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yirara
Contributor I
January 9, 2019

Would sonos work? External harddisk and wifi hotspot

My home entertainment system is very limited: an ultrabook, an iphone that I use as home hotspot (I don't have other internet) and there's an old android tablet somewhere. All my music is stored on at the moment an external USB harddrive.

I want to play music in my livingroom from a tiny speaker without having cables all through that room. Is this possible? I need to get a bigger harddisk, thus I could potentially get a wireless one. I want to play whole albums that are stored in the file structure Alphabeth -> band -> album.

Would Sonos be a solution for that? I don't want to set up a server at home, build a tiny computer and I don't have the possibility to use anything but my mobile hotspot or have more stuff that needs electricity as I don't have many sockets and don't want to have more extension things in view. My interior design is very airy and simple. No way to hide cables and computer stuff.

Thanks for thinking along.
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    15 replies

    Chris
    Chris
    Lead Maestro
    January 9, 2019
    In all honesty - your best bet is to get a Bluetooth speaker not Sonos. You can play from the ultrabook or iPhone direct to. Your setup just isn't right for a networked speaker (since no network).
    Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)
    Legnum Nick
    Legnum Nick
    Prodigy III
    January 9, 2019
    I would agree with Chris. Sonos has a huge benefit if you want to have a multi room solution, but in your case it sounds like that is not what you want or need.
    yiraraAuthor
    Contributor I
    January 9, 2019
    My problem is that the amount of music is too much to store on either the phone or computer. And I try to avoid even more cables at home. So basically this won't work either I guess.
    Chris
    Chris
    Lead Maestro
    January 9, 2019
    Plug the external hardeive into computer and play via computer via Bluetooth.
    Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)
    Legnum Nick
    Legnum Nick
    Prodigy III
    January 9, 2019
    You could make it work I guess. I think it is possible to buy a router with a USB socket and then set your USB drive as a network server. If so you could then link your Sonos to the router and play from the library on the USB drive. It seems an expensive way of doing it though, there must be a better solution? It would also be worth checking with someone more IT orientated than me as to the technicalities of achieving that.
    Chris
    Chris
    Lead Maestro
    January 9, 2019
    again though - you seem to not want a network and therefore you should go Bluetooth
    Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)
    melvimbe
    melvimbe
    January 9, 2019
    My problem is that the amount of music is too much to store on either the phone or computer. And I try to avoid even more cables at home. So basically this won't work either I guess.

    A Sonos solution can't do anything about your storage solution. Sonos can't access anything your computer can't already access, including and cloud storage. And as suggested, since you don't want a network, Bluetooth is your best option.
    Danny
    The Swish
    The Swish
    Contributor II
    January 9, 2019
    Yes, I have my system set up like this. I have an external hard drive plugged into an Apple Airport USB, and have the Sonos set to read my library off that drive. You have to make sure your router supports an external USB drive, and also set up the library path for the Sonos on the desktop application. Sonos will read the library now without my computer being on, works like a charm. There is a thread somewhere on topic, I went from that.
    yiraraAuthor
    Contributor I
    January 10, 2019
    again though - you seem to not want a network and therefore you should go Bluetooth

    Well, the annoyance with connecting the disk to my computer is that it sits on my lap. I'm a superclumsy person and pull the charging cable out of my computer constantly, or stumble over the cable and pull the computer to the ground. That's why this is not a good option. Hence the idea with a wireless enabled disk. But I guess this won't work if I don't have a network either.

    I don't have a network because I can't get any internet in my flat. Well.. only one provider who doesn't offer half affordable cntracts here. So I only have the option of 4G tethering via my phone.
    yiraraAuthor
    Contributor I
    January 10, 2019
    Yes, I have my system set up like this. I have an external hard drive plugged into an Apple Airport USB, and have the Sonos set to read my library off that drive. You have to make sure your router supports an external USB drive, and also set up the library path for the Sonos on the desktop application. Sonos will read the library now without my computer being on, works like a charm. There is a thread somewhere on topic, I went from that.

    I don't have an apple computer, thus I don't know what Apple Airport USB is. Can't find much about it. At the moment I have no router as I can't get internet in my flat.
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