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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Just bought a Sonos system, my first, and now I need to return it. I just assumed the Spotify interface would work better, and knowing Spotify exists, it makes no sense to me why Sonos wouldn't drop it's own internal development on the Spotify portion of its Connect platform and just use Spotify's.
Too bad, bye Sonos.
Too bad, bye Sonos.
The solution is, there is no solution and they aren't sorry about it.
We bought expensive Sonos components because Sonos put in our mind that it is the best choice to enjoy music, but it certainly turns out that it is one of the worst choices you can make. I paid over 1000 € for those components, as a christmas gift for my girlfriend. You can't imagine how incredibly disappointed we were, when we found out that it is not possible to combine Sonos and our Spotify music listening behaviour.
We feel tricked and lied to and I bet my car that there are thousands of people feeling the same way!!!
Shame on you Sonos!!!
What a stupid decision from SONOS. Instead of making your product as versatile as possible, you close your system only to match your ego. You're not Apple guys. Your products are not that revolutionary, and if any, they gave other companies an idea to perfect other new products that really adapt to public demand. Just by looking at the DTS and SPOTIFY CONNECT threads here on the forum I can see very clear that i have no more business following this thread or considering new purchases from the already dead SONOS company. BYE, BYE!.
Here's a program that can stream Spotify to Sonos (using Shoutcast)... It seems to be a bit techy but I tried it and it works: http://www.spotiamp.com
I'm currently researching multi-room audio systems, I use Spotify via iPhone as my main source of music (Spotify Radio, direct streaming, and playback of my own digital files). I was almost sold on Sonos being the complete solution, but then came across this thread. I too have read the Sonos CEO's comments from last year, and I'm not convinced that they have the customer as their main focus. Unlike most here, I have not yet spent many hundreds of £/€/$ on Sonos equipment, so I really do feel for them, Sonos' existing customers, but if you want to attract new customers and stay "#1" (competition is coming), then you should remove these simple barriers to entry now. The "Play on Sonos" feature that you want other apps to incorporate is all very well, but when other software manufacturers come to you and you say no... surely you realise that this will create resentment on behalf of your customers and industry partners. Tie-ins should work both ways. In addition, and partly linked to this, the reliance on the Sonos app for playback control concerns me. While Spotify's app is far from perfect, it offers usability features that I wouldn't want to do without. Sonos, make your app the best it can be, but don't force customers to use it if they don't have to. I will not be buying my new sound system until the Spring. That's 2 months for Sonos to fix this for me to get on board.
Userlevel 1
I really don't understand why you people expect from Sonos to build a Spotify only solution, by implementing Spotify connect. Do you people also buy €2000,- Sony high end 3D TV, just to watch BBC?? I really don't want hardware that is connected to just one provider. It would mean that Spotify could increase their monthly fee, simply because no one wants to replace their costly and well functioning hardware just to switch from provider, or do you? Just be patient and the rest will follow. Sonos still has the most connectivity possibilities and the most choice in streaming components.
Well said, Adam. I echo his comments. Sonos, In addition to leaving reviews in as many places as possible and drumming up concern through social media, I have also sent nearly two dozen emails stating the communal frustration shown here to lead editors at major tech review and mainstream press websites. Now that CES has ended, I suspect this will be getting even more attention soon.
Great effort, Alex! It's the right way to draw some press attention on this issue. Seen the kind of marketing sonos does (featuring spotify as main driver even on pack) its almost a fraud..
Ren, thanks for your contribution to this discussion. Though I find it a bit weird. Seen the fact that Sonos features Spotify even on Packaging I may answer your question/comparison with the 3D TV with a clear: YES, of course! If watching BBC is advertised as a main feature with a sticker on pack its your clear expectation (and in some countries even legally protected right) to be able to watch it. And to give your comparison some more dimension: To say that you may only watch it in 320x240 and only the news channel and no HD content, video on demand streams or other BBC channels is what Sonos does by trying to control Spotify within the borders of their app. No TV manufacturer would ever be so stupid to get into the sovereign terrority of the broadcasters which are the base for their bread and butter business. No broadcasters = no need for tvs. Now it may become logical why it seems weird when a manufacturer 1) tries to control the industry 2) the industry establishes a well-accepted standard and the manufacturer replies with its own (which by the way nobody uses so far) 3) people are frustrated and freaking out that they spent, partly massive, parts of their income for a system which promises to be the lead brand for supporting a certain broadcaster (spotify) and finally becomes least compatible Spotify is simply the biggest, most popular and most advanced streaming service out there, so maybe this helps you to understand the discussion a bit better 🙂
Userlevel 2
Keep Calm and Carry On. Like other Sonos users, I have been watching this post for a few months to see the outcome. This is a very long post and my apologies upfront. A quick background:
1) I originally purchased 4 Sonos zones for a prior home seven years ago and grew that to seven zones. I migrated all the hardware without a hitch – granted I went into new construction on the next home so installing built-in speakers was nominal in cost but have already paid for themselves given the use case of a turnkey 7 home zone setup. I do not own any of the speaker products (Play, Playbar, etc.).
2) I am in the hardware/electronics technology community and talk to multiple industry participants, mostly on the supply chain and components end of companies like Sonos, but also have contacts in the recording industry. I have spent a fair deal of time over the last several years trying to understand where this industry is heading. Especially since Sonos was the first bona fide example of “the Internet of Things” and it a useful template for where other industries/companies might be heading that offer IoT products.
3) Though I have met folks at Sonos at trade shows and similar circumstances in the past, I have no strong ties to the company nor am I some blog plant for them. Candidly, I dislike these cyber threads because it brings out the shameless narcissism of the loud minority, but nonetheless I wanted to share my opinions on this matter to offer some balance to this thread.
