Play SONOS directly from iTunes

Hello John,

The Sonos players get synced with a location on the network, which might be your computer's music library, or could be a NAS drive on the network. The way the players handle the communication, they access the location directly, as opposed to have music streamed to them. This allows for a more stable connection and carefully controlled playback so that you can have music synced across your network with ease. Also, it allows you to control playback from any of your controllers, not the one that initiated playback.

There isn't a direct streaming built in for computers, either Mac or PC. You can setup an Airport Express with a Line-In to one of your Sonos components and use the mac Airplay to stream from your iTunes into Sonos. More on that setup is described here.

Cheers.

So are there no plans to be able to play all device sound to the SONOS? like bluetooth speaker. or wifi direct. I need to understand this before i mistakenly purchase more of these speakers.

So are there no plans to be able to play all device sound to the SONOS? like bluetooth speaker. or wifi direct. I need to understand this before i mistakenly purchase more of these speakers.
Hi Andrew,

There isn't supported way to reliably stream all of your device audio to Sonos wirelessly. You can use the Line-In with a cable on a CONNECT, CONNECT:AMP, PLAY:5, or even the optical on the PLAYBAR. If you'd like to use Airplay, you can use the Airport Express with the Line-In as described above.

Sonos can already play your music library, many music services, and internet radio stations without having to stream them from your computer or mobile device. This makes your system device independent so multiple people can control the music with ease. 

So are there no plans to be able to play all device sound to the SONOS? like bluetooth speaker. or wifi direct. I need to understand this before i mistakenly purchase more of these speakers.
thanks for your response. It seems you are saying there there are no plans to incorporate this feature. This is unfortunate as it is otherwise a great product. I'll have to look somewhere else for something that does what i need.

Following on from this can anyone reading this recommend other products that do what i'm looking for. Bluetooth speakers obviously do, of which there are many, but I was looking for something that would hook in to my overall wifi network. so i can play on multiple speakers about the house and don't have to worry so much about tethering etc.

I'm not so much worried about different zones, more interested in playing whatever i want, from whatever device, on multiple remote speakers.

thanks for any advice. cheers

I suggest a Sonos Play:5 and a Bluetooth adapter in the line-in. With this approach you can listen to the source through any of your Sonos speakers, not just the one with the line-in.

Depending on how simple you need your setup to be I think John B is correct. However, if you go the line-in route, I am really happy with the Chromecast Audio solution. It's the ace up my media center's sleeve when I just want the fastest and easiest way to get music coming through my speakers.

But, casting can be prone to strange cutouts, random unavailability and other quirks of the protocol which prevent it from being a daily driver.

Roon is far from a Gold release, so dont take my repost as fanboyism, or claims of a panacea, but I hope to raise awareness of it's ecosystem, if nothing more than to inspire future features of other software such as Sonos, Plex, Emby, et al. It does a lot of things right and puts you back in control of your music.

Here's a decent blog post that summarizes my exact experience in the media center world. You may find it cathartic or informative, either way it's worth a read, https://gcoupe.wordpress.com/2016/02/11/media-in-the-home-the-journey-continues-and-roon-is-discovered/amp/

I have zero issues with a ply 5 connected to an Apple express via the in line. You cannot do this with any other sonos speaker. I can play direct to sonos and then to other devices using airplay, from iPhone or direct form a mac enabled iTunes laptop. I don't see the point for Bluetooth as you are comprising on sound. The lag with airplay when playing movies can be a drawback

VOX is not the panacea but it streams all my computer's music to SONOS (mp3, FLCA, etc.). It even streams Youtube and Soundcloud from Chrome with an addon. I really nead SONOS to stream from my Computer without having to use line-in or tierce product. That's a missing possibility that have to be adressed.