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[Ferdi]

I just saw this tweet - with link to Spotify announcement. https://twitter.com/schmerdy/status/770679074700140544

As of october, one can play to Sonos straight from the Spotify app, no need to launch the Sonos app.
It would be a dream come true if that feature would be added to MC and JRemote! Hint: there's an API for that  (albeit maybe not public, only Sonos will know)
We would be able to play all file formats that Sonos denies, play off a library larger than Sonos allows, and use MC's flexibility to set up views, playlists etc.

PLEASE!

[blgentry]

I thought that Sonos units could be used as DLNA renderers from MC.  So you just pick the Sonos unit in MC as a zone and play songs to it.

Then, if you want to play to more than one Sonos unit at a time, you use the Sonos app to zone link them.

I don't have any Sonos so I'm not 100% sure, but that's how I thought it worked.

Brian.

[eddyshere]

I confirm Brian's statement. I do use some Sonos as dlna renderers in the house with MC

[Ferdi]

I use Sonos in that same way. It's a work around that is ok. An incomplete list of how a proper intergration would improve this work-around:

1) You would not need to switch to Sonos for changing volume
2) With JRemote, you play to one of your Sonos speakers. You still need the Sonos app to group rooms, switch rooms etc. I konw i can do that with setting up zones in MC - not pretty, not as easy as the grouping feature by Sonos. And I switch or group rooms all the time.
3) If you move the speaker  out of the grouped rooms, which you have selected as the JRemote zone that you play to, music stops playing after the current song or so
4) sometimes, when I play to a speaker that's paired with another one to a stereo pair, that pairing is lost
5) In JRemote, I can select individual Sonos speakers as zones to play to. This works inconsistetly well, as sometimes the speakers show up only with the http address: I don't know which speaker has which address; not sure when MC decides to display the given name and when the address...

There's probably a few more things that a native integration would improve.

[stubbo]

Well, I've gone all in for home automation and the internet of things, bought a boat load of Sonos speakers, Hue lights, Smartthings hub and a bunch of other gadgets to see what I can really do, and Alexa is arriving in the UK next week so I have that to add as well.

But right now, I'm begging...on my knees if I have to, to have full app integration available both via the Sonos app as an add in (like Subsonic has done), and directly from JRiver to properly use the Sonos speakers (and not the DLNA renderers that keep breaking up my speaker groups).

I'm pretty impressed with what Subsonic have done, but JRiver has always been my media server of choice (I'm having to run them both at the moment to get the experience I want).

So Please, pretty please with ells on, sprinkles and glitter, please can we have a full integration (both ways) with Sonos. Put JRiver at the heart of the music and media in the fully integrated internet of things.....you know it's the right thing to do.

[jachin99]

Why not install Spotify on your PC, and play to the pc instead.  My AVR has a Spotify app built in and I can play to that also. 

[Ferdi]

@stubbo - good to see that I am not the only one
@Jachin99: I might as well ditch JRiver completely then. Point is to make it as simple as possible, dead simple. Consumer level simple, not geek level simple. As few components as possible. No workarounds.

Sonos is market leader for simple multi room streaming solution and now seems to offer other software makers an API to jump on the wagon. That's a huge opportunity for companies like JRiver to modernize without having to re-invent the wheel.
I can't remember what Subsonic is (sounds familiar). But Plex is another example of how consumer focused software shops - in this case direct competitor to JRiver - moves the needle. Plex also shows up in the list of available music services within the Sonos app: wouldn't be surprised if that helps Plex' sales, too (side note: Plex is also available on Synology NAS, another competitive advantage).

I can't put it in words as kindly as @dubbo did - for me this would be one of few features that would stand out in the list of recent innovations within MC (I only use it for music). If the API is indeed available, this looks like a low hanging fruit.

[JimH]

Here's why we're reluctant to chase the streaming business:

https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,101545.0.html

None of the businesses earn a profit.

[Ferdi]

Hi Jim,

If I understand it right, the issue in the thread that you share is about integrating MC with streaming services like Spotify or Tidal. I fully understand concerns, issues and risks.

This Sonos discussion is, at least with my attention, to play from my own hard drive to my own Sonos network: music that I own - much like streaming bluetooth or airplay. I can't imagine that that could be a legal issue, when bluetooth and airplay are not.
Sonos is much in the same space as you, I assume, with copy right infringements being a huge business risk. I am sure that they certainly take utmost care to be on good terms with studios and publishers. It might be worth investigating

[cr_qc]

Hello,

I am new in online music. Just install Spotify on my I-Phone I-Pad and home music computer... Fairly well integrate system. All connected together. Can use my I-Pad to select music on my Home system. The only think is, cannot lower increase volume... However, Spotify can also read all my local music. I am not too sure on which format are supported. The thing is if you do not implement Spotify or Tidal in MC, I think less and less customer will go to your software... Online music is to what I think the new way to listen music. Spotify has more than 30millions tracks... A lot to explore...

Regards,

CR

[Ferdi]

Hi  cr_qc,

my intent with this post was to encourage MC to adopt the Sonos API, not to start another thread on online streaming through MC. Would be great to keep it focused on that - there's heaps of discussions already on Tidal etc. and explanations why this can't happen.
Spotify seems to be one of the first companies to use the Sonos API, i would love to see MC follow suite.