Just read the announcement of the new Google Cast for Audio (http://chrome.blogspot.com/2015/01/introducing-google-cast-for-audio.html). I don't see Sonos listed as an early supporter, though. Any chance something is in the works?
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Everyone trying to get into the casting party - airplay, google cast, Bluetooth, spotify connect ....
no wonder Sonos has trouble jumping on one bandwagon. They need to come up with some kind of simple / expandable means to incorporate various casting protocols.
no wonder Sonos has trouble jumping on one bandwagon. They need to come up with some kind of simple / expandable means to incorporate various casting protocols.
It's already somewhat supported. I can open Google Play Music on my android and hit the cast button to send it to my Sonos.
It would be dreamy if the same casting was available in the YouTube app, or PocketCast, or better yet, from a web browser on a PC on the same wifi network.
How great would it be to have a little youtube video or netflix on you laptop and then cast that audio to a couple play speakers around you?!
It would be dreamy if the same casting was available in the YouTube app, or PocketCast, or better yet, from a web browser on a PC on the same wifi network.
How great would it be to have a little youtube video or netflix on you laptop and then cast that audio to a couple play speakers around you?!
I would love to see this feature enabled as well. With how much time Sonos puts into their app this would bypass it and realistically it’s mostly all available via the app anyway. But it would defiantly simplify things and would like to have the option, especially with access to YouTube music just around the corner.
Please please please allow my Sonos system to be a standard cast destination! I use my Chromecast a lot for viewing video content on my TV from my phone and love the simplicity of hitting the cast button in apps to getting a better experience of media. Sonos support would be excellent!
It would be dreamy if the same casting was available in the YouTube app, or PocketCast, or better yet, from a web browser on a PC on the same wifi network.
How great would it be to have a little youtube video or netflix on you laptop and then cast that audio to a couple play speakers around you?!
Yeah the cast button from the Android Google Play Music app is great. When this was introduced a few months ago, its what convinced me to purchase a Sonos. But I want to be able to cast from other music services as well and from Google Play web app on my laptop. The Sonos app just doesn't offer the rich experience you get from the apps provided by the music services.
If Sonos don't move forward in this area, I can see myself jumping ship to a full Google Cast compatible speaker when they hit the market.
I was just about to purchase my first Sonos until I saw the Google Cast announcement this morning. Now I'll wait to see what Sonos do. I have two Chromecasts, and would like the music to be the same experience to make it easy for my other half who is not too tech savvy. The less apps and options the better.
It would be dreamy if the same casting was available in the YouTube app, or PocketCast, or better yet, from a web browser on a PC on the same wifi network.
How great would it be to have a little youtube video or netflix on you laptop and then cast that audio to a couple play speakers around you?!
Yeah, I was surprised _not_ to see Sonos listed in the announcement. I based my purchasing decision -- in part -- on the implied close relationship between Sonos and Google when they added the ability to "cast" music from the Google Play Music app directly, as well as via the Sonos app. Unfortunately, that doesn't look to have been expanded at all (yet).
The Sonos system already works somewhat as a destination for music casting from the Google Play Music app, though it doesn't seem to work from other apps. It might be that Sonos already has what is needed for this new "Google Music Cast" and it's just a matter of the code used in the Google Music app being rolled out to the public for integration in other apps to cast music. I hope it's that simple!
Also, my better half was also very tired of all the remotes and DIY solutions I have put her thru. She really loves using the Sonos setup, and it's been a great update to our home.
Also, my better half was also very tired of all the remotes and DIY solutions I have put her thru. She really loves using the Sonos setup, and it's been a great update to our home.
Another sad day for sonos - supported by Denon Heos on day 1 but not Sonos ! Along with the absence of Spotify Connect support this is yet another example of Sonos falling behind. You can't hide in your walled garden forever Sonos - please take some action here.
I really hope this happens as well, I bought a playbar and a play1 based around the addition of google music to the sonos system. If this happens I will expand my system for sure, otherwise I might have to look at some alternatives, though the sound quality of the sonos will be hard to beat!
it will be interesting to see the true functionality of this. it looks like its just another alternative to airplay or bluetooth speakers where you can only cast to 1 device at a time and not have multiple speakers playing in sync. i guess we will see how the heos speakers handle it.
Please add this sonos, you are really falling behind
I hope sonos will support Google cast to use native app like deezer, YouTube... This is my main requirement. Please!
I hope you're right about the code hopefully being half done and 'Google Music Cast' being just that extra step to integrate.
From my research the Sonos was at the top of my purchase list, but after this announcement I might just wait a little longer to see what pans out.
If Sonos adopt it, then I'm right back to purchasing from them again.
