Sonos Bluetooth Connect

I regret buing sonos. I really thought the issue about not be able to stream podcasts from my phone was going to be solved. But it is not going to happen.
Today I have a expensive Sonos system but use a 30$ BT-speaker when I listen to podcasts.
Bluetooth streaming or wifi streaming would change it all.

I have a Sonos 5 and I stream audio via bluetooth all the time. I just plugged a bluetooth adapter into the AUX port. Works pretty well.

For those with an input Sonos like the Play:5 the auxiliary port allows for a lot of flexibility (adding Bluetooth, airplay etc). Although I rarely use it (ok never) I do have one of the new Google Chromecast Audio Dongles ($35) plugged into my Play:5.

For those unfamiliary and wonder why Sonos doesn't jump on Bluetooth or airplay ... they are fundamentally different than Sonos. Sonos for the most part has an architecture where your controller (like phone) is just a remote control. When you chose a radio station, local network song, or streaming service, the controller tells the player to go out and fetch it. So the song then goes directly from the source (such as Spotify) to the speaker. The controller never sees the song. This is an important part of the Sonos architecture because then you can turn your controller/phone off or lose wifi and your music will not stop. That is a key point in Sonos reliability.

Now with airplay and Bluetooth your song has to download the song and then send from the phone to Sonos. Any loss of connectivity or turning off the phone stops the music. It also sends the music over your home wifi instead of Sonosnet and therefore is also prone to breakups (yes I know people can use home wifi now for the sonos speakers to but that is rarely a good way to hook up sonos either).

Now - chromecast. It is not Bluetooth or Airplay. It is like Sonos. When you chose something in an app that is chromecast enabled, chromecast does what sonos does and tells the chromecast speaker to go out and fetch the music stream directly and leave the phone/device out of the equation.

So - chromecast audio is just like 30 days old. So you can't expect Sonos to have already come out with Chromecast compatibility. But the future as far as Sonos goes to me seems to be adding chromecast capability. Spotify did something similar last year in coming out with Spotify Connect. Spotify Connect does the same thing chromecast does/and Sonos but was proprietary to Spotify only. Sonos had the legitimate reason for not embrassing Spotify Connect because it would devote a lot of on speaker resources to a single companies product. With Chromecast Audio you have the same as Spotify Connect but much more universal to all apps. That's why I think Sonos, while they haven't said anything yet, may be looking hard at Chromecast Audio to solve the biggest issue they have currently and that really is allowing more flexibility of using other apps to play direct to their speakers.

In the meantime a Play:5, Connect, or Connect:Amp with a $35 Chromecast dongle adds the ability today (and allows to play to any Sonos speaker in your home).

As a new SONOS play:5 owner let me say that I chose the SONOS player because it does not rely on bluetooth. Our old speaker was a bluetooth enabled speaker. I always got yelled at by the GF because I would start playing music from my phone, walk out to the backyard and bluetooth speaker would disconnect because I went out of range. Same issue when I tried going the airplay route, but to a lesser extent because its WIFI based.
With that said, I would really like to see SONOS seriously consider more flexibility with outside apps. I really liked the Spotify Connect feature and I could see a better integration with Chromecast being an option (even though all my devices in the house are Apple).

+1 chromecast native. Although I already have with dongle attached to my play:5. As you have a play:5 it is a good addition to give you full chromecast for like $40

+1 chromecast native. Although I already have with dongle attached to my play:5. As you have a play:5 it is a good addition to give you full chromecast for like $40
I'm considering using the Chromecast audio dongle (right now I am using an apple express with airplay). Can I play music using the dongle without having to go into the SONOS app and choosing line in? Right now the only way I see it working is first opening up the SONOS app, selecting line in and from there going to the app of choice to use chromecast.

You can set the line in to auto select when it detects a signal. This is how I have my turntable set up.

The limit of their ability to play music it rather limited (like their personal hygiene).

From all accounts, I don't see bluetooth coming in Sonos kit; and if I had the environment you seem to have, I'd prefer to have my Sonos install kept away from it! Ask them to save up for some cheap/cheerful bluetooth speakers for the privacy of their rooms, and don't install Sonos there?

Sonos is not putting Bluetooth hardware in their device. Both Bluetooth and AirPlay as well as chromecast can be added as j out into any of the 4 units you have with I out givin anyone ability to direct their iPhone output into Sonos. There was air Sonos program I haven't kept up With that acts as AirPlay server to all units (I haven't checked to see if they have working again on latest iOS version - as I frankly hate Bluetooth and AirPlay for their dropouts and poor audio quality. Chromecast Audio is only one I would think of since it pushes music direct from source like Sonos.