How To Play Your Own Music On Sonos
By Robert Jones · 2021-09-17
You can play your own music on Sonos by creating your personal
## My Sonos, My Tunes: Getting Your Own Music Playing Right, so you've got a Sonos system, haven't you? Brilliant bits of kit, most of them. But sometimes, you just want to play your own music collection, not always rely on some streaming service. We've all got those albums we ripped from CDs years ago, or those live recordings from a mate's band that you just can't find anywhere else. Good news is, getting your personal music library onto Sonos isn't nearly as complicated as some folks make it out to be. I remember when Sonos first came out, it felt like black magic getting anything beyond their approved services to play. But they've come a long way. I've got a couple of Play:1s in the shed, and my old FLAC files from a hard drive play through them a treat while I'm tinkering. Let's get into how you can do the same. ### The Network Share Method (My Go-To) This is, hands down, the most common and solid way to do it. You’re essentially telling your Sonos system to look at a folder on your computer or a network drive where all your music lives. Simple as that. #### What You'll Need: * **Your music files:** MP3s, FLACs, WAVs, AACs – Sonos is pretty good with formats these days. Just make sure they're organised in folders that make sense to you. Artist/Album/Track is usually best. * **A computer that's often turned on:** If your music lives on your desktop PC, that PC needs to be on and awake for Sonos to see the music. A laptop can work, but it's less ideal if you move it around. * **A Network Attached Storage (NAS) drive (optional, but brilliant):** This is what I use. A NAS is basically a hard drive that lives on your network and is designed to be always on. No need to keep your main computer running. I keep all my review files and personal music on a Synology NAS, and it just works. #### Setting It Up (Windows PC Example): 1. **Find Your Music Folder:** First, locate the folder on your computer where all your music is saved. Mine's usually something like `C:\Users\Robert\Music`. 2. **Share That Folder:** This is the key bit. Right-click on your main music folder. Go to "Properties," then the "Sharing" tab. Click "Advanced Sharing." Tick the box that says "Share this folder." You can give it a name like "My Music." Make sure the permissions allow "Everyone" to "Read" files. You don't want Sonos trying to write to it anyway, just read. 3. **Open Sonos App:** Fire up the Sonos app on your phone or computer. 4. **Add Music Library:** Go to "Settings" (the cog icon) -> "System" -> "Music Library" -> "Set up or manage Music Library." 5. **Add Shared Folder:** Click "Add Shared Music Folder." It'll then ask you to browse or type in the path. If you're on Windows, it'll usually try to help you find local shares. You might need to enter the network path manually. It usually looks something like `\YOUR_COMPUTER_NAME\My Music` or `\YOUR_IP_ADDRESS\My Music`. If you use a NAS, it'll be `\NAS_NAME\Shared_Folder_Name`. 6. **Enter Credentials (if prompted):** If your computer or NAS requires a username and password to access the share, you'll need to enter them here. Most home setups won't, but some do for security. 7. **Scan Library:** Sonos will then start scanning your chosen folder. This can take a while if you've got a massive collection – go make a cuppa. Once it