chromebook and sonos

Indeed. The problem all along appears to be the security built into ChromeOS' networking architecture. The Sonos controller's failure to stay up to date with what's playing etc is presumably because it can't receive unsolicited inbound notifications. The same issue prevents a reset controller from associating with a household when there are multiple households on the subnet; it asks for buttons to be pressed on a player but never hears the broadcast.

Interesting that Google appears to have opened whatever incoming port used by Chromecast devices. No issues at all with casting apps keeping up with what’s playing on any of my Chromecast devices. Also, Pandora and iHeart apps track Sonos speakers just fine.

With Chromebooks having overtaken sales of MacBooks several years ago, seems like a prime platform for Sonos to target, with Google’s cooperation. Win-win.

Interesting that Google appears to have opened whatever incoming port used by Chromecast devices. No issues at all with casting apps keeping up with what’s playing on any of my Chromecast devices. Also, Pandora and iHeart apps track Sonos speakers just fine.
They may simply poll the Chromecast while the app is in the foreground. And Pandora et al could well get the Sonos player status via the cloud.

So, have tried most of the Android streaming apps on the ChromeBox, to see which will cast to Sonos. Since I don't have subs for some, not sure if they will actually cast with a sub.

Google Music (which requires the Sonos app to be installed to cast to Sonos) is a good choice for ChromeOS users. It's fully resizable, though for some reason, it only show part of the album art, no matter how you resize the window. It does show all Sonos speakers (as well as Chromecast devices), and can cast to them.

YouTube Music app will cast to Chromecast devices, works very well on ChromeOS (it's Google, after all), but no Sonos devices show up, just like on Android devices. I suspect Sonos and Google are working on this, though, since it will eventually replace Google Music (maybe, Google seems to change its mind a lot).

iHeart Radio can cast to all Sonos / Chromecast devices, and is also resizable.

Pandora can also cast to everything, but unfortunately, the window is not resizable, takes up the entire screen.

Deezer doesn't show any cast icon, but I suspect that's because I don't have a sub, as it doesn't show up on Android, either. It works beautifully in ChromeOS, though, to the local audio output.

Spotify app doesn't work at all, just a black screen.

Amazon Music app is super buggy on ChromeOS, tends to crash often, and no cast icon, despite my having a sub. The Chrome browser extension doesn't cast at all.

WEYV only casts to Chromecast devices with a screen, oddly, no Sonos.

I may do another Deezer trial sub, since it works so nicely in ChromeOS, is available in my car via Aha Radio, in a limited fashion, and is integrated with Alexa/Echo and Google Assistant. Pretty much everywhere I would use it. I do remember their Flow going WAY out of my comfort zone quite often, though, not nearly as good as Pandora or some of the other services.

Huh. All of a sudden, the SONOS app is working perfectly on the ChromeBox; the queue is correct, the currently playing song/album is displaying correctly. I made no changes, yesterday the queue was off, and the current song wasn't displaying. Weird.

Only issue is that it's always full screen. Sonos, please allow the window to resize, then it will work perfectly on ChromeOS!

That lasted about a day, the current song and queue stayed in sync nicely, then suddenly stopped again. Rebooted, and they're back in sync. Thankfully, rebooting ChromeOS takes about 10 seconds, lol. It sure ain't Windoze!

Next time it loses sync, I'll just log out and back in, who knows? Android under ChromeOS is still a bit of a work in progress, looks like.

Feb 10, 2019: I was able to get it working on the pixelbook by starting the app, turning off the wifi, waited until the "turn on wifi" error comes up. After that, go into the menu and turn your wifi back on. From there it gave a small error, then I tapped on the sonos app, and the error went away and I was able to connect like normal.

Sonos controller v10.0

Finally, a way to resize the Sonos app, at least to half screen. Install the Taskbar Android app, right-click on the Sonos icon in the Taskbar, select New Window... then Half Screen (Left) or Half Screen (Right). Either way, it can be moved using the mouse.

Halfway there, Sonos. Now please add the resizer to the window, like everyone else...

Am I deluding myself or is it all working fine just now?

Just updated to latest Sonos on my i7 Pixelbook and is doing absolutely everything asked of it right now .... multiple rooms, queues, playlists, Amazon Music, NAS access, Spotify, Audible, Sound Cloud, Radio the lot! Not missed a beat.

Has only been 20 minutes of playing but right now everything hunky .... wifi solid etc.

Anyone else had same?

Comes and goes; your queue will likely be stale tomorrow, and won't properly update.

ChromeOS market share is growing very, very quickly, will be among the primary OS's in a few years (already is in Education, having basically taken over the market from the arrogant and always over-priced Apple). So, hopefully, Sonos will take notice, realize how simple it is to support (as it runs Android apps), and add official support.