4) Like many of you I made the switch to Spotify about a year ago as it was the most feature rich service on the market. I even ported all of my Rhapsody playlists (an arduous task) to Spotify. I also was using Pandora for streaming so I thought I could centralize everything. Much like you, I found out this was not going to be the case for streaming on Sonos (no Radio is my gripe) and I only have myself to blame for not doing more research ahead of time. I ultimately reactivated my Rhaposdy account and am now in somewhat of a limbo, waiting for clarity.
5) Per Spotify, I have to say that I am not a big fan of the interface and since I am not a “social” web 2.0 kind of user, (no Farcebook account here) those features are useless to me and if anything, I would probably find them distracting. However, I will note that other services have great interfaces but are lacking other features. Rdio, for instance, would be an example of this.
After outlining all of this, so that all of you know where I am coming from before I get skewered online here, I really don’t view lacking support for Spotify connect as a game changing situation for me and probably for most of you. Here’s why:
1) Spotify is an outcast in music services game. Granted, they got the social aspects of the product down but the recording industry treats them with indifference at best but more or less isn’t happy with them because of compensation issues (not good). Culturally they are an odd company to deal with being from Sweden (i.e. not the US, I love Sweden fwiw) and there is an arrogance here that, at least in my view, will be their demise. I truly believe in a few years the term “Spotify followers” will be next to “AOL keyword” in the history books.
2) Spotify Connect is an inferior product. Anyone that has fiddled with Airplay knows this is not a substitute for Sonos (that that was Apple!) and despite more centralized features akin to Sonos, it simply won’t work as well. Why? Because every manufacturer is different. Open standards only take this so far in consumer electronics. Take remote controls. Standards have been around for years for all these guys yet all of them are just “not right” with interoperability. Enough so that there is a major industry at work integrating them (eg Logitech) and doing a better job as a middleman. This analogy isn’t a great one, but the point here is that any incremental cost to a product (in this case a $0.25 chip) that has a 15% gross margin (if they are lucky) is going to be met with resistance. And spending incremental R&D $s to have it work seamlessly and tested across others? No way. Plug in the chip, put the “connect” logo on the box and move on. In the end, the consumer will be disappointed.
3) The cost argument doesn’t hold water. Granted, Sonos is expensive. But can any of you with a straight face actually expect a budget minded customer to by a B&O A9 sound discus/tripod for their studio apartment (at a mere $2700)? Or get excited about a Pioneer receiver to stream your music? Seriously, these are partners to get excited about? The best part about Sonos is that you are free to purchase your own speakers, receivers, etc. And Sonos is already moving downstream on the price point. The Play:1 was a brilliant counter attack by Sonos on all these smaller connected technologies. For the price of a Jambox (a great, albeit limited product that I own as well), Sonos can get a beachhead with newbie users (they threw in the Bridge for free for a while). Soon I expect a rechargeable Play speaker (like a Jambox) will be offered. Many in the industry saw the Playbar product introduction as the first legitimate mainstream beachhead into the home. It has been very successful for Sonos and there is a lot of momentum here.
4) Spotify is in a crowded market. I won’t get into all the music services that exist out there but I will grant Spotify a first mover advantage on the social media front. However, the recording industry is absolutely jacked about the upcoming Beats streaming service that will be coming out later this month and you are kidding yourself if you don’t think that will gain critical mass overnight. Anyone that can sell an inferior $50 headphone for $200 because of branding should be taken seriously. Oh, and they “get” the record labels. My prediction isn't that Beats will be the winner. Rather, there will be many, many legitimate threats to Spotify. To assume it will be the clear winner a year from today is shortsighted and presumptuous.
5) Watch Qualcomm. The only legitimate substitution threat to Sonos hardware in my view (not the firmware end ecosystem, mind you) is the technology that Qualcomm has unveiled (AllPlay, on the AllJoyn protocol) which will get wide support in the consumer electronics industry later this year. That being said, I still think it will be an uphill climb given point #2, above though Qualcomm has infinite resources relative to Spotify, and begs the question why any CE manufacturer would waste their time with Spotify Connect with this technology coming down the pike in less than a year.
In summary, I personally don’t think either company needs each other to be successful, but I will say that Sonos has a much less to lose than Spotify. To think these companies are mutually inclusive for their survival is to be blind to the realities of the streaming music industry.
My final point is as a user for seven years I have never had to scrap a single dollar invested in Sonos. I even have two original remotes that still work, though the internal batteries have finally started to falter. But I only use one as a backup to the smartphone remotes that are easier to use (this was also a brilliant foresight by Sonos – creating an app for their remote). All of the zones are updated, have durable firmware and were built to last. I honestly can’t say how much upgrading (and disposal) of consumer electronics I have burned through (CD players, DVD player, video “component” cables/receivers, video game consoles, etc.) over the last 10 years and there is my Sonos equipment, standing the test of time, even through a move. If you want quality hardware to stream your music that works seamlessly and gives you the flexibility to make changes (upgrade speakers, interoperability, etc.) I can’t say enough good things about my investment in Sonos.
1) I originally purchased 4 Sonos zones for a prior home seven years ago and grew that to seven zones. I migrated all the hardware without a hitch – granted I went into new construction on the next home so installing built-in speakers was nominal in cost but have already paid for themselves given the use case of a turnkey 7 home zone setup. I do not own any of the speaker products (Play, Playbar, etc.).
2) I am in the hardware/electronics technology community and talk to multiple industry participants, mostly on the supply chain and components end of companies like Sonos, but also have contacts in the recording industry. I have spent a fair deal of time over the last several years trying to understand where this industry is heading. Especially since Sonos was the first bona fide example of “the Internet of Things” and it a useful template for where other industries/companies might be heading that offer IoT products.
