Apple Music Partner Sonos Sees its Future in Streaming, Voice Control

[nuckinfutz]

Multi-room audio. Everyone will be offering products that do this. It's now a commodity.

What's going to differentiate product lines are integration features and the right product mix.

 

[drewyboy]

My guess is Apple wants to buy Sonos, but didn't want the extra baggage. Sonos = Overpriced products with high margins. Beats is located in Culver City, which could easily absorb Sonos located just up the coast in Santa Barbara

I have to disagree here. Sonos isn't over priced. For the quality of their speakers and the ease of integration, they are hands down the best in their range by far. Just because it has high margins doesn't mean it's overpriced.
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Everyone will be offering products that do this. It's now a commodity.

So which one is it? A future problem or a current? You can't have both.
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Probably game them the old "your a feature not a product speech" that Jobs gave Dropbox.

You do realize they are a hardware company that sells speakers. The feature is their wifi system. Even if it was taken away, they still sell speakers.

 

[deany]

Call me weird, but I actually still use the old fashioned radio for music. I get the music I like. It plays everywhere. It's free.

As long as I have radio, iTunes and services like iHeart Radio, I have no need for subscription based music.

Apart from Radio 6 and maybe Radio 2 I don't listen to any Radio, I just can't stomach the ads anymore.

Its all GPM and their 30 million tracks to choose from for about 4 pounds a month

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

I have to disagree here. Sonos isn't over priced.

Really? $350 for a basic Zone Director that does nothing more than stream music to a receiver? Look at the functionality crammed into a Chromestick or FireStick for $35. AppleTV for $99-$150. Tell me again how Sonos isn't overpriced?

 

[drewyboy]

So they are dropping their hardware? I don't get it.

Aren't they chasing a soap bubble, and risk Apple dropping them as a 'partner'? If that's the case, I wish them well, and wonder when the liquidation will start.

No they're not dropping their hardware. If they did, they would only be SONOS in name. Everyone is getting all wound up about some ambiguous comments from the CEO. Heck, we don't even know if this stuff was taken out of context.

The world isn't ending. Chill out people. If I had to take a stab at what he means, is that he sees the value of having voice recognition in the things we have, or at least that they want, in every room. A speaker. All I see in these comments is that he wants to have some time of voice recognition integrated into their system. That's it. Whether it's internal (probably not) or team up with (hint hint Apple), that remains to be seen.

Logic people. Calm down and use logic.

 

[deany]

Really? $350 for a basic Zone Director that does nothing more than stream music to a receiver? Look at the functionality crammed into a Chromestick or FireStick for $35. AppleTV for $99-$150. Tell me again how Sonos isn't overpriced?

Have you listened to a pair of Play 1's cranked up?

For the price, setup time and ease of use there is no compare especially if you have a streaming subscription.

Outstanding value. First class quality, keep your hands off Tim Cook & Jeff Bezos

 

[drewyboy]

Really? $350 for a basic Zone Director that does nothing more than stream music to a receiver? Look at the functionality crammed into a Chromestick or FireStick for $35. AppleTV for $99-$150. Tell me again how Sonos isn't overpriced?

So you're looking at the thing that is built to include other components rather than their actual product line... you know, speakers.

 

[Jakexb]

Apple really needs some hardware that works like the Amazon Echo. Someone brought one in to work to show it off and I have to say it is really dope. It's like "hey Siri" but because it's dedicated hardware that is plugged in and has 7 directional microphones all the way around the top, it can hear you from the next room over speaking in a normal voice. It crosses the line into "ubiquitous star trek computer". I'm tempted to get one but it doesn't play nice with any Apple services.

Sonos acquisition in the future for Apple???

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

So you're looking at the thing that is built to include other components rather than their actual product line... you know, speakers.

Yes, the Zone Director is the basis of their system. Yes, it does require other components. Apparently you are not a long-time SONOS customer, because before the PLAY: series speakers, there was ONLY the Zone Director (amplified speaker outputs and line-out only models). That was their "actual product line" and still is for those that have their own speakers and audio equipment...you know, audiophiles. So, for you newbies, you only know the PLAY: series and think that is their "actual product line".

