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This is great news. AirPlay is good to have for the occasional convenience of it. I just attach an Airport Express to my Play:5 and that puts AirPlay on the whole system. But I agree with @DudeDad that the Sonos approach is better in general, particularly because the speakers stream directly from the music service, rather than having an extra device streaming, then re-broadcasting it through Airplay to the speakers. It's a much more cumbersome approach with more failure points and bandwidth usage, etc. Apple seems to be doing well to hit some pain points of Spotify users.
 
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I have Sonos and love it. So much better than Airplay. I have 4 zones in the house, and can play the same music across all zones, or different music in different zones, all sourced from my iTunes library. Why would airplay make this better?

Audible from the iPhone or iPad.

I have 2 Sonos speakers. I won't buy another one until we get decent Audible support.
 
I have Sonos and love it. So much better than Airplay. I have 4 zones in the house, and can play the same music across all zones, or different music in different zones, all sourced from my iTunes library. Why would airplay make this better?

Because airplay is easy and I have it on all my devices, and I already have an organized iTunes library. With Sonos, I have to use a separate app, sync my iTunes to the network, and use the Sonos app which I don't like. I really really hate having to use multiple apps for the same thing. It's a main reason I like the Apple ecosystem, everything is there, I don't have to fuss around with a different service for everything.

Don't get me wrong, there are good things about Sonos - multi room playback as you mentioned, a physical button I can hit, not having to have my phone in the network etc. but I hate having to use a totally different library. It's so dumb.
 
Maybe I misunderstand what you mean by optical only, but the Play5 speaker has an audio in 3.5mm jack. I use it to play my record player in different zones.
Yes I didn't mention that, but the 1/8 jack is junk. I'd rather have HDMI or multiple inputs. It's so dumb.
 
This is very good news. And a change for Apple. This requires more cooperation between Apple and Sonos then most people suspect. Apple has to give permission to a third party app to directly access their service backend.
Sonos has many advantages over basic Airplay. The biggest being that it does not tie up your device during playback. I have my Sonos system configured with Airplay, but frankly it is almost always playing natively.
This change in Apple towards being more open is a very refreshing sign.
 
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Because airplay is easy and I have it on all my devices, and I already have an organized iTunes library. With Sonos, I have to use a separate app, sync my iTunes to the network, and use the Sonos app which I don't like. I really really hate having to use multiple apps for the same thing. It's a main reason I like the Apple ecosystem, everything is there, I don't have to fuss around with a different service for everything.

Don't get me wrong, there are good things about Sonos - multi room playback as you mentioned, a physical button I can hit, not having to have my phone in the network etc. but I hate having to use a totally different library. It's so dumb.

It's the same library. It accesses your XML file, and let's you play everything. All of your playlists, etc. Works like a champ!
 
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Sonos doens't even support DTS or AirPlay.
AirPlay isn't really what Sonos is about, but you can make it work if needed. I have mine setup for AirPlay, but the native playback offers too many advantages for it to be a big deal either way. For the record I don't find Sonos to be a good setup for a Home Theater. Wireless is too limited for a quailty suround setup. Where it excels is multi room audio. If your requirenets are beyond that, look elsewhere.
 
Music service launching in June to reach speakers by December. Sonos is a joke.
 
I want to like Sonos, but the outrageous prices for crappy speakers keeps me away. Seriously - their stuff is more expensive than Bose, but doesn't sound half as good. Bose isn't spectacular, but is at least decent. Every Sonos speaker I've heard is complete garbage. But I like their 'networking' capability.
 
Sonos is a rip off. Use your own speakers of choice and sync all your music playback with ease using Airfoil at a fraction of the cost. Stream anything you want.

https://rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/

Fraction of the cost? I read that page, and unless I really missed something, it looks like you'd need a Mac running Airfoil Speakers in every room you want to have sound playing, along with a receiver and at least one speaker, plus a Mac server running Airfoil. How is that cheaper, again? While the Sonos stuff is expensive, it appears to work very well from what I've seen and heard. The Play 3 one of my customers just installed in his office has incredible detail, particularly in the vocal range. The bass lacks, but that is the case with every bookshelf out there.

Personally, I do believe that they are a bit pricey, but my major objection isn't the price, its that their online information and selection tools are incredibly confusing. I had to email their tech support to get an answer on what it would take to add a couple of wireless speakers to my home 3.1 system to get rear fill on movies, or if it was even possible. I was impressed that an engineer emailed me within a few hours with some very direct answers. Great customer service.

One thing I'm really not too clear on is the need for an active internet connection to run their system. They say its to use some kind of online functions or whatever. I asked them why I would need that on an HT system that wasn't connected to the internet in the first place. Their reply was that I still needed the connection. I'll pass until that gets explained better.
 
I don't understand why Sonos just doesn't completely support Bluetooth audio from anything... I mean if you're paying that much for their speakers, you'd think they'd at least let you do as much as say a $80 vizio soundbar
 
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I don't understand why Sonos just doesn't completely support Bluetooth audio from anything... I mean if you're paying that much for their speakers, you'd think they'd at least let you do as much as say a $80 vizio soundbar

From what I've read, Bluetooth audio is laggy compared to Wifi, among other problems. Sonos seems to be positioning themselves at least at the mid-fi level if not hi-fi, so Bluetooth isn't on their map.
 
Best. News. Ever.

i was hesitant on buying my SONOS system because of lack of iTunes Radio but now I'm excited for the update. Also, I'll be signing up for apple music now. Never was a subscription person for music but this will definitely encourage it.
 
Which sonos do you recommend ?

I have playbar and sub with play 1s for surround and I love it. Sure there's better stuff for that price but you won't get the capabilities of multi room in that price range that SONOS offers.

Also the play 1s are kind of weak alone. As a pair they do ok. The 3 is what I would get for a bedroom or kitchen. You can even pair them up for more sound. The 5 would be an option if you want more bass or 3.5mm input.

You can always get a play sub with the play 1s or any of the 3s or 5s for a bedroom too but I personally don't care for that much bass in a bedroom
 
Why do they not just add AirPlay capability?

Because the wireless protocol Sonos is using is far better than AirPlay. I've been using Sonos system for years now and I still haven't had a single drop out when streaming music from devices or straight from streaming services. Their wireless solution is rock solid. Anyway, love to see Apple Music on Sonos!
 
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