3) Though I have met folks at Sonos at trade shows and similar circumstances in the past, I have no strong ties to the company nor am I some blog plant for them. Candidly, I dislike these cyber threads because it brings out the shameless narcissism of the loud minority, but nonetheless I wanted to share my opinions on this matter to offer some balance to this thread.
4) Like many of you I made the switch to Spotify about a year ago as it was the most feature rich service on the market. I even ported all of my Rhapsody playlists (an arduous task) to Spotify. I also was using Pandora for streaming so I thought I could centralize everything. Much like you, I found out this was not going to be the case for streaming on Sonos (no Radio is my gripe) and I only have myself to blame for not doing more research ahead of time. I ultimately reactivated my Rhaposdy account and am now in somewhat of a limbo, waiting for clarity.
5) Per Spotify, I have to say that I am not a big fan of the interface and since I am not a “social” web 2.0 kind of user, (no Farcebook account here) those features are useless to me and if anything, I would probably find them distracting. However, I will note that other services have great interfaces but are lacking other features. Rdio, for instance, would be an example of this.
After outlining all of this, so that all of you know where I am coming from before I get skewered online here, I really don’t view lacking support for Spotify connect as a game changing situation for me and probably for most of you. Here’s why:
1) Spotify is an outcast in music services game. Granted, they got the social aspects of the product down but the recording industry treats them with indifference at best but more or less isn’t happy with them because of compensation issues (not good). Culturally they are an odd company to deal with being from Sweden (i.e. not the US, I love Sweden fwiw) and there is an arrogance here that, at least in my view, will be their demise. I truly believe in a few years the term “Spotify followers” will be next to “AOL keyword” in the history books.
2) Spotify Connect is an inferior product. Anyone that has fiddled with Airplay knows this is not a substitute for Sonos (that that was Apple!) and despite more centralized features akin to Sonos, it simply won’t work as well. Why? Because every manufacturer is different. Open standards only take this so far in consumer electronics. Take remote controls. Standards have been around for years for all these guys yet all of them are just “not right” with interoperability. Enough so that there is a major industry at work integrating them (eg Logitech) and doing a better job as a middleman. This analogy isn’t a great one, but the point here is that any incremental cost to a product (in this case a $0.25 chip) that has a 15% gross margin (if they are lucky) is going to be met with resistance. And spending incremental R&D $s to have it work seamlessly and tested across others? No way. Plug in the chip, put the “connect” logo on the box and move on. In the end, the consumer will be disappointed.
3) The cost argument doesn’t hold water. Granted, Sonos is expensive. But can any of you with a straight face actually expect a budget minded customer to by a B&O A9 sound discus/tripod for their studio apartment (at a mere $2700)? Or get excited about a Pioneer receiver to stream your music? Seriously, these are partners to get excited about? The best part about Sonos is that you are free to purchase your own speakers, receivers, etc. And Sonos is already moving downstream on the price point. The Play:1 was a brilliant counter attack by Sonos on all these smaller connected technologies. For the price of a Jambox (a great, albeit limited product that I own as well), Sonos can get a beachhead with newbie users (they threw in the Bridge for free for a while). Soon I expect a rechargeable Play speaker (like a Jambox) will be offered. Many in the industry saw the Playbar product introduction as the first legitimate mainstream beachhead into the home. It has been very successful for Sonos and there is a lot of momentum here.
4) Spotify is in a crowded market. I won’t get into all the music services that exist out there but I will grant Spotify a first mover advantage on the social media front. However, the recording industry is absolutely jacked about the upcoming Beats streaming service that will be coming out later this month and you are kidding yourself if you don’t think that will gain critical mass overnight. Anyone that can sell an inferior $50 headphone for $200 because of branding should be taken seriously. Oh, and they “get” the record labels. My prediction isn't that Beats will be the winner. Rather, there will be many, many legitimate threats to Spotify. To assume it will be the clear winner a year from today is shortsighted and presumptuous.
5) Watch Qualcomm. The only legitimate substitution threat to Sonos hardware in my view (not the firmware end ecosystem, mind you) is the technology that Qualcomm has unveiled (AllPlay, on the AllJoyn protocol) which will get wide support in the consumer electronics industry later this year. That being said, I still think it will be an uphill climb given point #2, above though Qualcomm has infinite resources relative to Spotify, and begs the question why any CE manufacturer would waste their time with Spotify Connect with this technology coming down the pike in less than a year.
In summary, I personally don’t think either company needs each other to be successful, but I will say that Sonos has a much less to lose than Spotify. To think these companies are mutually inclusive for their survival is to be blind to the realities of the streaming music industry.
My final point is as a user for seven years I have never had to scrap a single dollar invested in Sonos. I even have two original remotes that still work, though the internal batteries have finally started to falter. But I only use one as a backup to the smartphone remotes that are easier to use (this was also a brilliant foresight by Sonos – creating an app for their remote). All of the zones are updated, have durable firmware and were built to last. I honestly can’t say how much upgrading (and disposal) of consumer electronics I have burned through (CD players, DVD player, video “component” cables/receivers, video game consoles, etc.) over the last 10 years and there is my Sonos equipment, standing the test of time, even through a move. If you want quality hardware to stream your music that works seamlessly and gives you the flexibility to make changes (upgrade speakers, interoperability, etc.) I can’t say enough good things about my investment in Sonos.
Userlevel 1
1) I originally purchased 4 Sonos zones for a prior home seven years ago and grew that to seven zones. I migrated all the hardware without a hitch – granted I went into new construction on the next home so installing built-in speakers was nominal in cost but have already paid for themselves given the use case of a turnkey 7 home zone setup. I do not own any of the speaker products (Play, Playbar, etc.).
