Ads, support for streaming from URLs.

Regarding the ad at the beginning of SomaFM, I’d be curious to hear more about this.  Doesn’t seem that Sonos would throw an ad on a commercial free station they don’t own, but I’m not aware of a better explanation.

As far as the URL switching to tune-in, it does make some sense to check if the URL is already covered as an existing service.  I can see why you’d want it to be a seperate URL, but the system isn’t tracking a custom URL this way, and if the URL changes, Tune-in should be updated accordingly.

As far as the cover image, I can’t see Sonos allowing users to use their own images since there is limited storaage capacity on the devices to store such images.

Just my thoughts...

Any ad before the stream starts would be inserted by TuneIn, not Sonos.

Manually added URLs go in via the TuneIn menu on Sonos because that was a convenient place to put the options originally. They’re stored locally, and in execution don’t hook TuneIn at all. You can even add those stations into My Sonos and remove TuneIn entirely; they’ll still work.

The option to add/edit URL’s can be found on all controllers: https://support.sonos.com/s/article/260

Yes, there’s no station artwork for manual URLs, but then I tend not to stare at the controller when radio is playing. An occasional check for which song’s playing maybe -- for which metadata, if available, is supplied by the station -- and that’s it.

I just started up “SomaFM: Groove Salad” again - as a “Sonos Radio Station” - and it played a 30 second commercial (nothing related to SomaFM, an actual commercial) before dropping into the middle of a song. SomaFM is, very specifically, an ad-free, listener-supported, streaming service. I donate to them periodically, so that they won’t have to have ads. Sonos is adding an ad to this freely available content. Which is kind of despicable. Looks like I’m going to need to delete the Sonos Radio entry for SomaFM from my favorites and add it directly via URL again (which means “TuneIn”, sigh, but that’s a different problem). One of the reasons I listen to (and contribute to) SomaFM is because they have no ads. If I listen to them through my expensive Sonos speakers, using Sonos’ recommended method (Sonos Radio), Sonos is adding ads to a freely available stream. I expected better from Sonos.

The bit about URLs going through TuneIn in order to have them update as needed, doesn’t/can’t work for, say, the URLs that I have for various channels on di.fm - these are subscription only, they cannot be updated automatically, because they cannot be shared with anyone else, because they are keyed to me personally.

The ads I’m talking about are occurring at the beginning of a Sonos Radio stream - from a freely-available ad-free service (SomaFM) - that particular problem has nothing to do with TuneIn and everything to do with Sonos, despite your assertion to the contrary. Ads added to material that was made freely available by the original source are annoying, even if they’re only at the start of the stream.

Again, the ads in question here are being added by Sonos - I’m talking about Sonos Radio, not TuneIn, for the ads that are being added to SomaFM.

Thank you for the link to how to add URLs on iOS. It’s infuriatingly obscure - on macOS, it’s “Manage > Add Radio Station” - on iOS, it’s “Browse > TuneIn > My Radio Stations > (‘…’ menu in the top row as opposed to the ‘…’ on every other line of that screen) > Add New Radio Station”. How could any rational person think that was discoverable? All it’s missing is a locked door with a sign on it reading “Beware of the Leopard”.

I’d be happy enough for each controller to store artwork locally, for custom URLs, even if it means I have to go around to several (Mac, iOS) devices and paste in the same pictures. It’d be better that having a generic gray square show up instead. And no, I don’t stare at the controller when the radio is playing. I do, however, like to change stations occasionally, which involves scrolling through dozens of favorites to find the one I want next. If half of them share the same featureless gray icon, it’s… the opposite of helpful. I would expect better from Sonos.

I’m having to switch my SomaFM channels now from Sonos Radio - which likes to add in commercials - back to direct URLs (which Sonos labels as “TuneIn Stations”), to get away from the ads. Which means going from a bunch of easily recognized, distinctive, colorful icons, back to a bunch of identical information-free gray squares. Yes, I can read the names of the stations - why should I have to, when distinct icons are quicker to parse?

I think the point is that 3rd party radio stations within Sonos Radio are actually delivered through tunein.  Others can correct me if I’m wrong, but instead of establishing connections to these stations themselves, so Sonos just added a layer over tunein.

I agree with Danny here, much of ‘Sonos Radio’ is just an overlay currently of TuneIn supplied data. Whether or not that is a permanent thing is unknown. If Sonos is spinning up a group to take over the management of all of that data, it would likely be a lengthy (and expensive) process. There’s a reason why TuneIn does those pre-roll ads, they have their own staff to pay. TANSTAAFL.

I am trying to listen to a radio programme, and have had 20 minutes now of endless ads. The radio, which I listen to via other streaming devices does not play ads. Ever. Is it possible to disable this? I am starting to become very disappointed by Sonos.