(I dont know if this has been discussed before but it didn't come up in my searches. Apologies if it has)
Essentially I would like starting any live streaming service such as tunein radio to automatically look to see if it that stream is playing in any other room and automatically share that stream. It seems daft and annoying to me that if I select the same radio station in two rooms then they play with a very significant delay between the different rooms.
I realize that I can easliy link the rooms to solve this but, here's what happens in our house: We have the radio playing in the bedroom and bathroom. To avoid the annoying effects of the delay, I pick up my phone and link the rooms Now, let's imagine I'm in the shower and my wife heads downstairs. She taps the play/pause in the bedroom like she normally does and guess-what?.... it stops in the bathroom too because I linked them. If they simply shared the same stream then they would act like two regular radios in two rooms.
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Not possible. It would require two separately initiated streams from an online station to be in sync, and that is impossible to achieve.
I don't think that's really what the request is. If I could rephrase it, if a request is made to play a station in zone A, then the exact same request is made to play in zone B, the system should recognize this in group zone B with zone A instead of initiating a 2nd stream.
It sounds like you also want to remember that it had done this auto-grouping, so that it auto un-groups when zone B pauses.
Technicailly, I can see where this might not be too easy to do, but I don't know. Functionally though, I wouldn't want the feature turned on for me. I'd much rather just group and ungroup, pause and start, as I wish without the system assuming it knows what I want. What happens when you actually want to play a separate stream or pause both zones?
The issue is really only going to occur when two people are regularly using Sonos, which doesn't fit me, so maybe I just don't get it. And maybe it's just me, but I would think the easier solution would be to ask the other user to consider what's going in other zones and what zones your zone is grouped with before changing things. Then again, I know that's always not a favorable solution when the other person is called 'wife'.
It sounds like you also want to remember that it had done this auto-grouping, so that it auto un-groups when zone B pauses.
Technicailly, I can see where this might not be too easy to do, but I don't know. Functionally though, I wouldn't want the feature turned on for me. I'd much rather just group and ungroup, pause and start, as I wish without the system assuming it knows what I want. What happens when you actually want to play a separate stream or pause both zones?
The issue is really only going to occur when two people are regularly using Sonos, which doesn't fit me, so maybe I just don't get it. And maybe it's just me, but I would think the easier solution would be to ask the other user to consider what's going in other zones and what zones your zone is grouped with before changing things. Then again, I know that's always not a favorable solution when the other person is called 'wife'.
+26I'll pass along the suggestion for you.
As a suggestion, let your wife know that if she were to press and hold on the play/pause instead of just pressing it, that player would leave the group with the one you have playing upstairs and stop playing.
Just like if she wanted to start playing the same thing, she could press and hold to group them.
RichL wrote:
To avoid the annoying effects of the delay, I pick up my phone and link the rooms Now, let's imagine I'm in the shower and my wife heads downstairs. She taps the play/pause in the bedroom like she normally does and guess-what?.... it stops in the bathroom too because I linked them. If they simply shared the same stream then they would act like two regular radios in two rooms.
As a suggestion, let your wife know that if she were to press and hold on the play/pause instead of just pressing it, that player would leave the group with the one you have playing upstairs and stop playing.
Just like if she wanted to start playing the same thing, she could press and hold to group them.
Thanks for that Ryan.
We love to use our (7 room) Sonos system for streaming live radio. Regardless of the technicalities the intuitive expectation, from the uninitiated, is that switching a second (or third) radio onto the same station it will play in sync with any other radio. Thats just how it has always worked. I dont see how the feature would have a down side to anyone as it would not affect the manual group and ungrouping at all.
I will definitely play with the long-press thing which i didn't know about. 🙂
We love to use our (7 room) Sonos system for streaming live radio. Regardless of the technicalities the intuitive expectation, from the uninitiated, is that switching a second (or third) radio onto the same station it will play in sync with any other radio. Thats just how it has always worked. I dont see how the feature would have a down side to anyone as it would not affect the manual group and ungrouping at all.
I will definitely play with the long-press thing which i didn't know about. 🙂
Whatever your intuition, internet radio stations are just not like that. Streams can be several seconds apart. Start two internet streams on two phones and they will not be in sync. They are not like OTA broadcasts. As @jgatie said, what you are requesting is totally impossible.
You are not 'switching on a radio'.
You are not 'switching on a radio'.
You can't compare over the air radio with internet radio. Over the air radio all has the same source, internet radio spawns a stream every time someone connects. If you want a second or third room to play the same thing, you need to group the rooms via the app, or long press the pause/mute button to join the group. Similarly, to stop playing, use the app to ungroup, or long press the button again.
John, in the Sonos world that is plain wrong.
I am not talking of two streams. Sonos takes a stream into the house and shares it, synchronised with any other player in a group today. It's only one stream from tunein, the playout in multiple points is what is synchronized within the Sonos network. Of course initiating two streams could NEVER be synchronized but that is not what i am asking. It is simply a group that is hidden behind the UI.
