Will Sonos support Google Cast for Audio?

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!

Please add this sonos, you are really falling behind

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.

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.

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

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....

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.

I wish to see how this develops as I still want to stream out my YouTube audio to my Play5 as well as trying to find a way to stream out my TV audio which is an LG smart TV but so far can only use headset output to the line in on the play 5 some say use a bluetooth device using a usb dongle any suggestions on that would welcomed as I cannot see how that will work.

For your TV I don't know any way you could wirelessly get sound out of your LG TV.  Line In on Play:5 with cable about it (if you had Playbar you could use Toslink cable to Playbar).

As far as YouTube app on your phone etc.  Yes you could put a Bluetooth dongle on the play:5 such as http://www.amazon.com/Avantree-Wireless-Bluetooth-Receiver-Transmitter/dp/B0085HOM4K#productDetails   Actually if you had 2 of these 1 could hook to TV and the other to the Play:5 if you really wanted to be able to send from TV via Bluetooth.

If you have apple iphone/ipad you want to stream youtube from you have the option of adding an Airport Express to the Play:5 in the same manner to add airplay ability http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&cad=rja&u...     There is also a hack called to give airplay ability to Sonos speakers via a server program on your home computer https://github.com/stephen/airsonos/releases

Looks like the multi-room implementation is already more advanced on Google Cast - Hands-on: LG Music Flow with Google Cast: http://youtu.be/YbDQ_Uio2HY - it can use Bluetooth LE to turn speakers on automatically as you enter a room

Looks like the multi-room implementation is already more advanced on Google Cast - Hands-on: LG Music Flow with Google Cast: http://youtu.be/YbDQ_Uio2HY - it can use Bluetooth LE to turn speakers on automatically as you enter a room
The grouping had to be done within the hardware manufacturers app.  If you want multiple streams to multiple speakers then you need multiple phones/tablets to do so (both similar to how it works currently with Googe Play app & Sonos)

Thanks so much for the feedback. Although we have nothing to announce at this time, we are also excited to hear about Google Cast for Audio. If we do have news about integration with this new product in the future, we will make an announcement here. Until that time, we are going to switch this topic from “question” to “idea”.

If you can’t wait to experience Google Cast, we have great news. Google Play Music can already cast directly to Sonos from your Android device. For more information, check out our  Google Play Music Direct Play FAQ. 

Thanks for your interest. Please let us know if there are any questions, we’d be happy to assist. 

Software functionality is only half of the deal.. Sonos would need to be compatible with the other googlecast speakers in order to be fully compatible. That way you could have a Sonos and a Samsung speaker(for example) playing synced just like two Sonos speakers would do.

Software functionality is only half of the deal.. Sonos would need to be compatible with the other googlecast speakers in order to be fully compatible. That way you could have a Sonos and a Samsung speaker(for example) playing synced just like two Sonos speakers would do.

I stand corrected.. There will be multiroom but no unified protocol for googlecast 😞 "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." -Gigaom