We’re proud to announce the launch of Sonos Radio, the premier radio experience on Sonos. This is a free, ad-supported streaming radio service available to Sonos customers, offering access to an extensive assortment of music, news, live sports and more.
Sonos Radio connects you with radio stations from around the world, with over 60,000 broadcast radio stations brought together in an easy to use interface. You can also use Sonos Radio to access radio services from our partners, such as iHeartRadio in North America, with more on the way.
Sonos Radio features exclusive Sonos Stations, 30 genre-based stations based off of the music our owners listen to most. Get quick access to music with stations designed to complement the things you do at home, like getting ready in the morning, relaxing, working from home, cooking, and more.
Broadcasting from our Sonos Store in New York City, Sonos Sound System is the destination for music discovery and sonic inspiration. You can find Sound System along with our exclusive artist-curated stations under Sonos Presents in the app.
Hi. Is this streaming only (live content) or will catch-up (on demand programmes) also be available?
Will this replace TuneIn?
Hi User933635, currently it’s only for streaming content, no demand programs and podcasts are not available, but I’ll let the team know you’re looking for them. TuneIn is and will still be available on Sonos as a music service. Sonos Radio is going to be available to everyone, and new setups will see Sonos Radio first, but TuneIn will remain available in the Sonos app as a stand-alone service to add for all.
At first sight this seems like a good initiative. One obvious change - the “location” listings only work at a city level. That might work for the US, but in Europe many if not most radio stations are national, so it makes no sense to force them to appear only under a single city (for example, BBC stations in the UK). A “national stations” category under the country would be a good idea and is used by a number of other radio streaming directories.
And a question. Will this work on BBC stations with the Sonos skill on Amazon Echo devices, which hasn’t worked since they left TuneIn?
I’ll pass along that feedback Philips999!
Sonos Radio isn’t linked with Alexa at this time, so unfortunately it won’t help fix that issue today.
Hello,
I have a question, I’m not able to find either the curated stations, Sonos Sound System, or artist stations. All I see on the Sonos Radio service are usual internet radios and local stations. Are those Sonos stations somehow region-restricted? I live in Czech Republic. Thank you for your answer.
Great, a “native” Sonos Radio service. Immediately started replacing my TuneIn stations!
I ran into the same issue as @Philips999. In a tiny country like the Netherlands, it is even stranger to have to find a national station based on the city that it is broadcast from, although I found most national stations under “Other”. TuneIn, for example, also shows national stations applicable to my location in the “local radio” list, but I agree that a category “National stations” would work better in the UX Sonos has chosen.
Hello,
I have a question, I’m not able to find either the curated stations, Sonos Sound System, or artist stations. All I see on the Sonos Radio service are usual internet radios and local stations. Are those Sonos stations somehow region-restricted? I live in Czech Republic. Thank you for your answer.
Sonos’ press release on Sonos Radio states that these advanced features are initially only available in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland and Australia and that additional countries will follow. I assume this has to do with licensing.
Hello,
I have a question, I’m not able to find either the curated stations, Sonos Sound System, or artist stations. All I see on the Sonos Radio service are usual internet radios and local stations. Are those Sonos stations somehow region-restricted? I live in Czech Republic. Thank you for your answer.
As @Sjoop1985 said, they are currently region restricted. The Sonos Sound System, Genre and Artist Curated Stations are currently available in the US, Canada, Australia, UK, and Ireland. We hope to expand their availability in the future.
I didn't add the Sonos Radio service to my system yet there it is in my browse menu. How do I remove it from my browse page?
Settings > Services > Sonos Radio > Remove Account.
Settings > Services > Sonos Radio > Remove Account.
Thanks for the reply but Sonos Radio isn't listed in my services. Should I actually add it then remove? I hesitate to add it as I don't want to not be able to walk a change back.
Interesting. Branded with both SONOS Radio and TuneIn…
This looks to be a great new addition. On first look it seems difficult to find a particular station. For example if I am looking for BBC Radio 2 I have to browse around different categories to find it. It doesn’t seem to be possible to search for a station in the Sonos Radio Section or through the general search in the app. Is this something that will be added ?
There’s no search within the Sonos Radio browse tab, but if you click onto the search tab and start looking for radio stations, Sonos Radio results will show up in there.