From my research the Sonos was at the top of my purchase list, but after this announcement I might just wait a little longer to see what pans out.
If Sonos adopt it, then I'm right back to purchasing from them again.
I haven't tested the Play Music on Android and Sonos thoroughly enough, but I am almost certain Sonos won't be left behind. The code from Google is open source, anybody can use it, and as long as the chipset can support it, every connected device can take advantage of it. Sonos would be crazy not to jump on this opportunity if it is not already sneakily made available as witnessed by Google Play Music that was the only that could utilise it
Six months ago I wrote this comment:
https://ask.sonos.com/sonos/topics/implement_a_chromecast_receiver
So it seems like Sonos will, along with everyone else, now have the opportunity to run with this if they choose to.
Since writing that comment, I learned that the current Sonos / Google Play Music android app integration doesn't actually use Cast Receiver API, but is a custom integration instead, although presumably it cannot be that much different so you would think much of the engineering groundwork would be in place for Sonos to support the new Cast for Audio functionality in some way if they chose to.
"If they chose to" being the big question. However, Cast for Audio looks to me like it has the making of being an "embrace or die" decision for Sonos...
I could imagine the initial version 1 Cast for Audio functionality from Google being simple and limited, falling well short of Sonos functionality (eg. multiroom); version 2 being pretty good; version 3 leaving the Sonos walled-garden confined to the dustbin of stuff that people no longer use.
The crucial functionality that Cast for Audio will allow is in-app beaming of audio from any app that supports the Cast for Audio API. This means that all the native-app functionality is retained, unlike the current Sonos approach of accessing the 3rd party audio sources via the Sonos app, thereby losing all the 3rd party native apps' functionality.
The future is quite obviously in-app beaming from native apps, kissing goodbye to the current frustration of not being able to get audio from an app to the high quality speakers you've already paid for. Google's Cast for Audio looks like it could be the enabling technology to allow this across a broad range of apps, so Sonos may well need to either embrace this or die...
https://ask.sonos.com/sonos/topics/implement_a_chromecast_receiver
"The Sonos / Google Play Music (GPM) integration is fantastic. The *key* feature, and what makes the integration fantastic, is the "Cast to Sonos" capability from within GPM, which means I can stay within GPM, using all its great functionality, while have Sonos focus on what it's great at: playing music wirelessly across all my rooms (not on creating apps).
I'm assuming much of this Sonos/GPM integration was built by implementing the Google Cast Receiver API within the Sonos boxes...
If so, then I assume it's a short step further to allow Cast to Sonos from ANY Cast client, such as from any Chrome browser, Netflix app, BBC iPlayer app, etc. This is such an obvious next step, and fits with John MacFarlane's comments last year about Sonos really pursuing in-app beaming. I mean, why reinvent the wheel when the Cast Receiver API is already there and presumably has already been used for the flawless GPM integration?
At the moment it's very frustrating to be running an app or running a web app within Chrome, and to have no way to get the sound from my crappy tablet/laptop/Chromebook speakers and onto my excellent multi-room Sonos sound system instead.
Sonos players are, in many use cases, still an inaccessible island, which is a tragedy. Can we expect general Cast support to appear in the near future in order to fix this?"
So it seems like Sonos will, along with everyone else, now have the opportunity to run with this if they choose to.
Since writing that comment, I learned that the current Sonos / Google Play Music android app integration doesn't actually use Cast Receiver API, but is a custom integration instead, although presumably it cannot be that much different so you would think much of the engineering groundwork would be in place for Sonos to support the new Cast for Audio functionality in some way if they chose to.
"If they chose to" being the big question. However, Cast for Audio looks to me like it has the making of being an "embrace or die" decision for Sonos...
I could imagine the initial version 1 Cast for Audio functionality from Google being simple and limited, falling well short of Sonos functionality (eg. multiroom); version 2 being pretty good; version 3 leaving the Sonos walled-garden confined to the dustbin of stuff that people no longer use.
The crucial functionality that Cast for Audio will allow is in-app beaming of audio from any app that supports the Cast for Audio API. This means that all the native-app functionality is retained, unlike the current Sonos approach of accessing the 3rd party audio sources via the Sonos app, thereby losing all the 3rd party native apps' functionality.
