Using app to play through computers speakers

  • 13 January 2015
  • 43 replies
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I'd like to use the Sonos app on my Mac to play my music through the computers built in speakers.

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No bandwidth problem.
Unless you have a fully wired Sonos system, there's SonosNet (or even WiFi) bandwidth to consider. 'HD' files can require up to 6 times as much as a regular FLAC file.

Flac HD need about 5/6Mbps. I can play full HD movie on my wifi (~25Mbps) => this what I call "no bandwidth problem".
Don't you think? Yea everyone wants something for free these days it appears.

Yes, of course. That's why I bought Sonos product...

When I bought a CD on Amazon : they provide a dematerialized version freely... I don't think that impact their business...


Apples and oranges. It is both easy and legal for anyone to produce a digital copy of a CD, so Amazon doing it for you is a perk worth providing. It is not legal, nor easily possible, to produce a software Sonos player, unless Sonos does it for you, which is not in their best interest.
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Its already been mentioned, but Sonos sell speaker systems.

If any of these moaners worked in the software business, they would know what a godawful pain in the backside it is to support software that has to work on multiple platforms. Why would they want the hassle of writing, selling and maintaining software that streams to your PC speakers. It would have to work with umpteen versions of windows, IOS etc. You then need a whole new support infrastructure to support the users. Then you have to take into account licensing, registration and copy protection (maybe with a dongle of some sort)

How much would they charge for it?

Well I am sure that bringing something to market from scratch would mean a cost at least as much as a Play1.

Finally and most obviously, if this product existed, then for every one of these that they sold, they potentially lose a speaker sale and as the opening comment says - That's what Sonos does !!!
Flac HD need about 5/6Mbps. I can play full HD movie on my wifi (~25Mbps) => this what I call "no bandwidth problem".

Sonos can play 32 separate FLAC streams at once to 32 separate Zones. That is 160-192 Mbps, which is what I call a "bandwidth problem" (and is why the very few Hires streamers require wiring or support very few Zones).
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Ok guys. Understood. No more suggestions.
Ok guys. Understood. No more suggestions.

Nobody is saying "No more suggestions." However, any suggestion is open to scrutiny; this one has been scrutinized for years by people with experience in the tech industry, and has found to be lacking. That doesn't mean suggestions are futile, it only means this particular suggestion does not measure up to reality.
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This is a great idea! They could even charge for an add-on to their free app to let the controller play music locally. Heck, make it a month subscription service that might even make more money than their hardware sales. It seems silly to have to buy another speaker with my computer already has one. Sure, the rest of the house can have Sonos speakers IN ADDITION TO the one on the computer.
This is a deal breaker. My desktop system is an Audio Engine DAC with AE5 speakers. It powers the music in my family room and sounds better than any of the Sonos speakers being sold. The last thing I want to add is another device (like the Connect) to run everything through. The app doesn't have to be free. t would happily pay for a software solution. Until then, I don't see the point of paying for Sonos speakers
This is a deal breaker. My desktop system is an Audio Engine DAC with AE5 speakers. It powers the music in my family room and sounds better than any of the Sonos speakers being sold. The last thing I want to add is another device (like the Connect) to run everything through. The app doesn't have to be free. t would happily pay for a software solution. Until then, I don't see the point of paying for Sonos speakers

I'm struggling to see why you actually need to buy anything else with that system?
I found an easy way to play my music and any other type of audio from my Mac to my Sonos speakers. Go to your apps and find Utilites. Go to Terminal.app. Click. after the prompt, type in: airsonos. You will see this:

airsonos
Searching for Sonos devices on network...

Dining Room (@ 10.0.0.9:1400, RINCON_000E58FB6E6001400:2)
Living Room (@ 10.0.0.3:1400, RINCON_B8E93730EABE01400:11)

Search complete. Set up 2 device tunnels.

It has found your speakers. Next, go to System Preferences. Sound. Output. You will now see the two speakers as an option. Click whichever you would like to use.

PS Make sure your speakers are connected to your wife as well as your computer.
I have 8 Play 1's through out my house including a connect amp for the backyard. I just opened the software on my pc for the first time in maybe a year (i totally forgot i installed it since i control from my phone). I opened it on Windows because I expected Sonos on my desktop speakers to work with the Sonos speakers throughout the house. This wasnt the case and it's disappointing!!! So bummed out and this is a no brainer! I may switch to the Microsoft Cortana Harman Kardon device that comes out this year. It has smart voice integration to connect with all smart home devices, plus it will work my xbox one, my laptop, and desktop. If only Sonos had smart home integration too, like Alexa via Wink Hub and Ring doorbell.
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I have 8 Play 1's through out my house including a connect amp for the backyard. I just opened the software on my pc for the first time in maybe a year (i totally forgot i installed it since i control from my phone). I opened it on Windows because I expected Sonos on my desktop speakers to work with the Sonos speakers throughout the house. This wasnt the case and it's disappointing!!! So bummed out and this is a no brainer! I may switch to the Microsoft Cortana Harman Kardon device that comes out this year. It has smart voice integration to connect with all smart home devices, plus it will work my xbox one, my laptop, and desktop. If only Sonos had smart home integration too, like Alexa via Wink Hub and Ring doorbell.

Apparently it doesn't do the washing up either
Bought 8 Play:1s and a Connect:Amp ($2100 US) and never opened the PC software for an entire year, even though they expected to be able to play through the PC as a standard "no brainer" feature? If something is a "no brainer" you'd think one would want to use it more than once in a year's time.

There's something decaying in Copenhagen.
Perhaps the answer might be to suggest to Sonos a USB dongle that would perform some of the functions of a Connect, principally to be recognised as a Sonos device by the desktop software That would give Sonos some hardware to sell and if it cost a sensible amount I would buy it. Maybe they could call it Connect:usb !
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[quote=The LHC] always one defender of the darkside. How annoyed would you be if you spend 3k+ on Sonos hardware, waste hours connecting it to your existing home systems (PC and convential audio), only to find the PC can control the music but not play it.

#RevenueBeforeCustomer
Any device that can play Spotify has the hardware necessary to implement this feature. So this is a software feature that Sonos can implement any time they'd like. It's hard to figure why wouldn't implement a feature that helps keep customers on their ecosystem everywhere they play music.
As a guess, because such a feature wouldn't sell as many new speakers as other features that they're working on implementing?
Any device that can play Spotify has the hardware necessary to implement this feature. So this is a software feature that Sonos can implement any time they'd like. It's hard to figure why wouldn't implement a feature that helps keep customers on their ecosystem everywhere they play music.

Question: How many Sonos devices do you think they would sell if you could duplicate their hardware using a cheap Raspberry Pi PC?

Answer: See Squeezebox.