Question

This queue contains only tracks from mobile devices. These tracks cannot be saved to Sonos playlists


"This queue contains only tracks from mobile devices. These tracks cannot be saved to Sonos playlists"

Sad to say we`ll probably have to return our recently bought Sonos Play 3 (wanted to upgrade it to Play 5 to get "more sound" in the livingroom, if the system was user friendly), due to not beeing allowed to create our own playlists with our own music, old or new, from our mobile devices. Irritating non-control over what goes where an how, is impossible to accept as a consumer.

Also: The feeling i get is that you might get "pressured" into a situation where you HAVE to have a Premium account to get an okay experience with this system (in our case we have Tidal Basic through our cablecompany..and Basic does not work with Sonos). We want to own our music (you know, like in the olden days), not rent it for a monthly fee for a indefinite amount of time (i know that is preferred by the music industry..of course). We buy the system with the speakers, let us use it easily.. Don`t criple it, to the amount that one have to either buy the music service or chose something else. Like Chromecast Audio...

Unless anyone have a brilliant idea what we should do to fix this, so that we from our mobile devices (Samsung Galaxy S5) can have a playlist of the music we want to listen to, when we want to listen to it, we have to find another option for playing music in our livingroom. It really is strange that Sonos does not allow the simplest and most basic way to play a personal edited playlist. I wish it was like this: Choose mixed set of mp3`s and put them on your mobile device (administered on pc or mobile device)-->Let the Sonos app find them-->Choose songs in queue-->Save queue to become a playlist for later use.

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20 replies

Sonos doesn't allow tracks from a mobile to be saved to a Sonos Playlist because the device is ... mobile. Sonos Playlists are stored centrally in the players and it's plain that someone else trying to use such a playlist when the device in question is absent would encounter error after error after error.

The same limitations don't apply to music library tracks stored and indexed off a hard drive somewhere on the network. Simply copy your music somewhere else (which supports CIFS/SMB "Windows" file sharing) and you'll be all set. Perhaps paradoxically this could be on a laptop, which of course could leave the building...

As for basic versus premium music services, the limitations are set by the service not Sonos. Basic free services tend to be supported by visual ads, which of course is impossible for a pure hardware player like Sonos.
There are lots of threads on here about why Sonos doesn't think it's a good idea to allow this, but fundamentally it's because Sonos is conceived as a multiroom, multisource, multicontroller hifi system. If you only want to play from mobile devices to a single speaker then perhaps you have bought the wrong product for your needs.

The requirement for Spotify Premium etc is entirely in the hands of Spotify etc. Sonos has no say in this and receives no payments from music streaming services.
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Get a NAS, put your music on there and play from that rather than the mobile devices.

What you are demanding is not logical. You might think it is, but it isn't
There are lots of threads on here about why Sonos doesn't think it's a good idea to allow this, but fundamentally it's because Sonos is conceived as a multiroom, multisource, multicontroller hifi system. If you only want to play from mobile devices to a single speaker then perhaps you have bought the wrong product for your needs.

The requirement for Spotify Premium etc is entirely in the hands of Spotify etc. Sonos has no say in this and receives no payments from music streaming services.


We have a 30 day money back guarantee, so we`ll deliver it back tomorrow i guess.
Too bad, cause i rather liked the design. Digging into research about juicing up my old stereo to become streamed with Chromecast Audio now.. Cheap too.
Just to be clear - you can use the phone app as a controller to play music stored on a computer or NAS drive linked to your network. That includes playlists - both those you create in Sonos and those you have created in iTunes, if you use it.
Get a NAS, put your music on there and play from that rather than the mobile devices.

What you are demanding is not logical. You might think it is, but it isn't


From a consumer point of view, it would be the most basic and easy demand to be able to create a playlist to my liking. And the device we all use for streaming nowadays, is the mobile device.
And the device we all use for streaming nowadays, is the mobile device.
An absurd generalisation, based solely on your anecdotal experience. Somehow I don't think your observation would chime with, for instance, Amazon or Google.

Sonos can be controlled from the mobile.
Just to be clear - you can use the phone app as a controller to play music stored on a computer or NAS drive linked to your network. That includes playlists - both those you create in Sonos and those you have created in iTunes, if you use it.

