Will Sonos support Google Cast for Audio?

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.

Please add this sonos, you are really falling behind

I hope sonos will support Google cast to use native app like deezer, YouTube... This is my main requirement. Please!

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.

I haven't tested the Play Music on Android and Sonos thoroughly enough, but I am almost certain Sonos won't be left behind. The code from Google is open source, anybody can use it, and as long as the chipset can support it, every connected device can take advantage of it. Sonos would be crazy not to jump on this opportunity if it is not already sneakily made available as witnessed by Google Play Music that was the only that could utilise it

Six months ago I wrote this comment:

https://ask.sonos.com/sonos/topics/implement_a_chromecast_receiver

"The Sonos / Google Play Music (GPM) integration is fantastic. The *key* feature, and what makes the integration fantastic, is the "Cast to Sonos" capability from within GPM, which means I can stay within GPM, using all its great functionality, while have Sonos focus on what it's great at: playing music wirelessly across all my rooms (not on creating apps).

I'm assuming much of this Sonos/GPM integration was built by implementing the Google Cast Receiver API within the Sonos boxes...

If so, then I assume it's a short step further to allow Cast to Sonos from ANY Cast client, such as from any Chrome browser, Netflix app, BBC iPlayer app, etc. This is such an obvious next step, and fits with John MacFarlane's comments last year about Sonos really pursuing in-app beaming. I mean, why reinvent the wheel when the Cast Receiver API is already there and presumably has already been used for the flawless GPM integration?

At the moment it's very frustrating to be running an app or running a web app within Chrome, and to have no way to get the sound from my crappy tablet/laptop/Chromebook speakers and onto my excellent multi-room Sonos sound system instead.

Sonos players are, in many use cases, still an inaccessible island, which is a tragedy. Can we expect general Cast support to appear in the near future in order to fix this?"

So it seems like Sonos will, along with everyone else, now have the opportunity to run with this if they choose to.

Since writing that comment, I learned that the current Sonos / Google Play Music android app integration doesn't actually use Cast Receiver API, but is a custom integration instead, although presumably it cannot be that much different so you would think much of the engineering groundwork would be in place for Sonos to support the new Cast for Audio functionality in some way if they chose to.

"If they chose to" being the big question. However, Cast for Audio looks to me like it has the making of being an "embrace or die" decision for Sonos...

I could imagine the initial version 1 Cast for Audio functionality from Google being simple and limited, falling well short of Sonos functionality (eg. multiroom); version 2 being pretty good; version 3 leaving the Sonos walled-garden confined to the dustbin of stuff that people no longer use.

The crucial functionality that Cast for Audio will allow is in-app beaming of audio from any app that supports the Cast for Audio API. This means that all the native-app functionality is retained, unlike the current Sonos approach of accessing the 3rd party audio sources via the Sonos app, thereby losing all the 3rd party native apps' functionality.

The future is quite obviously in-app beaming from native apps, kissing goodbye to the current frustration of not being able to get audio from an app to the high quality speakers you've already paid for. Google's Cast for Audio looks like it could be the enabling technology to allow this across a broad range of apps, so Sonos may well need to either embrace this or die...

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

RDog - you hit the nail on the head and your post of 6 months ago was certainly very insightful !

As you say, this is firmly up to Sonos to support if they chose to.  However, I fear they will adopt the same stubbornness that lead to their Spotify Connect and DTS decisions (not to support either) and their corporate pride will prevent them accepting that times are changing and they need to move and with them (and fast) if they are not to be left dead in the water in 1-2 years.  CES is bringing more and more devices and companies into a market Sonos has had to themselves for a decade.  Each vendor needs some extra USP if they are going to take them on.  Sonos is certainly not known for its speed in doing anything fast so this could well be another nail in their coffin.  I hope they can prove me wrong.

I only bought my Sonos kit fairly recently - and did so solely because of the integration with Google Play Music. Having experienced how superbly that integration works, it makes it very frustrating not to be able to similarly beam audio from any other app to my Sonos speakers.

In-app beaming from native apps is obviously the way forward. I can see that, everyone else can see that, and I presume John MacFarlane is very, very aware of that!

Sonos' current approach of accessing 3rd party audio sources via the Sonos app has no long term future, because this approach loses all the rich functionality of the native apps themselves. This is such an obvious and massive limitation of the current approach that no one can rationally argue that this is anything other than a temporary workaround until a proper solution is put in place. Ideally, a proper solution would involve open standards, but absent that, Google's Cast for Audio looks like it could have the making of a viable solution, which a raft of Sonos competitors will eagerly embrace.

It'll be interesting to see how Sonos responds. Their willingness in the past to abandon their hardware controller and embrace software app (Android) controllers even though that cannibalised some of their own sales shows that Sonos can make sensible strategic decisions so perhaps gives grounds for some optimism.

Alternatively, if they choose to retain the Sonos walled-garden in order to differentiate themselves and protect margins, and if Cast for Audio proves in time to be highly functional, then Sonos could quickly wither on the vine, as potential new customers turn elsewhere...

I assume John MacFarlane is nobody's fool, so the probability must favour Sonos (eventually) making a wise decision, but we shall see!

If Cast for Audio takes off and proves eventually to be highly functional, I would (sadly) ditch my Sonos kit and turn elsewhere. In the meantime, I will hold off recommending Sonos to anyone until the picture becomes clearer.

Well as you said Sonos is well integrated from the google play music app so I guess that the proof that they don't mind if you use another app (GPM) instead of their own app.
I would be very glad to have Google Cast for Audio implemented too, to allow any cast ready application to send their sound on my sonos system (youtube for example).
As you said using directly GPM or other cast for audio compatible app will allow us to use all the functionalities of every app

Sonos' current approach of accessing 3rd party audio sources via the Sonos app has no long term future

I'm not sure about that, having a Sonos app is also interresting.
It allows you to create some alarm with your google music play list, that's not possible from GPM, to stream different content in different room from the same device, to have some playlist from different sources (GPM, Deezer, ...) etc..