I discovered Joe’s method for figuring out the number of tracks in a Sonos library a while ago. When I used that number to compare the size of my B2 library to my Sonos library, I found that the Sonos library was missing 12 tracks out of about 35,700.
I investigated this minor discrepancy and found that the missing tracks were all from an album called “… Nothing Like The Sun” by Sting. I speculated that the “…” at the start of the album name might be the issue. I removed that string from the B2 album name and, sure enough, after updating the Sonos library, Sonos found the missing 12 tracks. I have other B2 albums whose names include similar strings – but not right at the start of the album name. Sonos was ok with those other albums. Sonos was also ok with the full “… Nothing Like The Sun” name in the album tag. It was only the B2 file name that caused a problem for Sonos.
This is just an example. I don’t imagine that it explains Joe’s 850 track discrepancy, but it shows the type of issue that can arise.
The biggest problem for me was diagnosing the issue, as neither the B2 nor Sonos have tools for analysing a library. My diagnosis was very laborious. I use a Windows tagging app called Tag & Rename that allows me to generate a spreadsheet index of my B2 library complete with all tags. I used that spreadsheet to analyse the tagging in my B2 library and then compared that with individual Sonos tag-based searches. For example, Sonos can search on the Composer tag. I have repurposed that tag in my B2 library to hold Year of Release, so I used that tag to find the number of tracks for each individual year in my Sonos library and compared those numbers to my B2 library spreadsheet. I found that the discrepancy was for a 1987 album. I then tried to access each 1987 album in my B2 library on Sonos until I found the one that was missing.
Another possible cause of Joe’s discrepancy would be if the missing tracks are in a format that Sonos does not recognise. I think I have read about an issue of that type on a Sonos forum, but I can’t remember the details. Also, I think that digital rights management issues can cause missing tracks on Sonos. Whatever the cause, the first step will be to identify the missing tracks using a diagnosis step like the one I have described.
31844 tracks in 4542 albums 2753 artists
0 WAV 15997 FLAC 6508 MP3 9339 AAC
31849 tracks in 4553 albums 2759 artists
0 WAV 15992 FLAC 6518 MP3 9339 AAC
Thanks,