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

[unplugme71]

My only gripe about SONOS is that you need the Play 5 to have a line-in input. The Play 1 & 3 should offer this as well as the boost and maybe even just stand alone input devices or an iPhone dock.

For charging a premium, they should at least offer some additional ways to input and play your music.

 

[Quu]

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

Yeah my Laptop, Phone, Watch and Tablet are all Apple. But my desktop? That isn't because Apples desktops are behind and I can build a better desktop myself and save money. Even the Mac Pro is pathetic when it comes to graphics at any amount of money.

Apples other products suit me well and I don't think they're overpriced. Sonos high end sound system is a tiny shoebox sized speaker that costs as much as an iPhone 6. That's ridiculous.

 

[npmacuser5]

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.

Maybe more to do with regulations and internet for delays in interactive systems like Echo in UK and worldwide. All the power of Echo comes from a VPN connection to Amazon Servers. The tunnel is shown on the Echo as a white light on the back, without this secure connections Echo (Alexa) has no smarts and responds with "I am having trouble understanding". I am sure there are aways to make it happen and Amazon will work through the difficulties because, the world (UK) are very large and motivated markets.

 

[tdar]

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.

"Alexa, Ask Sonos to play the white album by the Beatles on Apple music" This is where it will start. Maybe someday Siri might be able to get in on this action.

 

[deany]

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.

I don't think that will happen.
Apple will make a huge number SONOS owners very unhappy by removing other services.
I certainly would never buy an iMac, iPad mini, rMBP, iPhone or apple watch ever again.

 

[Bubba Satori]

Only in the absurd, sick world of corporate double talk are layoffs called an investment in the future.

 

[steve knight]

Streaming - understandable. Sucks for the Sonos employees no more.

Voice control - get ready for people yelling at their devices rudely, no one at the other end ... oh, wait, we have that now!

you should see my blind wife yelling at her devices and they talk aback

 

[npmacuser5]

My only gripe about SONOS is that you need the Play 5 to have a line-in input. The Play 1 & 3 should offer this as well as the boost and maybe even just stand alone input devices or an iPhone dock.

For charging a premium, they should at least offer some additional ways to input and play your music.

I am sure this will happen. Amazon Dot would provide additional input to Sonos products via the Dot Line out port. If Amazon Alexa is something Sonos users with line-in-put speakers would be interested in, the Dot provides the solution.

 

[swajames]

The new gen Play 5 product actually has a microphone built in. It's non functional right now, but it's there and was probably for a future software update including voice control.

And Sonos isn't going bust any time soon. Annual sales were reported to be closing in on 1bn.

 

[wozmatic]

I'm sorry but sonos is garbage. Someone gave me the sonos play 1 for Christmas... Couldn't wait to return it.

The quality isn't great and more importantly the function is a nightmare. No aux ins? No anything?!

NO thank you

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

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.

I am calm. I don't own any Sonos equipment, and have no interest in this expect they compete with Russound, and I do have some Russound equipment, and was once a Russound dealer.

And, yeah, so much that corporations say has to be read and re-read, and flipped around, and stretched, and left in a box on the patio for a day or too, just to see what they heck it might have meant, under certain circumstances. Read 'Smoke'...

 

[deany]

I'm sorry but sonos is garbage. Someone gave me the sonos play 1 for Christmas... Couldn't wait to return it.

The quality isn't great and more importantly the function is a nightmare. No aux ins? No anything?!

NO thank you

I'm sorry but sonos is garbage. Someone gave me the sonos play 1 for Christmas... Couldn't wait to return it.

The quality isn't great and more importantly the function is a nightmare. No aux ins? No anything?!

NO thank you

I have four different SONOS products, five zones, mostly 6 to 7 years old and they are all wonderful.

I do however agree the Play 1 & the Play 3 should have audio in & a headphone jack like the SONOS Play 5 & connect amp.

Quality of Play 1 in a stereo pair is stunningly good.

 

[zubikov]

I'm sorry but sonos is garbage. Someone gave me the sonos play 1 for Christmas... Couldn't wait to return it.

The quality isn't great and more importantly the function is a nightmare. No aux ins? No anything?!

NO thank you

No; thank you for pointing that out! Maybe Sonos aren't doing too well because they're overpriced hype and lock you into playing all your music through their app? I'm already nervous about being locked into Apple's ecosystem if they come out with a crippled iPhone without an audio jack. I don't need to further sink my money down the drain by guaranteeing that my speakers aren't compatible with other audio equipment.

