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jishi
Headliner II
September 3, 2013

Spotify Connect, serious competition

Spotify today announced Spotify Connect, which will be a series of hardware from well-known hardware to seamlessly integrate spotify onto devices where the control is from the regular Spotify application on your phone or similar.

Streaming is still done directly through internet, so the phone isn't in charge of it, just controls it.

I really do hope that Sonos will follow this approach as well, I believe there are a lot more like me that primarily uses Sonos for Spotify, and being able to use the same app as always would be awesome.

Seems like there is already a feature request over at ask.sonos.com https://ask.sonos.com/sonos/topics/support_spotify_connect_to_allow_users_to_use_the_spotify_app_as_the_controller
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      jgatie
      jgatie
      October 4, 2013
      What about mobile devices ? e.g. Phones & Tablets. I cannot see apple adding a Spotify chip to hardware, yet a lot of people use these very devices to listen to their Spotify play lists.



      Apps are different than third party hardware. Right now, Apple requires a chip for Airplay on licensed receivers, boom boxes, etc., but iDevices need no chip. It is all built into the API, and the API for apps is different than the API for third party hardware.
      danc27
      Trending Lyricist I
      October 4, 2013
      Yeah, I seriously doubt there are chip requirements. I'm sure they WANT you to use it, but it can be done via software. They can license either with the chip or software... either way it does not prevent them from making money on licensing. I guess what really matters if it Sonos hardware can support the software they're making.

      I would be be ecstatic if I knew that the upcoming Collection was coming to Sonos through the Sonos Controller (or obviously for them to allow for Spotify Connect too). That's my biggest complaint... I could live without the radio function, but of course that would be nice. Oh... and higher-res album art.
      jishiAuthor
      Headliner II
      October 4, 2013
      There is a big difference between how Spotify and Apple profit from hardware. Apple want to profit from the sales of hardware, since usage is free. Spotify want to profit from the subscribers. For me it makes sense to not try and profit from the hardware in that case, and simplify the possible integrations, since more devices == more customers == more subscribers. Simple as that. I don't see why they need to be compared, since they have different business models.
      jgatie
      jgatie
      October 4, 2013
      There is a big difference between how Spotify and Apple profit from hardware. Apple want to profit from the sales of hardware, since usage is free. Spotify want to profit from the subscribers. For me it makes sense to not try and profit from the hardware in that case, and simplify the possible integrations, since more devices == more customers == more subscribers. Simple as that. I don't see why they need to be compared, since they have different business models.

      There are many more ways a content company can profit than just subscribers. One is advertising. Another is licensing. Still another is requiring a hardware manufacturer to buy your licensed chip. So far, every tech article I have searched says Spotify requires a chip. You have countered that with "insider" hearsay. I imagine we'll learn what the truth is when/if Sonos rolls out Spotify Connect.

      My advice (which is similar to those who claimed Airplay could be integrated): Don't get your hopes up.
      jishiAuthor
      Headliner II
      October 4, 2013
      I'm not saying that "Sonos will get Connect support", the rumor is more that it won't get it. Even if the technical barrier is smaller (software implementation only) there are a lot of other factors that might become a problem. The multiroom support, for one.

      However, if Spotify will be open with how to implement Connect support, and allow software implementations as well, then there is a good chance that it might be possible to make a 3rd party solution, for instance, some sort of proxy control point which would trigger the native Spotify support in Sonos, but expose it as a Connect device and be in control of whats playing.

      In that regard, I think Spotify is a lot more community-friendly than for instance, Apple 🙂
      chicks
      chicks
      October 5, 2013
      Looks like the "chip" is the WiFi chip, which must be made by SMSC or Frontier Silicon. The Spotify support appears to be a firmware update to the WiFi chips.

      http://community.spotify.com/t5/Spotify-Announcements/Spotify-Connect-The-new-way-to-play-at-home/td-p/520918/page/2

      Spotify is just adding their stream to the existing Pandora, Sirius, etc. already on the chip, not requiring a new chip.

      http://www.smsc.com/Products/Wireless_Audio/JukeBlox_Wi-Fi_Technology
      chicks
      chicks
      October 5, 2013
      Frontier Silicon's press release about adding Spotify to its existing WiFi chip.

      http://www.frontier-silicon.com/spotify-chooses-frontier-silicon-support-launch-spotify-connect#.Uk9y0_tlB-E
      BigN
      Enthusiast I
      October 5, 2013
      Thanks to chicks for the interesting links! I know for sure that my Yamaha RX-A1010 will not be Spotify Connect compatible, but it will be good to see how Sonos reacts to this further step in the evolution of streamed music.
      SONOS rules! 8 Zones and counting!
      iculookn
      Contributor I
      October 10, 2013
      Revo have announced Spotify Connect support
      revo.co.uk/shop/superconnect
      danc27
      Trending Lyricist I
      October 15, 2013
      http://gigaom.com/2013/10/14/sonos-releases-new-200-speaker-ceo-dismisses-spotifys-connect-speaker-partnerships/

      Then there are all those consumer electronics manufacturers from Bang & Olufsen to Pioneer to Yamaha that recently teamed up with Spotify to announce a new initiative called Spotify Connect that will bring Spotify playback capabilities directly to speakers of participating hardware vendors.

      Asked about the Spotify initiative, MacFarlane told me: “They asked us to participate, and we didn’t.” He went on to argue that it made little sense to tie speaker systems to the brand of a single music service, joking that stores like Best Buy shouldn’t have separate aisles for Pandora speakers and Spotify speakers.


      I do agree with that sentiment. Maybe Spotify is expecting in return for having something be "Spotify Connect enabled" to have it be shown prominently? Who knows.

      Although I like this bit:
      So what’s next for Sonos? MacFarlane was vague when asked about new products, but he told me a bit about how the company plans to make its existing products better. Music services will soon be able to add functionality to their apps that will let users beam music directly to Sonos speakers. This means that users won’t need to fire up the Sonos app anymore to launch their favorite radio station or playlist from the cloud. Instead, they will be able to simply press a “play on Sonos” button within the app of their favorite service, and launch music playback on their Sonos system. Think of it like Chromecast, but for your music.

      MacFarlane told me that Sonos intends to make this functionality available on both iOS and Android. He wasn’t quite ready to share a timeline for the full launch of “play on Sonos,” but he revealed that Sonos quietly launched the feature in China earlier this year, where users of QQ’s audio streams can already make use of it. This means it’s only a question of time before it will also be available to users of western music services.
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