Is there an easy way to click a checkbox and “Play Local” on the PC via the Windows Sonos App, so that I can play through the PC speakers with synchronized playback on my Sonos devices? The only way I have seen to do something similar is via either: Purchasing Sonos “Port” product - hardware rube goldberg contraption, costs money, introduces lag. Or, With a software workaround like “Stream What You Hear”” - software rube goldberg, free, loss of sound quality, introduces lag, can’t use Sonos app for source selection There are a bunch of benefits of being able to do this directly within the Sonos app rather than via workarounds, and it feels like a really simple thing. Possible?

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Sonos "Play Local" through PC app option?

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
April 14, 2020
33 replies
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Is there an easy way to click a checkbox and “Play Local” on the PC via the Windows Sonos App, so that I can play through the PC speakers with synchronized playback on my Sonos devices?

The only way I have seen to do something similar is via either:

Purchasing Sonos “Port” product - hardware rube goldberg contraption, costs money, introduces lag. Or,
With a software workaround like “Stream What You Hear”” - software rube goldberg, free, loss of sound quality, introduces lag, can’t use Sonos app for source selection

There are a bunch of benefits of being able to do this directly within the Sonos app rather than via workarounds, and it feels like a really simple thing.

Possible?

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Best answer by Ryan S

Hi everyone, I think we maybe can take a step back and keep it friendly in here.

@SunOS, it’s a good question, there are two big ones that come up a lot “can I use Sonos to play on my computer” and “can I play what’s on my computer to Sonos”. They come up so much that I think the most regular people on the board may be a little over answering the question.

Here’s a good thread from 2005 talking about using a computer as a zone (old name for rooms).

Ultimately, if your question is “is there an easy way to do this” than the answer is either “not at this time” or “only if you purchase as Sonos player for your computer”. There are some good software solutions out there, as you mentioned that are a bit hacked together, and there are a lot of options and workarounds, but it’s not built into the Sonos app for the computer.

If you’re asking, “why isn’t this in the app and can it be done”, the best answer I can give is that the controller is designed as a remote more than anything, all of the smarts are in the players themselves, and we haven’t taken the time to work on developing the software beyond that purpose. There are plenty of reasons, but I don’t think there’s going to be any good to come from going into any of them.

This is a very popular request, so it’s regularly in my report to the teams for what people are asking for, but that doesn’t mean it will or won’t happen sometime in the future.

This was a request of mine for a while, but I wound up picking up a Beam for myself as a computer speaker and it works great. But that might not work in your situation.

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Ryan SAnswer

Retired Sonos Staff

Hi everyone, I think we maybe can take a step back and keep it friendly in here.

@SunOS, it’s a good question, there are two big ones that come up a lot “can I use Sonos to play on my computer” and “can I play what’s on my computer to Sonos”. They come up so much that I think the most regular people on the board may be a little over answering the question.

Here’s a good thread from 2005 talking about using a computer as a zone (old name for rooms).

Ultimately, if your question is “is there an easy way to do this” than the answer is either “not at this time” or “only if you purchase as Sonos player for your computer”. There are some good software solutions out there, as you mentioned that are a bit hacked together, and there are a lot of options and workarounds, but it’s not built into the Sonos app for the computer.

If you’re asking, “why isn’t this in the app and can it be done”, the best answer I can give is that the controller is designed as a remote more than anything, all of the smarts are in the players themselves, and we haven’t taken the time to work on developing the software beyond that purpose. There are plenty of reasons, but I don’t think there’s going to be any good to come from going into any of them.

This is a very popular request, so it’s regularly in my report to the teams for what people are asking for, but that doesn’t mean it will or won’t happen sometime in the future.

This was a request of mine for a while, but I wound up picking up a Beam for myself as a computer speaker and it works great. But that might not work in your situation.

Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.

melvimbe

Just curious, do any of you think that there is value in a single application that consolidates all streaming sources, from TuneIn to Amazon to a local collection, all in one spot? You realize Sonos is already that application.

Of course there is. But you stated you didn’t want to pay for that application. I’m also not conviced that TuneIn and Amazon want you uses their services through a Sonos application instead of their own application. Sonos right now is somewhat of an exception since it’s not a standard device, but even then, they putting in casting to Sonos as an option.

Danny

S

SunOSAuthor

Thank you Ryan for this, I appreciate it

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