MusicBee and SONOS app setup for network drive

[jacktheripper]

Background: I have a memory stick hanging off my ASUS router as a network drive, where I wanted to store music in a partition called SONOS Music. My goal was to have MusicBee directly manage music on this partition, and I wanted to create playlists in MusicBee that the SONOS app would recognize as imported playlists. I then play music using the SONOS app on my iPhone or iPad.

MusicBee setup: I used MusicBee>>File>>Library>>Create New Library to create a library called “SONOS MusicBee”, located on the above network drive partition. This created a folder with the same name, with the following subfolders:
(1) Music, which MusicBee directly manages. As I added music into MusicBee, it created subfolders for each artist name, plus a special subfolder called Various Artists for some ripped CDs.
(2) Playlists, which contain .mbp files, one for each playlist I create in MusicBee.
(3) Podcasts, which I don’t use but leave there, and
(4) Ripped Files, which receives any new CDs I rip. I later ask MusicBee to organize these ripped CDs into the Music folder, so this folder is typically empty.

Unfortunately, .mbp playlist files are not recognized by the SONOS app as a playlist, so there is an additional action needed to create playlists in the iTunes format (.m3u filetype).
(5) I added a fifth subfolder in SONOS MusicBee called “Playlists in iTunes Format”.
(6) To populate it, in the PLAYLISTS tab of MusicBee, I right-click a given playlist, select Export and direct MusicBee to create a .m3u file saved to this new subfolder. This file type is recognized by the SONOS app as an Imported Playlist when it indexes the Music Library.

SONOS Setup (using the SONOS PC app):
(7) I went to Manage>>Music Library Settings…, and first selected, then removed, all existing libraries.
( I then hit Add and navigated to the “SONOS MusicBee” folder created above, in my case on the network drive.  This action initiated the “Music Indexing” function in the SONOS app. When it’s finished indexing…
(9) In the rightmost panel of the SONOS app, hit the back arrow until the title changes to “Select a Music Source. Then select Music Library and you should see all your music, and the Imported Playlists folder should have all the playlists you created in Step (6) above.
(10) To make an imported playlist a “SONOS Playlist”, pick a room, clear the Queue, then add all the songs in the imported playlist to the Queue. At the bottom of the center panel, hit Save Queue, select the name you’re replacing and hit save. It will prompt to replace an existing playlist if there is one with the same name.

If any music changes are made in MusicBee, remember to re-index in the SONOS app (Manage>>Update Music Index Now). If a playlist is changed in MusicBee, repeat Step (6) above before re-indexing.

[phred]

Unfortunately, .mbp playlist files are not recognized by the SONOS app as a playlist, so there is an additional action needed to create playlists in the iTunes format (.m3u filetype).
(5) I added a fifth subfolder in SONOS MusicBee called “Playlists in iTunes Format”.
(6) To populate it, in the PLAYLISTS tab of MusicBee, I right-click a given playlist, select Export and direct MusicBee to create a .m3u file saved to this new subfolder. This file type is recognized by the SONOS app as an Imported Playlist when it indexes the Music Library.

I know nothing about Sonos, so I can't help with specifics to that player, but I can help with the playlists.

.mbp playlists are strictly for MB's internal database, and as you discovered, only recognized by MB.

I suggest you get rid of steps 5 & 6. You can export any or all playlists, be they auto-playlists or static-playlists, to a specific location*, in a specific format by doing the following:
Edit > Preferences > Library > playlists > exported playlists > [enter path and format] > [decide if you need relative and/or unix path conventions] > [decide if you need to map the file paths]

Then go to each existing playlist > right-click playlist > settings > tick 'automatically refresh matching tracks' (this is for auto-playlists) > tick 'automatically export a static copy'. For static playlists, there is no 'auto refresh...' option.

Now whenever a playlist changes, the exported playlist will update.

*-the location can be a mapped network share, a directory on another machine (via a UNC path), or a drive or directory on the local computer.

[jacktheripper]

Thanks, phred--that's why I posted. I knew someone would know of a way to improve what I have done. I'm a complete MB newbie as of a couple of days ago, and I'm just learning to do things. Tremendous improvement over using iTunes, for sure.

