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Contributor II
November 15, 2017

Auto-sync radio

  • November 15, 2017
  • 14 replies
  • 542 views
(I dont know if this has been discussed before but it didn't come up in my searches. Apologies if it has)

Essentially I would like starting any live streaming service such as tunein radio to automatically look to see if it that stream is playing in any other room and automatically share that stream. It seems daft and annoying to me that if I select the same radio station in two rooms then they play with a very significant delay between the different rooms.

I realize that I can easliy link the rooms to solve this but, here's what happens in our house: We have the radio playing in the bedroom and bathroom. To avoid the annoying effects of the delay, I pick up my phone and link the rooms Now, let's imagine I'm in the shower and my wife heads downstairs. She taps the play/pause in the bedroom like she normally does and guess-what?.... it stops in the bathroom too because I linked them. If they simply shared the same stream then they would act like two regular radios in two rooms.
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    14 replies

    jgatie
    November 15, 2017
    Not possible. It would require two separately initiated streams from an online station to be in sync, and that is impossible to achieve.
    melvimbe
    November 15, 2017
    I don't think that's really what the request is. If I could rephrase it, if a request is made to play a station in zone A, then the exact same request is made to play in zone B, the system should recognize this in group zone B with zone A instead of initiating a 2nd stream.

    It sounds like you also want to remember that it had done this auto-grouping, so that it auto un-groups when zone B pauses.

    Technicailly, I can see where this might not be too easy to do, but I don't know. Functionally though, I wouldn't want the feature turned on for me. I'd much rather just group and ungroup, pause and start, as I wish without the system assuming it knows what I want. What happens when you actually want to play a separate stream or pause both zones?

    The issue is really only going to occur when two people are regularly using Sonos, which doesn't fit me, so maybe I just don't get it. And maybe it's just me, but I would think the easier solution would be to ask the other user to consider what's going in other zones and what zones your zone is grouped with before changing things. Then again, I know that's always not a favorable solution when the other person is called 'wife'.
    Danny
    Ryan S
    Retired Sonos Staff
    November 15, 2017
    I'll pass along the suggestion for you.

    To avoid the annoying effects of the delay, I pick up my phone and link the rooms Now, let's imagine I'm in the shower and my wife heads downstairs. She taps the play/pause in the bedroom like she normally does and guess-what?.... it stops in the bathroom too because I linked them. If they simply shared the same stream then they would act like two regular radios in two rooms.

    As a suggestion, let your wife know that if she were to press and hold on the play/pause instead of just pressing it, that player would leave the group with the one you have playing upstairs and stop playing.

    Just like if she wanted to start playing the same thing, she could press and hold to group them.
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    RichLAuthor
    Contributor II
    November 15, 2017
    Thanks for that Ryan.

    We love to use our (7 room) Sonos system for streaming live radio. Regardless of the technicalities the intuitive expectation, from the uninitiated, is that switching a second (or third) radio onto the same station it will play in sync with any other radio. Thats just how it has always worked. I dont see how the feature would have a down side to anyone as it would not affect the manual group and ungrouping at all.

    I will definitely play with the long-press thing which i didn't know about. 🙂
    November 15, 2017
    Whatever your intuition, internet radio stations are just not like that. Streams can be several seconds apart. Start two internet streams on two phones and they will not be in sync. They are not like OTA broadcasts. As @jgatie said, what you are requesting is totally impossible.

    You are not 'switching on a radio'.
    jgatie
    November 15, 2017
    You can't compare over the air radio with internet radio. Over the air radio all has the same source, internet radio spawns a stream every time someone connects. If you want a second or third room to play the same thing, you need to group the rooms via the app, or long press the pause/mute button to join the group. Similarly, to stop playing, use the app to ungroup, or long press the button again.
    RichLAuthor
    Contributor II
    November 15, 2017
    John, in the Sonos world that is plain wrong.

    I am not talking of two streams. Sonos takes a stream into the house and shares it, synchronised with any other player in a group today. It's only one stream from tunein, the playout in multiple points is what is synchronized within the Sonos network. Of course initiating two streams could NEVER be synchronized but that is not what i am asking. It is simply a group that is hidden behind the UI.
    November 15, 2017
    Which is precisely what grouping is for. Your choice of language 'switching radio onto the same station' rather than 'connecting player to the same stream' was perhaps unhelpful in conveying your meaning

    Thanks but i know how Sonos syncs
    RichLAuthor
    Contributor II
    November 15, 2017
    Which is precisely what grouping is for. Your choice of language 'switching radio onto the same station' rather than 'connecting player to the same stream' was perhaps unhelpful in conveying your meaning

    Thanks but i know how Sonos syncs


    So, perhaps, I should call it hidden grouping then? I dont mean to confuse, just looking to improve the UX.

    As an example we use the system in our kitchen on the radio most of the time. We mostly simply hit play/pause to start & stop. Same thing in the bathroom. Personally I fail to see the downside of what I am asking for. I dont always want to have to get a phone out to group/ungroup etc. etc. I find the little buttons on the speaker pretty convenient.
    jgatie
    November 16, 2017
    You have what is asked for. Long press to join, long press again to unjoin. You aren't going to get "hidden grouping".