Support Spotify Connect to allow users to use the Spotify app as the controller.
Userlevel 3
Spotify Connect was just announced and I was surprised that I didn't see Sonos in the list of companies that would provide support. Many Spotify users have been asking for a long time to be able to use the Spotify app as the controller for selecting songs, as it provides a superior experience (you still can't even see the Top 5 songs in the Spotify view within the Sonos app, and it is difficult to look through an artist's collection to find a specific song unless you know which album it was in). Please support spotify connect. Additional details on Spotify Connect are here: http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/3/4688166/spotify-connect-launches-to-stream-music-to-compatible-speakers If you look at the post on theverge, even the first comment was one asking for Sonos support for the feature.
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"Sonos provides support for the Spotify platform" Actually, they both cooperate on support. It is a two way street. "The Spotify platform now includes Spotify Connect, so why shouldn't the hardware I've purchased continue to work with that platform" Because the Spotify Connect business plan is in direct competition to Sonos, and the decision to allow that "platform" to "continue to work" with Sonos lies solely with Spotify. If Spotify decides to cut off Sonos tomorrow, there is nothing Sonos can do about it. Nothing. This isn't Sonos abandoning Spotify, it is Spotify abandoning Sonos. The director of partnerships basically admitted this fact, before he was hushed by the suits. Why that is so hard to understand, I don;'t know.
Rather than ponder what might be right for Sonos maybe a more relevant question to ask yourselves would be "what's right for our users that have invested in our hardware".
In my opinion the Sonos app will become obsolete as people dont want to use Google Music, Spotify etc from within another app, the current crippled version of Spotify that Sonos offers is a good demonstartion of why this isn't a good solution, and one that I don't believe people will put up with given a viable alternative.
In my opinion the Sonos app will become obsolete as people dont want to use Google Music, Spotify etc from within another app, the current crippled version of Spotify that Sonos offers is a good demonstartion of why this isn't a good solution, and one that I don't believe people will put up with given a viable alternative.
Userlevel 3
Jgatie: As a customer the business plans of Spotify and Sonos are irrelevant to me. I bought hardware that supported the Spotify platform, so support the platform. Do the right thing for your customers. They're in the position to sell additional hardware by being a Spotify Connect vendor (not so much direct competition?), the unifying abilities of the Sonos controller app don't make much sense when you're subscribing to an all-you-can-eat music service. And when I do want integration with those other services, great, the Sonos app is there for me. It's a value add, not the primary feature for the purchase, that would be the audio hardware. "This isn't Sonos abandoning Spotify, it is Spotify abandoning Sonos." Even if Spotify is the reason for the gimped functionality of the Sonos app, now there is an opportunity to provide a better experience with your hardware, encouraging me to go out and buy additional Sonos hardware like the soundbar, or additional Play3 / Play5s. Honestly, it seems like Sonos is much more threatened by avoiding Spotify Connect, as it pairs great software with stronger brand names in the audio business. Sonos previously was very attractive as it offered a decent quality audio system at entry level prices that just worked. Now, everyone else has the opportunity to 'just work' by integrating with Spotify connect, and so long as they're willing to compete with similar prices (and the Spotify Connect announcement seemed to indicate they are), I think Sonos will be a tough sell over other brands, and poor support for Spotify won't help.
Userlevel 7
+17
Speaking of viable alternatives - this is looking to be a good one. Reviewed to be superior to the sonos play 1 AND supports spotify connect http://www.trustedreviews.com/raumfeld-one-s-review
And if, as has been reported, Spotify Connect requires certain hardware to be on the components in order to operate, what then? Spotify has stated there "are a couple of devices already out in the market that will support this through a firmware upgrade." This says to me that the Spotify Connect "licensing" is similar to Apple Airplay, in that it requires a chip in order to work. This is the method in which a provider locks in certain vendors, and locks out others. Without the license (and the chip), you can't use the service. Given this, what is Sonos supposed to do about: 1) Existing hardware which has no chip? 2) Any future hardware, if Spotify denies them the license due to exclusive contracts with other vendors? See, it is not a simple answer that "now there is an opportunity to provide a better experience with your hardware, encouraging me to go out and buy additional Sonos hardware like the soundbar, or additional Play3 / Play5s." That is naive. In reality (if we take Pascal de Mul's initial statements as truth), it seems Spotify would rather compete with Sonos than actually work with Sonos. And as to Sonos being threatened by Spotify Connect, that was said about Squeezebox, Linksys, Yamaha, Sony, Apple's Airplay, Nexus Q and a dozen more systems and/or services offered. I personally feel some people may abandon Sonos for Spotify Connect, but just as many, if not more, will abandon Spotify in order to keep Sonos. Especially if the Spotify Connect system has the same "glorified Bluetooth speaker" functionality that Airplay has.