The future is quite obviously in-app beaming from native apps, kissing goodbye to the current frustration of not being able to get audio from an app to the high quality speakers you've already paid for. Google's Cast for Audio looks like it could be the enabling technology to allow this across a broad range of apps, so Sonos may well need to either embrace this or die...
from https://gigaom.com/2015/01/05/google-cast-wifi-speakers-lg-sony-denon/
"Plus, Google Cast integrates with multiroom audio technologies developed by each vendor, so users will be able to cast their music streams to multiple speakers in the same house, and even maintain different zones, just like they can with a Sonos setup. Chandra told me that Sony, LG and Denon will all show off multiroom audio capable speakers with Google Cast support at CES this week."
so looks like multi-room (and Sonos) are on their hitlist
RDog - you hit the nail on the head and your post of 6 months ago was certainly very insightful !
As you say, this is firmly up to Sonos to support if they chose to. However, I fear they will adopt the same stubbornness that lead to their Spotify Connect and DTS decisions (not to support either) and their corporate pride will prevent them accepting that times are changing and they need to move and with them (and fast) if they are not to be left dead in the water in 1-2 years. CES is bringing more and more devices and companies into a market Sonos has had to themselves for a decade. Each vendor needs some extra USP if they are going to take them on. Sonos is certainly not known for its speed in doing anything fast so this could well be another nail in their coffin. I hope they can prove me wrong.
As you say, this is firmly up to Sonos to support if they chose to. However, I fear they will adopt the same stubbornness that lead to their Spotify Connect and DTS decisions (not to support either) and their corporate pride will prevent them accepting that times are changing and they need to move and with them (and fast) if they are not to be left dead in the water in 1-2 years. CES is bringing more and more devices and companies into a market Sonos has had to themselves for a decade. Each vendor needs some extra USP if they are going to take them on. Sonos is certainly not known for its speed in doing anything fast so this could well be another nail in their coffin. I hope they can prove me wrong.
I only bought my Sonos kit fairly recently - and did so solely because of the integration with Google Play Music. Having experienced how superbly that integration works, it makes it very frustrating not to be able to similarly beam audio from any other app to my Sonos speakers.
In-app beaming from native apps is obviously the way forward. I can see that, everyone else can see that, and I presume John MacFarlane is very, very aware of that!
Sonos' current approach of accessing 3rd party audio sources via the Sonos app has no long term future, because this approach loses all the rich functionality of the native apps themselves. This is such an obvious and massive limitation of the current approach that no one can rationally argue that this is anything other than a temporary workaround until a proper solution is put in place. Ideally, a proper solution would involve open standards, but absent that, Google's Cast for Audio looks like it could have the making of a viable solution, which a raft of Sonos competitors will eagerly embrace.
It'll be interesting to see how Sonos responds. Their willingness in the past to abandon their hardware controller and embrace software app (Android) controllers even though that cannibalised some of their own sales shows that Sonos can make sensible strategic decisions so perhaps gives grounds for some optimism.
Alternatively, if they choose to retain the Sonos walled-garden in order to differentiate themselves and protect margins, and if Cast for Audio proves in time to be highly functional, then Sonos could quickly wither on the vine, as potential new customers turn elsewhere...
I assume John MacFarlane is nobody's fool, so the probability must favour Sonos (eventually) making a wise decision, but we shall see!
If Cast for Audio takes off and proves eventually to be highly functional, I would (sadly) ditch my Sonos kit and turn elsewhere. In the meantime, I will hold off recommending Sonos to anyone until the picture becomes clearer.
In-app beaming from native apps is obviously the way forward. I can see that, everyone else can see that, and I presume John MacFarlane is very, very aware of that!
Sonos' current approach of accessing 3rd party audio sources via the Sonos app has no long term future, because this approach loses all the rich functionality of the native apps themselves. This is such an obvious and massive limitation of the current approach that no one can rationally argue that this is anything other than a temporary workaround until a proper solution is put in place. Ideally, a proper solution would involve open standards, but absent that, Google's Cast for Audio looks like it could have the making of a viable solution, which a raft of Sonos competitors will eagerly embrace.
It'll be interesting to see how Sonos responds. Their willingness in the past to abandon their hardware controller and embrace software app (Android) controllers even though that cannibalised some of their own sales shows that Sonos can make sensible strategic decisions so perhaps gives grounds for some optimism.
Alternatively, if they choose to retain the Sonos walled-garden in order to differentiate themselves and protect margins, and if Cast for Audio proves in time to be highly functional, then Sonos could quickly wither on the vine, as potential new customers turn elsewhere...
I assume John MacFarlane is nobody's fool, so the probability must favour Sonos (eventually) making a wise decision, but we shall see!
If Cast for Audio takes off and proves eventually to be highly functional, I would (sadly) ditch my Sonos kit and turn elsewhere. In the meantime, I will hold off recommending Sonos to anyone until the picture becomes clearer.
Well as you said Sonos is well integrated from the google play music app so I guess that the proof that they don't mind if you use another app (GPM) instead of their own app.
