Add Chromecast built-in Integration

  • 26 December 2021
  • 95 replies
  • 23931 views
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95 replies

O
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I find the claim that 'everything is easier if you have an iPad/iPhonr’ rather bizarre. The Sonos apps for iOS and Android are virtually identical in design and functionality. No Trueplay on Android, no On This Mobile Device on iOS.

Playing from native apps like Spotify is OS-independent.

For those of us who don't need Chromecast and wouldn't use Airplay there is virtually nothing that is easier on an iPhone than on am Android phone. 

When I said everything was easier, I meant that using the speaker-related apps is easier, (you don't have to sign up for any service or use the sonos app), not that all Sonos features are easier with iOS(they’re almost the same, not to mention TRUEPLAY).
I generally prefer the original apps: Spotify, Deezer, Qobuz, Tidal; than going into sonos and playing the music from the corresponding service. And this is easier with airplay2 (it would be with Chromecast too).

J

Yes, I  never use On This Mobile Device. But my wife has an iPad so I'm sorted for Trueplay.

My main point, as you realise, is that everything else is identical. 

melvimbe

I find the claim that 'everything is easier if you have an iPad/iPhonr’ rather bizarre. The Sonos apps for iOS and Android are virtually identical in design and functionality. No Trueplay on Android, no On This Mobile Device on iOS.

Playing from native apps like Spotify is OS-independent.

For those of us who don't need Chromecast and wouldn't use Airplay there is virtually nothing that is easier on an iPhone than on am Android phone. 

 

I would trade trueplay for ‘on this mobile device’ functionality though.

Danny
J

I find the claim that 'everything is easier if you have an iPad/iPhonr’ rather bizarre. The Sonos apps for iOS and Android are virtually identical in design and functionality. No Trueplay on Android, no On This Mobile Device on iOS.

Playing from native apps like Spotify is OS-independent.

For those of us who don't need Chromecast and wouldn't use Airplay there is virtually nothing that is easier on an iPhone than on am Android phone. 

melvimbe

As an android user, I’ve never felt like I was suffering or that I’ve been forced to leave.    But like others, chromecast has never been a feature I’ve been that interested in.  

I agree with you that chromecast is not advertised as a feature and was never promised, but a lot of kit these days includes it as standard. My last (reasonably priced) AV receiver includes it as standard, along with Airplay and Bluetooth. So I suspect that people buying more expensive kit have an expectation that it will be, or become, flexible. I have Play 5s and CCA devices, so it’s not a huge issue for me, but I can understand that it may be for some people.

 

 

I would agree that Sonos has a long history of not adding features just because the competition has it or because people are going to assume it has it.  I can understand why people make the assumptions.

I feel more let down as an android user by the lack of Trueplay, as when I had it working it did significantly improve the sound quality. Unfortunately the hardware had to be repaired, and I lost the settings.

 

I have iOS users in my household, so it hasn’t been a huge problem for me personally.  I would be happy to buy a reasonably priced mic device to trueplay tuning if it were available.  Also would like to see an autotrueplay option for the non-portable speakers.  I get that it may not be as good as trueplay tuning through an iphone, but it would be an improvement.

Danny
A

As an android user, I’ve never felt like I was suffering or that I’ve been forced to leave.    But like others, chromecast has never been a feature I’ve been that interested in.  

I agree with you that chromecast is not advertised as a feature and was never promised, but a lot of kit these days includes it as standard. My last (reasonably priced) AV receiver includes it as standard, along with Airplay and Bluetooth. So I suspect that people buying more expensive kit have an expectation that it will be, or become, flexible. I have Play 5s and CCA devices, so it’s not a huge issue for me, but I can understand that it may be for some people.

I feel more let down as an android user by the lack of Trueplay, as when I had it working it did significantly improve the sound quality. Unfortunately the hardware had to be repaired, and I lost the settings.

 

melvimbe

Thanks for your time John, but I think Sonos don't take into account Android users, everything is easier if you have an iphone/ipad. I understand they had a dispute with google some time ago and they don't want to get close.

