Contributor I

Question

Why won't Sonos allow wireless audio streaming for movies from Mac/PC?

32 replies
42360 views

This has been a long requested feature for years. Why limit the listening experience to music only? I love the sound when pairing two Play Ones. I wanted to keep them, but the fact I couldn't also stream the sound of my movies from my MacBook was a deal breaker. Why would I want to invest hundreds or thousands on a system that's limited to music only. I have a MacBook Pro, and I watch plenty of movies. Why should I have to buy additional speakers from another company just to enjoy movies? No one should have to resort to buying a play5 only to plug it into an airport express through the auxport. No one wants any more wires sticking out of their speakers. Using the auxport defeats the purpose of a wireless solution. Why won't Sonos allow software driver based audio output through their PC/Mac controllers that will allow any app to stream audio. For example, I want to run VLC player or Divx movie player and have the audio stream through the Sonos system. Can we get an explanation as to why this hasn't come to fruition despite an overwhelming number of requests from your customer base? It's almost at 2015, and it has been ignored for years. If this was available, I would've kept the two Play Ones and purchased the sub too.

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

Show previous replies

I

Igor Andrade

Lyricist I

Philip, thank you for sharing this! 😃

U

User860834

Lyricist I

it's your Mac password !

U

User860834

Lyricist I

thanks for the tricks
i works !!!
but the sound is really out of sync.....
shame

and with multiple Sonos the system get lost with speakers names... (i have 8 sonos speaker in the house)

we need an official support !!!

H

hallnicolas

Lyricist I

I am so annoyed about not being able to use my SONOS PLAY 3 as, you know, actual speakers, that I may spontaneously combust. Wish I'd never bought this. Hate Sonos so much right now.

C

Charles Jones

Lyricist II

It is also irritating that you have to update your music library to get your latest podcasts.

And my wife simply won't jump through the Sonos hoops to use our speakers. They sound great, but buying them was a big fat mistake. Why have speakers if the software inhibits their use?

The speakers would be SO MUCH BETTER if Sonos provided an extension that would allow us to stream any sounds our Mac or iPhone makes to the Bridge and thence to the speaker.

I will probably have to 'accidentally' drop the speakers into the toilet in order to buy some that are more user friendly.

Chris

Lead Maestro

research your purchases and buy the proper product.

Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)

buzz

Grand Maestro

Charles Jones,

We each have our own idea about how systems should operate. Personally, I don't want my computer dealing with the low level details of playing music. I do software development and the computer might crash or otherwise be unavailable. With SONOS on the job, a computer is optional and the music continues if the computer crashes. (Actually, I have never connected a pair of speakers to my computer -- my computer is silent) Plus, I'm a speed freak. Playing music slows the computer. With respect to your "toilet" procedure, I would not even bother to remove the outer packaging from the common Bluetooth and similar speaker appliances before my trip to the bathroom because Bluetooth speakers are not appropriate for my use. But, Bluetooth speakers are very popular.

I think that you would better appreciate a Bluetooth type of product. However, the Bluetooth product does not provide a very good "whole house" experience. This is where SONOS shines.

C

cbruiners

Lyricist I

There is no excuse for Sonos not listening to the wants and needs of their customer base. Lets also consider that this product range has barely improved over a number of years. I own a Play:1, and I would have brought at least another 6-8 units if I could use alternative software to play my music / films and sounds from my PC. Even the Sonos API is pathetic and doesn't expose very much. The Amp doesn't have a HDMI port, and I think this is deliberate.

The latency issue is true for filns but there would be so many work arounds for this (even freeware such as VLC has built in delay capabilities). Sonos have done well but they aren't Apple, give the customers better software support as at present it feels very beta instead of a product that's incrementally improving and driven by its customers.

I can't fault the build quality of my Sonos, but I suspect a company not remotely interested in us as consumers and for this I have recommended a number of people to consider alternatives such as Bose (which I am looking now myself).

Hardware - 9 out of 10
Software - 1 out of 10
Innovation / Customer experience - 0 out of 10
Recommend to a friend - 2 out of 10

T

totally disappointed michael

Lyricist II

Agree totally with cbruiners and buzz and ALL THE OTHERS - except I am also not a big fan of the Audio quality, if I am honest. Too muddy for me..
Chris, best of luck to you, Rising Star.
My Play1 Tone Limited edition Speakers and Bridge currently for sale on NYC Craigslist.
I'm over it.....and I'm out.....

bockersjv

Local Superstar

If people are upset that Sonos doesn't do what they want then why not just sell up? On auction sites all Sonos systems sell for very close to new price, same can't be said for a lot of other systems.

Yes there are ideas I wish Sonos would adopt, HDMI input, Windows 10 Universal App to name just two but looking at recent releases they have clearly been concentration on the quality of what comes out of their equipment. Trueplay being a prime example.

So I and others will continue to request other features and improvements but throwing toys from a pram when these are not officially acknowledged rarely gets results in my experience with software developers. Persistent constructive evidence based requests can raise the priority though.

Show more replies

Sign up

Login to the community