I would be very glad to have Google Cast for Audio implemented too, to allow any cast ready application to send their sound on my sonos system (youtube for example).
As you said using directly GPM or other cast for audio compatible app will allow us to use all the functionalities of every app
It allows you to create some alarm with your google music play list, that's not possible from GPM, to stream different content in different room from the same device, to have some playlist from different sources (GPM, Deezer, ...) etc..
I would be very glad to have Google Cast for Audio implemented too, to allow any cast ready application to send their sound on my sonos system (youtube for example).
As you said using directly GPM or other cast for audio compatible app will allow us to use all the functionalities of every app
Sonos' current approach of accessing 3rd party audio sources via the Sonos app has no long term futureI'm not sure about that, having a Sonos app is also interresting.
It allows you to create some alarm with your google music play list, that's not possible from GPM, to stream different content in different room from the same device, to have some playlist from different sources (GPM, Deezer, ...) etc..
If Cast for Audio takes off and proves eventually to be highly functional, I would (sadly) ditch my Sonos kit and turn elsewhere. In the meantime, I will hold off recommending Sonos to anyone until the picture becomes clearer.Oops, missed out an important bit from the first sentence. What I meant to say was:
If Cast for Audio takes off and proves eventually to be highly functional, I would (sadly) ditch my Sonos kit and turn elsewhere if Sonos did not provide Cast for Audio support!
I got into Sonos only recently. I am slowly replacing my aging Squeezebox set up and after a failed attempt to use Olive One for that bought the first Play 5 to test the waters. Now I have a stereo pair and thinking of getting other rooms hooked up. But this announcement really caught me off-guard. I love my Chromecast, it is the dumbest but most versatile device I own and the promise of the same thing for audio is just mind blowing.
But let's don't go crazy on Sonos. WE haven't seen anything released yet. Knowing the versatility of the protocol, I can imagine all sorts of products being released. Home theatres, amplifiers, standalone speakers, car audio, and why not a standalone dongle that can be plugged into your Sonos input port similar to the way how chromecast works with any TV with HDMI input. It would be the best if we have native support but probably won't be essential.
And the native apps are cool, I often go into individual apps to subscribe to a playlist or the artist to make it available to play on Sonos, but having the app with all the services combined is also cool. How else would I be able to search multiple services at the same time, have the playlists combined of music from multiple sources, etc, etc. We are really spoiled for choice, and if Sonos gets onboard it would be great, but if not, I am pretty sure it is not going to be the end of the world. Chromecast is still lagging behind Apple TV and Roku so there is a market for everyone. Sonos was fulfilling all my music needs yesterday, today is not much different, only there is a promise that it can do so much more with not a lot of effort. Seems like we are becoming greedy here....
But let's don't go crazy on Sonos. WE haven't seen anything released yet. Knowing the versatility of the protocol, I can imagine all sorts of products being released. Home theatres, amplifiers, standalone speakers, car audio, and why not a standalone dongle that can be plugged into your Sonos input port similar to the way how chromecast works with any TV with HDMI input. It would be the best if we have native support but probably won't be essential.
And the native apps are cool, I often go into individual apps to subscribe to a playlist or the artist to make it available to play on Sonos, but having the app with all the services combined is also cool. How else would I be able to search multiple services at the same time, have the playlists combined of music from multiple sources, etc, etc. We are really spoiled for choice, and if Sonos gets onboard it would be great, but if not, I am pretty sure it is not going to be the end of the world. Chromecast is still lagging behind Apple TV and Roku so there is a market for everyone. Sonos was fulfilling all my music needs yesterday, today is not much different, only there is a promise that it can do so much more with not a lot of effort. Seems like we are becoming greedy here....
But let's don't go crazy on Sonos. WE haven't seen anything released yet. Knowing the versatility of the protocol, I can imagine all sorts of products being released. Home theatres, amplifiers, standalone speakers, car audio, and why not a standalone dongle that can be plugged into your Sonos input port similar to the way how chromecast works with any TV with HDMI input. It would be the best if we have native support but probably won't be essential.
And the native apps are cool, I often go into individual apps to subscribe to a playlist or the artist to make it available to play on Sonos, but having the app with all the services combined is also cool. How else would I be able to search multiple services at the same time, have the playlists combined of music from multiple sources, etc, etc. We are really spoiled for choice, and if Sonos gets onboard it would be great, but if not, I am pretty sure it is not going to be the end of the world. Chromecast is still lagging behind Apple TV and Roku so there is a market for everyone. Sonos was fulfilling all my music needs yesterday, today is not much different, only there is a promise that it can do so much more with not a lot of effort. Seems like we are becoming greedy here....