I love spring flowers,
Can’t hurt to try, since you’ve apparently already got it listed as an available service.or, you could just wait for the next software release to see if the issue gets fixed. I’m sure that it will always be available to be ‘added’ again, no matter what the status is.
Any idea why I’m seeing stations from Wichita as my “local” stations when I’m in the Madison, WI area?
Any idea why I’m seeing stations from Wichita as my “local” stations when I’m in the Madison, WI area?
Local stations are according to your zip code in your profile here:
verified my address and still seeing wrong location.
jgatie is correct on checking your address on the website. Was the wrong zip code in there before you checked the address? If so, check for updates in the Sonos app after changing your location. We’re looking into some potential location issues for a few locations as well, so it’s possible you’re running into that.
Does this stream at a higher bitrate than TuneIn?
jgatie is correct on checking your address on the website. Was the wrong zip code in there before you checked the address? If so, check for updates in the Sonos app after changing your location. We’re looking into some potential location issues for a few locations as well, so it’s possible you’re running into that.
It was a different address but in the same market. Checked for updates, still no joy. Feel free to reach out to me separately if you’d prefer.
I’m hoping that Sonos Radio will be more reliable than TuneIn. After numerous TuneIn outages, I’ve have to delete some local TuneIn stations and replace them with the direct stream URL.
To Sonos: are you still relying on TuneIn to supply connectivity for local stations?
Does this stream at a higher bitrate than TuneIn?
When it comes to audio quality, there are two things you need to keep an eye on for streaming, bitrate and format. For example, a 256 kbps stream of mp3 audio generally doesn’t sound as good as a 128kbps AAC stream. With Sonos Radio, we balanced a codec and bitrate pairing that would sound as good as possible, while still respecting your bandwidth. Sonos Radio stations stream at 128kbps in AAC.
The bitrate for radio stations available in Sonos Radio from TuneIn or iHeart Radio will depend on the source of the station, who’s hosting it. A radio station stream generally comes from a partner that the station works with, and the quality could be anywhere from 64 kbps to 320 kbps, most cases having multiple streams at different qualities, and you’ll get served the one that’s best for your connection at the time you try to connect.
I’m hoping that Sonos Radio will be more reliable than TuneIn. After numerous TuneIn outages, I’ve have to delete some local TuneIn stations and replace them with the direct stream URL.
To Sonos: are you still relying on TuneIn to supply connectivity for local stations?
We’re still working with TuneIn, but we're also working with other partners and indexing our own streams. I believe you can also add direct URLs to Sonos Radio if needed.
Does this stream at a higher bitrate than TuneIn?
When it comes to audio quality, there are two things you need to keep an eye on for streaming, bitrate and format. For example, a 256 kbps stream of mp3 audio generally doesn’t sound as good as a 128kbps AAC stream. With Sonos Radio, we balanced a codec and bitrate pairing that would sound as good as possible, while still respecting your bandwidth. Sonos Radio stations stream at 128kbps in AAC.
The bitrate for radio stations available in Sonos Radio from TuneIn or iHeart Radio will depend on the source of the station, who’s hosting it. A radio station stream generally comes from a partner that the station works with, and the quality could be anywhere from 64 kbps to 320 kbps, most cases having multiple streams at different qualities, and you’ll get served the one that’s best for your connection at the time you try to connect.
I’m hoping that Sonos Radio will be more reliable than TuneIn. After numerous TuneIn outages, I’ve have to delete some local TuneIn stations and replace them with the direct stream URL.
To Sonos: are you still relying on TuneIn to supply connectivity for local stations?
We’re still working with TuneIn, but we're also working with other partners and indexing our own streams. I believe you can also add direct URLs to Sonos Radio if needed.
Thank you, will you be streaming at a lossless rate when the new controller is released?
Why does Sonos Radio say "Unable to play...." for every single station?? Documentation is pretty much nonexistent
Why no FOLK MUSIC station? (No, “Country” or “Outlaw” is NOT folk!) Folk always gets short shrift in these corporate-created music services. I’ll listen to FOLK ALLEY on TuneIn or IHeartRadio instead, sorry Sonos, Radio!
