Chromecast functionality
You know, I listen to audiobooks a lot. Would be so great if I could listen with my Sonos speaker at home. But well, I CAN NOT. Crazy right? So my old Play 5 will play some music and I will look for a vendor who actually cares for Android users ...
Chromecast support is imperative for Sonos. I have to think that they are in a death march to implement this functionality. I have >10 Sonos devices in my home and am responsible for at least another 30 in the homes of relatives and friends. I hope Sonos doesn’t make me look like an idiot. The last thing I want to do is use the Sonos app to do anything. The Sonos app was great in 2014, but it’s been years since usability has improved. Roon solved this problem for me in my home, but I can’t setup Roon servers for my relatives (expensive, complicated, PITA). However, Plex provides a great solution, and now you can cast to Sonos speakers from the Plex apps (see https://support.plex.tv/articles/218237558-requirements-for-using-plex-for-sonos/). This is great, but please implement Chromecast support generally. Thanks.
Adding my name to list of would who would buy one of these for every room in my house except for it not supporting Chromecast and forcing me to use their app is a deal breaker. So annoying because they look and sound amazing for the price
https://www.google.com/amp/s/9to5google.com/2019/05/17/google-assistant-sonos-home/amp/
This basically sums up the Google integration problem's for Android people.
Why is Sonos lacking the Chromecast functionality
I have Android and iOS devices. I prefer Android, so I use it. Not because I don’t have a surplus of discretionary income, but because I am a technologist and Android is more flexible.
The fact that Sonos won’t address this question directly with a status or rationale tells me that it’s their choice to have not implemented it yet. A simple “we’re working with Google to add this functionality to S2 as soon as possible” would suffice… however, silence is the biggest indicator that the company doesn’t care and likely will never deploy it.
I spent 3.5k recently on Sonos gear to power my whole-home audio and for the most part have been happy with it. The biggest struggle I’ve found is the limited functionality of the S2 app in browsing my music collections across Google Music (now YouTube Music), Tidal, Spotify, and XM. Specifically, in using things like “radio stations” or “discover mixes” based on themes, artists, albums or playlists. For these, I’d like to go into the native apps on my Android phone start my music, and then transfer the audio over to Sonos to continue playing it.
I purchased Sonos knowing of this limitation, thinking I could work around it with a Chromecast dongle attached to a port, Beam, or Amp (I have all of them). But this solution is clunky and I expect more out of my premium audio vendor. The lack of Chromecast support is a far bigger inconvenience than I could have expected.
Sonos, it’s time to get off your high horse and communicate with your customers on this issue.
Sonos could spend a fortune trying to implement all voice commands, but they will always be playing catch-up unless Google and Amazon share the “next” release of their product to Sonos several months before releasing it to the public, and I don’t see that happening.
I was upset after I setup Sonos One and found out it did not work with chromecast, or be part of speaker groups. I don’t buy this license fee or restriction non sense. My 3rd party Lenovo smart display and Onyko smart speaker from two years ago support chromecast with no issues. I can cast to them, they can be speaker groups with other google speakers.
And I can use free youtube music on all above mentioned speakers but not Sonos one. I am pretty tech savvy and I still fell for this trap. If I can return this Sonos One I will but it’s not. Until Sonos decides to fix this I have one expensive bluetooth speaker collecting dust on my desk.
Or with the new Nest Audio at half the price, I could sell my Sonos One on craigslist and upgrade to the new Nest Audio.
One thing for sure is that likening the possible Bluetooth functionality to the way the Play:5 line-in works doesn’t really make sense. The Line-in acts as a new source and is wired. Bluetooth is a method of data transmission and is wireless.
Jeez people! Why the bitter attitude? Are you paid by SONOS?
This doesn't have to be explained but here we go: Problems that users share for ANY device or software, don't apply to the overall user group but only to some (!)
So its not a surprise that for you this is not an issue - be informed that this thread is not a poll!
We are MANY having issues with this if you look up online or in other threads here, each with different usage needs.
So give us a break and go comment somewhere your input can be useful instead of negative?
ps. I did do my research before buying, this is not something you will typically read as a not supported feature ;)
As mentioned, another example that SONOS is not willing to put the same investment for Android, is that the Trueplay Tuning is only available in iOs…
Which is it? You did your “research before buying & this is not something you will typically read as a not supported feature“ or you “found endless similar posts and requests on the internet” about this feature not being supported. So you “did your research” before buying but missed the “endless posts” on the subject, only seeing them after buying it?