Subwoofer for $700? Speaker bar for $700? A basic 3.1 HT speaker system for $1800? See why they're hurting? It's rather obvious.

 

[UberTiger]

Yep, read about that. It's seems to be something outside of their control triggered when Audible changed their API or somesuch. This is far, far from the manipulation games Apple plays with its users.

Hmm, maybe. I get the impression that it was Sonos who decided to change their software and break compatibility with Audible. Now they're taking their time in rolling out a new version.

Even if the old implementation was 'out of date', at least it worked.

 

[T.VoX]

The streaming ecosystem has been led by Apple? In what world

Earth-2

 

[skellener]

Lean into streaming all you want. I still buy music.

 

[maxxodd]

Ugh, I have about $10K in Sonos products that I really love. All I really want is HomeKit support. I really hope this isn't the beginning of a downward spiral.

 

[macs4nw]

.....It's very simple: the golden age of popular music was the 80s and earlier. The music was so good that people wanted to buy it; the advent of CDs helped, too. Since then, but particularly since 2000 A.D., the standard of popular music has dramatically declined, so people are not interested in buying it. Most who liked the good stuff have bought it, so the music industry is struggling to make any money. This is why they (and Apple) want to try and hook people into paying a perpetual tax on music; they are desperately trying to use convenience as a reason for renting music, but if the music is not created that is worth listening to and worth buying, then most people will use free radio.

Spot on! The amount I'm actually willing to buy lately, has definitely been diminishing.

 

[deany]

Yes, the Zone Director is the basis of their system. Yes, it does require other components. Apparently you are not a long-time SONOS customer, because before the PLAY: series speakers, there was ONLY the Zone Director (amplified speaker outputs and line-out only models). That was their "actual product line" and still is for those that have their own speakers and audio equipment...you know, audiophiles. So, for you newbies, you only know the PLAY: series and think that is their "actual product line".

Subwoofer for $700? Speaker bar for $700? A basic 3.1 HT speaker system for $1800? See why they're hurting? It's rather obvious.

It was the Play series that really got things going for SONOS (the Play 5). The Products you refer to pre Play 5 were 'too expensive for most' as it says in the article below, their core product line: Play 5, 3 & 1 are great value, especially the Play 1.

The Play series are very attractive to the younger 'streaming' generation, who perhaps don't know what a Linn Sondek with Isobaric speakers and a Naim amp are. Clearly you do.


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-perfect-wireless-speaker-for-streaming-music

 

[npmacuser5]

Have enjoyed my two Echo speakers for about a year and half. I can see a real shift, especially in young families, to single speakers in rooms, more smaller video screens, multiple video and audio streams, as opposed to a single video and or whole house audio. Seems the main TV audio system is taking a backseat to the above, and so has gathering the family around to watch a movie. Everyone wants to listen and watch what they want. Not of fan of the way this is going from a family perspective but it is what it is. The Echo voice commanded speaker does the job nicely both for convince and sound quality. Disclaimer, not for the very true audio aficionado but for most just great. Interesting to see if Sonos can adapt to this new world. I suspect someone will purchase Sonos for their patents and name.

 

[deany]

Have enjoyed my two Echo speakers for about a year and half. I can see a real shift, especially in young families, to single speakers in rooms, more smaller video screens, multiple video and audio streams, as opposed to a single video and or whole house audio. Seems the main TV audio system is taking a backseat to the above, and so has gathering the family around to watch a movie. Everyone wants to listen and watch what they want. Not of fan of the way this is going from a family perspective but it is what it is. The Echo voice commanded speaker does the job nicely both for convince and sound quality. Disclaimer, not for the very true audio aficionado but for most just great. Interesting to see if Sonos can adapt to this new world. I suspect someone will purchase Sonos for their patents and name.

Interesting read, thanks.

We don't have the Echo yet here in the UK and I think the UK maybe Bezos's 2nd biggest market now or it may still be Germany, not sure. So interesting they have held off on the Echo with it being such a hit in the States.
I was hoping amazon Prime would be available on SONOS UK as it is in the USA, but that may be on hold for a little longer now.