2) I am in the hardware/electronics technology community and talk to multiple industry participants, mostly on the supply chain and components end of companies like Sonos, but also have contacts in the recording industry. I have spent a fair deal of time over the last several years trying to understand where this industry is heading. Especially since Sonos was the first bona fide example of “the Internet of Things” and it a useful template for where other industries/companies might be heading that offer IoT products.
3) Though I have met folks at Sonos at trade shows and similar circumstances in the past, I have no strong ties to the company nor am I some blog plant for them. Candidly, I dislike these cyber threads because it brings out the shameless narcissism of the loud minority, but nonetheless I wanted to share my opinions on this matter to offer some balance to this thread.
4) Like many of you I made the switch to Spotify about a year ago as it was the most feature rich service on the market. I even ported all of my Rhapsody playlists (an arduous task) to Spotify. I also was using Pandora for streaming so I thought I could centralize everything. Much like you, I found out this was not going to be the case for streaming on Sonos (no Radio is my gripe) and I only have myself to blame for not doing more research ahead of time. I ultimately reactivated my Rhaposdy account and am now in somewhat of a limbo, waiting for clarity.
5) Per Spotify, I have to say that I am not a big fan of the interface and since I am not a “social” web 2.0 kind of user, (no Farcebook account here) those features are useless to me and if anything, I would probably find them distracting. However, I will note that other services have great interfaces but are lacking other features. Rdio, for instance, would be an example of this.
After outlining all of this, so that all of you know where I am coming from before I get skewered online here, I really don’t view lacking support for Spotify connect as a game changing situation for me and probably for most of you. Here’s why:
1) Spotify is an outcast in music services game. Granted, they got the social aspects of the product down but the recording industry treats them with indifference at best but more or less isn’t happy with them because of compensation issues (not good). Culturally they are an odd company to deal with being from Sweden (i.e. not the US, I love Sweden fwiw) and there is an arrogance here that, at least in my view, will be their demise. I truly believe in a few years the term “Spotify followers” will be next to “AOL keyword” in the history books.
2) Spotify Connect is an inferior product. Anyone that has fiddled with Airplay knows this is not a substitute for Sonos (that that was Apple!) and despite more centralized features akin to Sonos, it simply won’t work as well. Why? Because every manufacturer is different. Open standards only take this so far in consumer electronics. Take remote controls. Standards have been around for years for all these guys yet all of them are just “not right” with interoperability. Enough so that there is a major industry at work integrating them (eg Logitech) and doing a better job as a middleman. This analogy isn’t a great one, but the point here is that any incremental cost to a product (in this case a $0.25 chip) that has a 15% gross margin (if they are lucky) is going to be met with resistance. And spending incremental R&D $s to have it work seamlessly and tested across others? No way. Plug in the chip, put the “connect” logo on the box and move on. In the end, the consumer will be disappointed.
3) The cost argument doesn’t hold water. Granted, Sonos is expensive. But can any of you with a straight face actually expect a budget minded customer to by a B&O A9 sound discus/tripod for their studio apartment (at a mere $2700)? Or get excited about a Pioneer receiver to stream your music? Seriously, these are partners to get excited about? The best part about Sonos is that you are free to purchase your own speakers, receivers, etc. And Sonos is already moving downstream on the price point. The Play:1 was a brilliant counter attack by Sonos on all these smaller connected technologies. For the price of a Jambox (a great, albeit limited product that I own as well), Sonos can get a beachhead with newbie users (they threw in the Bridge for free for a while). Soon I expect a rechargeable Play speaker (like a Jambox) will be offered. Many in the industry saw the Playbar product introduction as the first legitimate mainstream beachhead into the home. It has been very successful for Sonos and there is a lot of momentum here.
4) Spotify is in a crowded market. I won’t get into all the music services that exist out there but I will grant Spotify a first mover advantage on the social media front. However, the recording industry is absolutely jacked about the upcoming Beats streaming service that will be coming out later this month and you are kidding yourself if you don’t think that will gain critical mass overnight. Anyone that can sell an inferior $50 headphone for $200 because of branding should be taken seriously. Oh, and they “get” the record labels. My prediction isn't that Beats will be the winner. Rather, there will be many, many legitimate threats to Spotify. To assume it will be the clear winner a year from today is shortsighted and presumptuous.
5) Watch Qualcomm. The only legitimate substitution threat to Sonos hardware in my view (not the firmware end ecosystem, mind you) is the technology that Qualcomm has unveiled (AllPlay, on the AllJoyn protocol) which will get wide support in the consumer electronics industry later this year. That being said, I still think it will be an uphill climb given point #2, above though Qualcomm has infinite resources relative to Spotify, and begs the question why any CE manufacturer would waste their time with Spotify Connect with this technology coming down the pike in less than a year.
In summary, I personally don’t think either company needs each other to be successful, but I will say that Sonos has a much less to lose than Spotify. To think these companies are mutually inclusive for their survival is to be blind to the realities of the streaming music industry.
My final point is as a user for seven years I have never had to scrap a single dollar invested in Sonos. I even have two original remotes that still work, though the internal batteries have finally started to falter. But I only use one as a backup to the smartphone remotes that are easier to use (this was also a brilliant foresight by Sonos – creating an app for their remote). All of the zones are updated, have durable firmware and were built to last. I honestly can’t say how much upgrading (and disposal) of consumer electronics I have burned through (CD players, DVD player, video “component” cables/receivers, video game consoles, etc.) over the last 10 years and there is my Sonos equipment, standing the test of time, even through a move. If you want quality hardware to stream your music that works seamlessly and gives you the flexibility to make changes (upgrade speakers, interoperability, etc.) I can’t say enough good things about my investment in Sonos.