"Seems like we are becoming greedy here...."
You are not going to be popular here with the (extremely) vocal minority, but you are alright with me!
I'm not sure which way this will go. I can see that this is going to follow Chromecast in becoming a hit, but if Sonos join then aren't they becoming just another speaker manufacturer name on the supported list? If people are looking to buy a Google Cast Audio device, why would they choose Sonos other the raft of other speakers?
At the moment they have their own platform which is their USP, and a proprietary hardware system which is closed to other devices. If they join Cast Audio won't they lose all this? I'm just thinking out loud here, not stating any fact! I guess you will be able to mix and match Cast Audio speakers throughout your house, but only Sonos speakers (or LG, Denon etc) will do the multiroom trick in sync (for now, but Google could change this in the future)?
On the flip side, if they don't join and this does grow into a huge competitor the grass could be looking a lot greener on the other side to a lot of Sonos customers.
The current app is far from perfect (the native service app is always better), but as jabbba pointed out, it does bring all the supported services together (universal search, unified playlists etc), and it allows you to create multiple streams from one streaming account (spotify, deezer etc).
I'll be watching closely to see what happens as like many others I have invested heavily in Sonos, but I wouldn't be surprised if they don't join up.
At the moment they have their own platform which is their USP, and a proprietary hardware system which is closed to other devices. If they join Cast Audio won't they lose all this? I'm just thinking out loud here, not stating any fact! I guess you will be able to mix and match Cast Audio speakers throughout your house, but only Sonos speakers (or LG, Denon etc) will do the multiroom trick in sync (for now, but Google could change this in the future)?
On the flip side, if they don't join and this does grow into a huge competitor the grass could be looking a lot greener on the other side to a lot of Sonos customers.
The current app is far from perfect (the native service app is always better), but as jabbba pointed out, it does bring all the supported services together (universal search, unified playlists etc), and it allows you to create multiple streams from one streaming account (spotify, deezer etc).
I'll be watching closely to see what happens as like many others I have invested heavily in Sonos, but I wouldn't be surprised if they don't join up.
But let's don't go crazy on Sonos. WE haven't seen anything released yet. Knowing the versatility of the protocol, I can imagine all sorts of products being released. Home theatres, amplifiers, standalone speakers, car audio, and why not a standalone dongle that can be plugged into your Sonos input port similar to the way how chromecast works with any TV with HDMI input. It would be the best if we have native support but probably won't be essential.
And the native apps are cool, I often go into individual apps to subscribe to a playlist or the artist to make it available to play on Sonos, but having the app with all the services combined is also cool. How else would I be able to search multiple services at the same time, have the playlists combined of music from multiple sources, etc, etc. We are really spoiled for choice, and if Sonos gets onboard it would be great, but if not, I am pretty sure it is not going to be the end of the world. Chromecast is still lagging behind Apple TV and Roku so there is a market for everyone. Sonos was fulfilling all my music needs yesterday, today is not much different, only there is a promise that it can do so much more with not a lot of effort. Seems like we are becoming greedy here....
@jabbba It's great Sonos is fulfilling your needs prior to this announcement and after. I'd like support for this because I've basically had to change my audio listening behavior in order to "fit in" with how Sonos works. Prior to Sonos, we played music on our laptop from random YouTube videos, websites of music artists that had their own built in player, GrooveShark, and local media on our phones. I'd like to get back to listening to music how I'd like and sourced from wherever I'd like.
I don't see this request for Cast Audio support as greedy. I'm probably biased. I develop software which has the sole purpose to implement many different communications standards to neutralize them down to a standard api for our internal products to communicate through, so we can still "speak" many different technical languages with external systems. In this day of interconnected devices and software (internet of things), it's becoming increasingly important to consumers that they can use whatever device they want with whatever software/app they want. Our clients are constantly bringing new standards to us to support. They have legitimate business need for such support, and we would likely lose contracts with them if we didn't add such support.
In this Business-to-Consumer model, I don't have the voting power to get a desired communication standard implemented the way our clients do in a Business-to-Business model. The fact that I paid a lot of money for these devices still impassions me to speak up about my desires here, hoping attention will be focused on this request based on all the feedback we are generating here. It's not greedy to desire more from my devices after the investment I made in them.
My main gripe after switching over the Sonos a month ago has been that I cannot simply play whatever is on my phone or laptop at the given moment. We don't need bluetooth to do this. Chromecast accepts instruction to play something via WiFi and can do so without a constant stream being "beamed" from the device requesting the playback. Sonos does essentially the same thing, but in a less flexible manner, requiring existing accounts within music streaming services, etc.
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