Sonos in Car

Haven’t you just contradicted yourself: you say many would buy it, and yet your needs are unique. Certainly, I agree demand would seem to be very low for such a capability, and this may be a factor in Sonos or anyone else developing such a product. It may also be challenging to get a format that is supported by multiple manufacturers.

Just need to point something out to you.  Your last post said ‘it’s clear you’re not going to create a Sonos mobile system’.  That is most definitely true, as all those who have contributed to this discussion are Sonos users, and not connected in any way to Sonos.

Your suggestion that the TV remote was an inappropriate analogy shows that you still haven’t grasped why your request is so at odds with the nature and design of the Sonos system.

If Sonos ever go under, it won’t be for lack of the ability to provide music in a car, when there are simple ways, complementary to Sonos, to do so.

While I would love to see Sonos in a car, there’s a couple issues with it that haven’t been mentioned yet.  The biggest one is that I imagine most streaming services would not be ok with the Sonos app being an actual music player for their service, as a different option for their own app.  I wouldn’t be surprised if there are contracts in place to actually prevent that.  Sirius XM, for example doesn’t want you to play through their Sonos app, and not their own with limited services (or their ability to add features) and easily consider other options.  Sirius XM added some new stations a while back, which were on their app but not available on Sonos.  Not sure if that ever got added.

Perhaps a related example, you can play Spotify through Alexa voice, and you can use those services on your phone while mobile.  But you can’t play Spotify through voice on your phone.  That could be Amazon’s restrictions, but regardless it doesn’t happen.

The other big point I didn’t see mentioned is that it’s hard to imagine Sonos can monetize a mobile app.  Will they be able to charge a fee for it?  Can it be ad driven?  Are people going to to pay or want ads to accept content they have already paid for?  Will such a feature bring in more customers?

If a Sonos mobile app does happen, I suspect it would be just their new radio stations, since it’s not duplicating an existing service, and it’s ad revenue driven already. 

Would Sonos ever get into selling hardware for vehicles?  It seems like they still have a ton of growth potential in the home market already.  Perhaps years from now, or if some automaker made them a deal they can’t refuse, but seems unlikely

It looks to me like he is willing to buy a new class of Sonos hardware.  Perhaps it would be called the Car-Port?

Just to explore this thought.…

With a lot of IT-talent (that I do not have) and without Sonos support maybe this can be done by:

• having a wifi network in your car that’s connected via 4G to the outside world;
• keeping this car network a part of your home network (VPN?); and
• connecting a Port to your car stereo; and
• connecting your phone (with Sonos app) to your car wifi.

This way the Port in your car keeps being part of the Sonos network in your home - it won’t know that your gone. It could controlled via the app like any Sonos, including being able to use the playlists the like OP wants to. You would have to be on a scheme with lots of GB’s.

That’s a good suggestion. I’ll see if I can get something like that going. I love Sonos and would love to just be able to use my Sonos playlist and app in the car.

Some people in this thread clearly just don’t get it. That’s ok. My needs being unique hardly makes me the only person who would like to use Sonos in the car. That I can assure you.

One of the greatest things about Sonos is the ability to pull music from multiple sources into a single playlist. It’s a beautiful thing. It’s just a beautiful thing that doesn’t work in the car.

You can be progressive and make something cool to allow Sonos to work in the car, or you can not do that. I’d bet anything you can come up with a solution you can sell for profit. But hey, it’s your company. I’ll still love Sonos whether you do it or not. :)

Does anyone make a device or app that does this?  OP is complaining that Sonos doesn’t do something revolutionary that other competitors also don’t do.  It’s your idea - make your app, create a service that does this, then make a connector for Sonos, and an app for phones.

This is not an awful idea, but it kind of points to OP no really understanding how Sonos works.  

Heh, it’s funny you think that the OP (that would be me) doesn’t really understand how Sonos works. I bet I understand how it works and use it in a more sophisticated way than most of your customers.

Is it really that much of a stretch to think people might like to use their Sonos app in the car? Really? This is kinda like pulling teeth. To be frank, your idea that nobody else does something and that makes it not a good idea to do it is a logical fallacy. Yes, it’s possible it’s not a good idea for your own business reasons. But that fact alone doesn’t make it so. The iPhone never existed before Steve Jobs made it. ‘Nuff said.

Why don’t you put out a survey to Sonos users and ask them if they’d like a way to use their Sonos app in the car? How hard would that be? That would certainly settle whether there really is a need  or not, wouldn’t it? Or, you can not do that. It’s your company. I’ll bet you anything there’s more people like me than you even realize. You may be looking right past a great opportunity. 

It’s also funny that you still seem to think this is Sonos staff you’re talking to. This is a user forum, as has been pointed out to you already, though Sonos staff do monitor it. Most, if not all of the replies I’ve read on here (I can’t be bothered to check through), are from users. Yet still you’re using phrases like “it’s your company”. 
 

For the record, if you want to run a quick survey here,  I do not want to use the Sonos app in my car. 

The Sonos app doesn’t play music though. Its a remote control that tells Players to play music. It provides the UX to choose the music, but all playback is done by the devices themselves. So you would need an app, and a Player (ie actual hardware).