FULL spotify integration (and other 3rd parties)
+1
Now while its great to see that Spotify radio is going to make it into the Controller app, having used Spotify for a few weeks now on my Sonos system i think Sonos need to go a step further. In effect i think that the spotify app, for ipad for instance needs full integration into the Sonos system (as it does for Napseter etc) What ive found annoying to date is that if im playing a tune on my Sonos system that i like, i then have to go to the Spotify app, search, and find that tune, then click on the star button for example so that its added to my Sonos Controller. That kind of functionality should be included by default.
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+1
Spotify integration (or lack of) has put a hold on me further investing in Sonos. It would be great to have an update.
Userlevel 1
I agree that Sonos needs to improve the Spotify ingetration significantly. There are many features which make for a poor user experience but one of the most annoying things I find is that I cannot seem to simply click on a single track in a playlist and let the playlist continue from there. The only option to get a whole playlist to play is to "Play Now" the whole playlist from the beginning. I therefore find I am not using Spotify on Sonos nearly as much as I should do because I have many playlists which have 100+ tracks in them and its quite boring to listen to them all from the beginning. Only work around would be to create shorter playlists or use shuffle, neither of which are ideal. Come on Sonos - sort this one out... Spotify and Sonos are made to work together but right now they just don't!
I'm an iOS developer and Sonos customer, and with iOS 8 and the new action extension, it should be more possible than ever to let 3rd party apps, Spotify, Rdio or whatever, start playing music on your Sonos system. This is what I propose (and it should be pretty easy, but please correct me if I am wrong):
1. Sonos adds an app extension to their app, allowing third party apps to bring up a Sonos sheet from their apps to start playing the song on Sonos, pick speakers etc. This could be a simple overlay view on the Spotify app, just like AirPlay. Sonos also adds a URL scheme for Spotify to check if the Sonos app is installed on the device.
2. Spotify, Rdio, or any other music apps are updated to show a button "Play with Sonos" IF the Sonos app is installed on the device (possible to detect using the canOpenURL: call).
3. If installed, pressing the "Play with Sonos" app will bring up the Sonos sheet on top of the Spotify UI, allowing the user to start playing the song/album. Once pressed, the sheet goes away.
This would finally remove the advantage AirPlay has over Sonos, namely to be able to control music from the 1st party apps from the music service providers.
Hopefully this illustrated my point. Please let me know if I am missing something here, and I am not an expert on action extensions, but it seems to me that with iOS 8 this all very much possible.
Let me know if I can help in any way.
1. Sonos adds an app extension to their app, allowing third party apps to bring up a Sonos sheet from their apps to start playing the song on Sonos, pick speakers etc. This could be a simple overlay view on the Spotify app, just like AirPlay. Sonos also adds a URL scheme for Spotify to check if the Sonos app is installed on the device.
2. Spotify, Rdio, or any other music apps are updated to show a button "Play with Sonos" IF the Sonos app is installed on the device (possible to detect using the canOpenURL: call).
3. If installed, pressing the "Play with Sonos" app will bring up the Sonos sheet on top of the Spotify UI, allowing the user to start playing the song/album. Once pressed, the sheet goes away.
This would finally remove the advantage AirPlay has over Sonos, namely to be able to control music from the 1st party apps from the music service providers.
Hopefully this illustrated my point. Please let me know if I am missing something here, and I am not an expert on action extensions, but it seems to me that with iOS 8 this all very much possible.
Let me know if I can help in any way.
Ryan S? It's been two months since we heard from Sonos on this. An update would be v. much appreciated. TIA!!
Userlevel 7
+17
I guess the update is that they just released 5.5 which gave us Spotify users 'some' of the Radio functions, 'some' of the Your Music functions and Genre, Moode and 'Now' (time based) Playlists. At the same time it also broke playlist folders.
Whilst its a step in the right direction, it only moves the 'Spotify on Sonos' featureset from a 1/10 to 3/10.
Really, the Spotify integration remains poor. Using Spotify on Sonos is pale ghost of the Spotify desktop controller. It is sufficiently lousy that I am debating returning my Sonos system, or adding Airplay into Sonos as a workaround,
As a long time owner of Sonos and Rhapsody user I recently changed over to Spotify due to the higher bitrate. I was surprised at the lack of features on the ipad controller compared to Rhapsody. This is a major disappointment since Spotify is number 1 in the market.