We all have our own list of priorities and desires when it comes to Sonos.
What however baffles me is the high percentage of Play1 users complaining about lack of Bluetooth and AirPlay support after the purchase.
If one wants a single (portable) speaker, why would they go with Sonos anyway?
Sorry but you bought the wrong device, its that simple. Go back to the store and exchange it for something that has Bluetooth and Airplay logos on the box, like B&W, Bose or whatever else resides next to it on the shelf.
What however baffles me is the high percentage of Play1 users complaining about lack of Bluetooth and AirPlay support after the purchase.
If one wants a single (portable) speaker, why would they go with Sonos anyway?
Sorry but you bought the wrong device, its that simple. Go back to the store and exchange it for something that has Bluetooth and Airplay logos on the box, like B&W, Bose or whatever else resides next to it on the shelf.
Userlevel 2
+7
It certainly appears that Spotify Connect will allow streaming of the Spotify stream to a number of Bluetooth speakers... which seems to mean that you would then have your phone/tablet tied up with playing that stream. Sonos is working in a different way today, which does not tie my device to the hardware to continue playing music etc ... I am not sure that I would like that model to change 'just' to allow Spotify Connect. I don't see why both models could not still exist - assuming that the Spotify API still allows for it, and they don't remove current capability. I am sure that most Sonos owners are unlikely to ditch their current (relatively expensive) hardware in order to continue to use a (relatively inexpensive) music streaming service. If Spotify were to no longer offer any Sonos support/integration (which I personally doubt ... ) I am sure that other streaming services will continue to improve, to offer similar services that customers (us) have shown an interest for. Personally I use the third party Sponos app, which does what I want... but ties in my device to stream. I hope we will see some positive movement from both companies in the near future.
I also will not expand my Sonos system and will soon begin exploring other options if the Spotify integration issue is not addressed. I have also dissuaded others from investing in Sonos until then.
Actually, Spotify Connect is a little bit different from that. From the specs I've seen, it is a little more like Sonos in that the actual component does the streaming, the phone/tablet is just a controller. You can also start streaming on the phone/tablet and then "pass off" the stream to a licensed component. However, it does not allow you to group components (no "Party Mode" synching) and it lacks the relibility and redundancy of the Sonos mesh. So it seems you get the same "glorified Bluetooth" functionality, without the battery drain on your phone/tablet. It also lacks a local library, access to other services, etc. that Sonos has. Unless the partner manufacturers are also Airplay licensed, it is truly a one-trick pony. Great for Spotify-only users, but those who are used to the full Sonos experience may be greatly disappointed.
Sonos: you should reconsider this. I like Sonos, but missed the superior search and radio features of the Spotify app too much, so l sold my Sonos equipment and purchased a competing product with Spotify Connect. I have never looked back.
MOG equals Spotify in streaming quality and has a much better Sonos interface, but it is US only. Rdio is in the EU, and exceeds Spotify interface-wise, but there is a question about the streaming quality. Rhapsody/Napster has less quality streaming (192 kbps) but the interface is far superior to Spotify. As for music catalogs, wiki gives the following: MOG 15,000,000+ Rdio 20,000,000+ Spotify 20,000,000+ Rhapsody - 11,000,000 as of 2011
As a current Spotify user and new sonos owner, how did Google play work out? Thanks! Amy
Userlevel 2
Thank you! According to this rather recent article, Rhapsody has around 20m tracks: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/03/rhapsody-napster-europe/ I think, I'll give Rhapsody a try. 192 kbps should be sufficient for my purposes.
I have switched to google music away from Spotify, but looking at alternatives as the spotify app is simply the best on the market. Another vote for Spotify connect to Sonos.