 

[Woyzeck]

I was in the market for a new sound system recently and I looked at the Sonos stuff as I do like the features. But the prices are just so high, you can get a much higher quality DAC and Speakers for 1/3rd the price. Do I want lower-quality sound just to have the added Sonos technology or do I want to buy an Airport Express and my own "dumb" sound system and combine the two? For me the answer was simple, save money and get a higher quality sound system in the process.

For me, they've priced themselves out of the market.

But you still buy Apple products, don't you ?

 

[thermodynamic]

sad to see such layoffs, so far the Sonos products looked quite good :-/

Product quality vs best marketed - the two are not synonymous.

Plus, $10/mo for life isn't a good deal for music, since the point of leasing/subscribing is that when you don't pay you don't get to continue to use, which becomes a big issue the moment you've spent as much as or more than the for-purchase alternative and innovation becomes a lesser issue to these companies if they can produce vendor lock-in (the biggest source of laziness, not the millennials they blame). But it's great if one limits local storage space, and the cell phone companies with expensive limited bandwidth quotas would appreciate these collusive moves, too... 🙂

 

[dbci]

It's a tragedy that Logitech gave up on Squeezebox. They were the wrong buyer for the product, as others have noted. I have four Squeeze devices right now, and when I see a Boom (the table radio with stereo speakers), I snap it up if it's in good condition. I run servers with approximately 180K tracks each (a Mac Mini and an NAS) and use it to connect to a ton of external services. I control it with a superb iOS app called iPeng. One of my SB devices is the Transporter, an audiophile-quality deck that feeds into a huge audio system. So I'm a happy camper. As long as the open source community continues to support SB, I'll stay that way. Sonos can do whatever it likes. And I have NO desire to use voice control to play music.

 

[thermodynamic]

I like my Sonos system. It sounds great and is easy to setup and use and the sound throughout my home is wonderful. I have to say though, the weakness of Sonos is that the speakers are so good that there is no need to "upgrade" once you have them.

I'd rather buy quality that doesn't have to go into the dumpster. Most people aren't made of money, which does not grow on trees. Neither do landfills. Encouraging planned obsolescence should make legitimate environmentalists like Al Gore sob.
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The streaming ecosystem has been led by Apple? In what world

The one where the reality distortion field is the cheapest? 🙂

 

[bstpierre]

"irreversible shift in the music ecosystem, led by Apple." really i thought apple was more a Jonny come lately to music streaming....

I read the blog post. He does not say or imply that Apple led the irreversible shift in the music ecosystem. That is totally a MacRumors statement. For the others who commented on this as well, it is the MacRumors world where Apple led this shift.
🙄

 

[deany]

Product quality vs best marketed - the two are not synonymous.

Plus, $10/mo for life isn't a good deal for music, since the point of leasing/subscribing is that when you don't pay you don't get to continue to use, which becomes a big issue the moment you've spent as much as or more than the for-purchase alternative and innovation becomes a lesser issue to these companies if they can produce vendor lock-in (the biggest source of laziness, not the millennials they blame). But it's great if one limits local storage space, and the cell phone companies with expensive limited bandwidth quotas would appreciate these collusive moves, too... 🙂

There are always 20% off deals so $8.00 if you shop around and my understanding is everyone has some of their own music on the server like GPM I think you can still access that can't you, even when stopping the subscription?
http://www.howtogeek.com/227211/how...lection-online-and-access-it-from-any-device/

 

[DakotaGuy]

I went with the Bose SoundTouch system just because I liked the fact it is integrated with the Lifestyle system in my living room, Bose Wave in my bedroom and a Soundtouch Portable which is battery powered. I have heard that Sonos has a better app interface, however I haven't had any issues using the SoundTouch system and it works quite well.

Sonos is not diversified enough. They are focused on one aspect of the audio market instead of all different areas. Bose makes over half of it's money off commercial products and integrated systems. Sonos has nothing of the sort.

I predict Apple will buy Sonos within the next year and merge it into their Beats division. Once they purchase it they could remove most of the other streaming sources to encourage people to use Apple Music only on the systems.

 

[one more]

A ridiculous idea. It looks more like Sonos CEO is trying to get rid of people and then be bought by Apple, a-la Beats. Not cool.