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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

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    yiraraAuthor
    Contributor I
    January 10, 2019
    I'm kind of thinking of using a cloud storage solution. But with only about 3gigs of data per day, and about 1tb to upload this will take ages. Thus this won't really work either. Argh! Plus I'm currently in the annoying situation that my bank in the country I've just left threatens to close my account, and I won't be able to get a credit card here for another 4 months or so. And this will likely always happen again with international moves. I just have a very international job.
    Legnum Nick
    Legnum Nick
    Prodigy III
    January 10, 2019
    I could be wrong, but I thought a Router is to create a home network. You need a Modem to access the internet. Most Routers also have Modems, but if you got a Router with a USB socket that supported the disk drive, you would be able to set up a home network without it being connected to the internet.
    yiraraAuthor
    Contributor I
    January 13, 2019
    I could be wrong, but I thought a Router is to create a home network. You need a Modem to access the internet. Most Routers also have Modems, but if you got a Router with a USB socket that supported the disk drive, you would be able to set up a home network without it being connected to the internet.

    Thanks a lot. Phew, this is all a bit above my knowledge. And I suppose above the knowledge of staff in shops selling speakers. I need to look into this. Maybe this is an option, somehow.

    Ok, before I look into this further: Is it possible to play complete folders (thus complete albums) on a sonos using the app? Is there a way to navigate through a folder structure and select a complete album?
    The Swish
    The Swish
    Contributor II
    April 5, 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.
    The Swish
    The Swish
    Contributor II
    April 5, 2019
    I’ve updated my system to have the music library on an Apple Time Capsule. Sonos will read the library directly off that without the need for a computer after the path is set up in the desktop app. Works perfect.
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