Step (5) was only done once, and MB remembered where it was after the first export to that location.  All I had to do was check the box for "automatically export a static copy" for each playlist. I implemented and tested your suggestion and it worked perfectly. The only odd thing that happens is that the name of the imported playlist that shows up in the SONOS app includes the file extension, as in "Christmas Mellow.m3u". Not a big deal, but different than iTunes. This might be a SONOS app "characteristic". Again, thanks...Jack

[phred]

Thanks, phred--that's why I posted. I knew someone would know of a way to improve what I have done. I'm a complete MB newbie as of a couple of days ago, and I'm just learning to do things. Tremendous improvement over using iTunes, for sure.

There's lots to learn, but only if you need/want to. MB works great right out of the box. I'm still discovering things in MB that have been around for years, yet I'm only finding them now. You'll be looking under the rocks for a while. You might find looking over the wiki helpful, although it's not quite up to date - https://musicbee.fandom.com/wiki/MusicBee_Wiki. Also searching the forum is very helpful.

The only odd thing that happens is that the name of the imported playlist that shows up in the SONOS app includes the file extension, as in "Christmas Mellow.m3u". Not a big deal, but different than iTunes. This might be a SONOS app "characteristic". Again, thanks...Jack

I use my exported playlists on a number of devices and some of them show simply the filename while others so the filename and extension. So I think it's device-dependent.

[jacktheripper]

Update, just to have one set of instructions:
Background: I have a memory stick hanging off my ASUS router as a network drive, where I wanted to store music in a partition called SONOS Music. My goal was to have MusicBee directly manage music on this partition, and I wanted to create playlists in MusicBee that the SONOS app would recognize as imported playlists. I then play music using the SONOS app on my iPhone or iPad.
MusicBee setup: I used MusicBee>>File>>Library>>Create New Library to create a library called “SONOS MusicBee”, located on the above network drive partition. This created a folder with the same name, with the following subfolders:
(1) Music, which MusicBee directly manages. As I added music into MusicBee, it created subfolders for each artist name, plus a special subfolder called Various Artists for some ripped CDs.
(2) Playlists, which contain .mbp files, one for each playlist I created in MusicBee.
(3) Podcasts, which I don’t use but leave there, and
(4) Ripped Files, which receives any new CDs I rip.
I manually asked MusicBee to organize and sweep these ripped CDs into the Music folder. But now I found a way to automate these sweeps whenever I rip a CD, but I haven’t tested it yet: MusicBee>>Edit>>Edit Preferences>>Library>> monitored folders section: Choose monitored folders to be the Ripped folder, and check the box that says “automatically sweep and organize new files”.
Unfortunately, .mbp playlist files are not recognized by the SONOS app as an Imported Playlist, so there is an additional action needed to create mirrored playlists in the iTunes format (.m3u filetype), which can be automated.
(5) I added a fifth subfolder in SONOS MusicBee called “Playlists in iTunes Format”.
(6) Drill down to MusicBee>>Edit>>Edit Preferences>>Library>>playlists>>exported playlists line, browse for the folder made in Step (5), and make sure file type is .m3u. Hit Save. Thanks, phred.
(7) Now in the PLAYLISTS tab, right click each playlist, go to Playlist Settings… and check the box labeled “automatically export a static copy”. This ensures any changes made to the MusicBee playlist will automatically update the iTunes version of the playlist. Thanks again phred.
SONOS Setup (using the SONOS PC app):
( I went to Manage>>Music Library Settings…, and first selected, then removed, all existing libraries.
(9) I then hit Add and navigated to the “SONOS MusicBee” folder created above, in my case on the network drive. Note that the subfolder containing the iTunes playlists is inside this folder, so the SONOS app will find them. This action initiated the “Music Indexing” function in the SONOS app. When it’s finished indexing…
(10) In the rightmost panel of the SONOS app, hit the back arrow until the title changes to “Select a Music Source. Then select Music Library and you should see all your music, and the Imported Playlists folder should have all the playlists you created in Step (7) above.
(11) To make an imported playlist a “SONOS Playlist”, pick a room, clear the Queue, then add all the songs in the imported playlist to the Queue. At the bottom of the center panel, hit Save Queue, select the name you’re replacing and hit save. It will prompt to replace an existing playlist if there is one with the same name.
If any music changes are made in MusicBee, remember to re-index in the SONOS app (Manage>>Update Music Index Now). For changes to existing playlists repeat Step (11). For new playlists repeat Step (7), reindex and then Step (11).

[phred]

Your most recent set of instructions should be copied over to a new post in the Tips & Tricks sub-forum.

[jacktheripper]

phred...Slightly updated set of instructions posted in Tips and Tricks, with attribution for your help on this. Thanks very much..Jack