I think you are right. Sonos was developed as an open platform for music services, that's why most of the customers have chosen for Sonos. There is also no reason to think that Spotify will become the one and only serious streaming music provider. Apple, Google, Netflix and the Music industry, etc, are serious companies that also want to benefit from the revenues from streaming music. The only thing I hope is that the current Sonos hardware in the field, has enough memory and processing power, to add new services and functionality, to be future proof.
1) I originally purchased 4 Sonos zones for a prior home seven years ago and grew that to seven zones. I migrated all the hardware without a hitch – granted I went into new construction on the next home so installing built-in speakers was nominal in cost but have already paid for themselves given the use case of a turnkey 7 home zone setup. I do not own any of the speaker products (Play, Playbar, etc.).
2) I am in the hardware/electronics technology community and talk to multiple industry participants, mostly on the supply chain and components end of companies like Sonos, but also have contacts in the recording industry. I have spent a fair deal of time over the last several years trying to understand where this industry is heading. Especially since Sonos was the first bona fide example of “the Internet of Things” and it a useful template for where other industries/companies might be heading that offer IoT products.
3) Though I have met folks at Sonos at trade shows and similar circumstances in the past, I have no strong ties to the company nor am I some blog plant for them. Candidly, I dislike these cyber threads because it brings out the shameless narcissism of the loud minority, but nonetheless I wanted to share my opinions on this matter to offer some balance to this thread.
4) Like many of you I made the switch to Spotify about a year ago as it was the most feature rich service on the market. I even ported all of my Rhapsody playlists (an arduous task) to Spotify. I also was using Pandora for streaming so I thought I could centralize everything. Much like you, I found out this was not going to be the case for streaming on Sonos (no Radio is my gripe) and I only have myself to blame for not doing more research ahead of time. I ultimately reactivated my Rhaposdy account and am now in somewhat of a limbo, waiting for clarity.
5) Per Spotify, I have to say that I am not a big fan of the interface and since I am not a “social” web 2.0 kind of user, (no Farcebook account here) those features are useless to me and if anything, I would probably find them distracting. However, I will note that other services have great interfaces but are lacking other features. Rdio, for instance, would be an example of this.
After outlining all of this, so that all of you know where I am coming from before I get skewered online here, I really don’t view lacking support for Spotify connect as a game changing situation for me and probably for most of you. Here’s why:
1) Spotify is an outcast in music services game. Granted, they got the social aspects of the product down but the recording industry treats them with indifference at best but more or less isn’t happy with them because of compensation issues (not good). Culturally they are an odd company to deal with being from Sweden (i.e. not the US, I love Sweden fwiw) and there is an arrogance here that, at least in my view, will be their demise. I truly believe in a few years the term “Spotify followers” will be next to “AOL keyword” in the history books.
2) Spotify Connect is an inferior product. Anyone that has fiddled with Airplay knows this is not a substitute for Sonos (that that was Apple!) and despite more centralized features akin to Sonos, it simply won’t work as well. Why? Because every manufacturer is different. Open standards only take this so far in consumer electronics. Take remote controls. Standards have been around for years for all these guys yet all of them are just “not right” with interoperability. Enough so that there is a major industry at work integrating them (eg Logitech) and doing a better job as a middleman. This analogy isn’t a great one, but the point here is that any incremental cost to a product (in this case a $0.25 chip) that has a 15% gross margin (if they are lucky) is going to be met with resistance. And spending incremental R&D $s to have it work seamlessly and tested across others? No way. Plug in the chip, put the “connect” logo on the box and move on. In the end, the consumer will be disappointed.
3) The cost argument doesn’t hold water. Granted, Sonos is expensive. But can any of you with a straight face actually expect a budget minded customer to by a B&O A9 sound discus/tripod for their studio apartment (at a mere $2700)? Or get excited about a Pioneer receiver to stream your music? Seriously, these are partners to get excited about? The best part about Sonos is that you are free to purchase your own speakers, receivers, etc. And Sonos is already moving downstream on the price point. The Play:1 was a brilliant counter attack by Sonos on all these smaller connected technologies. For the price of a Jambox (a great, albeit limited product that I own as well), Sonos can get a beachhead with newbie users (they threw in the Bridge for free for a while). Soon I expect a rechargeable Play speaker (like a Jambox) will be offered. Many in the industry saw the Playbar product introduction as the first legitimate mainstream beachhead into the home. It has been very successful for Sonos and there is a lot of momentum here.
4) Spotify is in a crowded market. I won’t get into all the music services that exist out there but I will grant Spotify a first mover advantage on the social media front. However, the recording industry is absolutely jacked about the upcoming Beats streaming service that will be coming out later this month and you are kidding yourself if you don’t think that will gain critical mass overnight. Anyone that can sell an inferior $50 headphone for $200 because of branding should be taken seriously. Oh, and they “get” the record labels. My prediction isn't that Beats will be the winner. Rather, there will be many, many legitimate threats to Spotify. To assume it will be the clear winner a year from today is shortsighted and presumptuous.
5) Watch Qualcomm. The only legitimate substitution threat to Sonos hardware in my view (not the firmware end ecosystem, mind you) is the technology that Qualcomm has unveiled (AllPlay, on the AllJoyn protocol) which will get wide support in the consumer electronics industry later this year. That being said, I still think it will be an uphill climb given point #2, above though Qualcomm has infinite resources relative to Spotify, and begs the question why any CE manufacturer would waste their time with Spotify Connect with this technology coming down the pike in less than a year.