I am not talking of two streams. Sonos takes a stream into the house and shares it, synchronised with any other player in a group today. It's only one stream from tunein, the playout in multiple points is what is synchronized within the Sonos network. Of course initiating two streams could NEVER be synchronized but that is not what i am asking. It is simply a group that is hidden behind the UI.
Which is precisely what grouping is for. Your choice of language 'switching radio onto the same station' rather than 'connecting player to the same stream' was perhaps unhelpful in conveying your meaning
Thanks but i know how Sonos syncs
Thanks but i know how Sonos syncs
John B wrote:
Which is precisely what grouping is for. Your choice of language 'switching radio onto the same station' rather than 'connecting player to the same stream' was perhaps unhelpful in conveying your meaning
Thanks but i know how Sonos syncs
Thanks but i know how Sonos syncs
So, perhaps, I should call it hidden grouping then? I dont mean to confuse, just looking to improve the UX.
As an example we use the system in our kitchen on the radio most of the time. We mostly simply hit play/pause to start & stop. Same thing in the bathroom. Personally I fail to see the downside of what I am asking for. I dont always want to have to get a phone out to group/ungroup etc. etc. I find the little buttons on the speaker pretty convenient.
You have what is asked for. Long press to join, long press again to unjoin. You aren't going to get "hidden grouping".
I will make this my last post on the topic since I think those posting have made their views clear.
I thank Ryan for his suggestion and for passing it on. Unfortunately the long press is only a part solution.
The long press will join a group with an active speaker, which is great. Another will leave it.... unless there are multiple active speakers, where each long-press will select another active speaker to group with. In my house, with several teenagers, I end up performing complete survey of the current Sonos activity before it goes quiet.
Given that I have to get all my tech to make the grade on the WAF (wife acceptance factor) simplicity & intuition come high on the deciding factors. Requiring 'training' is bad, always needing phone, is bad. The fact that the play/pause button acts like an on/off was an absolute winner in getting Sonos to move into my house in the first place!:D
IMHO, my suggested 'hidden grouping' feature doesn't have any down-sides to the user except, perhaps if the developer effort required were to delay something more important. The feature could be completely hidden from the user, and everything could operate identically to how it does now apart from the fact that the same radio show in different rooms would be synchronized.
I thank Ryan for his suggestion and for passing it on. Unfortunately the long press is only a part solution.
The long press will join a group with an active speaker, which is great. Another will leave it.... unless there are multiple active speakers, where each long-press will select another active speaker to group with. In my house, with several teenagers, I end up performing complete survey of the current Sonos activity before it goes quiet.
Given that I have to get all my tech to make the grade on the WAF (wife acceptance factor) simplicity & intuition come high on the deciding factors. Requiring 'training' is bad, always needing phone, is bad. The fact that the play/pause button acts like an on/off was an absolute winner in getting Sonos to move into my house in the first place!:D
IMHO, my suggested 'hidden grouping' feature doesn't have any down-sides to the user except, perhaps if the developer effort required were to delay something more important. The feature could be completely hidden from the user, and everything could operate identically to how it does now apart from the fact that the same radio show in different rooms would be synchronized.
RichL wrote:
Requiring 'training' is bad, always needing phone, is bad.
These two points cannot be emphasized enough. Sonos should have this made into posters and display them throughout all of their facilities so everyone there keeps it in mind at all times.
@RichL I think this feature would be great, and I cannot see why this would not be possible to implement in a connected multiroom setup.
I have asked Sonos directly about this feature in 2015, is was passed on to the development team - so obviously they have not picked it up :?
I'm a long time customer with Sonos, and in general I would consider Sonos quite conservative when it comes to changes. Then again their multiroom setup just works fantastic and it has been so for many years, even my devices from 2009 still work, so it is also cool that they do not leave you behind 😃
I have asked Sonos directly about this feature in 2015, is was passed on to the development team - so obviously they have not picked it up :?
I'm a long time customer with Sonos, and in general I would consider Sonos quite conservative when it comes to changes. Then again their multiroom setup just works fantastic and it has been so for many years, even my devices from 2009 still work, so it is also cool that they do not leave you behind 😃
Hey folks from 1 year ago,
I have the same scenario every morning: Play1 in the bathroom turns on at 6 in the morning. When I'm done my wife takes over the bathroom and I prepare breakfast downstairs.
I didn’t know about the long press either. I think it will help me, so thanks for that.
But before I read this, I also imagined that 'hidden grouping' would be a nice feature. Why should the system start a second or third async stream of the same source in the first place?
I have the same scenario every morning: Play1 in the bathroom turns on at 6 in the morning. When I'm done my wife takes over the bathroom and I prepare breakfast downstairs.
I didn’t know about the long press either. I think it will help me, so thanks for that.
But before I read this, I also imagined that 'hidden grouping' would be a nice feature. Why should the system start a second or third async stream of the same source in the first place?
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