As I stated early, it’s pretty evident you did little to no research (i.e. didn’t Google “Sonos chromecast support”), just made assumptions looking at the Sonos product page, and then got upset when your assumptions weren’t accurate after buying the product and thus decided to redirect your anger and bitterness at Sonos, blaming them for your lack of awareness and responsibility in making sure the product actually had the features you wanted before buying it.
To clarify. There’s nothing wrong with creating a Sonos forum thread (like this one) asking for Chromecast support, so that Android users can get the same functionality as iOS users, thus making purchasing a Sonos product worthwhile for them as well. That’s evident. There’s everything wrong though with assuming that Sonos can magically add this feature on their own without getting permission and licensing from Google. And worst of all, there’s everything wrong with blaming a company for not having a feature that you didn’t research it had in the first place.
+6
Sonos needs to stop the discrimination of Android users, in favor of IOS users.
Discrimination? Do you have inside information and proof that Sonos is intentionally not allowing funcitonality on Android? It couldn’t be that Google is charging more for license, has different hardware requirements, or Google isn’t allowing Sonos to have chromecast for whatever reason? You sure it’s just that Sonos thinks little of android users?
Similarly, tuning of Sonos speakers is only available on IOS.
Sonos has explained the reason for that repeatedly. I would rather Sonos just sell their own mic-enabled device for tuning rather that develop tuning for all the hardware flavors of android.
What else are Android users missing out on?
An understanding of why certain features are on iOS but not android? I’m not suggesting that customers need to know all these details, but assuming the reason is discrimination when facts suggest otherwise.
Did you know that you can play files stored on your android phone with Sonos, but you can’t with iOS? That’s not as big of deal with airplay, but was certainly not popular before airplay was widely used. And people made the same assumptions you’re doing now, that Sonos just doesn’t like their Apple customers, ignoring the fact that iOS changes made the feature unmanageable.
Sonos, being an open platform should rather prioritize the open operating system (Android), than the walled off IOS.
From what I’ve seen, Sonos prioritizes based on volume of customers who could use the feature and feasibility to actually develop the feature. And of course, they need to make a profit somewhere too.
Not having Chromecast on Sonos is a pain. And having a terrible Google Assistant experience on Sonos speakers doesn’t make things better unfortunately. (Sonos, why can’t I shuffle music using voice commands?!)
I highly doubt that Google is refusing Sonos access to Chromecast. Many different speaker brands use Chromecast, from budget to premium. And the hardware on Sonos’ latest speakers certainly allows for it.
I first thought that Sonos didn’t want Chromecast on their devices due to Chromecast being a competitor in multiroom playback. But then, having AirPlay 2 but not Chromecast doesn’t make much sense to me either.
Then Sonos started this court case against Google (and Amazon). This didn’t stop Google from adding the ability to set a Sonos device as the default speaker for e.g. a Nest Mini and adding Voice Match to Sonos devices though.
You can play anything from an iOS device to a Sonos speaker, yet Android users don’t have this option. This is unfair towards Android users and bothers me as well, despite being an iOS user.
I also agree about Sonos being an open platform and should thus be open to Android users in particular.
The Google Assistant on Sonos is plagued with problems, from not shuffling music to not responding at all. People have been complaining about these issues from day 1, including the lack of Chromecast support.
And of course people are frustrated by all this - all these problems have been around since the launch of GA on Sonos, and more than a year later, none of them have ever been resolved.
All just rumors as Sonos hasn’t announced anything official yet. The main source for this came from the same author who stated that you’d be able to use 2 Rays as rear surround upfiring speakers. I am doubtful that Optimo speakers will be released this year, but bluetooth seems plausible since Roams can already do this...connect to BT and WiFi concurrently and share the BT audio with the rest of the Sonos system.
Correct. It’s been reported but not verified by Sonos themselves. So it is still speculative at this time and we can’t assume it will be added until he product is actually launched. The article source has me hopeful though.
