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PlexAmp Loses "Control" of Playback at Some Point and Further Control Must be Done via Sonos App

  • 6 September 2023
  • 5 replies
  • 681 views
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I’m a little frustrated by the Sonos experience. Perhaps I am a relic of the past, but I’m not a streaming music customer, per se. Yes, I occasionally stream music from a service, but I most often listen to music from my own vast library via PlexAmp.

I will launch PlexAmp, connect to a Sonos speaker/group and initiate play from PlexAmp. I might start adding songs to the queue, rate a song, etc. What is frustrating is that, at some point soon after initiating play, (maybe when my phone goes to sleep?) it is clear that PlexAmp is no longer playing and any changes to the queue, etc. are not reflected in what is continuing to play from Sonos. I have to launch the Sonos app to further control my music, but with the limited functionality that the Sonos/Plex relationship offers.

Is there any way to prevent this happening? I’d like to use PlexAmp to maintain control of my music playback/queue/rating of music. If this cannot be maintained, could there be more functionality added to the Sonos app to allow for rating of music, etc. that will be reflected in my Plex library?

 

Edit: in retrospect, I see this with my Pandora app, too. At some point, I have to utilize the Sonos app to control Pandora, as the Pandora app itself no longer indicates it is playing.

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Best answer by jgatie 6 September 2023, 17:41

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5 replies

jgatie

Playing from directly PlexAmp is not officially supported.  In addition, if it were supported, it would be Plex’s responsibility to fix, not Sonos.  Lastly, any addition to the Plex interface inside the Sonos app is also the responsibility of Plex.  This may sound counter-intuitive, but all music services develop and maintain their own UI inside the Sonos app, Sonos only supplies the API.  It is this architecture which allows Sonos to support 120+ services without needing to maintain the code for 120+ different service API’s.  It also gives the service autonomy over which features they wish to include or exclude.

Bumper
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L

 

 

Edit: in retrospect, I see this with my Pandora app, too. At some point, I have to utilize the Sonos app to control Pandora, as the Pandora app itself no longer indicates it is playing.


Are you using Airplay?

D

I am not using Airplay.

In either case — PlexAmp or Pandora — I’m selecting the casting icon (rectangle with radio waves in lower left corner) and selecting a Sonos speaker/group.

D

Playing from directly PlexAmp is not officially supported.  In addition, if it were supported, it would be Plex’s responsibility to fix, not Sonos.  Lastly, any addition to the Plex interface inside the Sonos app is also the responsibility of Plex.  This may sound counter-intuitive, but all music services develop and maintain their own UI inside the Sonos app, Sonos only supplies the API.  It is this architecture which allows Sonos to support 120+ services without needing to maintain the code for 120+ different service API’s.  It also gives the service autonomy over which features they wish to include or exclude.


So in both cases, which are having a similar issue — dropping control of the playback from the PlexAmp or Pandora app — is because this functionality is not supported, correct?


I am , instead, meant to do 100% of my interaction with the Sonos ecosystem via the Sonos app? If this is the case, why then the ability to cast directly from these apps? Why not completely restrict that and force the user to use the Sonos app itself for all control? That bit is confusing.

 

I’ll reach out to Plex re: the Sonos integration and feature set request.

 

Bumper
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Badge +13

Sonos does support third party apps through Airplay as well as through what they call direct control. You don’t need to interact with the Sonos app at all besides initial set up and updates.

 

Pandora is one of the apps that supports direct control. Plexamp would be supported through Sonos’ Airplay. 
 

more here:

https://support.sonos.com/en-ca/article/stream-audio-to-sonos-from-another-app
 

Sonos support will likely help you with this reliability issue for both apps if you contact them  

 

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