Sad day for me and my CR100

  • 5 November 2022
  • 38 replies
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I have an old system with ZP80s, ZP100s and 2 CR100s.  I have not updated the firmware on my system since Sonos announced they would no longer support the CR100.

Most of the time, I listen to my favorite radio station through TuneIn.  A couple of days ago, I tried to listen to my favorite station and got the following message

“Unable to browse music - there was a problem connecting to TuneIn.”  I knew this was coming, but was hoping it would happen after I take my dirt nap.

I ran upstairs to my Windows computer and launched the old version of the Sonos controller and was able to use TuneIn to listen to my favorite radio station.

Every once in a while, I now get a commercial coming through my Sonos from TuneIn.  They are local commercials and fairly annoying.

Please note, I am not complaining about anything.  It’s just a sad fact that the things we were told about our old CR100s is coming to fruition.

I can get around the TuneIn supplied commercials with a blue tooth gizmo and an antiquated cell phone to listen to my favorite radio station.


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38 replies

So what options are there to replace the CR100 for simplicity of usage?

I don’t want to mess about with my phone just to switch the radio on.

 

You “don’t want to mess about with your phone”, which more than likely is in your pocket or close by, is light and portable, has a touch screen interface, and is ubiquitously used for everything from phone calls, to texting, to internet searches, to navigation, to locating the stars in the heavens, yet you spent the last decade+ picking up a one pound brick from its charger and used a wheel and hard buttons to “switch the radio on”?  

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@Mike_195 As I understand it there where valid technical reasons for Sonos to retire the CR100. Sonos usually supports stuff for a much longer period than other manufacturers.

I agree with you GA is not perfect as an only way to command the system, though it usually works well.

Though maybe worded a bit strongly I do agree with @jgatie that using a phone to command the system works well. Why this aversion to using a phone for this purpose?


> Why this aversion to using a phone for this purpose
Simplicity and speed (to just switch it on and off) - plus I am not welded to my phone.

I think we may have different use cases: I don’t sit down and listen to the radio (much as one would do if one were listening to an album) - the radio is just switched on when I walk into the kitchen and ‘is there’ whilst I do other things.

I thought the Hue System analogy was pretty reasonable: physical wall switches (simple functionality, convenient, reliable, and fast to action); voice activation (medium functionality, convenient, not reliable, and slower to action); application (complex functionality, less convenient, reliable, slow to action). I would not want to only have the application running on a mobile phone as the only control mechanism.

I’ll go the other direction: would you want a TV without a dedicated physical remote control and have to open an app on your phone to switch the thing on? Physical remote controls are great - you don’t have to look at them to be able to use them (for decent TV brands). Apps are good when you want to search for a specific programme. 

If the Sonos phone app were the beginning and end of it all, then there would not be a market for Ikea to bring out its physical switches, iPort to have made its physical switches and the several other manufacturers who make theirs. You need a blend of input devices.


 

 

I thought, having never used one, the CR100s worked only when the Sonos system was in wired (SonosNet) mode, which means on Sonos device, either a BRIDGE or a speaker was wired to the router directly. Is that not the case?

That being said, time moves on, if your system is ‘frozen’ at 8.3, it wouldn’t surprise me if some streaming sources have updated their servers and no longer match with rather old Sonos 8.3. 

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Thoughts appreciated...

Take the dive, @Mike_195. There comes a time for all of us to realize that it's time to move on.

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I don’t want to mess about with my phone just to switch the radio on.

You could use your phone, your tablet or your PC. Take your pick.

@Mike_195,

I always enjoyed my CR100 and the CR200 that followed. Unfortunately, they have all died. Currently, I prefer the desktop controller and this works well for me because I spend lots of time on my computer. When I’m not at the desk, I have a phone and a pad and must use these to change system configurations because the desktop controller does not support modifying configurations.

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So what options are there to replace the CR100 for simplicity of usage?

I don’t want to mess about with my phone just to switch the radio on.

 

You “don’t want to mess about with your phone”, which more than likely is in your pocket or close by, is light and portable, has a touch screen interface, and is ubiquitously used for everything from phone calls, to texting, to internet searches, to navigation, to locating the stars in the heavens, yet you spent the last decade+ picking up a one pound brick from its charger and used a wheel and hard buttons to “switch the radio on”?  

The CR100 sits in a beautiful cradle right in front of the ZP120. When I walk into the kitchen I stretch out my arm and press one button and the radio plays - how much simpler could the world be?

(And the buttons do have have lovely tactile feedback.)

I do not feel the need to carry my phone around with me all day long.

When I do feel the need to browse the internet, look at stars, message / call people and even take photographs, I’ll happily pick up my phone and use it.

 

I may revive this thread, as I have the same problem; i switched on my Sonos system for the first time in a few months and got the same error message on my CR100 with regard to connecting to TuneIn. I own 2 CR100 an two S5 (1 first gen with software 8.4)

I am still able to play TuneIn radio stations on my system using an old version (8.4) of the Windows Sonos App. I only use the CR100 to change volume or pause the playback of the TuneIn Radio.

Were you able to resolve the problem, so to be able to again fully use the CR100 Shoes or AGTSIPK to connect to TuneIn and chose radio stations?

The CR100 sits in a beautiful cradle right in front of the ZP120. When I walk into the kitchen I stretch out my arm and press one button and the radio plays - how much simpler could the world be?

(And the buttons do have have lovely tactile feedback.)