 

 

 This assumes that Apple and Google have been equally willing to work with Sonos, and that feature development between android and iOS are equal, as well as licensing costs.  Highly unlikely.  Perhaps close enough that it’s not relevant, but can’t assume that.   Chromecast was around long before airplay, if that’s the comparison you’re trying to make, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple gave Sonos a really good deal as a way of getting airplay off the ground quickly.  Either way, I have a hard time believing that the current legal case is related to the lack of chromecast support, since Sonos has never had chromecast, and the legal case is only recent.

 

But in the end this issue is suffered by Sonos customers with android. I never thought that in 2022 we would still be without support for Chromecast.... It's a pity because we are forced to leave....

 

Personally, I never buy a product that doesn’t meet my current feature needs.  I don’t think I’ve ever even bought a product based on a feature that was promised to be added to a product.  I certainly wouldn’t buy a product when it’s missing a feature I need, and the business makes no promise that it would ever be implemented.   As an android user, I’ve never felt like I was suffering or that I’ve been forced to leave.    But like others, chromecast has never been a feature I’ve been that interested in.  

Danny
J

I imagine they are being downloaded to the ‘wrong’ location for Sonos to find them - but unscrambling that is possibly more trouble than it’s worth.

As I am a Sonos fan and don’t like Bose, I think my solution would have been to buy a Roam and use Bluetooth, grouping to the Sonos One.  It would have been cheaper and avoided Bose and given me two compatible speakers, one of which is truly portable.  But each to their own.

Thanks for your time John, but I think Sonos don't take into account Android users, everything is easier if you have an iphone/ipad. I understand they had a dispute with google some time ago and they don't want to get close. But in the end this issue is suffered by Sonos customers with android. I never thought that in 2022 we would still be without support for Chromecast.... It's a pity because we are forced to leave....

I am a total Apple refusnik and have only Android devices.  I have no use for casting, or have other options where I might need them (e.g.  playing from the Amazon Music app, although I rarely do that either).  For me, lack of Chromecast is a complete irrelevance.  I accept that for some other users, like you, it’s a big deal, and that’s fair enough.  But I think you may be overestimating the potential importance of this.  If this puts off lots of people from using Sonos, then Sonos are in trouble.  I don’t think it will.  Only time will tell.

O
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I imagine they are being downloaded to the ‘wrong’ location for Sonos to find them - but unscrambling that is possibly more trouble than it’s worth.

As I am a Sonos fan and don’t like Bose, I think my solution would have been to buy a Roam and use Bluetooth, grouping to the Sonos One.  It would have been cheaper and avoided Bose and given me two compatible speakers, one of which is truly portable.  But each to their own.

Thanks for your time John, but I think Sonos don't take into account Android users, everything is easier if you have an iphone/ipad. I understand they had a dispute with google some time ago and they don't want to get close. But in the end this issue is suffered by Sonos customers with android. I never thought that in 2022 we would still be without support for Chromecast.... It's a pity because we are forced to leave....

J

I imagine they are being downloaded to the ‘wrong’ location for Sonos to find them - but unscrambling that is possibly more trouble than it’s worth.

As I am a Sonos fan and don’t like Bose, I think my solution would have been to buy a Roam and use Bluetooth, grouping to the Sonos One.  It would have been cheaper and avoided Bose and given me two compatible speakers, one of which is truly portable.  But each to their own.

O
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Could you download them and play using 'on this device'?

I have to admit I rarely listen to podcasts.

If I download them from Google podcast or Ivoox apps I can't see them on Sonos “on this device”.

J

Could you download them and play using 'on this device'?

I have to admit I rarely listen to podcasts.

O
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If you still wish to use Sonos for podcasts maybe this link will help.

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/321?language=en_US

There is also the Pocketcasts service on Sonos.

Thanks, but my podcasts are from Spain, pocketcasts doesn’t have them.

J

If you still wish to use Sonos for podcasts maybe this link will help.

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/321?language=en_US

There is also the Pocketcasts service on Sonos.

