What's best to replace the CR100 ?
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Amazon Fire tablets are cheap, and can pin the app to the screen making it instantly available. Buy a stand and enable the "constant on while being charged" feature in the Developers Options screen (Google it) and it's like having a custom controller.
https://www.amazon.com/All-New-Amazon-Fire-7-Tablet/dp/B01GEW27DA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1517429669&sr=8-1&keywords=fire+tablet
https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-IPM-TAB1-AMZ-Adjustable-Tablet-Stand/dp/B006ZT4VA0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1517429771&sr=8-3&keywords=tablet+stand
There. Both for $40 less than the compensation you get for the CR100, before you even count the fact you get an actual tablet. And those stands are awesomely simple and cool. I own 3.
https://www.amazon.com/All-New-Amazon-Fire-7-Tablet/dp/B01GEW27DA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1517429669&sr=8-1&keywords=fire+tablet
https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-IPM-TAB1-AMZ-Adjustable-Tablet-Stand/dp/B006ZT4VA0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1517429771&sr=8-3&keywords=tablet+stand
There. Both for $40 less than the compensation you get for the CR100, before you even count the fact you get an actual tablet. And those stands are awesomely simple and cool. I own 3.
A good alternative, which can be configured to control a specific zone. https://iportproducts.com/xpress/#xpress-intro
How about a CR100.
Fire tablets are fine but you still need to open it up, open app, then do what you need to do. They're also not particularly waterproof (I use my CR100 in the bathroom). As for the £100 / $100 that's for Sonos stores only so no good towards a new tablet of any kind.
The xPress is instant but very limited, no easy zone selection / source selection etc etc.
I'm struggling with this and not sure why Sonos couldn't just leave it as unsupported. Perfectly happy to acknowledge no more updates, not so happy about having it cut off altogether.
Fire tablets are fine but you still need to open it up, open app, then do what you need to do. They're also not particularly waterproof (I use my CR100 in the bathroom). As for the £100 / $100 that's for Sonos stores only so no good towards a new tablet of any kind.
The xPress is instant but very limited, no easy zone selection / source selection etc etc.
I'm struggling with this and not sure why Sonos couldn't just leave it as unsupported. Perfectly happy to acknowledge no more updates, not so happy about having it cut off altogether.
As I said, you can pin the app so only it is available, put it on a stand with the charger plugged in, set to not sleep while charging via Developers Option screen, and it is instantly on for use with the Sonos app. No opening, no choosing the app, just like a dedicated controller.
I'm not saying it is perfect. The OP asked for the best option. I gave them one. That is the purpose of this thread. The Save the CR100 thread is another thing entirely, so let's not let that argument spill over into here.
I'm not saying it is perfect. The OP asked for the best option. I gave them one. That is the purpose of this thread. The Save the CR100 thread is another thing entirely, so let's not let that argument spill over into here.
How do you pin the app? I've set up a fire tablet with guest account that can only access sonos, but you still have to open the app. How do you pin it so that the app just runs on top? That sounds like the perfect solution for me
Don't know where it is on Fire tablets, but on Android it is under Settings, Security, Other Security Settings. Set Pin Windows to On. Press again to choose to require the screen unlock to unpin. Then you run the app you want to pin, choose the Overview screen (menu button to the left of home) and there is a pin on the lower left of the app. Press the pin.
I'm ticked at the CR100 elim and posted topic elsewhere, but I think that SONOS Inc. should explicitly offer config info for Amazon Kindle's as well as iOS and Android devices. Since they already have a cozy relationship via Alex it makes sense. Also rather than buy a non-name cheap Android tablet, I'd be more comfortable buying a device from Amazon. Maybe someday a total control via Alexa will be possible, but based on my experience, that's a long way off - unless I also buy a teleprompter!!
I was hoping to see recommendations that included a charging cradle. I don't want to have to muck with the charging cable. just like the CR100 🙂 suggestions??
You may want to re-read jgatie's second post above.
Yes, I've seen that one... kinda nice, but has a few issues.. - firstly it has no screen... I do use the screen on one of my CR100's for at-a-glance confirmation that SWMBO hasn't changed the input selection away from *MY* preferred radio station just as as I'm walking into the shower...
Secondly... $99 each??? - I have 3 CR100's that are going to brick... - I use all 3 of them in wet rooms, so I definitely need a replacement for all 3 of them... - that's $300 right there (and still no screen)...
