Sonos still works the same as it always has with Spotify. You have the option of using Spotify connect, but don't have to.


The new driver is a joke, hopefully the API will expand in the future.

fixed it for you.

A buddy of mine theorized that this is Apple's fault, locking down the API to "protect" Apple Music. Damn shame on Sonos if this is true...

Ha!
I await updates on the Sonos sues D&M / D&M sues Sonos saga...

That is not at all what I was suggesting. Just a very earnest question about how integrators address this. I was more referring to companies like Crestron and Autonomic that always go by the book, refusing to offer integrations that are unsanctioned. They would be sneering. Not I.

i think you are all missing the bigger picture - which is control systems for residences, as they operate and are sold now, are disappearing. the thinking among clients has changed. I have had zero customers ask me for anything with touch panels or in wall panels in a couple years. in fact they ALL ask me why they need them, do i have to have them? They understand when I explain that if they want full control as they expect then they need to have them. But like a rotary volume control, no one wants them.
I know you all will deny it and say i am wrong. That's fine. But at least 5 of my clients in the past year who all are former Crestron or Savant owners have said basically the same thing; I watch TV, I listen to music, I turn on and off the lights and I unlock my doors and sometimes look at the cameras. They almost never need to do all at once or need or use the one button pushes on the panel. Everything is done with the phone, and they wants a basic remote in their hand when they watch TV, the rest they can do with an app on their phone.

Its not mass market that Alexa and Google are going for...it IS the market!

Customer stupidity has risen a great deal in the last 5 years as well.
I don't care how many people want to use their phones to stream to their system, it is a bad idea. Tablets are cheap and can be secured in an area if need be. Dedicated controls are still a preferred option, especially when there are kids in the house that like to wonder off with the tablets (even the dedicated ones) - although I think a belt could fix the latter.

I haven't had any blow back, but I never integrated Sonos using some 3rd party solution.

I did use it as a source on many Crestron and other systems, and it still works as it did.

I'm testing and working on integration using the new supported drivers but haven't had much time to put toward it yet. However, it won't be any worse than using Sonos as a stand alone source. So moving in the right direction for me......as slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwly as it is. :D

Just my opinion, but by saying we're all missing the bigger picture, it sort of implies that we're all working jobs of similar sizes, in similar markets for similar customers. Very large residences with a high level of integration almost certainly require a fixed control interface somewhere.

oops

yes and in said that was the case in my reply. But what i also said is that they don't want it, they barely use it, and they ask me why they need it when they use their phone for everything.
to a person with any tech savy skill switching from one app for music to another for the lights is the same as a page flip.
Yes the control system is far superior but you are not taking into account these clients use the devices for about 2 mins per day. they are leading busy lives and work alot. Turn on lights-walk away, turn on music-walk away, watch tv-maybe an hour, lock doors maybe (someone is always home).
And for the record people saying an alarm on HEOS or Musicast is a game changer i disagree 100%. All alarms i have set up no matter how easy to use never get used.

I have never had any client, in a 20k sq foot house or a 1bedroom apt complain about using Sonos as a stand alone source. In fact most say how easy it is.

I agree about the streaming, and the crap quality, I had to show a client that the reason he was saying his speakers sounded bad was due to the fact he was streaming. I played a CD and did a side by side and he was dumbfounded.
However, if your child or spouse wants to use Sonos with their apple music account they have to register their device (phone) which is linked to Apple Music to the sonos system to have full access to all their songs. Or with Itunes match, or Itunes, or they have to download the music they want to listen to onto their phone. And we know how much storage people have on their phones.
Spotify links your account via phone, so you need it to access your playlists, etc. or you have to use your phone or register your spotify account on the sonos system.
Not to mention any of the other services like sound cloud that kids use.
And try to tell a teenager or tech guy they need to use an ipad to play music and they will walk away.

Gone are the days where everyone shared the same Music or itunes account and we all had different playlists - this is being forced as well as being a choice. Kids always bought their own music now it is just online or via streaming.

And yes people may have become "dumber" to all of this, but they have been trained to follow the path of least resistance. And using a control system when a device is in their hand already goes against everything they know.
And yes the control systems can be controlled from the phone, if it has been loaded, and updated, and connected, and they are at home, and they are patient, and dont mind the sonos glitches, or linking their music account to a hard drive, and making sure it is updated with all their playlists.
in other words, it isn't happening!