The awe and pain of Apple Music integration

It's always a joint effort, though the impetus in both cases is on the service provider, not Sonos. They own the content access, and in the case of the Direct Control, they own the app. Sonos can't make unilateral changes to either.

As to when its happening? C'mon Kumar, you've been here long enough to know the answer to that. 😉

Great dialogue-- none of it really matters. It's all up to the consumer. Figure it out or people move on. I am not pro Apple or anti SONOS. Like them both-- just want an experience that's not behind the market or or that matter my expectations. Who wants to hear about API's-- my wallet doesn't care. I have the same nonsense happening with AUDI and Carplay. Both end up sucking if they don't deliver what's promised.

Great dialogue-- none of it really matters. It's all up to the consumer. Figure it out or people move on. I am not pro Apple or anti SONOS. Like them both-- just want an experience that's not behind the market or or that matter my expectations. Who wants to hear about API's-- my wallet doesn't care. I have the same nonsense happening with AUDI and Carplay. Both end up sucking if they don't deliver what's promised.

Sure it matters. It may not matter to you, but it had better matter to the engineers and managers doing the implementation. Because if it doesn't, the features you want delivered are either impossible to achieve, or are riddled with bugs. I'm always amused when these threads turn technical and the consumer level poster comes in with a "it doesn't matter" dismissal of the technical aspects, but still demands his needs be met. It's like the patient breaking into a surgical team meeting and saying, "All this medical stuff doesn't matter, just fix my brain tumor!"

In addition, closing one's mind to the underlying technical aspects involved in these matters makes for poor purchasing decisions and a whole lot of disappointment. Even a cursory amount of knowledge would do a lot to temper unreasonable expectations and give a more realistic outlook on the process, thus relieving consumer disappointment and frustration. Sure the technical details can be intimidating, but (pun intended) it's not brain surgery.

More often than not, I do find this dismissal to be a lame excuse for some to be pissed off. If that is the case, I'm sorry for you. But that wont stop those of us who are technically inclined from trying to educate those who wish to learn, like my good friend Kumar. So I'm afraid that in a support forum for a highly technical product, you are stuck listening to some technical talk. Even more so in a sub-forum called Music, culture, and the industry.

As to when its happening? C'mon Kumar, you've been here long enough to know the answer to that. ;)
Yes, but this isn't like the thing about when the next generation play 1 will be launched for example; Sonos has been more forthcoming about its software plans in recent times.
I am actually quite happy using the existing built into Sonos integration of Apple Music and if Sonos/Apple found a way of adding the Like feature there to allow for improved customisation of music preferences, I would not be interested in the Direct Control feature at all.

Taking at face value what Sonos says - that staff reads all the posts - when can we expect either Direct Control for Apple Music, or the integration of the "Like" feature in the existing Sonos controller for Apple Music? An answer from Sonos Staff to this would be appreciated.

For me, and I suspect for many others, the Apple Music interfaces on the Sonos apps and the OS X application are much more limited in functionality and ease of use than what's available on the Apple Music IOS apps and on iTunes. I'm hopeful that Sonos and Apple can sort out the fact that both would benefit from a more satisfying streaming experience for their mutual customers. I dropped Spotify when Apple Music became available on Sonos, but it's now becoming advantage Spotify, at least for me.

For me, and I suspect for many others, the Apple Music interfaces on the Sonos apps and the OS X application are much more limited in functionality and ease of use than what's available on the Apple Music IOS apps and on iTunes. I'm hopeful that Sonos and Apple can sort out the fact that both would benefit from a more satisfying streaming experience for their mutual customers. I dropped Spotify when Apple Music became available on Sonos, but it's now becoming advantage Spotify, at least for me.

A reasonable and rational request. I can understand why many (or even most) users prefer the native app to the Sonos implementation, especially if you only use one service and use the native app away from home. Personally, I use many services, so the universal search is for me, but I see the other side's argument.

Luckily Sonos has created their new Direct Control service which makes it possible to control from native apps. They have expressed the wish to have every music service connect to Sonos in this way, hopefully Apple is among the first to sign up.

Bumping this for a response from Sonos Staff.

Pandora was right there with Spotify at the Aug 30th press conference, and did express interest.

Apple has been reassigning all of its network staff, won't be selling network devices anymore, put the kabosh on development of a Beats WiFi speaker (they must surely be embarrassed by the Beats line of crappy sounding speakers), and have started selling Sonos speakers in their stores. Hard to know what they will do, as they are far more about image than technical leadership, but the stars do seem to be aligning...

My two cents - adding the ability to Like a song is NOT enough, being able to add songs to playlists from within the SONOS app is a must (similar to what can be done with Spotify).