Feature request: Add artwork to Custom URL Streams

  • 30 August 2023
  • 7 replies
  • 129 views
R

Hi there,

 

I frequently use my Sonos system to stream live radio, and I exclusively listen to add-free stations. In the past, TuneIn Radio, and then Sonos Radio have worked perfectly well for finding and streaming my preferred stations, but over the years both services have added more and more pre-roll and even “mid-roll” advertisements overlaid on top of the original stream.

 

The best solution I have found for this annoyance is to load the Streaming Station URLs manually in the Sonos desktop App. It is a bit of a pain, but it a one-time pain, and way better then listening to the ads. But I really do miss the station artwork.

 

Please add the ability to load custom artwork alongside custom streaming URLs in the Sonos app!

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

7 replies

Corry P
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @rhinoscope 

Thank you - I've marked this thread as a feature request and it will be seen by the relevant teams for consideration. Keep the ideas coming!

Please note that ads are usually inserted by TuneIn at the start of a stream. If you are getting a lot of ads, it may be because the connection to the server is being broken, so when it reconnects, the server injects an ad. The next time this happens, I recommend you submit a support diagnostic immediately, then get in touch with our technical support team when convenient to discuss the event - if it is indeed broken connections that are causing a lot of the ads, they should be able to help you improve the situation.

I hope this helps.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
ratty

I’d +1 this, but I very much doubt it will ever be addressed.

I often play listener-supported stations like SomaFM during the day and the last thing I want is a pre-roll advert, so I use custom URLs as well. Moreover one can typically choose custom URLs that have higher quality than the meagre bitrates often served up by the directory services.

R

Thanks for the replies! Hopefully this will actually be considered as an quality-of-life upgrade for us Sonos radio streamers.

 

Even if the TuneIn advertisments should only be pre-roll that is still a deal breaker for me.

 

In fact,  I would be willing to pay a streaming radio aggregator such as TuneIn for an ad-free, highest bitrate, up-to-date directory service. As far as I know, no such service exists in the Sonos ecosystem,  so manually adding custom URLs is all I have got for now.

C
Userlevel 6
Badge +11

Native SomaFM App + AirPlay?

 

H

Also, i’m tired of these disgusting pre-rolls ads on my direct URL streams. 

will you play pre-rolls ads on my Premium Spotify account or my local HIFI music also ? this is insane.

Something need to happen fast SONOS is just good as junk until then.

ratty

Also, i’m tired of these disgusting pre-rolls ads on my direct URL streams. 

Those must be added by the stream server itself. Sonos does not inject pre-roll ads with direct URLs. I use them every day.

H

Those must be added by the stream server itself. Sonos does not inject pre-roll ads with direct URLs. I use them every day.

I think you’re right, i misunderstood the situation, don’t know where i found the URL i was using but no ads when i used another URL sniffed from the mobile app. Very confusing as there were ads only when played on sonos and no ads on website or mobile. Add to that Sonos releasing Radio HD service at the same time, i was making assumptions.  “ relieved “      

Terms & ConditionsCookie settings