Userlevel 1
Spotify Connect is more Sonos then Airplay. The big difference between those services is that Airplay streams the music directly from the phone where else Sonos streams from the little box that is linked to the router. In my eyes this is the better solution which is why I chose Sonos. But hardware is only one side of the product, the other one is the Software (User Interface). Regarding that point Sonos is way behind Spotify or other Music player Software. So in conclusion: Either they redesign their UI or integrate Spotify Connect (I think that would be technical possible) or I am selling my Sonos and switch to Spotify. Multiroom is not important for me so far and is only a matter of time before Spotify supports that.
I just bought a sonos connect with the hope that the spotify interface would be better than my existing Squeezebox system. I'm very disappointed to find that it is no better and that sonos is not taking advantage of an existing solution (at least while developing their own integrated solution). As much as I like the sonos hardware and the interface with my local music, I guess I'm going to have to return the connect and look elsewhere. I've already been through Logitech failing to keep up with the competition--I don't need to go through that again.
Streaming from the "little box" is the only thing Spotify Connect has in common with Sonos. What it lacks is quite important to the Sonos experience: A robust, redundant, and isolated wireless mesh architecture, and perfect syncing between devices. The mesh architecture is the reason Sonos is so reliable while all other streaming devices are susceptible to dropouts depending on how much usage is occuring on your WiFi LAN. Dropouts is the number one complaint of Airplay, and switching it from the phone to the device does not eliminate this. As long as one is reliant on the spoke architecture of your standard WiFI, reliability is in question. The second, perfect synching, only applies to those who use multi-room, but once you have experienced it, it is tough going back. As to Spotify Connect supporting it in the future, Airplay has the world's largest company behind it and they have not been able to mimic Sonos' sync in 3+ years (actually, in 9+ years, because Airtunes was launched in 2004). I laugh at Spotify being able to do it, especially across wildly differing partner platforms. Simply adding a Spotify chip does nothing to ensure your Denon receiver is going to be in perfect sync with your B&O speakers or your Yamaha soundbar. It would take a heck of a lot more cooperation between competing companies to achieve that (which is why the very limited sync on Airplay is so spotty). So admittedly, the Spotify UI is lacking, and that is important to you, so you should sell your gear. But for those of us who prefer reliability and multi-room over extended UI functions, the choice is just as easy (and a heck of a lot less expensive 😉 ) to keep our Sonos gear and find another service provider.
As everyone following this conversation already knows, the decision has been made not to implement Spotify Connect. Like many such decisions, it’s complex, and we don’t want to go into the details. To put it simply, we don’t see Spotify Connect as the right solution for Sonos at this time.
If you’re new to Sonos, you might not be aware that Spotify was launched on Sonos in 2010, and at the time was the first home hardware partnership for Spotify. We’re focusing our efforts on this existing integration, and began with improvements to stability under high usage following the holiday outages.
Our vision is to bring the Spotify-Sonos experience much closer to the experience you have when using the native Spotify app. It’s going to take time, but work is in progress by both partners. We’ll keep you posted.
I'm new to SONOS, having just bought a connect as a look for a replacement for my SQUEEZEBOX system. As I posted elsewhere, I was looking forward especially to a better interface with Spotify, and I'm very disappointed. As one possible solution, I'm looking at Deezer and I'm guessing that what they have done there gives some clues as to what they are looking to do. Deezer is offering a high-definition (i.e., FLAC) stream that is only available on SONOS, and the SONOS interface is pretty complete. Since I am interested in the higher quality stream, and so far the selection of classical music seems comparable to Spotify, I might be willing to make the switch. However, I would still worry about the slow response of SONOS to this issue and the limited dialog with users about it. So now I have to decide whether to return the SONOS connect and look elsewhere, or drop Spotify for a service that is better integrated with SONOS.
