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Is Multiroom Music (MRM) going to be supported?

  • 8 November 2020
  • 14 replies
  • 230 views
D

I can’t find a post that is unocked or less than 10 months old about this. I am about to expand my smart speaker collection and so far only use Sonos in one room. I’d ideally get more Sonos speakers, but I really like having my music playing across my house. I know MRM is available on other third-part speaker systems but would rather stick with Sonos if this feature will be available soon. Are there any workarounds to get Sonos to work with MRM?

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Best answer by sonosg 27 December 2020, 22:49

 

You go all in with Sonos or you buy something else. 

 

I wonder if that should be their marketing slogan?  At this point, most people already have the “something else”.  If Sonos chooses to stay out of that market, then that is their choice.  Of course I have a few Sonos speakers but won’t get any more due to the limitations (as I see them).  They do act as nice Airplay 2 endpoints so all is not lost.  I don’t use or care at all about the Sonos app so this is just my view.  I was late to the game so my perspective may be different.

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14 replies

airforceteacher
Userlevel 6
Badge +15

I’m a little confused by what yoiu’re asking.  The ability to play the same song in every room, synced so you can walk from one room to the next and hear the same music continuously, has been a feature of Sonos since inception.  Do you have another definition of MultiRoom that you’re using?

D

I’m a little confused by what yoiu’re asking.  The ability to play the same song in every room, synced so you can walk from one room to the next and hear the same music continuously, has been a feature of Sonos since inception.  Do you have another definition of MultiRoom that you’re using?

Hi AirForceTeacher,

I mean in regard with Alexa groups. I can ask Alexa to play music “everywhere” and it plays on Echo and Third party devices in each room, except Sonos. Sorry it wasn’t clear.

J

You cannot sync Echo devices and Sonos devices. As @airforceteacher says  Sonos is itself designed as a multiroom hifi system. 

I doubt there will ever be an integration of the two systems,  although clearly I could be wrong. If you go for Sonos you really have to go all-in with Sonos, not treat them as just another brand of speakers to be mixed with everything else.

J

I received a Sonos Beam for Christmas but will return it due to this lacking feature.  Lots of requests but little response from Sonos.  It’s a pretty simple request: I already have Several Echo devices - I just want to add the sound bar to the group and play music though all of them.  I read Polk recently added this capability so I will probably go that direction.  

ratty

It’s a pretty simple request:

… which would ensure that Sonos went out of business in record time, as people would buy cheap Echo devices in place of Sonos speakers.

S
Userlevel 3
Badge +1

It’s a pretty simple request:

… which would ensure that Sonos went out of business in record time, as people would buy cheap Echo devices in place of Sonos speakers.

The request is to add Sonos speakers, not replace or displace them.  This is for someone who has a bunch of echo speakers already and wants to add a nice Sonos to the mix.

https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/docs/alexa/mrm/multi-room-music-sdk-overview.html

Politics and Business decisions aside, this would be nice.  I thinks Sonos used to be a starting point for smart music speakers, but the starting point is likely Amazon or Google now.  If Sonos could play well with those baselines I could see them selling more on the merits of better sound and desire to have the best.  If the baseline system needs to be thrown out to achieve this, it is an uphill battle.  I’m just thinking forward, without consideration for the history.  Playing nice with MRM and Chromcast would achieve this.

J

 

@Jd1304 . I think you miss the point. Sonos make multiroom wireless audio systems  Sonos INVENTED multiroom wireless audio systems. That is the product.  You go all in with Sonos or you buy something else. Looks like you will be buying something else.

 

 

D

 

@Jd1304 . I think you miss the point. Sonos make multiroom wireless audio systems  Sonos INVENTED multiroom wireless audio systems. That is the product.  You go all in with Sonos or you buy something else. Looks like you will be buying something else.

 

 

And to make it incompatible with other systems will not encourage someone to gradually build up Sonos speakers in their system. Especially if other hi-fi speaker systems do everything Sonos does and use these universal protocols. I love the couple Sonos speakers I have, but I’m not going to drop the money to buy one for every room all at once, especially since I have a dot for most rooms because the voice control on Sonos is vastly inferior. You can invent something and then be left in the dust by not serving your customers. It’s not up for anyone else to say what other customers want. I’m clearly not alone in wanting this support.

J

By 'universal protocols' do you mean the wireless audio patents that Sonos owns?

https://audioxpress.com/article/sonos-settles-another-patent-infringement-case-and-agrees-on-multi-year-licensing-deal-with-lenbrook

'Universal protocols' my a**e.

Sonos making their products incompatible? Where do I start.....?

D

By 'universal protocols' do you mean the wireless audio patents that Sonos owns?

No, I mean the open protocols published by Google and Amazon that the majority of smart speakers use. I’m sure you and a few other original adopters are happy not having wireless speakers integrated with your smart home systems. I really like quality music and I use many fully intergrated smart home products.

If your premise that Sonos believes people should choose either a smart home system or choose Sonos then I imagine Sonos would not have added the limited support they have.

 

I will give you the point that saying that Sonos makes it’s products incompatible is inaccurate and unfair. They have not implemented features that many of their customers want, that are open protocols with no licencing costs, that the hardware could support, and that their competitors have implemented. They have done this while incorporating some smart speaker features, which indicates that they have some intention for their speakers to be used in the context of a smart home system.

J

Why do Sonos speakers have to sync with other speakers to achieve this? I accept tbat if you are already heavy invested in Echo speakers then Sonos is going to have limited appeal. If that becomes an issue for Sonos they will have to reconsider

So far they clearly don't think so.

 

S
Userlevel 3
Badge +1

 

You go all in with Sonos or you buy something else. 

 

I wonder if that should be their marketing slogan?  At this point, most people already have the “something else”.  If Sonos chooses to stay out of that market, then that is their choice.  Of course I have a few Sonos speakers but won’t get any more due to the limitations (as I see them).  They do act as nice Airplay 2 endpoints so all is not lost.  I don’t use or care at all about the Sonos app so this is just my view.  I was late to the game so my perspective may be different.

J

Sonos won't be right for everyone.  We obviously have different perspectives.  I have never found Airplay reliable. A few Echo Dots gives me all the voice control and integration I need. And my music is a single system with great sounding Sonos speakers. I am definitely not suggesting others should adopt that model. Just that Sonos is designed to be a complete multiroom audio system and that that does not conflict with smart home.

J

When I read “with Alexa” in the product brief, I expected  it to work completely.  I already have echo speaker groups and those work fine for my audio needs.  I don’t want another ecosystem.  Sonos makes great stuff and they know wireless sync probably better than anyone so they CAN make this work.  If for business reasons they choose not to, that’s up to them - it doesn’t satisfy my needs.  

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