 

 

 

This an old thread, but out of curiosity, is it a simple button press because the radio station you want to play is already in your queue?  Would pushing the play button on the ZP accomplish the same thing?

 


I do not feel the need to carry my phone around with me all day long.

When I do feel the need to browse the internet, look at stars, message / call people and even take photographs, I’ll happily pick up my phone and use it.

 

 

I don’t carry my phone around the home either. When I need to make a change to what’s playing, I either use voice, hard buttons on the speakers themselves, a couple different  remote options (including TV remote in some cases), and my phone.  I wouldn’t mind having a dedicated remote with hard buttons, and would probably get one if it were available, but I also understand that’s probably not profitable for Sonos to make one given all the other options.

There are rumors that Sonos is getting into streaming apps or TV based apps, so perhaps we’ll have a controller built into your TV or streaming box and can control Sonos with your TV remote someday soon.

Or you can wait for the neurolink app.

I have not been following Lutron Caseta, I don’t know if it is compatible with both S1 and S2 (probably is), but this may be an option for those who have Lutron Caseta. Caseta is available over the counter in US big box stores. It’s a self install product.

https://assets.lutron.com/a/documents/Sonos_Integration_FAQs.pdf

This support PDF says that Lutron does support S1.  You just can’t connect to more that one Sonos system.

 

 

You may be able to find a direct link to your radio station and skip TuneIn.

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AH!  Great idea.  Thank you.

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The message “problem connecting to” and recurring adds on TuneIn spell wifiproblems to me. In my experience TuneIn only places adds on new (or restarting) streams…….

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The message “problem connecting to” and recurring adds on TuneIn spell wifiproblems to me. In my experience TuneIn only places adds on new (or restarting) streams…….

Thank you for the reply.  Can you please offer a bit more info on this?

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I’m not sure how your problems relate to the CR100.

 

What’s your network setup? Do you use a Sonos Bridge?

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I’m not either.  I do not use a Bridge.  I have two ZP100s, a ZP80 and two CR100s.  I have a large library of digital music.  This stuff plays no problem.

On either of the CR100s, if I go to radio and press the center wheel button, I get the “Unable to browse music - ….”

 

 

I have an old cell phone without a SIM card.  I have the Sonos app loaded.  I can access TuneIn and play my stations.  It’s interesting that when I play the radio stations, I now get “Information” on the song that is being played.  In all of the years I’ve had these CR100s, I’ve not seen that before.

 

 

 

I would think if I had WiFi issues the CR100s would not work at all.  There are no IP conflicts on my network.  I went through al of them this morning.

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Thanks, Bruce.   My system is quite old and I am one of the few CR100 holdouts.  I do not have any “speakers”.  My system dates those.

When I set up my system, I wired my house.  My original system was a ZP100, a ZP80 and a CR100.  Later, I added another ZP100 and another CR100.  The later ZP100 is wirelessly connected to my network.

I am on the last version, 8.4.  I recall something from Sonos when they announced discontinuing support of the CR100.  But, I cannot recall exactly.

It’s been a great ride with Sonos.  If I have to stop using the CR100s, it’s ok.  Used cell phones are cheap and there is more than one option for a controller.

Before I bin the CR100s, I’d like to exhaust every effort to figuring out the issue.

My CR100’s died a while ago. Do you have a “Sonos Favorites” section visible on your CR100? If so, you may be able to insert the station’s URL using a phone, then select the station with the CR100.

If you purchase a cheap phone or pad to use as a controller, make sure that it is running an Android version that supports the SONOS controller.

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@ossodiseppia Thank you for your explanation. Your problem is clear to me now. Sorry to say I cannot bring any solution to the table, beside the one you already got yourself: buy a used phone that fits with Sonos.

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I am sure this has to do with security and the CR100, I just can’t remember what was said about it when Sonos announced the end of the CR100.

This recent development and the artist and song title under “information” plus now hearing local commercials tells me something has changed with TuneIn.

I’m not interested in hearing commercials for local businesses through my Sonos.  In order to continue to listen to my favorite radio station from half way around the word, I will buy a Bluetooth device to plug into the back or my ZP80.  I can then stream from my phone.

 

Thank you for the suggestions and feedback.

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I am in the same boat as you: “problem connecting to TuneIn.” 😞

This is a watershed moment - can’t now listen to the radio by pressing a button on the beloved CR100. 😢

I note, for everyone’s amusement, that since locking down the Sonos system all those years ago so that my CR100s would continue to work … all my CR100s have exploded and destroyed the house several times because of foretold problems with the lithium batteries. 😮

I have two options: battle on with the legacy system and pump audio into it another way - or ditch the CR100s and finally upgrade the s/w to what Sonos want us to have. 🤔

Thoughts appreciated...

 

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So what options are there to replace the CR100 for simplicity of usage?

I don’t want to mess about with my phone just to switch the radio on.

Depending in the rest of your system, you could also use voice control from Amazon, Google, or Sonos, for streams. None of them do local music. 

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So what options are there to replace the CR100 for simplicity of usage?

I don’t want to mess about with my phone just to switch the radio on.

 

You “don’t want to mess about with your phone”, which more than likely is in your pocket or close by, is light and portable, has a touch screen interface, and is ubiquitously used for everything from phone calls, to texting, to internet searches, to navigation, to locating the stars in the heavens, yet you spent the last decade+ picking up a one pound brick from its charger and used a wheel and hard buttons to “switch the radio on”?  

He must still be on a Rotary or flip phone if he thinks using the old Russian iPod as a controller is better than his phone