Want me to spend a few grand to play my music wirelessly? The speakers better sound amazing and look like a piece of art; neither of which Sonos does. Those that say Sonos sounds "great" don't have a reasonable reference point. And I'm not talking about speakers costing above 10K. A decent pair of Klipsch, Polk, or one of the HK brands will destroy Sonos in SQ, especially when playing from an uncompressed source.

 

[DudeDad]

What you said is actually illogical..
Why?

Apple already has:
- own wireless audio-video distribution protocol: Airplay
- own voice recognition engine: Siri

Apple will not buy a company purely in order to duplicate what it already has better of.

The only reason Apple would buy Sonos is to acquire product development teams, amplifier or loudspeaker technology, or a loyal community of customers that they can roll up into the apple brand.

NOT existing voice recognition technology.



Squeezebox was not "killed" by Sonos. They were overlapping markets but not the same.

These were two wanderers walking on the same highway at around the same time, not really direct competitors in the bigger picture.

Squeezebox was and still is (there remains a strong open source server and apps community) a music geek's product. Squeezeboxers want cutting edge options and customization. Squeezebox failed because Logitech could neither manage to make the products the geeks wanted, nor to use that core technology to make products for the masses that dont love music but use music as background noise.

Sonos is different - it is more targeted at like 40+ year old with money who wants the speakers that Apple would make - if Apple made speakers. And priced that way.

Sonos is very clearly angling and begging for Apple to buy them - because they have no future or cashout, as it is hard to see one of the bigger consumer audio companies giving them a lot of money for the company. You can see this angling by Sonos in for example their "White Paper" called MusicMakesItHome in which basically they have partnered with Apple to promote Apple music. Its just basic sucking up and begging.

And frankly they have to, because Apple can build and market own-developed powered speakers if it wanted to - and they would be much better than what Sonos offers. Probably cheaper too.

I'm not sure you really understand the diff between Airplay and Sonos. Sonos allows listeners in different zones to play from different sources, and different music from your iTunes library. You do not get the zone flexibility with Airplay.

Sonos and Squeezebox were both music distribution systems, but Squeezebox was very clunky and not as tight as the SonosNet.

As for the obnoxious comment about the 40+ crowd with money to burn....that's just a stupid comment. I use my own speakers and the Sonos amps to drive them.
[doublepost=1457722077][/doublepost]

No; thank you for pointing that out! Maybe Sonos aren't doing too well because they're overpriced hype and lock you into playing all your music through their app? I'm already nervous about being locked into Apple's ecosystem if they come out with a crippled iPhone without an audio jack. I don't need to further sink my money down the drain by guaranteeing that my speakers aren't compatible with other audio equipment.

Want me to spend a few grand to play my music wirelessly? The speakers better sound amazing and look like a piece of art; neither of which Sonos does. Those that say Sonos sounds "great" don't have a reasonable reference point. And I'm not talking about speakers costing above 10K. A decent pair of Klipsch, Polk, or one of the HK brands will destroy Sonos in SQ, especially when playing from an uncompressed source.

First, your comment about being locked into the Sonos app is silly. They offered a remote, but discontinued it because the app make more sense for Android and Apple. What would you like to control it with?

Second, you are not locked into Sonos speakers. Pick up a Sonos amp and drive your own speakers. I have a pair of Rogers LS 3/5As in my bedroom (look them up). They sound fantastic, especially with the Sonos subwoofer.

As for Polk, they were much better when Matthew owned the company. I still have my RTA 12s from 1981 and they are still better than what Polk puts out today.

 

[KPandian1]

No; thank you for pointing that out! Maybe Sonos aren't doing too well because they're overpriced hype and lock you into playing all your music through their app? I'm already nervous about being locked into Apple's ecosystem if they come out with a crippled iPhone without an audio jack.

Want me to spend a few grand to play my music wirelessly? The speakers better sound amazing and look like a piece of art; neither of which Sonos does. A decent pair of Klipsch, Polk, or one of the HK brands will destroy Sonos in SQ, especially when playing from an uncompressed source.

I have no reference point on Sonos, but for a couple of decades people have trashed Bose in a similar way - wrt quality, value, hype, etc.!

I bought Bose then and recently, 18 months or so ago. The quality has not disappointed me, my original speakers from the 90's still sound good, and I did not spend thousands of dollars on the speakers at a time when I was moving around the country a lot.

Now I am looking for the big names (read expensive) and reference speakers to equip my AV room - still using the Bose speakers, and headphones meanwhile.