Finally some news from Spotifys' Pascal de Mul (Global head of hardware partnerships at Spotify) “Yes, we have made partnerships with a lot of hardware makers, but in taking stock of that, we’ve realized that it’s a time-consuming process that was only getting us into high-end devices, those where device makers felt justified in making the extra investment.” Spotify wants to target users buying devices at all price points, not just the most expensive ones. The other issue is that updates to these bespoke integrations were not easy. “All that stuff lagged in the innovation cycle. Every time we did something new it would take a while for it to come up in new devices.” What this means is that while these existing integrations can continue to be used with Spotify, they won’t work with the Connect service, and they won’t be updated with any other new features, either. The other important aspect of Spotify’s hardware strategy up to now has been tied up in its relationship with hardware makers that specifically make app-based systems. The biggest of these, and Spotify’s first-ever hardware partner, was Sonos. While Sonos has been a very important partner for Spotify, and de Mul described it as “very awesome,” he also noted that there is “no plan to extend Connect to Sonos and no plan to continue to develop with Sonos” longer term. Part of this goes back to Spotify’s intention to centralise and better control the experience on its service: with Sonos you control the music experience using the Sonos app, and of course Sonos only works with… Sonos, “and we want ubiquity.” ---------------------------------------------------- There is some update from Spotify PR asking TC to delete the comment about discountinuing developing with Sonos. However Pascal de Mul released the text earlier in this way until half a day later their PR spokeswoman called the stuff back with a note it would be out of context not commenting on it further or trying to replace it. Source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/02/spotify-makes-its-biggest-hardware-play-yet-with-spotify-connect-synching-music-at-home-and-beyond/
Userlevel 2
I think we should relax a little bit. I certainly will not sell my Sonos gear over this. The music streaming business is currently very hot and the competition is increasing every day. The mushrooming streaming services will have to differentiate themselves through streaming quality, social and hardware integration, usability, etc. in order to survive an inevitable consolidation in this industry. I am sure, there will be a satisfactory solution for us Sonos users outside the Spotify universe in the not so far future. If Spotify is arrogant enough to think they can drop their partnership with Sonos, let them do so. I for now have cancelled my Spotify subscription and currently on a trial with Rhapsody/Napster. I am very happy with this decision as it (unlike Spotify) allows me to discover new music through Sonos. I am hearing the streaming quality is sub-par compared with Spotify, but I am rather bullish this is not an unalterable state.
Userlevel 1
google play has now replaced SPotify for me. Same price, pretty much same catalog and I can stream / upload music that isn't available to the Google cloud ( ie: my favorite band tool isn't on either service ) and stream it to Sonos . Also i believe Google play highest stream quality is > spotify.
Yes, also cancelled here. It's time to hurt them where it makes the most impression; for years we have been begging to make the integration with Spotify better and now Spotify just puts a knife in the back of Sonos. I truly enjoy the quality of my Sonos system and I'm not planning to sell my 3k+ system for inferior sound systems from ie. Phillips just because of spotify deciding to go active on the hardware market. It's like Apple would have sold songs first and then after 3 years would decide to only support specific players to play those songs. The other way around makes more sense: the manufacturer of the "player" chooses which content they allow, and so far Sonos has allowed as many content providers as there are in the market imho and now they get knifestabbed as Spotify sees what a success this has been... Right... 1 answer only: cancellation!
Mark, the API can handle this but Spotify needs to expose it. Radio Stations, Playlists, Moodxollectiins etc. are from a API perspective all the same just with different tags. But Spotify needs to expose those to enable the Sonos app to consume it.
Hope that helps.
Hope that helps.
Userlevel 3
Wait, so you really believe that Spotify went to start this new hardware initiative, and signed all of these manufacturers up, but didn't bother asking Sonos who they had partnered with for years? My impression is that they invited Sonos on the Spotify Connect bandwagon, and Sonos said no (whatever their reason). In which case, you should be selling your Sonos, not canceling your Spotify subscription.
Why would Sonos say no? Seriously, if you are going to speculate, you should have some type of logic behind it. As to why Spotify would edge Sonos out, try this logic: The traditional manufacturers are taking a hit from Sonos. Heck, Sonos just entered into AV, which is their bread and butter nowadays. These manufacturers have now entered into an exclusive contract with Spotify, and it is possible one of the stipulations of those contracts was Spotify does not partner with Sonos in regards to Spotify Connect. Now doesn't that sound more plausible than "whatever their reason?" In addition, Spotify has gone out of their way to require an encryption chip, ala Airplay, in order to secure their licensing to certain manufacturers and to encourage replacement sales. If Spotify wanted to take advantage of Sonos' current user base, they would never have required the chip, or they would make concessions for the current Sonos units. But they didn't. So what do we have here? We have the head of partnerships for Spotify stating unequivocally that they will no longer work with Sonos, then issuing a vague, bumbling retraction. We have Spotify entering into exclusive contracts with tradional A/V companies that are in direct competition with Sonos. And we have Spotify using a chip scheme which effectively locks out all existing Sonos devices. And you are saying it is Sonos who is refusing to work with Spotify? That truly boggles the mind.
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