But aren’t they going to give you $100 for each of them - net free?
Another alternative. $39 each, but need the hub. Cheaper if several needed.
http://www.casetawireless.com/Pages/sonos.aspx
http://www.casetawireless.com/Pages/sonos.aspx
We all know that there are ways & means of implementing a CR100-a-like.... I'm not going to get into the whole "why should I have to thing" - I'll save that for the "Save the CR100" thread... This thread is primarily to try to discover the options that are available to achieve the closest CR100-a-like possible... To wit, I thought I'd list out the features (in no particular order of importance) that make the CR100 what it is, and so uniquely useful to ME - please feel free to add other features as you see fit.
- Always available, always charged. possibly the most important thing... OK, wall mounts are available for various tablets...
- Always connected & focused - Pick up the CR100 and its ready to use, instantly to control the speaker..
- Screen - for at-a-glance confirmation of the source, song title etc.
- water "proof" - or at least as water resistant as the CR100 is, as all of mine are in wet rooms.
- screen saver - put a CR100 down, it goes dark in a few seconds, pick it up & it's ready to go again - don't want the screen on all night wasting juice, but also don't want to have to do too much to activate it again. - in my case the extremely sensitive tilt sensor inside the CR100 cannot be beat - it reacts to the vibration of the bathroom door closing so it's like magic!
- pick-up-able - a tablet in a permanent flat-against-the-wall mount is restrictive - I like to pick up the CR100 & hold it up to my eyes, or walk around a bit with it.
- NO WIRES!! - all my CR100's are wall mounted in the official cradle. All wires are inside the walls & completely hidden
- Physical, tactile buttons... - possibly the hardest to replicate? and possibly the one I *could* most easily give up, - that said however, in my experience of using an iPad in the bath, the touchscreen becomes decidly "flaky" when wet, where the CR100 is always 100% rock solid. I don't currently have touch control in my wetrooms, so I don't miss it, and won't say that it's an important requirement for me..
I'm beginning to wonder if there's not a Raspberry Pi project I could contrive, that could be mounted inside the stripped out case of a CR100, to kind of rebuild a replica CR100 with modern innards... - I'm going to start to investigate what might be possible there... probably can't connect up the scroll wheel, but perhaps the press buttons could be connected to GPIO pins...
- Always available, always charged. possibly the most important thing... OK, wall mounts are available for various tablets...
- Always connected & focused - Pick up the CR100 and its ready to use, instantly to control the speaker..
- Screen - for at-a-glance confirmation of the source, song title etc.
- water "proof" - or at least as water resistant as the CR100 is, as all of mine are in wet rooms.
- screen saver - put a CR100 down, it goes dark in a few seconds, pick it up & it's ready to go again - don't want the screen on all night wasting juice, but also don't want to have to do too much to activate it again. - in my case the extremely sensitive tilt sensor inside the CR100 cannot be beat - it reacts to the vibration of the bathroom door closing so it's like magic!
- pick-up-able - a tablet in a permanent flat-against-the-wall mount is restrictive - I like to pick up the CR100 & hold it up to my eyes, or walk around a bit with it.
- NO WIRES!! - all my CR100's are wall mounted in the official cradle. All wires are inside the walls & completely hidden
- Physical, tactile buttons... - possibly the hardest to replicate? and possibly the one I *could* most easily give up, - that said however, in my experience of using an iPad in the bath, the touchscreen becomes decidly "flaky" when wet, where the CR100 is always 100% rock solid. I don't currently have touch control in my wetrooms, so I don't miss it, and won't say that it's an important requirement for me..
I'm beginning to wonder if there's not a Raspberry Pi project I could contrive, that could be mounted inside the stripped out case of a CR100, to kind of rebuild a replica CR100 with modern innards... - I'm going to start to investigate what might be possible there... probably can't connect up the scroll wheel, but perhaps the press buttons could be connected to GPIO pins...
Another alternative is $39 Echo Dots, and soon, Google Minis. I use voice at least 80% of the time now to control Sonos. Nothing is more natural.
No, best I can make out, it's £100 per customer, regardless of whether you have 1 or 8 of them... I'd be happy to be proven wrong, but I'm fairly sure I'm not...
