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Sonos: Spotify Activity on Discord

  • 22 September 2021
  • 5 replies
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Hi! Spotify activity is normally displayed on Discord, this also works when used with Spotify Connect &other devices (for example Google TV). However, when playing over Sonos no activity is shown. Is there something I am missing or is this some kind of bug?

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Best answer by Airgetlam 23 September 2021, 00:56

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Probably not a “bug” per se, but not an implemented feature. The Sonos controller is a different beast than the Spotify one, and probably doesn’t feed back that data to discord, or anyone else. As you’ve noted, it’s probably something that Spotify put in their own client, but doesn’t extend to other people’s clients. 

To be honest, I don’t know one way or the other if the Sonos API even allows distribution of data to outside data repositories. I don’t think it does, but that’s just an assumption on my part, but I know that for the Apple implementation, it doesn’t feed back to Music (formerly iTunes) for incrementing the number of times played. 

It’s an interesting question. My guess is that if you were to ask Spotify, they’d say that that capability isn’t built in to the Sonos API, so they can’t “fix” your “bug”….but again, just a guess. There are a few more clued in folks on this board who are actual developers (non-Sonos) who probably are more familiar with the API than I am. I’ve not waded through the whole Sonos partners page in order to know exactly what is possible, and what is not. 

 

@Airgetlam Thank you for answering. Maybe let me highlight that I’m still using the Spotify Client to control Sonos, not the Sonos app, in this sense it should be very similar to the Google TV example. 

Happy to provide a little light into a shady corner with the little knowledge I have. 

OTOH, if you’re using the Spotify client, then pretty much all the interaction should (I think….) be happening between the Spotify client and the discord database. So you may want to check with the folks at Spotify. If that’s the way the “system” is working, Sonos really isn’t a part of the equation, except as a target of the stream, so I’d agree with your Google TV example. 

However, if the Spotify client is essentially handing off control to the Sonos “player” (software) built in to each Sonos speaker, then my previous statement stands. I’m honestly not sure who holds “control” in that instance, as I’m not a Spotify user myself. 

In general, Spotify Connect means that a Spotify server takes the control of playback. In this case -- I suppose -- Sonos implemented Spotify Connect differently to keep control, resulting in some noticable issues, like more lagging, no shared activities (Discord, Friends, Group Sessions), I also have it sometimes that songs get mysteriously removed from the queue when playing via Sonos. So there is def. something different in the combination of Spotify & Sonos compared to other output devices. So I wonder if there is some kind of fix for it, to run more smoothly and get the usual Spotify features.

Honestly, I’d be asking Spotify, since they’re technically the “partner” in control here. Sonos is essentially just doing what they’re “told” by Spotify, especially in your use case, where you’re using the Spotify controller. 

Again...this is a whole “I think” thing. But it would make sense to start with the people who created the application that you’re using to control. They’d be able to tell you if they’re ceding control over to the Sonos software in some way, or just using it as a “player”.