In summary, I personally don’t think either company needs each other to be successful, but I will say that Sonos has a much less to lose than Spotify. To think these companies are mutually inclusive for their survival is to be blind to the realities of the streaming music industry.
My final point is as a user for seven years I have never had to scrap a single dollar invested in Sonos. I even have two original remotes that still work, though the internal batteries have finally started to falter. But I only use one as a backup to the smartphone remotes that are easier to use (this was also a brilliant foresight by Sonos – creating an app for their remote). All of the zones are updated, have durable firmware and were built to last. I honestly can’t say how much upgrading (and disposal) of consumer electronics I have burned through (CD players, DVD player, video “component” cables/receivers, video game consoles, etc.) over the last 10 years and there is my Sonos equipment, standing the test of time, even through a move. If you want quality hardware to stream your music that works seamlessly and gives you the flexibility to make changes (upgrade speakers, interoperability, etc.) I can’t say enough good things about my investment in Sonos.
The "Play on Sonos" option seems by far the best route for the consumer. We don't want the people who charge a monthly fee to hold us to ransom. But I fear that Spotify and others wont implement "Play on Sonos" unless Sonos plays nicely with their system too. Prove me wrong Spotify...
Userlevel 2
+7
1) I originally purchased 4 Sonos zones for a prior home seven years ago and grew that to seven zones. I migrated all the hardware without a hitch – granted I went into new construction on the next home so installing built-in speakers was nominal in cost but have already paid for themselves given the use case of a turnkey 7 home zone setup. I do not own any of the speaker products (Play, Playbar, etc.).
2) I am in the hardware/electronics technology community and talk to multiple industry participants, mostly on the supply chain and components end of companies like Sonos, but also have contacts in the recording industry. I have spent a fair deal of time over the last several years trying to understand where this industry is heading. Especially since Sonos was the first bona fide example of “the Internet of Things” and it a useful template for where other industries/companies might be heading that offer IoT products.
3) Though I have met folks at Sonos at trade shows and similar circumstances in the past, I have no strong ties to the company nor am I some blog plant for them. Candidly, I dislike these cyber threads because it brings out the shameless narcissism of the loud minority, but nonetheless I wanted to share my opinions on this matter to offer some balance to this thread.
4) Like many of you I made the switch to Spotify about a year ago as it was the most feature rich service on the market. I even ported all of my Rhapsody playlists (an arduous task) to Spotify. I also was using Pandora for streaming so I thought I could centralize everything. Much like you, I found out this was not going to be the case for streaming on Sonos (no Radio is my gripe) and I only have myself to blame for not doing more research ahead of time. I ultimately reactivated my Rhaposdy account and am now in somewhat of a limbo, waiting for clarity.
5) Per Spotify, I have to say that I am not a big fan of the interface and since I am not a “social” web 2.0 kind of user, (no Farcebook account here) those features are useless to me and if anything, I would probably find them distracting. However, I will note that other services have great interfaces but are lacking other features. Rdio, for instance, would be an example of this.
After outlining all of this, so that all of you know where I am coming from before I get skewered online here, I really don’t view lacking support for Spotify connect as a game changing situation for me and probably for most of you. Here’s why:
1) Spotify is an outcast in music services game. Granted, they got the social aspects of the product down but the recording industry treats them with indifference at best but more or less isn’t happy with them because of compensation issues (not good). Culturally they are an odd company to deal with being from Sweden (i.e. not the US, I love Sweden fwiw) and there is an arrogance here that, at least in my view, will be their demise. I truly believe in a few years the term “Spotify followers” will be next to “AOL keyword” in the history books.
2) Spotify Connect is an inferior product. Anyone that has fiddled with Airplay knows this is not a substitute for Sonos (that that was Apple!) and despite more centralized features akin to Sonos, it simply won’t work as well. Why? Because every manufacturer is different. Open standards only take this so far in consumer electronics. Take remote controls. Standards have been around for years for all these guys yet all of them are just “not right” with interoperability. Enough so that there is a major industry at work integrating them (eg Logitech) and doing a better job as a middleman. This analogy isn’t a great one, but the point here is that any incremental cost to a product (in this case a $0.25 chip) that has a 15% gross margin (if they are lucky) is going to be met with resistance. And spending incremental R&D $s to have it work seamlessly and tested across others? No way. Plug in the chip, put the “connect” logo on the box and move on. In the end, the consumer will be disappointed.
3) The cost argument doesn’t hold water. Granted, Sonos is expensive. But can any of you with a straight face actually expect a budget minded customer to by a B&O A9 sound discus/tripod for their studio apartment (at a mere $2700)? Or get excited about a Pioneer receiver to stream your music? Seriously, these are partners to get excited about? The best part about Sonos is that you are free to purchase your own speakers, receivers, etc. And Sonos is already moving downstream on the price point. The Play:1 was a brilliant counter attack by Sonos on all these smaller connected technologies. For the price of a Jambox (a great, albeit limited product that I own as well), Sonos can get a beachhead with newbie users (they threw in the Bridge for free for a while). Soon I expect a rechargeable Play speaker (like a Jambox) will be offered. Many in the industry saw the Playbar product introduction as the first legitimate mainstream beachhead into the home. It has been very successful for Sonos and there is a lot of momentum here.
4) Spotify is in a crowded market. I won’t get into all the music services that exist out there but I will grant Spotify a first mover advantage on the social media front. However, the recording industry is absolutely jacked about the upcoming Beats streaming service that will be coming out later this month and you are kidding yourself if you don’t think that will gain critical mass overnight. Anyone that can sell an inferior $50 headphone for $200 because of branding should be taken seriously. Oh, and they “get” the record labels. My prediction isn't that Beats will be the winner. Rather, there will be many, many legitimate threats to Spotify. To assume it will be the clear winner a year from today is shortsighted and presumptuous.
