The Play:1 still works on WiFi. Make sure you download today’s app update. It should allow you to update the WiFi credentials.

Also, the Play:1 isn’t compatible with AirPlay. Read more about AirPlay compatibility here:

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/stream-airplay-audio-to-sonos?

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi

11 replies

Lead Maestro
June 4, 2024

The Play:1 still works on WiFi. Make sure you download today’s app update. It should allow you to update the WiFi credentials.

Also, the Play:1 isn’t compatible with AirPlay. Read more about AirPlay compatibility here:

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/stream-airplay-audio-to-sonos?

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
TangoMeAuthor
Avid Contributor I
June 5, 2024

The Play:1 still works on WiFi. Make sure you download today’s app update. It should allow you to update the WiFi credentials.

Also, the Play:1 isn’t compatible with AirPlay. Read more about AirPlay compatibility here:

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/stream-airplay-audio-to-sonos?

I’m looking over my app now and noticing another player is listed as “One,” just that, “One,” and nothing else. I notice that it works with AirPlay. Is that model something that will be going obsolete soon?

Lead Maestro
June 5, 2024

The Play:1 still works on WiFi. Make sure you download today’s app update. It should allow you to update the WiFi credentials.

Also, the Play:1 isn’t compatible with AirPlay. Read more about AirPlay compatibility here:

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/stream-airplay-audio-to-sonos?

I’m looking over my app now and noticing another player is listed as “One,” just that, “One,” and nothing else. I notice that it works with AirPlay. Is that model something that will be going obsolete soon?

The One has been discontinued and replaced with the Era 100. But the One will not be “obsolete” anytime soon.

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
TangoMeAuthor
Avid Contributor I
June 5, 2024

Thanks - closely related, but this just occurred to me. I have a Playbar - looks like that won’t do Airplay, so I’m assuming it’s older and, like the One, discontinued, but not obsolete for a while. Am I right on that? I use this for home theater (and it’s really disappointing - that Playbar is not even 4 years old! - but the connection was always an issue, since it wouldn’t sync properly with my video on the TV). On that home theater system I have the Playbar, a Sub, a One SL and a One. (Bought those all at the same time from a reputable audio dealer - surprised I got a One and One SL, but it’s possible I lost track of the Ones and the SLs while setting things up in the building.)

Since the One and One SL will do airplay, and the Playbar won’t, I’m wondering if I could replace the One or One SL in the home theater system with my Play:1. All the speakers in that room are hardwired on ethernet, so there’s no wifi involved with that setup. Since the Playbar won’t do Airplay anyway, I figure if I can put the Play:1 in that setup, I won’t be losing any features and that will mean I can use a speaker with AirPlay compatibility on my porch, where the Play:1 is now.

is that possible and will the home theater setup lose anything in quality or features if I do that?

Lead Maestro
June 5, 2024

Thanks - closely related, but this just occurred to me. I have a Playbar - looks like that won’t do Airplay, so I’m assuming it’s older and, like the One, discontinued, but not obsolete for a while. Am I right on that? I use this for home theater (and it’s really disappointing - that Playbar is not even 4 years old! - but the connection was always an issue, since it wouldn’t sync properly with my video on the TV). On that home theater system I have the Playbar, a Sub, a One SL and a One. (Bought those all at the same time from a reputable audio dealer - surprised I got a One and One SL, but it’s possible I lost track of the Ones and the SLs while setting things up in the building.)

Since the One and One SL will do airplay, and the Playbar won’t, I’m wondering if I could replace the One or One SL in the home theater system with my Play:1. All the speakers in that room are hardwired on ethernet, so there’s no wifi involved with that setup. Since the Playbar won’t do Airplay anyway, I figure if I can put the Play:1 in that setup, I won’t be losing any features and that will mean I can use a speaker with AirPlay compatibility on my porch, where the Play:1 is now.

is that possible and will the home theater setup lose anything in quality or features if I do that?

You would have to use two Play:1s as surrounds with the Playbar. You cannot use a Play:1 and One (or One SL) as surrounds.

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
TangoMeAuthor
Avid Contributor I
June 5, 2024

...

You would have to use two Play:1s as surrounds with the Playbar. You cannot use a Play:1 and One (or One SL) as surrounds.

Okay, not the answer I wanted to hear, but the answer I needed.

I still have three Play:3 units and I see some information that they will still work, but won’t have newer features. I couldn’t get one of them to work at all and another had issues. I managed to make it play music, but couldn’t pause it or stop it until I unplugged it. Plus, I’m now thinking about how my habits have changed and how important AirPlay is for me, so I’m wondering if there is any place I’d want to put the Play:3 devices where I won’t be frustrated that they can’t do AirPlay. (But, as indicated above, I’ve already had issues and don’t know if they’ll even work properly now.)

Airgetlam
June 5, 2024

A pair of PLAY:3s would be excellent as surround speakers with your PLAYBAR.

Bruce
TangoMeAuthor
Avid Contributor I
June 5, 2024

A pair of PLAY:3s would be excellent as surround speakers with your PLAYBAR.

Oh, that would be good to know! And, like with the Play:1, I wouldn’t be losing AirPlay since it doesn’t work with the Playbar in the first place.

Do I lose anything else if I use the Play:3s in there? Will I notice a difference in the sound at all? (I’m assuming I’d have to recalibrate the room.)

Airgetlam
June 5, 2024

Personally, I consider PLAY:3s to be ‘overkill’ in a surround case, but given that they’re not AirPlay 2 capable, and I’m mindful of you not spending more than necessary, they’d work fine. I use old PLAY:1s as my surrounds, the PLAY:3s I use for bedroom music…but that’s because I already have the PLAY:1s.

If I didn’t have the PLAY:1s already set up, though, I would absolutely use the PLAY:3s. And in the infrequent case (for me) that I use my soundbar to play music, in the ‘full’ setting, they’d sound great. 

I don’t think you’d be ‘losing’ anything by putting them there, other than their use in any other ‘room’. And yes, when you add surrounds (frankly, any speakers) to a Sonos ‘room’, you lose any previous TruePlay settings, and will need to re-do it. 

Bruce
TangoMeAuthor
Avid Contributor I
June 7, 2024

Personally, I consider PLAY:3s to be ‘overkill’ in a surround case...

Why overkill?

I went down to swap out speakers and realized I have to replace some mounts to do that - so it’s all delayed for a while, until I can do that.