Contributor I

Add Chromecast built-in Integration

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
December 26, 2021
96 replies
31066 views

I live in Italy and here Android users are much more that the Android users that are in the USA…

Personally all my family have an Android device, like Google Pixels, and all the house have integration with Google Assistant and Google Home. We are a Google Family.

We bought a Sonos Move for have a portable speaker with a gorgeous sound, and I can confirm that it have, but we hear the lack of the Google Chromecast built-in integration.

In fact the Chromecast built-in feature is a great opportunity for Sonos, we think, because in this way Sonos Speakers can appear in Media controls of Google Home and so can be controlled by all the people that live in the house. Also Chromecast built-in have plenty of integration with some services that made things really easy.

So, we decide that for now Sonos for us it can be only the Sonos Move or the Sonos Roam that have also the Bluetooth, because we need it for limiting the lack of the Chromecast built-in functionality. But we appreciate that in the future these awesome speakers, that are probably the best in their category, will have the Chromecast built-in feature, so we can buy product that also came without Bluetooth.

Best regards,

Giovanni Galboni

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S

scotek

Lyricist II

@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

John B

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.

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ribhu_chawla

Lyricist I

@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!

R

RestrictedText

Lyricist II

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.

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

O

Optimistic

Contributor I

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?