Apple Music on Sonos Now Available in Beta, Final Version Launches Early 2016

[martin633]

I will receive my first Sonos setup in a few days. I don't use Apple Music but i use I-tunes Match. I think it's possible to use iTunes Match, but the only way to access it is by using Apple Music. Can someone tell me if this is correct? Of course I'm hoping I won't need to pay 10 euros a month to use a service I already pay 25 euros a year for..

 

[ecopod]

I will receive my first Sonos setup in a few days. I don't use Apple Music but i use I-tunes Match. I think it's possible to use iTunes Match, but the only way to access it is by using Apple Music. Can someone tell me if this is correct? Of course I'm hoping I won't need to pay 10 euros a month to use a service I already pay 25 euros a year for..

I may be misunderstanding your question but iTunes Match is available via ITunes without Apple Music. If you need to route this through Sonos speakers then here is an option.

Around a year ago I picked up a Sonos dock on flea-bay for around £50. This allowed me to play anything on my iPhone/iPad through my Sonos system. Using this I was able to play Apple Music through my Sonos speakers on the day it was released.

Another useful add on was a second hand CR100 controller that sits in the main bathroom to save taking my iPhone for a bath. Again it was from flea-bay for around £60.

 

[pfiedler]

Set-up of beta Apple Music link for Sonos went fine. I'm trying to determine how to shuffle my songs list and can't seem to find out how. Has anybody had luck with doing this?

 

[martin633]

I may be misunderstanding your question but iTunes Match is available via ITunes without Apple Music. If you need to route this through Sonos speakers then here is an option.

Around a year ago I picked up a Sonos dock on flea-bay for around £50. This allowed me to play anything on my iPhone/iPad through my Sonos system. Using this I was able to play Apple Music through my Sonos speakers on the day it was released.

Another useful add on was a second hand CR100 controller that sits in the main bathroom to save taking my iPhone for a bath. Again it was from flea-bay for around £60.

Thanks for your reply. I already use i-Tunes match without Apple Music on my iPhone, Macbook and Mac Mini. I don't want to use a dock. I want to use the advantages of Sonos playing directly from "the cloud". My songs are in the cloud because of i-Tunes Match. On a printscreen I saw "my music". That sounds like an option that allows you to play the songs you matched or uploaded. But I'm afraid I can only access this option by enabling Apple Music.

Can anyone who is using i-Tunes Match and has a Sonos systeem confirm:

1. if it's possible to play matched or uploaded songs from i-Tunes Match on Sonos with the new beta with an Apple Music subscription
2. if it's possible to play matched or uploaded songs from i-Tunes Match on Sonos with the new beta without an Apple Music subscription

Thanks!

 

[Stupotpot]

You can definitely use it with an Apple Music subscription, I'm doing it as we speak!
The limitation with iTunes Match and Sonos, is that Sonos can only play tracks that are downloaded to your device. It can't stream from the cloud.
The fact that it now supports Apple Music is a dream come true for me, I don't have to download every track I want to play!

 

[yikesboy]

Hey y'all,
Right now Sonos is the 800lb gorilla in this space with an ungodly share of this market. Though Sonos product is good, I have thrown my lot in what feels more like Apple in the early 2000's to me: Yamaha's MusicCast system. Not only is the sound quality better IMHO - after all Yamaha actually makes almost all of the instruments and pro audio equipment used in the recordings we listen to - but I like the feature set...they have a 'we try harder' approach to design that I admire.
If you're like me, you might want to think a little different when you are looking to stream music around the domicile.

 

[ultradk]

It works really great here. I have Play 3; Play 5; Connect:AMP and Connect (to my NAD DD390 amplifier) and it sounds great! I really like when I play (example) Born In The USA in AppleMusic and I am listening to the same version "Mastered for iTunes" like I bought it.. It sounds really good to my ear!

 

[martin633]

You can definitely use it with an Apple Music subscription, I'm doing it as we speak!
The limitation with iTunes Match and Sonos, is that Sonos can only play tracks that are downloaded to your device. It can't stream from the cloud.
The fact that it now supports Apple Music is a dream come true for me, I don't have to download every track I want to play!

Thank you for the info! That's 1/2 questions answered, but this raises some other questions for me .

Apple Music can now be added as a service. Sonos plays your songs from the Apple servers, right? So how does it work with iTunes Match? You say it only works with songs on your device. It sounds weird Sonos is not playing from Apple servers in this case. What happens when you play iTunes Match songs from your device? Does your device have to stream the songs (like Airplay)? Are you "uploading" these songs to Sonos? I'm confused

 

[Leonard1818]

Gonna be a long stretch for you then if electronics are off the table as soon as you add child #2 to the household. I raised five and they all graduated from college. At one point, three in college at the same time. Now *that's* when it'll get right in your pocket. This is just an insignificant warmup compared to what's on your horizon. Better take measures to stop at two if this is going to tap you out.