O
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I've had Sonos for quite a few years now, I started with Sonos connect connected to a good HIFI system. Then I bought the One 2nd generation, and I was happy with it, but I always missed the compatibility with Chromecast, in my modest opinion the most comfortable way of streaming (it even supports high resolution 24/96). I was tired of not being able to launch a podcast (which doesn't appear in the Sonos app) from my mobile phone, for example, from the google podcast app.
So, seeing that Sonos doesn't seem to be interested in Chromecast, I bought a Bose smart speaker 500 which now has Chromecast compatibility (I still have it on trial at Amazon). Fantastic, being able to cast if I want to from almost any Android app.
Sono is anyone there?

melvimbe

Maybe I should have done more research. I bought a sonos one because it said it had Google assistant support (which it does). Naively, it appears, I expected that to include Google cast support. I feel slightly misled. I don't need a debate about Sonos's or Google's strategy As a user I just want the new speaker to integrate seamlessly into my system. Sonos doesn't which is disappointing and will definitely stop me from buying more sonos equipment and from recommending sonos to people.

 

 

 

Completely understand if Sonos don’t have the features you’re looking for, and don’t want to recommend to others.  However, be sure to tell people what features you needed for your particular situation, so that those people accurately determine whether Sonos will or will not meet their needs.  As has been pointed out, there are a lot of people who have no need chromecast.  Telling people Sonos isn’t good because it doesn’t have a feature they have no interest in isn’t exactly doing them any favors.

Danny
R

Maybe I should have done more research. I bought a sonos one because it said it had Google assistant support (which it does). Naively, it appears, I expected that to include Google cast support. I feel slightly misled. I don't need a debate about Sonos's or Google's strategy As a user I just want the new speaker to integrate seamlessly into my system. Sonos doesn't which is disappointing and will definitely stop me from buying more sonos equipment and from recommending sonos to people.

 

 

R

@Giovanni Galboni I use my beam and surrounds with chromecast. Beam only has a HDMI Arc input. My hack is to use plugin chromecast to TV and cast things to that Chromecast.  Of course, this won’t work for the whole network but works for my case. I hardly turn off my TV and it stays on screensaver mode, thus this works fine. 

Note - I have noticed that in this setup, there is some delay in audio sync when I play music on the Group cast with other google homes and I need to use the Google Home app to adjust delay (usually it is under 100ms). 

Google IO announced on May 11, 2022 that it will extend casting capabilities to third party companies... so fingers crossed! 

J

As I said,  you are entitled to your opinion. The system must be judged in the round.  Sonos is not and cannot be all things to all people. I wish you well with whichever system you opt for. 

S

@John B

I think you are coming at this from the perspective of someone whose mindset is ‘single device sending audio to single speaker’.  Sonos is fundamentally designed to be multiroom, multi-source and multi controller, with an app that is a remote control for the system, not a music player.  It was not designed for all-audio casting.

Actually you miss my point. I am strongly preferring to buy a product that can work as a unified system. Otherwise I wouldn’t be looking at Sonos. But I need less advanced users (like my wife) to be able to do what is natural for her within that framework. Even if I can convince her to change her natural workflow, I certainly can’t expect guests to do so.  Casting is a great way of having people casually interact with your system. I stayed with some friends last year who had Sonos, and experienced this exact situation from the other end. As a guest, how do I play my own content on their Sonos system?

 

 

I think it is rather paranoid and illogical of you to be talking of Sonos being “antagonistic to Android users’, but you are entitled to your opinion, and to your different priorities.

Edit: just as a historical note, the first native app that could be used with Sonos was Google Play Music, until Google scrapped it in favour of YTM.  But you could only use it on Android devices, not iOS.

 

It’s 2022. Adopting a platform that isn’t moving forward is even worse than individual devices that don’t work as a system.  Bottom line, “casting” is a ubiquitous way for people to casually send AV content to media systems. There aren’t any media oriented TVs or receivers sold today that don’t provide this. It’s essential functionality. Supporting Airplay but not supporting Chromecast is clearly preferential to Apple users. Even more so, as I think Chromecast is a more “successful” implementation (as in more regularly used by the platform’s users) . 