5) Watch Qualcomm. The only legitimate substitution threat to Sonos hardware in my view (not the firmware end ecosystem, mind you) is the technology that Qualcomm has unveiled (AllPlay, on the AllJoyn protocol) which will get wide support in the consumer electronics industry later this year. That being said, I still think it will be an uphill climb given point #2, above though Qualcomm has infinite resources relative to Spotify, and begs the question why any CE manufacturer would waste their time with Spotify Connect with this technology coming down the pike in less than a year.
In summary, I personally don’t think either company needs each other to be successful, but I will say that Sonos has a much less to lose than Spotify. To think these companies are mutually inclusive for their survival is to be blind to the realities of the streaming music industry.
My final point is as a user for seven years I have never had to scrap a single dollar invested in Sonos. I even have two original remotes that still work, though the internal batteries have finally started to falter. But I only use one as a backup to the smartphone remotes that are easier to use (this was also a brilliant foresight by Sonos – creating an app for their remote). All of the zones are updated, have durable firmware and were built to last. I honestly can’t say how much upgrading (and disposal) of consumer electronics I have burned through (CD players, DVD player, video “component” cables/receivers, video game consoles, etc.) over the last 10 years and there is my Sonos equipment, standing the test of time, even through a move. If you want quality hardware to stream your music that works seamlessly and gives you the flexibility to make changes (upgrade speakers, interoperability, etc.) I can’t say enough good things about my investment in Sonos.
I agree that I would rather compromise on the music service ... which is easy to change than the hardware which isn't. In any case the investment of a few dollars means that I have a third party app that lets me stream Spotify radio through my Sonos system anyway. Also as previously mentioned the music services will adapt to take advantage of any Spotify weaknesses, so it will be interesting to see how Beats Music will do,as I hope this will get Sonos support (or will support Sonos - whichever way around) . If the previous Spotify fans want to sell their Sonos kit cheaply - then I for one would be happy to purchase it... as I still have some Sonos-free rooms I could fill.
All I want is to play spotify with all of its features, especially radio, with my new Sonos play-1. Apparently this is impossible. From what I have read, I have to buy a Play-5 ($400), plus an airport express ($40) to do this... This speaker system just went from $200-->$640 for it to do what I want. Very disappointed that Sonos and/or Spotify can not figure something so simple out. Sonos, drop this app that does nothing but make your "valued customers" take extra, tedious, steps to listen to music. I want to play my music from my actual itunes library as well as my spotify app, not through your app... Airplay for all speakers please!! You have a lot of disappointed customers that are returning your speakers, I am one of them.
Userlevel 2
1) I originally purchased 4 Sonos zones for a prior home seven years ago and grew that to seven zones. I migrated all the hardware without a hitch – granted I went into new construction on the next home so installing built-in speakers was nominal in cost but have already paid for themselves given the use case of a turnkey 7 home zone setup. I do not own any of the speaker products (Play, Playbar, etc.).
2) I am in the hardware/electronics technology community and talk to multiple industry participants, mostly on the supply chain and components end of companies like Sonos, but also have contacts in the recording industry. I have spent a fair deal of time over the last several years trying to understand where this industry is heading. Especially since Sonos was the first bona fide example of “the Internet of Things” and it a useful template for where other industries/companies might be heading that offer IoT products.
3) Though I have met folks at Sonos at trade shows and similar circumstances in the past, I have no strong ties to the company nor am I some blog plant for them. Candidly, I dislike these cyber threads because it brings out the shameless narcissism of the loud minority, but nonetheless I wanted to share my opinions on this matter to offer some balance to this thread.
4) Like many of you I made the switch to Spotify about a year ago as it was the most feature rich service on the market. I even ported all of my Rhapsody playlists (an arduous task) to Spotify. I also was using Pandora for streaming so I thought I could centralize everything. Much like you, I found out this was not going to be the case for streaming on Sonos (no Radio is my gripe) and I only have myself to blame for not doing more research ahead of time. I ultimately reactivated my Rhaposdy account and am now in somewhat of a limbo, waiting for clarity.
5) Per Spotify, I have to say that I am not a big fan of the interface and since I am not a “social” web 2.0 kind of user, (no Farcebook account here) those features are useless to me and if anything, I would probably find them distracting. However, I will note that other services have great interfaces but are lacking other features. Rdio, for instance, would be an example of this.
After outlining all of this, so that all of you know where I am coming from before I get skewered online here, I really don’t view lacking support for Spotify connect as a game changing situation for me and probably for most of you. Here’s why:
1) Spotify is an outcast in music services game. Granted, they got the social aspects of the product down but the recording industry treats them with indifference at best but more or less isn’t happy with them because of compensation issues (not good). Culturally they are an odd company to deal with being from Sweden (i.e. not the US, I love Sweden fwiw) and there is an arrogance here that, at least in my view, will be their demise. I truly believe in a few years the term “Spotify followers” will be next to “AOL keyword” in the history books.
2) Spotify Connect is an inferior product. Anyone that has fiddled with Airplay knows this is not a substitute for Sonos (that that was Apple!) and despite more centralized features akin to Sonos, it simply won’t work as well. Why? Because every manufacturer is different. Open standards only take this so far in consumer electronics. Take remote controls. Standards have been around for years for all these guys yet all of them are just “not right” with interoperability. Enough so that there is a major industry at work integrating them (eg Logitech) and doing a better job as a middleman. This analogy isn’t a great one, but the point here is that any incremental cost to a product (in this case a $0.25 chip) that has a 15% gross margin (if they are lucky) is going to be met with resistance. And spending incremental R&D $s to have it work seamlessly and tested across others? No way. Plug in the chip, put the “connect” logo on the box and move on. In the end, the consumer will be disappointed.