Wow, I see a to of frustrated customers on this thread and no responses from Sonos… I have the same issue… what gives?
I’m wondering if Sonos has any plans to improve the spotify interface through the sonos app? I currently subscribe to spotify through sonos and don’t like the interface as it’s clunky and hard to navigate through. It would be ideal if the sonos interface and the spotify, web or app interfaces were identical. Or could it be possible to access sonos speakers through the spotify app?? Anyway, just a thought.
Agree with all the questions. The only thing preventing my sonos from getting more playtime is a seamless integration to spotify. I see the new version of spotify lets you play music in other devices. When will this be the case for the Sonos.
Userlevel 1
you are correct sebastian. so many spotify requests all over these forums and not a word from sonos. really bad.
This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled Spotify genre on Sonos. I recently purchased a Spotify subscription and 1 Sonos Play 1 to trial the system and extremely disappointed to find that the app is not fully functional in that I cannot select Spotify Genre and use Sonos to play it. This feature is especially useful rather than having to know and select each artist. At this stage I will not be purchasing more Sonos equipment and am considering returning the Play 1 and utilising another system for Spotify
Userlevel 7
+17
go for a Denon Heos which support Spotify Connect - only by hitting them where it hurts (in the wallet) will there be any chance of them solving this.
I would like to see Sonos support playing all 3rd party apps through their systems. In my car I connect up to the sound system via bluetooth and anything that I play over my iPhone or iPad is available. It seems that an app could be created for phones / tablets that hooks into the sound output and sends it on to the Sonos system. This would not be full integration within the Sonos app but it would allow users to listen to anything that is available on their devices through their Sonos systems.
Userlevel 1
Agree, better integration is wanted.
The issue is that I do not use play lists at all. I have dozens of artist and a lot more albums saved on my Spotify account. Using the SONOS controller I do not have the option to brows Artists and or Albums.
I need the option to select music based on Artist and Albums. I'd like to see the list of artists and albums I have saved already in the Spotify app. Play all saved tracks, albums from a certain Artist just like in the Spotify phone or tablet App.
The issue is that I do not use play lists at all. I have dozens of artist and a lot more albums saved on my Spotify account. Using the SONOS controller I do not have the option to brows Artists and or Albums.
I need the option to select music based on Artist and Albums. I'd like to see the list of artists and albums I have saved already in the Spotify app. Play all saved tracks, albums from a certain Artist just like in the Spotify phone or tablet App.
This is a very serious issue that needs to be addressed soon, particularly considering the wealth of other options that are now available. I'm sure Sonos knows this. We can only hope they do something about it.
Userlevel 1
I would prefer to control the music on my Sonos system with the Spotify App
You know there are two relatively strong technologies that are being hyped right now - streaming music and wireless speakers. I’ve spent three weeks with Sonos, Spotify, and a Heos speaker and really none of them do what I want. It’s quite disappointing.
I’ve moved to Spotify as my main music platform, which means I discover, share, play music from their library, and I also host my own files on Spotify. I have play lists I regularly update that have both my own tracks and Spotify tracks. Yes, they have 30m tracks but that probably represents a 1/3 of the music out there and i have plenty of music I love to listen to regularly that’s not available on Spotify.
Sonos and Heos are both great systems, seemingly. They both sound great. They can stream music directly to the speaker.
One of my most common use cases: play Spotify playlists on the speaker - doesn’t work if the play lists have local files on either system. Fail.
There is also the other many ways Sonos fails with Spotify, given that the app has so far out reached the sonos app. I’m often using the Spotify app for discovery - can’t do that in Sonos. I have dozens of saved albums and artists - Can’t see them in sonos. Can’t share from sonos. Etc.
At least with Heos you can use the full Spotify app. But while Heos seems to work great once the queue is off and running, the app and platform seems buggy. The heos app often hangs or doesn’t see the speakers. But at least you can use the beautiful Spotify app (although that doesn’t do me any good for playing local files.)
One thing that does seem to work reasonably well is Deezer and Sonos. Deezer lets you upload your own files so they become part of their server library and can be streamed. All good there, except... of course there is an except. My family is on a Spotify family plan, so I have 4 premium accounts for $25/mo. To move to Deezer would cost me $60 and ask everyone else to use a different system.
After doing extensive reading online, it appears that Spotify is withdrawing its support for Sonos and integration through it’s sdk, and pushing companies to support Spotify connect. It would be great to get a more comprehensive statement from Sonos about its direction with Spotify.