We do have a new laptop in the house, and it`s largely intended to be used at home, connected to wireless internet. Can we store the music here, and still use our mobile devices to control playlists, etc? Its with SSD harddisk, so its just 256GB storage though.. Using Jottacloud and memorysticks to safeguard our family images and videos (cause 256GB isn`t a lot nowadays).
And the device we all use for streaming nowadays, is the mobile device.
An absurd generalisation, based solely on your anecdotal experience. Somehow I don't think your observation would chime with, for instance, Amazon or Google.

Sonos can be controlled from the mobile.


Yes, its a generalisation.
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Just to be clear - you can use the phone app as a controller to play music stored on a computer or NAS drive linked to your network. That includes playlists - both those you create in Sonos and those you have created in iTunes, if you use it.

We do have a new laptop in the house, and it`s largely intended to be used at home, connected to wireless internet. Can we store the music here, and still use our mobile devices to control playlists, etc? Its with SSD harddisk, so its just 256GB storage though.. Using Jottacloud and memorysticks to safeguard our family images and videos (cause 256GB isn`t a lot nowadays).


You can use a laptop. But a) It needs to be switched on when you want to listen to music and b) You would need to make sure the hard drive is always awake (some power save settings will set your laptop into a mode that means the drive is not alert) else your first request for a track after a period of time may not get a response.
The laptop would be fine. Stuart_W's caveats are correct, but you can adjust the sleep settings. Give it a go - you can still take it back if you are not happy. Having put the music into a folder (Music folder is best!) you need to set up your Sonos Music Library - that's really just telling Sonos where to find the music and index it.

Here is a link:

https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/261/~/adding-and-updating-your-music-library
Then you can use the phone app to create and play playlists.
Just to be clear - you can use the phone app as a controller to play music stored on a computer or NAS drive linked to your network. That includes playlists - both those you create in Sonos and those you have created in iTunes, if you use it.

We do have a new laptop in the house, and it`s largely intended to be used at home, connected to wireless internet. Can we store the music here, and still use our mobile devices to control playlists, etc? Its with SSD harddisk, so its just 256GB storage though.. Using Jottacloud and memorysticks to safeguard our family images and videos (cause 256GB isn`t a lot nowadays).


You can use a laptop. But a) It needs to be switched on when you want to listen to music and b) You would need to make sure the hard drive is always awake (some power save settings will set your laptop into a mode that means the drive is not alert) else your first request for a track after a period of time may not get a response.


So, to use the pc, i guess we need an app? I see there is something called Phonos..

For example the Phonos app can be used to set up playlists, and then control/pick the playlists you want from the mobile device?
John B: I`ll check it out. 🙂
You need the Sonos Controller for Android or for iPhone, depending on type of phone ....but you must have that already to have prompted your question
On the laptop you should also go to www.sonos.com and download the Sonos controller for PC or Mac (I assume PC) - it is much easier to set up the Sonos library from there.

You don't need anything called Phonos.
The Sonos PC/Mac controller app is optional, though it can make the process of setting up access to the stored music files easier (permissions, etc). It doesn't have to be running for files to be served to Sonos. In fact it could be uninstalled if so desired.
On the laptop you should also go to www.sonos.com and download the Sonos controller for PC or Mac (I assume PC) - it is much easier to set up the Sonos library from there.

You don't need anything called Phonos.


Yep, Sonos for windows is what i`m using now. :-)
Created a Playlist, and it`s synced up with our mobiles.

A litle different from the original idea of something like a bluetooth speaker easily controlled only from mobile device (for now not in multiple rooms, just the livingroom), upgraded through the store-advice that WI FI is a far better sound choice with same functions...and then a litle surprised that more elements (pc) would have to be taken into account.

So we`ll test it, and see how we like it, and if we can live with fact that an active laptop must be a component to use the system with the playlists. If we can live with it, we`ll upgrade and get the Play 5 instead. 🙂
So we`ll test it, and see how we like it, and if we can live with fact that an active laptop must be a component to use the system with the playlists.
As already noted, a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device could fulfil that role. Basic models can had quite cheaply. Alternatively many routers allow you to simply plug in a USB drive and serve that onto the network. Given the falling cost of flash sticks, adding solid state storage for 256GB is readily achievable, or even 512GB at a stretch.

Regardless that your device is mobile and will throw errors if it's not available I still wanted to create a playlist. The work around I've found is that you can use the standard music player that comes on your phone to create a play list. Then open up your Sono's App and you can find that previously saved playlist to launch your stored " on this mobile device" music.