The comparison is just this - will Sonos last the test of time?

 

[mastercheif91]

I can save sonos.

1. Intergrate Airsonos. Airsonos turns your zones into virtual airplay zones so you don't have to pick music using the sonos app and get full siri intergration. https://github.com/stephen/airsonos

2. Reduce pricing on the connect zones. There is absolutely no reason for these things to cost $350. Everyone knows this, most importantly their target market of true music and audio aficionados who would be most interested in multi-zone music streaming. Back when sonos was the only game in town they could get away with this, but there is too much competition and they are pricing themselves out of the market. They should be focusing on making their profit on their speaker line while driving adoption with their zone adapters.

 

[MacGod]

Maybe Apple should acquire Sonos and put that out there as Apple Stream! Or something...

 

[RickInHouston]

"Alexa, Ask Sonos to play the white album by the Beatles on Apple music" This is where it will start. Maybe someday Siri might be able to get in on this action.

Except you will have a song being played at a good volume and a voice control module won't be able to hear you or understand you.
[doublepost=1457724541][/doublepost]

I'm sorry but sonos is garbage. Someone gave me the sonos play 1 for Christmas... Couldn't wait to return it.

The quality isn't great and more importantly the function is a nightmare. No aux ins? No anything?!

NO thank you

Mine isn't. I sent my box to Empirical audio and for about one grand he ripped the clock out. I bought his reclocker and now have a better bit perfect streamer. Connect this to my Berkeley Alpha DAC and I'm good to go. My system isn't crap but to each his own.

 

[Nathan W]

I have the new Play 5 and it sounds amazing. It's also rock solid. Before my Sonos I was using a Bose Sound Dock with an Airport Express and Airplay. Airplay was not reliable for me at all. I had tons of drops.

Amazon Echo seems like a cool product and I'm sure it's tempting for Sonos to get into that market, but man that's an entirely different business. Voice recognition, AI, etc.. Just seems like a big leap to me.

I would like to see Apple buy Sonos. I think they would get a high end product with a faithful following. They could use the tech to improve Airplay, and integrate in Siri. To me, when Apple worked with them to integrate Apple Music into Sonos I felt like it was just a matter of time before they purchased them. We shall see...

 

[tito2020]

Apple will buy Sonos if they had integrated voice controls, and can show a larger profit.

Google looks like a great buyer for sonos

 

[DoctorTech]

Amazon Echo has the best voice recognition of any product I have ever owned, it puts Siri to shame. The technology is maturing quickly and I believe the market will soon expect integrated voice control in many new products. The question will be do you put separate voice recognition capability into each product or have a master device with voice recognition that networks and controls other devices. It will be interesting to see what direction the market demand goes on this.

 

[rootiekazootie]

Sonos wants to avoid becoming another Palm, a one-innovation company that let the market catch up and surpass it.

They need voice control to stay relevant. But given the large number of services Sonos supports it would be confusing. You'd have to give voice instructions to choose the right service ("play my Beatles Pandora station") because if you gave a simple command ("play Beatles radio") Echo wouldn't know which service you wanted.

I bet that's why they're talking about a streaming service. I wouldn't be surprised if they support only one streaming service for voice, even if the app continues to support all the others.

It's got to be much harder to create their own voice control software/hardware than a streaming service. I would guess they will partner with Amazon on the Echo, rather than build their own. That way the existing customer base could work with the Echo. Given how much praise they heaped on Apple Music, maybe they will use it for voice, but I'd guess they make their own streaming service.

 

[threesixty360]

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.[/QUOTE]

That's my point i think. I'm not too familiar with the system but they have their own app and sell this synchronised music system software along with the speakers.

It looks like the head of Sonos is saying that all that will be valuable in the future is the speakers as maybe Apple is developing out their iOS to do what the Sonos app does.

So maybe the redundancies will be in the software side and they will connect direct to whatever iOS service is released.

Otherwise I don't understand where this is going because apple isn't about to make speakers like Sonos does. So what else is there but the software?

 

[tillsbury]

It is a bit weird and worrying. Sonos make speakers. If they look like they are going to continue to do so then people (including myself) will continue to buy them. If they look even slightly as if they're ever going to stop in the future then their sales will tank. Sonos purchases are all about guaranteeing compatibility and extendability into the future.

 

[KPandian1]

Maybe Apple should acquire Sonos and put that out there as Apple Stream! Or something...

Why? Compound the $3-4Billions they wasted on Beats? They can focus on the hardware and label from that deal to market this segment of music.