One way or another I am going to return one of these systems, or both, in the next couple weeks.
I’ve moved to Spotify as my main music platform, which means I discover, share, play music from their library, and I also host my own files on Spotify. I have play lists I regularly update that have both my own tracks and Spotify tracks. Yes, they have 30m tracks but that probably represents a 1/3 of the music out there and i have plenty of music I love to listen to regularly that’s not available on Spotify.
Sonos and Heos are both great systems, seemingly. They both sound great. They can stream music directly to the speaker.
One of my most common use cases: play Spotify playlists on the speaker - doesn’t work if the play lists have local files on either system. Fail.
There is also the other many ways Sonos fails with Spotify, given that the app has so far out reached the sonos app. I’m often using the Spotify app for discovery - can’t do that in Sonos. I have dozens of saved albums and artists - Can’t see them in sonos. Can’t share from sonos. Etc.
At least with Heos you can use the full Spotify app. But while Heos seems to work great once the queue is off and running, the app and platform seems buggy. The heos app often hangs or doesn’t see the speakers. But at least you can use the beautiful Spotify app (although that doesn’t do me any good for playing local files.)
One thing that does seem to work reasonably well is Deezer and Sonos. Deezer lets you upload your own files so they become part of their server library and can be streamed. All good there, except... of course there is an except. My family is on a Spotify family plan, so I have 4 premium accounts for $25/mo. To move to Deezer would cost me $60 and ask everyone else to use a different system.
After doing extensive reading online, it appears that Spotify is withdrawing its support for Sonos and integration through it’s sdk, and pushing companies to support Spotify connect. It would be great to get a more comprehensive statement from Sonos about its direction with Spotify.
One way or another I am going to return one of these systems, or both, in the next couple weeks.
Userlevel 7
+17
I’ve moved to Spotify as my main music platform, which means I discover, share, play music from their library, and I also host my own files on Spotify. I have play lists I regularly update that have both my own tracks and Spotify tracks. Yes, they have 30m tracks but that probably represents a 1/3 of the music out there and i have plenty of music I love to listen to regularly that’s not available on Spotify.
Sonos and Heos are both great systems, seemingly. They both sound great. They can stream music directly to the speaker.
One of my most common use cases: play Spotify playlists on the speaker - doesn’t work if the play lists have local files on either system. Fail.
There is also the other many ways Sonos fails with Spotify, given that the app has so far out reached the sonos app. I’m often using the Spotify app for discovery - can’t do that in Sonos. I have dozens of saved albums and artists - Can’t see them in sonos. Can’t share from sonos. Etc.
At least with Heos you can use the full Spotify app. But while Heos seems to work great once the queue is off and running, the app and platform seems buggy. The heos app often hangs or doesn’t see the speakers. But at least you can use the beautiful Spotify app (although that doesn’t do me any good for playing local files.)
One thing that does seem to work reasonably well is Deezer and Sonos. Deezer lets you upload your own files so they become part of their server library and can be streamed. All good there, except... of course there is an except. My family is on a Spotify family plan, so I have 4 premium accounts for $25/mo. To move to Deezer would cost me $60 and ask everyone else to use a different system.
After doing extensive reading online, it appears that Spotify is withdrawing its support for Sonos and integration through it’s sdk, and pushing companies to support Spotify connect. It would be great to get a more comprehensive statement from Sonos about its direction with Spotify.
One way or another I am going to return one of these systems, or both, in the next couple weeks.
Geoff,
thanks for the info. Personally I use Spotify Connect via a Panasonic ALL1C connected to my Playbar (also with optical switch to change between TV and ALL1C).
It works great and I can group other Sonos speakers to play across the house. Downside is having to use 2 apps when grouping or wanting to change individual volumes (there is an overall volume control using Spotify Connect volume within Spotify app).
Also, the 'Music' setting using the Playbar and rear speakers to give 'Full' music output from all speakers doesnt work as the Playbar assumes its playing a programme or movie and not music. I have to remove the surrounds from the playbar then group them if I wish to have the same levels from the Playbar and the surrounds. A bit tedious.