 

J

@scotek .  I can understand your point of view. and we all have our own priorities for our systems.  Neither of us is right or wrong.  

I think you are coming at this from the perspective of someone whose mindset is ‘single device sending audio to single speaker’.  Sonos is fundamentally designed to be multiroom, multi-source and multi controller, with an app that is a remote control for the system, not a music player.  It was not designed for all-audio casting.

For me, casting is a complete irrelevance.  I would never use it.  When i started with Sonos, Airplay wasn’t supported any more that Chromecast.  

I think it is rather paranoid and illogical of you to be talking of Sonos being “antagonistic to Android users’, but you are entitled to your opinion, and to your different priorities.

Edit: just as a historical note, the first native app that could be used with Sonos was Google Play Music, until Google scrapped it in favour of YTM.  But you could only use it on Android devices, not iOS.

melvimbe

@scotek . You are looking for a portable speaker on which your wife can play YouTube audio from her Android phone? How about the Sonos Roam?

Yes this is the product that I am considering. It would work with Bluetooth, but so would a lot of other speakers. I would probably go with the Ultimate Ears megaboom as it has twice the battery life, if I am going to commit to a BT-only option. 

 

We recently moved to a much larger house and I have lots of outside areas and other spaces that I would gladly place Sonos speakers, but if my wife or guests can’t interact with them intuitively, I may as well just have a traditional setup with an AMP that has several zones, and have her use some BT speakers in the meantime.

 

Bottom line, not being able to cast to the thing means Android users are much more limited in how they can interact with the device. Getting her to use different apps just because Sonos chooses to treat Android users as second class citizens is a big turnoff. 

 

Youtube music is supported on Sonos.  Google and Sonos obviously don’t have the best of relationships.  Google wasn’t very interested in allowing their voice assistant, Sonos is suing Google for stealing patents, and Google won’t allow their voice assistant on a device with other voice assistants installed.  Assuming that Google is fully on board with chromecast on Sonos speakers, it’s only Sonos that’s holding it back, doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

Not sure if it’s true anymore, but there was a time when Google did not allow casting of Youtube (video service) to any device that didn’t have display.  So you could cast to a TV, but not directly to a speaker.  Indeed, if you have TVs that have comcast (or devices connect via HDMI to the TV) than you could do that cast and have a Sonos Arc, Beam, Ray, or Amp connected to the TV to play that audio.  I rarely look at youtube on my phone, and rarer still want to cast that...but when I do, I’ve had no problem casting to the TV and hearing the audio over my Sonos speakers.

 

Danny
S

@scotek . You are looking for a portable speaker on which your wife can play YouTube audio from her Android phone? How about the Sonos Roam?

Yes this is the product that I am considering. It would work with Bluetooth, but so would a lot of other speakers. I would probably go with the Ultimate Ears megaboom as it has twice the battery life, if I am going to commit to a BT-only option. 

 

We recently moved to a much larger house and I have lots of outside areas and other spaces that I would gladly place Sonos speakers, but if my wife or guests can’t interact with them intuitively, I may as well just have a traditional setup with an AMP that has several zones, and have her use some BT speakers in the meantime.

 

Bottom line, not being able to cast to the thing means Android users are much more limited in how they can interact with the device. Getting her to use different apps just because Sonos chooses to treat Android users as second class citizens is a big turnoff. 

J

@scotek . You are looking for a portable speaker on which your wife can play YouTube audio from her Android phone? How about the Sonos Roam?

S

 

Sonos doesn't sell speakers..

If they did, I'd buy more of them.

 

https://www.sonos.com/en/shop/wireless-speakers

 

They have a whole line of wireless speakers. Your argument is there are cheaper speakers so they need to compete by locking out users? Makes no sense. I’m looking for the best product, not the cheapest. But I’ll probably end up getting a slightly less expensive speaker simply because it isn’t antagonistic to Android users.

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