I was being facetious... but I appreciate your empathy! I would not be having a second child if it were going to greatly impact my ability to provide for my first child or myself and my wife. Including "wants", not just "needs"

 

[Leonard1818]

Wait till ur kids start messing with each others music (yes, some years to go...) and causing a 'music war'. I asked sonos if they had any access control and was sadly told no.

They will be far enough apart in age (5 years) that we probably won't have much issue in that regard. Plus the older one is pretty well behaved and knows that when we say "don't do that" we mean business...

 

[Swiss-G]

You can definitely use it with an Apple Music subscription, I'm doing it as we speak!
The limitation with iTunes Match and Sonos, is that Sonos can only play tracks that are downloaded to your device. It can't stream from the cloud.
The fact that it now supports Apple Music is a dream come true for me, I don't have to download every track I want to play!

Not true, I'm doing this as I type.

Thank you for the info! That's 1/2 questions answered, but this raises some other questions for me .

Apple Music can now be added as a service. Sonos plays your songs from the Apple servers, right? So how does it work with iTunes Match? You say it only works with songs on your device. It sounds weird Sonos is not playing from Apple servers in this case. What happens when you play iTunes Match songs from your device? Does your device have to stream the songs (like Airplay)? Are you "uploading" these songs to Sonos? I'm confused

If you don't want to subscribe to Apple Music then you can add your iTunes library to Sonos and simply stream over your local network.

 

[mfvisuals]

While it is cool to see Apple Music integrated with more products, Sonos seems to be a niche market that not everyone will utilize, so this integration probably won't do much to promote the Apple Music service.

 

[Stupotpot]

Not true, I'm doing this as I type.

How are you doing this? As this shows, it's only avail via Apple Devices and only if you have Air Play set up.

https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1378/kw/sonos itunes/session/L3RpbWUvMTQ1MDMzNjEyOC9zaWQva1gyeHdhRW0=

 

[Stupotpot]

Thank you for the info! That's 1/2 questions answered, but this raises some other questions for me .

Apple Music can now be added as a service. Sonos plays your songs from the Apple servers, right? So how does it work with iTunes Match? You say it only works with songs on your device. It sounds weird Sonos is not playing from Apple servers in this case. What happens when you play iTunes Match songs from your device? Does your device have to stream the songs (like Airplay)? Are you "uploading" these songs to Sonos? I'm confused

For iTunes Match, as I said previously, you can only play tracks that are stored locally on the device by selecting "On This iPhone." Anything in the cloud, but not on the device, is greyed out.

 

[johngordon]

Yeah the device gets the music from the web, not your phone. It's great. You can switch off your phone and login with another if you like. You can switch devices mid-queue if you like or have many different people all adding songs to a queue. Also you can mix tracks from Spotify, google play, hard drive and Apple Music all into one app or playlist. It is very functional if a bit boring in design, but very usable. You can group rooms on the fly and even set alarms to start playing the radio or a playlist at a particular time of day. The only downside is you can't use it to play on your device. So it will only stream to a Sonos speaker when playing. The benefit though of this is that you can stream music and visit Facebook and YouTube etc without interupting the music.

Thanks - that's what I thought.

I guess it makes sense to use the Sonos app if you are pulling stuff through from different sources. Given the choice, I'd probably still refer to use the Music app. Still, not about to rush out and buy anything yet - maybe one day.

 

[Swiss-G]

How are you doing this? As this shows, it's only avail via Apple Devices and only if you have Air Play set up.

https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1378/kw/sonos itunes/session/L3RpbWUvMTQ1MDMzNjEyOC9zaWQva1gyeHdhRW0=

That article pre dates Apple Music availability on Sonos.

As Apple Music is now available, the Sonos system can stream direct from Apple's severs, which includes matched content.

There is a support article on Apples website which covers this. I'll dig it out later.

For iTunes Match, as I said previously, you can only play tracks that are stored locally on the device by selecting "On This iPhone." Anything in the cloud, but not on the device, is greyed out.

That is only correct if you are trying to stream tracks stored on your device to Sonos.

If you access tracks via Apple Music wirhin the Sonos App it will stream tracks stored in the cloud.

 

[Leonard1818]

I don't really feel like installing a bunch of speakers into a house I might not own very much longer. I have a neighbor who moved in this summer. Her mom won the lottery and bought her the house. She's into a lot of hard drugs and loves piling trash in her back yard. I'd say since September the police show up at her house on an average of at least once per week, maybe 1.5, including some type of raid on thanksgiving while my family was here involving four police SUVs. We've personally called maybe six or seven times. Hard to keep track. She loves to sit on her porch with a gun screaming at people. She has mentioned several times that she should just blow someone's head off. Just remember: anyone can be your neighbor when they win the lottery. Even a child abusing crack whore. Really. I wish I was making this up. We heard someone yelling at her once out in the street accusing her of having sex in front of her eight year old son. There's always guys coming over. One time at 2am I heard a noise outside and jumped to the window. A big guy was sprinting from their house with a baby, which he chucked in the car and flew off down the street. This is the crap I have to deal with. This is my life now. So no, I won't be installing a Sonos right now lol.