Anyway, I was curious about your statement "After doing extensive reading online, it appears that Spotify is withdrawing its support for Sonos and integration through it's sdk, and companies to support Spotify connect. It would be great to get a more comprehensive statement from Sonos about its direction with Spotify. "
Do you have a link to support the above ?? This means that, unless Sonos support Connect, they will lose the ability to play Spotify altogether ! Whilst I have a workaround (also great when the rest of 'Spotify on Sonos' experiences one of its many outages), many will not, so be left high and dry with nothing if this proves to be true. Is there any timing on this withdrawal of this sdk ?
Nick
Userlevel 1
I am trying Google Play Music. Seems to be quite the same of Spotify with a more Sonos friendly App
I’ve moved to Spotify as my main music platform, which means I discover, share, play music from their library, and I also host my own files on Spotify. I have play lists I regularly update that have both my own tracks and Spotify tracks. Yes, they have 30m tracks but that probably represents a 1/3 of the music out there and i have plenty of music I love to listen to regularly that’s not available on Spotify.
Sonos and Heos are both great systems, seemingly. They both sound great. They can stream music directly to the speaker.
One of my most common use cases: play Spotify playlists on the speaker - doesn’t work if the play lists have local files on either system. Fail.
There is also the other many ways Sonos fails with Spotify, given that the app has so far out reached the sonos app. I’m often using the Spotify app for discovery - can’t do that in Sonos. I have dozens of saved albums and artists - Can’t see them in sonos. Can’t share from sonos. Etc.
At least with Heos you can use the full Spotify app. But while Heos seems to work great once the queue is off and running, the app and platform seems buggy. The heos app often hangs or doesn’t see the speakers. But at least you can use the beautiful Spotify app (although that doesn’t do me any good for playing local files.)
One thing that does seem to work reasonably well is Deezer and Sonos. Deezer lets you upload your own files so they become part of their server library and can be streamed. All good there, except... of course there is an except. My family is on a Spotify family plan, so I have 4 premium accounts for $25/mo. To move to Deezer would cost me $60 and ask everyone else to use a different system.
After doing extensive reading online, it appears that Spotify is withdrawing its support for Sonos and integration through it’s sdk, and pushing companies to support Spotify connect. It would be great to get a more comprehensive statement from Sonos about its direction with Spotify.
One way or another I am going to return one of these systems, or both, in the next couple weeks.
Thanks - I read an article about the Spotify connect announcement in which a Spotify exec made specific statements about not investing in apps that integrate with Spotify and specifically mentioned Sonos. There was an update to the article that had a retraction, but I interpreted as a momentary inadvertent telling of the truth. I don't have the link but if I see it again I'll post it here. I don't think it means they will stop supporting the sonos connection as it is, but perhaps not invest in developing the api to support new features. That was my impression.
I am very deceived by Sonos. Spotify is not really integrated (no access to "my music", albums, etc.) in their system and the interface is very poor in comparison to Spotify one. I would not recommand sonos to spotify users.
I think they are both contributing to the issue. Spotify is focusing on Spotify Connect, which is at odds with the design approach Sonos has taken.
I've been using Google Play and am very happy with it so far. It does everything Spotify does and in some cases better and the integration with Sonos is decent. (The equivalent of "Your Music" is supported in GP and also local files.) Although Songza is integrated into Google Play, GP's Songza functionality isn't in Sonos at this point, so I use Sonza in Sonos too - both work well.
I've been using Google Play and am very happy with it so far. It does everything Spotify does and in some cases better and the integration with Sonos is decent. (The equivalent of "Your Music" is supported in GP and also local files.) Although Songza is integrated into Google Play, GP's Songza functionality isn't in Sonos at this point, so I use Sonza in Sonos too - both work well.
My understanding is that Sonos Spotify integration is limited due to Spotify not providing access to some features through their API:
https://community.spotify.com/t5/ideas/v2/ideapage/blog-id/ideaexchange/article-id/16743/
Ideally I'd like to use Spotify's own app and send to Sonos through Spotify Connect. I expect Sono's could easily add this feature with a software update but it's probably being stalled by Spotify/Sonos failing to agree / still negotiating terms.
https://community.spotify.com/t5/ideas/v2/ideapage/blog-id/ideaexchange/article-id/16743/
Ideally I'd like to use Spotify's own app and send to Sonos through Spotify Connect. I expect Sono's could easily add this feature with a software update but it's probably being stalled by Spotify/Sonos failing to agree / still negotiating terms.
Wow. Just came across this thread. Two years old... Who said technology moves fast?! Proper Spotify/Sonos integration remains a no-go whilst the stare-off continues. Who will blink first and risk satisying customers?!
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