3) The cost argument doesn’t hold water. Granted, Sonos is expensive. But can any of you with a straight face actually expect a budget minded customer to by a B&O A9 sound discus/tripod for their studio apartment (at a mere $2700)? Or get excited about a Pioneer receiver to stream your music? Seriously, these are partners to get excited about? The best part about Sonos is that you are free to purchase your own speakers, receivers, etc. And Sonos is already moving downstream on the price point. The Play:1 was a brilliant counter attack by Sonos on all these smaller connected technologies. For the price of a Jambox (a great, albeit limited product that I own as well), Sonos can get a beachhead with newbie users (they threw in the Bridge for free for a while). Soon I expect a rechargeable Play speaker (like a Jambox) will be offered. Many in the industry saw the Playbar product introduction as the first legitimate mainstream beachhead into the home. It has been very successful for Sonos and there is a lot of momentum here.
4) Spotify is in a crowded market. I won’t get into all the music services that exist out there but I will grant Spotify a first mover advantage on the social media front. However, the recording industry is absolutely jacked about the upcoming Beats streaming service that will be coming out later this month and you are kidding yourself if you don’t think that will gain critical mass overnight. Anyone that can sell an inferior $50 headphone for $200 because of branding should be taken seriously. Oh, and they “get” the record labels. My prediction isn't that Beats will be the winner. Rather, there will be many, many legitimate threats to Spotify. To assume it will be the clear winner a year from today is shortsighted and presumptuous.
5) Watch Qualcomm. The only legitimate substitution threat to Sonos hardware in my view (not the firmware end ecosystem, mind you) is the technology that Qualcomm has unveiled (AllPlay, on the AllJoyn protocol) which will get wide support in the consumer electronics industry later this year. That being said, I still think it will be an uphill climb given point #2, above though Qualcomm has infinite resources relative to Spotify, and begs the question why any CE manufacturer would waste their time with Spotify Connect with this technology coming down the pike in less than a year.
In summary, I personally don’t think either company needs each other to be successful, but I will say that Sonos has a much less to lose than Spotify. To think these companies are mutually inclusive for their survival is to be blind to the realities of the streaming music industry.
My final point is as a user for seven years I have never had to scrap a single dollar invested in Sonos. I even have two original remotes that still work, though the internal batteries have finally started to falter. But I only use one as a backup to the smartphone remotes that are easier to use (this was also a brilliant foresight by Sonos – creating an app for their remote). All of the zones are updated, have durable firmware and were built to last. I honestly can’t say how much upgrading (and disposal) of consumer electronics I have burned through (CD players, DVD player, video “component” cables/receivers, video game consoles, etc.) over the last 10 years and there is my Sonos equipment, standing the test of time, even through a move. If you want quality hardware to stream your music that works seamlessly and gives you the flexibility to make changes (upgrade speakers, interoperability, etc.) I can’t say enough good things about my investment in Sonos.
Update here - I am tooling around with Beats Music right now. I will give it a few weeks but already I can see this being a service that will give Spotify (and others) a run for their money. In three years Spotify won't be able to give away their Connect API layer.
I don't particularly care if you bring your own app up to the level of Spotify's or implement Spotify Connect so I can use theirs, I just want to have a way out of using your currently abysmally tedious app.
I too bought into the Sonos ecosystem: Bridge + Play 5 + Play 1.
I was seriously considering buying the (overpriced) Connect Amp, but I am not going to do it until I see that Sonos gets more responsive towards customers and more offensive regarding innovation & feature upgrades.
Get your act together, Sonos. I don't think you realize how damaging these complaints are for your reputation and image.
And I totally agree with one of the commenters who complained about official rep John writing a meaningless reply that has no substance whatsoever.
.
Start taking your involved customers seriously.
It's been 6 months since the official response... I bought my first Sonos system today (Play 5), on the basis I could use Spotify with it, I asumed it would support Spotify Connect as Bose does, feeling pretty cheated if i'm honest.
What is the current status of this? is it even planned to be supported? I can wait for it if it's coming soon but if it's not even planned I think that says a lot about the attitude towards customer satisfaction and recognising your customers needs, so i'd be returning the product and buying the Bose instead.
*knock, knock*
Is John home?
Sonos is in bed with Beats Music and I don't think they care a whit what happens with Spotify. I am furious that I spent so much money on a system that does NOT do what it promised. I did try Beats Music and it is AWFUL. I actually like Google Play All Access, and there is an app you can download that lets you use Sonos with that. So for those of us stuck with a Sonos system, Google Play with Macronos Cast is the best solution.
I really would like to see a serious answer from Sonos.
One that contains substance and addresses the issue.
.
Hey Sonos, I am ready to spend some hard earned money on expanding my Sonos system, but only if you can come up with some proper answers.
.
Until that time, I will keep that money in my pocket or, worse, may sell the Sonos system I just bought and buy into Bose.
Nick, is it just this thread or are customers turning their backs on Sonos?
Judging from this topic, Sonos seems to make an arrogant, slow impression to me.
I'm with you guys, even tough Sonos has worked a lot with Spotify in order to bring a good experience of the service inside the Sonos app they'll never beet a dedicated application that is receiving constant updates and improvements. Some people that have the Play 5 use a Apple Airport Express that you can find for 40 dollars on Craigs and then use Airplay to adress the Play 5 directly from the Spotify App.
One thing we have to admit is that Sonos is not only meant to address a single speaker. But a set of speakers in different zones. All that works within the Sonos app and won't really working in direct connect. It's not what Sonos really is.
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