My neighbors have a trust fund and they don't work. But they do have cocktail hour every day and I'm always invited

Sorry to hear about your situation though I'm not sure how that relates to Sonos speakers. You don't "install" them... you don't run wires -- that's part of the whole point. You buy them, plug them in, and go. I have mine sitting on my desk and on a bookshelf. I have another sitting on the top of a hutch and another on a large chest where I keep my clothes in my bedroom. In the summer, I bolt one to a stand and put it in the sunroom. I didn't "install" anything...

 

[Kevtech1]

This was pretty much all I was waiting for in order to drop Spotify.
Anyone want to tell me why I should keep Spotify when I can use siri and my apple watch with Apple music?
Plus already Apple has more mainstream artist that Spotify won't be able to sign. i.e. ColdPlay

 

[Stupotpot]

That article pre dates Apple Music availability on Sonos.

As Apple Music is now available, the Sonos system can stream direct from Apple's severs, which includes matched content.

There is a support article on Apples website which covers this. I'll dig it out later.

No - even now with

That article pre dates Apple Music availability on Sonos.

As Apple Music is now available, the Sonos system can stream direct from Apple's severs, which includes matched content.

There is a support article on Apples website which covers this. I'll dig it out later.



That is only correct if you are trying to stream tracks stored on your device to Sonos.

If you access tracks via Apple Music wirhin the Sonos App it will stream tracks stored in the cloud.

Sorry, I think you've misunderstood my point - I obviously wasn't being clear enough!!

What I meant was pre Apple Music being supported (or if you don't have an Apple Music account), iTunes Match content can only be accessed if it's stored on the device, and Sonos can't stream via music in the cloud.

If you have Apple Music, all matched streamed content can be accessed via Apple Music in the Sonos app.

That's why I'm so happy Apple Music is finally supported!

 

[macduke]

My neighbors have a trust fund and they don't work. But they do have cocktail hour every day and I'm always invited

Sorry to hear about your situation though I'm not sure how that relates to Sonos speakers. You don't "install" them... you don't run wires -- that's part of the whole point. You buy them, plug them in, and go. I have mine sitting on my desk and on a bookshelf. I have another sitting on the top of a hutch and another on a large chest where I keep my clothes in my bedroom. In the summer, I bolt one to a stand and put it in the sunroom. I didn't "install" anything...

Sorry I just felt the need to rant to random strangers, lol. I guess I thought you had to install them because my boss has had two houses with them installed into the ceilings in every room and hallway, sitting flush with the bottom of the ceiling and nice trim. But she's also a fancy pants.

 

[Leonard1818]

Sorry I just felt the need to rant to random strangers, lol. I guess I thought you had to install them because my boss has had two houses with them installed into the ceilings in every room and hallway, sitting flush with the bottom of the ceiling and nice trim. But she's also a fancy pants.

You can get a piece of equipment that Sonos puts out that will take existing speakers that you already have (possibly installed) and add them to your "sonos system". My father-in-law has this. He has in-ceiling speakers that were put in when he built his house. He has a Sonos connect amp that makes it so whatever he's playing on his sonos system will also come out of those speakers. I don't have pre-existing speakers so it's all Sonos sound for me.

 

[Jakeycov]

Thanks - that's what I thought.

I guess it makes sense to use the Sonos app if you are pulling stuff through from different sources. Given the choice, I'd probably still refer to use the Music app. Still, not about to rush out and buy anything yet - maybe one day.

I was quite reluctant, but it gives you a lot of benefits - the biggest being you can use your phone as normal while streaming. So, normal you tube etc and facebook.. which would normally take over the music.

 

[macduke]

You can get a piece of equipment that Sonos puts out that will take existing speakers that you already have (possibly installed) and add them to your "sonos system". My father-in-law has this. He has in-ceiling speakers that were put in when he built his house. He has a Sonos connect amp that makes it so whatever he's playing on his sonos system will also come out of those speakers. I don't have pre-existing speakers so it's all Sonos sound for me.

Thanks for the info. I guess I just never looked into it because, despite being a tech geek, I had never really learned much about them until I saw them in her house a few years ago so just assumed they were something you needed to have installed. "I'm one of today's 10,000!"

 

[Swiss-G]

Sorry, I think you've misunderstood my point - I obviously wasn't being clear enough!!

You're right. For some reason I had interpreted your post as saying you can't access matched content with an AM subscription via Sonos.

 

[Leonard1818]

I wish Sonos would let you apply skins to their computer app (windows).