I too would use a Sonos system- was considering the arc, sub and surrounds. The lack of intergation with chromecast makes Sonos useless to me... I am so supprised that chromecast is not avalibe. If Sonos has any plan to integrate chromecast in the next year or so with updates, it would be in their best interest to let users know now.
fact is - sonos needs also chromecast support, otherwise it’s wasted money for the buck for most android users and we better switch to other brands
Sonos offers pretty much every major streaming services streamed directly without the use of chromecast, airplay, or any other mechanism in between. They also offer Tune In and their own Sonos radio as a means of accessing hundreds (thousands?) of radio stations. I think you might be overstating the necessity of chromecast support for android users.
People don't want to use the Sonos app... maybe back in the day, but now people want to open their favourite music app and just cast.
Shameful? Is there a universal human right to have every bit of functionality you want on a product?
Sonos cannot implement BBC Sounds unilaterally. They have chosen not to implement Chromecast.
This is not a moral matter. Your choice of words is ludicrous.
Unfortunate would be better….
I think the suggestion that Sonos should be ashamed because they have taken a decision not to add a particular feature is worse than ‘unfortunate’. It makes it an issue of moral responsibility, and I cannot think of that as anything other than ludicrous. (Even more so, in the case of BBC Sounds, which must require input from the BBC, which may or may not be forthcoming.)
Sonos make a product with a particular feature set. They fix a price. People buy it if they think it is worth the money, and they will buy something else if tat meets their needs better within their budget. If Sonos have got this wrong then they will suffer in the bottom line. But it is not am issue of moral responsibility, which is implied by the word ‘shameful’.
I want to buy a Sonos system, but won’t do it without Chromecast support. 4 out of 5 mobile phones in my family is on Android. Some services we use don’t support either AirPlay or Sonos, only Chromecast, so it’s an absolute requirement. There’s no other systems out there that I really want though, so I’m very likely to buy a Sonos system if Chromecast support is introduced not to far off in the future.
I think a lot of us got screwed by buying sonos products on the vague promise of “google assistant” support, which was eventually half-delivered like a year late and then never updated. Sonos is more concerned with keeping people in their proprietary ecosystem (see: sonos radio, S2, etc) than the compatibility and openness that originally won them fans. Honestly the S2 thing pissed everyone off, but if they gave me the choice to have no sonos app at all and join everything to the google ecosystem I’d take it in a heartbeat.
I guess this topic only has 43,000 views though, so it must not be an important feature to their customers.
I bought it early doors on the promise of Google Assistant compatibility. After 12+ months of Airplay failing to work 70% of the time and using the more reliable (but very un-user-friendly Sonos app) a half-hearted implementation of GA arrives...
The microphone fails to pick up commands more often than not, I regularly get the message from my Sonos One that my Sonos One is not available (?!) and obviously chromecast does not work.
My £30 Google Home performs way, way better than this, if only it sounded as good... Google Max here I come.
fact is - sonos needs also chromecast support, otherwise it’s wasted money for the buck for most android users and we better switch to other brands
Sonos offers pretty much every major streaming services streamed directly without the use of chromecast, airplay, or any other mechanism in between. They also offer Tune In and their own Sonos radio as a means of accessing hundreds (thousands?) of radio stations. I think you might be overstating the necessity of chromecast support for android users.
It's not overstated. I have a home ecosystem with multiple speakers that can be grouped via Chromecast. I purchased a Sonos One and was surprised that I couldn’t group it with my other speakers. It is possible with Airplay but as an Android user, it was very disappointing. I promptly returned the Sonos and purchased a Harmon Kardon Citation One instead. It has been able to integrate with my Google Home ecosystem smoothly via Chromecast and the acoustics are comparable, if not, slightly better.
Disappointed after setting up my Sonos Beam only to find out that the advertised "Google Assistant" support doesn't include casting support. Took quite a bit of digging to even discover that fact, and it greatly diminishes the ability to use the speaker in a Google home setup (no speaker groups, no default speakers, etc).
If I knew this before buying the speaker, I would have found an alternative. Now I can only hope that Sonos decides to follow through on their (currently misleading) advertised support, and advise others not to make the same mistake I did.
Just wanted to note here that some of us (fortunately) read this thread in time, _before_ buying a Sonos device, and decided not to buy it because the lack of Chromecast support. You just don't know about us, because most of us doesn't invest the time to register an account here just to leave one comment and never come back.
I have been waiting to be able to cast to my connect amp for quite some time.
I still have some hope.
So Sonos… Chromecast?
Bought a beam and found out that I can't cast. Plus one for chromecast support.
+3
sonos does not give out its timeline so keep looking at the announcement section on this forum
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