I agree... WHEN it works... - I have 4 Echo Dots around the house, one is in a bathroom near to one of my CR100's... I would dearly love to switch to voice control (I've been striving towards it and experimenting for decades with various systems), but it just isn't there yet... far too often I'm in the bath repeating myself until I'm blue in the face, and eventually give up & reach for the CR100 just beside me... - would have been quicker to do that in the first place... Point is... the CR100 is rock solid reliable pretty much 100% of the time. Alexa is not, and that equates to a degraded user experience. (and no, I'm not a Scot, a Scouser, or a Cockney... I have a very plain, clear, almost "accent-less" accent)
I love voice control and have 3 echo dots and a Sonos ONE, have set up awesome new playlists for the family on Spotify but 'nothing is more natural? unless you get the syntax EXACTLY right
'i'm sorry I can't find that in your music library
'here's some random song you didn't ask for
'Nope, I can't play any of your own music
'here's a different radio station to the one you asked for
ALEXA STOP!
'on which device?:?
Good point, I stand correctly corrected.
Im borrowing a CR200 this weekend to check it out, never wanted one before but needs must. No doubt second hand prices will now shoot up and there is a very real risk it may also become 'unsupported' very soon.
Another option is a prepaid phone, $20-$40. Most can bypass the carrier setup using key combos at boot up. Then install the Sonos app, pin it, and set it in a cheap charging cradle (I’ve seen Android phone charging stands for as little as $1 at Dollar Tree, though they’re junk).
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/simple-mobile-zte-majesty-pro-4g-lte-with-8gb-memory-prepaid-cell-phone-black/5859401.p?skuId=5859401
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/simple-mobile-zte-majesty-pro-4g-lte-with-8gb-memory-prepaid-cell-phone-black/5859401.p?skuId=5859401
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/simple-mobile-zte-majesty-pro-4g-lte-with-8gb-memory-prepaid-cell-phone-black/5859401.p?skuId=5859401
aarrgghh... that's kinda getting to the point (or one of them at least) of why many of us want to keep what we have up & running now... - I don't know about you, or anyone else, I speak only for myself... but I like to keep a clean & tidy house that looks smart & stylish. I have over the years, gone to great trouble & expense to fit nice things, and to fit them properly. All my controllers are "properly" wall mounted with all cables flushed away inside the walls... I also happen to think that the CR100's, in their cradle, still, after all these years, look smart & stylish - other's taste may differ, that's fine, that's a subjective preference..
The LAST thing I want is to have to rip holes in my carefully decorated walls and mount some cheap plastic monstrosity, (or even some expensive plastic monstrosity for that matter), that ends up looking like it was cobbled together out of parts from Carphone Warehouse by a chap called Heath Robinson...
I found my work-around. I pulled out an old Squeezebox V3 and found it sits very neatly on top of a Sonos Connect Amp. This gives me a nice "always ready" hard button remote that can access my local music library. Kind of a waste to use the Sonos component only as a basic auto-on amplifier but at least this setup will not be made non-functional by some random update any time soon.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/simple-mobile-zte-majesty-pro-4g-lte-with-8gb-memory-prepaid-cell-phone-black/5859401.p?skuId=5859401
aarrgghh... that's kinda getting to the point (or one of them at least) of why many of us want to keep what we have up & running now... - I don't know about you, or anyone else, I speak only for myself... but I like to keep a clean & tidy house that looks smart & stylish. I have over the years, gone to great trouble & expense to fit nice things, and to fit them properly. All my controllers are "properly" wall mounted with all cables flushed away inside the walls... I also happen to think that the CR100's, in their cradle, still, after all these years, look smart & stylish - other's taste may differ, that's fine, that's a subjective preference..
The LAST thing I want is to have to rip holes in my carefully decorated walls and mount some cheap plastic monstrosity, (or even some expensive plastic monstrosity for that matter), that ends up looking like it was cobbled together out of parts from Carphone Warehouse by a chap called Heath Robinson...
Folks, can we please keep the anger and bickering to the "Save the CR100" thread? People have asked for replacement devices and others are just trying to help them. The suggestions are just that, suggestions (well, except for the obligatory Squeezebox pimping). You don't need to use what is suggested, but someone else just may find it useful. No need to taint this thread with negativity, there is plenty of that going around.
Don't forget when picking a replacement device to account for connectivity. The CR100 uses Sonosnet to communicate to the nearest Sonos Player while some other control options depend on Wi-Fi. If you don't have good Wi-Fi coverage in the location where your current CR100 resides you might run into issues when converting.
Note: Android devices (including the Amazon Fire tablet) can connect directly to Sonosnet.
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