SONOS questions

[Lee H]

NSYGrinner:
I should have it done by Summer.

I know that feeling! I only plugged it in for the initial big rip of about 600 CDs. I just let it go over the network now as and when I get a new CD.

 

[cram]

NSYGrinner:I should have it done by Summer.

I feel your pain having ripped in 2000 @ 128 (I know...), then again in 2005 @ 256 and last year @ lossless... With the lossless rips I decided not to bother with CD Singles a) I've got lots of them b) I do a lot of smartplaylists using ratings etc. and noticed that I hardly ever listened to them.

I'm now going through my collection fixing artwork issues where there is artwork on the album but it doesn't show up on the Sonos Ipod/Iphone/Ipad software. I don't know why but missing artwork annoys me...

 

[Lee H]

cram:

I don't know why but missing artwork annoys me...

Ah, the happy hours scouring the web for the more obscure images that auto-tagging doesn't find!

 

[cram]

At the moment I've got all the artwork in Itunes its just fixing some of it to show in the Sonos software. Sonos Ixxx software doesn't like images that are greater than 256k in size. So on a number of albums I'm having to copy the artwork out of Itunes open and resave it in paint which generally shrinks the file size then put the artwork back into Itunes, boring.

In terms of getting the artwork I've found discogs generally to be a good source.

 

[Lee H]

I normally do a Google search, save the image, open it in picture manager then drag it on to the album in mediamonkey.

 

[Anonymous]

I use google images also as my first port of call. I save an image in the same folder as the album tracks. I haven't even thought of the singles yet.

 

[The_Lhc]

NSYGrinner:cram:NSYGrinner:

I didn't have enough sockets on my router so I connected my NAS to a zone bridge which is then connected to the router. I have had no problems with this, either using the NAS as a music server for the Sonos or as a network drive for the PC.

Yes it works but you are probably slowing down access to the NAS for your PC (assuming you have a 100mps router). I've read on the sonos forums a cap of circa 36mps which unless you get into streaming video should be ok.

Thanks for the info. I was wondering how come it took around 2-3 minutes to transfer an album from my pc to the nas. I have a wireless connection to the router, then hardwired to the nas as stated before.

The wireless connection from the PC isn't going to help either, if you've got a large number of files to transfer then you'd be better of temporarily connection the PC to the router with an ethernet cable.

I might try disconecting the BD player from the router and use that port for the nas.

When I first set up the Sonos I did find that I couldn't get the BD player (Sony bdp350) to connect to bd-live when going through the port on the zp120. Only connected directly to the router. Maybe the 'cap' has something to do with it.

Shouldn't do, Sonos will limit the bandwidth to other devices if it's playing music, to ensure there's no interruptions to playback, but it shouldn't stop access all together.

 

[Anonymous]

I'll give it another try tonight. I'm pretty sure I took the ethernet cable out of the bd player and put it into one of the zp120 sockets. I then used the ethernet cable which came with the Sonos to connect the bd player to other socket on the the zp120. There was connection to the network on the bd player.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

Here is a question -

With all these "airplay" capable gear coming out, is it worth considering an apple 'airplay' based sytem instead of SONOS-based? How would it compare in functionality, stability and cost?

is the question worth a separate thread?

 

[Dan Turner]

AlmaataKZ:
Here is a question -

With all these "airplay" capable gear coming out, is it worth considering an apple 'airplay' based sytem instead of SONOS-based? How would it compare in functionality, stability and cost?

is the question worth a separate thread?

It may well be worth another thread, but my experience of a system based around apple airport expresses was what led me to go for Sonos! Unfortunately any system that piggy-backs on your existing wifi network is going to be inherently less stable than Sonos, which uses it's own wireless network and creates a mesh where every component acts as receiver and sender. They also offer a very thorough and responsive support service - try contacting Apple if you have an issue!

With using your existing wifi network it's not only an issue of sharing bandwidth with other network traffic, but interference caused by neighbouring networks or other devices emitting signals on the same frequencies, which would normally go unnoticed or maybe manifest as a momentary slowing of your connection, but will cause drop-outs if you're trying to stream music files.

With the Apple-based system I had incessant wireless dropouts when playing music, I tried everything that the collected knowledge of this and other forums had to suggest and could not solve these issues. Since moving over to Sonos I can count the number of times that it has dropped out on one finger, and actually i suspect that was my Apple Time Capsule (where my files are stored) doing something strange.

In terms of the interface, functionality and flexibility the Sonos is second to none. The Apple system based around iTunes/Remote is cheap, simple and provides a great interface, but it really isn't a competitor in my view (e.g. you can't play different things in different zones).

Hope that helps.

 

[The_Lhc]

You make a good point Dan however, in the name of balance, it needs to be pointed out that Sonos' wireless network is just as susceptible to wireless interference from surrounding wireless networks as any other wireless system would be. If channel 1, 6 or 11 isn't free in your home Sonos will have problems, unless you wire everything.

 

[cram]

Sonosnet may also have problems if your WiFi (or someone elses near by) is less than 5 channels away from the Sonos channel. Eg. Wifi is on channel 5 , Sonos on channel 6. As they do overlap to a degree.

 

[Dan Turner]

the_lhc:You make a good point Dan however, in the name of balance, it needs to be pointed out that Sonos' wireless network is just as susceptible to wireless interference from surrounding wireless networks as any other wireless system would be. If channel 1, 6 or 11 isn't free in your home Sonos will have problems, unless you wire everything.

I have to admit that my experience of the AE-based system was so (probably unusually) bad that I may be unduly biased, however to your point, I couldn't eliminate wireless interference by any means with the AEs and the first thing I tried was obviously to experiment with the channels. Whereas the Sonos chose what it thought was the best channel, and I've not had any issues at all.