Alternatives now Sonos have discarded DLNA compatibility

[bventure]

I have used Asset UPnP for years with my Sonos speakers, but they have now forced a Sonos app update which has destroyed most of the functionality it had, and made it virtually unusable. It now says 'not available' for my Asset connection, and they will not allow reversion to an earlier working version. So goodbye forever Sonos! Can someone suggest sone good alternatives to my Sonos speakers to play my music (which is stored on external USB drives), bearing in mind I am no expert in this field? Thanks.

[simbun]

I've just tried Asset in Sonos (with latest firmware but 16.1 app) and it's not possible to enqueue an album, only tracks. Was it possible before the firmware update?

I've had a couple of Play 1 speakers for years now and use them as UPnP renderers in a UPnP setup as I've always found the Sonos app lacking. The only thing I need the Sonos app for is to group or stereo pair the speakers. If you're on Android there's a very good app called BubbleUPnP; if you're on iOS you can try mconnect but it's much more limited. If you have stereo pairs/groups you need to make sure that you play to the master speaker.

Whilst it's disgraceful what they've done to their customers with this app "upgrade" the speakers are actually quite open, unlike BluOS.

[bventure]

I've just tried Asset in Sonos (with latest firmware but 16.1 app) and it's not possible to enqueue an album, only tracks. Was it possible before the firmware update?

I've had a couple of Play 1 speakers for years now and use them as UPnP renderers in a UPnP setup as I've always found the Sonos app lacking. The only thing I need the Sonos app for is to group or stereo pair the speakers. If you're on Android there's a very good app called BubbleUPnP; if you're on iOS you can try mconnect but it's much more limited. If you have stereo pairs/groups you need to make sure that you play to the master speaker.

Whilst it's disgraceful what they've done to their customers with this app "upgrade" the speakers are actually quite open, unlike BluOS.

My phone is iOS but I usually use my Windows laptop to play on Sonos, precisely because on this you can select all the tracks in an album (CTRL +A) and play the whole album rather than the tedious business of adding track by track on the iOS app. I only ever used the phone if I couldn't be bothered to start up the laptop. The Windows App was always much better than the iOS app, probably because they couldn't be bothered to update it and left it alone, so all the stuff still works. No problem with the speakers, it's just the apps have always been terrible and the latest is the worst ever. I'll have a look at mconnect, thanks for the suggestion.

[Vim_Fuego]

I have used Asset UPnP for years with my Sonos speakers, but they have now forced a Sonos app update which has destroyed most of the functionality it had, and made it virtually unusable. It now says 'not available' for my Asset connection, and they will not allow reversion to an earlier working version. So goodbye forever Sonos! Can someone suggest sone good alternatives to my Sonos speakers to play my music (which is stored on external USB drives), bearing in mind I am no expert in this field? Thanks.

Sonos was never really that good, like Apple, they have average products, but throw lots of money at influencers and product placement to get to the front, and then use that to cruise.

I would recommend a HEOS based system.

[ahmonhotep]

I've just tried Asset in Sonos (with latest firmware but 16.1 app) and it's not possible to enqueue an album, only tracks. Was it possible before the firmware update?

I'm trying to troubleshoot this precise issue. I assume you are testing this with the S2 Sonos app? Certainly the S1 app lacks this feature, and I feel like it hasn't always.

Kind of renders the use of a DLNA or UPNP server useless with Sonos, since some of us still want to listen to "an album."

I am curious whether mconnect on iOS or Bubble might be a solution, but I feel dumb continuing to buy software on the off chance is MIGHT work, so I am curious whether you fell into a solution eventually and, if so, what it is.

[ahmonhotep]

Update: Mconnect has a free lite version….and it works. Finds the Asset server, lets me select an album, and play it to a sonos device — with one button to play the whole album.