BBC Sounds on Sonos?

I can get all the normal BBC programs but, as you know, there is a streaming service called Sounds which is a sort of catch up service with podcasts etc.

I can get this on my Android phone and my PC but would like to get it on my Sonos so that I can hear it in each room as I move around the house.

Well, it would take effort from the BBC to integrate with the available Sonos APIs, as so many other services have done.

Thanks Ratty,

Not sure I really understand what you mean so will have to do a search on Airplay and see what comes up.

What I mean is that the BBC would have to do the work on their side to build the Sounds service into Sonos, in the same way as, say, Spotify or YouTube Music or Apple Music are integrated.

And I wouldn’t hold your breath for the BBC to do that.  They like to keep control of the distribution of their content.  So they are expanding the availability of the BBC Sounds app, rather than looking to integrate with third party systems (it appears to me).

Airplaying to Sonos speakers enables you to use the app on a mobile device but hear the audio on a Sonos speaker.  That requires an Apple mobile device (iPhone, iPad) and an Airplay-compatible Sonos speaker.

The BBC is also rolling out the Sounds app on some TVs now, and on media streaming devices such as Amazon Fire Stick and Now TV.  This will give a few more possibilities for those with Android devices and who have a Sonos TV speaker.

The app on a mobile device can also be cast using a Chromecast 4K HDMI device, or one with Chromecast built in, such as an nVidea Shield Pro.  This is another way into the Sonos system for those with a Sonos TV speaker.

Now getting an hourly reminder that on the 21 March BBC Radio will no longer work on my Sonos Play - come on Sonos work with the BBC to get this sorted out, very expensive speakers that cant do the basic thing in the UK - trying RadioPlayer to see if this gets round it but certainly not thinking of upgrading to Sonos One just to here the radio via my iPad Pro - that isn’t right.

UPDATE Trying the RadioPlayer Service, so far no hour annoying messages!

I’d remind you that Sonos has a relationship with TuneIn, not with the BBC. Otherwise, you would be using a BBC plugin in the Sonos controller to access their content.

The folks who need to sort out the issues are TuneIn and the BBC. Sonos just happens to be along for the ride, although I’d expect Sonos is putting their own pressure on TuneIn to work this out. 

I’m trying RadioPlayer Service and at the moment the annoying hourly reminders seem to have gone - is this a sign of a work round? The 21/22 March will reveal all.

Hi Sonos and BBC (this message sent to both).

I love my Sonos speakers and solutions and I am about to add some more.

I also love the BBC, the licence fee is so cheap and the BBC is everywhere, there is no question, the BBC is superb value for money.

However, I would really like the BBC and Sonos to get their heads together and resolve the ‘BBC Sounds App’ on Sonos issue.

You both clearly have many fans who buy Sonos and subscribe to the BBC Sounds Appso as you the big guys and we are the customers, it really should be you who are working together to resolve this.

The ball is certainly in your court, thanks both for your services and good luck coming together with this one.

Mike

Hundred percent agreed. Please implement BBC Sounds on Sonos.

Both parties replied very quickly, neither seems to be prepared to visit each other but the BBC was positive, see below, 

Thanks for contacting BBC Sounds support about listening on your Sonos speakers.

We already do offer support for Sonos and you need to either AirPlay from an iOS device or you can listen to Alexa (if your Sonos device support them).

There are no immediate plans to add direct support but this may change in future but the best thing to do for now, is to keep an eye on our FAQ page for Sonos for any updates:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/help/questions/supported-devices/sonos-airplay

We appreciate your feedback about it, we plan to constantly improve the experience by using our users' feedback as BBC Sounds develops. Rest assured that I will log this complaint onto our Audience Feedback Report for you, to be seen by BBC Management and the BBC Sounds Product Team, including the Head of BBC Sounds.

As has been said, Sonos cannot do this unilaterally. And everything the BBC is doing suggests that they want total control over content distribution. 

Does anyone know for certain if the BBC streams won’t be available on MyTuner Radio (for example)?

I don’t have the ability to airplay anything to my Sonos speakers so I running out of things I can listen to on them. They’re becoming redundant sadly. First of all the lots of stations were removed from TuneIn and now this. The only thing I’ll have left soon is Planet Rock via TuneIn.

I was thinking about getting a Roam speaker for the bathroom when they come out but now there’s no point as there will soon be none of my radio stations left to listen to.

I’ve just found this thread. Informative. I’ve got legacy products so AirPlay won’t work and I primarily use sonos to listen to the radio (seeing as I can’t play my iTunes playlists from my phone anymore… which I used to do with no hassle… but anyway.. that’s another story). 
 

I’m back to trying out Tune In. If that doesn’t work then I’m stuck with an outrageously expensive “investment”. I do hope BBC work with Sonos on this one. Either that or it’s NTS and FIP radio all the way. 

Or buy a Sonos Roam?

I should have thought there was more reason to buy a Roam, as it will enable you to play BBC Sounds to your system using Bluetooth.

I don’t think there is actually going to be a problem listening to BBC live streams on Sonos anyway.

Will this work with legacy products? By this I mean, in terms of playing something from my iPhone from my iTunes playlist via AirPlay (which doesn’t work on legacy) then moving it along to my legacy setup? Problem is that I’m still on the old version sonos app which I need to be on due to my legacy setup. It’s all so convoluted! 

I was thinking of using Bluetooth. But the Roam is compatible with S2 only.

But you can stream to legacy speakers using Airplay by grouping if you have one Airplay compatible speaker.

Which legacy products do you have?  And which non-legacy products?

FYI, BBC Sounds works perfectly via UPnP from LMS on a Raspberry Pi to my Sonos Play:1s. 

 

If you have the technical know-how, just set up AirConnect. It will seamlessly add AirPlay to all of your older Sonos speakers. Works brilliantly, with S1, S2, or mixed version systems.

See:

https://github.com/philippe44/AirConnect or

https://github.com/pwt/docker-airconnect-arm if you have a Raspberry Pi available.

Are you using the LMS UPnP/DLNA bridge plugin and then selecting your Sonos as the player in the LMS UI when you play BBC Sounds?  I got this working though on the Sonos app it doesn’t show the artwork or track data - it just shows Streaming from LMS - did you manage to get it showing in the Sonos app?

I needed to change the UPnP player codecs to flc,mp3 and didn’t need to enable transcoding (or you can select the Sonos preset for the specific player).  I also changed the Player discovery remove timeout to -1 as the Sonos players seem to send heartbeats infrequently and by default they keep disappearing from the LMS UI list of players.

Yes, using the UPnP/DLNA bridge plugin, with the “Sonos” preset at the player level.  I never use the clunky, limited Sonos app anymore, just the Material Skin with LMS, so no idea if it displays artwork there.

To answer my own question above about displaying the streamed artwork on the Sonos app - I just needed to disable the password for LMS - if it is enabled then the artwork isn’t shown.  I now see the artwork and audio title displayed fine.

BBC radio 2 dropped off of TuneIn today. Anyone know why?