Sonos Speakers Coming to Apple Online Store Today, Retail Stores on October 5

[MacRumors]

Sonos today announced an expanded partnership with Apple, which will see its popular PLAY:1 and PLAY:5 speakers available for purchase from Apple's online store and Apple retail locations around the world.

Sonos is a popular brand known for offering Wi-Fi connected speakers that are excellent for multi-room home speaker systems. The PLAY:1 ($199) and the PLAY:5 ($499) are expensive speakers, but the simple setup, ease of use, and sound quality can't be beat.

"Our expanded collaboration with Apple is a great example of our ongoing work with our full ecosystem of partners to make it easier than ever to listen to music out loud at home," said Patrick Spence, president of Sonos. "Apple Music on Sonos is a powerful experience, one we're proud to bring directly to Apple fans at Apple Stores worldwide."

Many Apple stores that sell Sonos systems will be offering hands-on in-store Sonos and Apple Music demos featuring the Sonos app on an iPad Pro.

As an incentive for new purchasers, those who buy a Sonos system from Apple between today and December 31 will get a free three-month Apple Music gift card.

The PLAY:1 and PLAY:5 will be available for purchase from Apple's online store later today, expanding to 468 retail stores around the world starting on October 5. Online availability in other countries is expected in the coming weeks.

Article Link: Sonos Speakers Coming to Apple Online Store Today, Retail Stores on October 5

 

[woody74]

Maybe they could pull their finger out and create an Apple Watch app now.

 

[DudeDad]

Sonos is a fabulous music distribution system. You can use their self-contained amp/speakers (which, in pairs, can be set up as L/R) or a Sonos amp to power your own speakers. The ability to play music in different rooms (called Zones) or combine them together is amazing. If you love music, Sonos is for you. I've had it in my house for about 6 years (5 zones) and it is worth every penny.

 

[scottlitch]

Do Sonos work as AirPlay speakers? I thought they were proprietary.

 

[testcard]

Maybe they could pull their finger out and create an Apple Watch app now.

Until they do, Sonobit does a pretty good job.

 

[DudeDad]

Do Sonos work as AirPlay speakers? I thought they were proprietary.

If you have Sonos, airplay is not relevant. You can access your entire iTunes library from the Sonos app, as well as SiriusXM, Apple Music, and many others.

 

[vannibombonato]

I've always thought and prayed for Apple to acquire Sonos : the company is very applish, not enough alùminium but that's fixable

 

[scottish]

This is good to hear and hopefully suggests closer integration with Apple in future. AirPlay support would be nice.

Sonos has also partnered with Amazon and Echo will be able to control Sonos from next year.

 

[Hanzu Lao]

If you have Sonos, airplay is not relevant. You can access your entire iTunes library from the Sonos app, as well as SiriusXM, Apple Music, and many others.

Except if you don't want to be tied to one app.

 

[danielwsmithee]

Never really understood the advantage of Sonos over Airplay, and I'm surprised that Apple is supporting a proprietary competing format in their stores.

I've got Airplay in 4 rooms of the house. The only feature I wish it had that it doesn't is the ability to play to multiple zones directly from the iOS and not just my Macs (though the Remote App covers that pretty well).

A similar Sonos setup would be much more expensive and have a poorer selection of Amps and speakers to play through.

 

[zorinlynx]

No AirPlay = No purchase.

I'm surprised Apple would sell this product in their store without AirPlay support. I hope they're not turning their back on it as it's such a great high quality speaker streaming protocol.

 

[nikhsub1]

Sonos is a fabulous music distribution system. You can use their self-contained amp/speakers (which, in pairs, can be set up as L/R) or a Sonos amp to power your own speakers. The ability to play music in different rooms (called Zones) or combine them together is amazing. If you love music, Sonos is for you. I've had it in my house for about 6 years (5 zones) and it is worth every penny.

This. I struggled trying to setup my own system trying to mimic Sonos - mostly because I'm hard headed and like to do things the long and painful way After I got over that I bought some sonos speakers and couldn't be happier. Their system is the best, bar none. The ability to place their speakers anywhere within wifi range is super convenient. Yes you can do this with airplay but getting them to mesh is nearly impossible.
[doublepost=1474908464][/doublepost]

No AirPlay = No purchase.

I'm surprised Apple would sell this product in their store without AirPlay support. I hope they're not turning their back on it as it's such a great high quality speaker streaming protocol.

Airplay can not match what the Sonos system does. Airplay is for one speaker - Sonos can manage as many speakers as you want to put up. They play under the same wifi protocol IIRC. The only drawback is you can't use iTunes as your player with sonos, you must use the sonos app but once you get used to it you really won't miss iTunes.

 

[TheMountainLife]

Sonos is so limited in what you can do. No bluetooth. No aux. If you have a guest over and want to hear their library, its a pain.

I purchased 6 Chromecast audio dongles and can do the same as Sonos but with more versatility and speakers of my choice.

 

[drsox]

Never really understood the advantage of Sonos over Airplay, and I'm surprised that Apple is supporting a proprietary competing format in their stores.

I've got Airplay in 4 rooms of the house. The only feature I wish it had that it doesn't is the ability to play to multiple zones directly from the iOS and not just my Macs (though the Remote App covers that pretty well).

A similar Sonos setup would be much more expensive and have a poorer selection of Amps and speakers to play through.

Nope, just use one of these and it'll connect to pretty much anything.

http://www.sonos.com/en-gb/shop/connect.html

 

[danielwsmithee]

Nope, just use one of these and it'll connect to pretty much anything.

http://www.sonos.com/en-gb/shop/connect.html

As will this
http://www.apple.com/us_smb_83039/shop/buy-tv/apple-tv

or this
http://www.apple.com/us_smb_83039/shop/product/MC414LL/A/airport-express?fnode=58

at a fraction of the cost. I get people like Sonos, I've never understood why.

 

[jasonkratz]

Sonos is so limited in what you can do. No bluetooth. No aux. If you have a guest over and want to hear their library, its a pain.

I purchased 6 Chromecast audio dongles and can do the same as Sonos but with more versatility and speakers of my choice.

Spoken like someone who has never used a Sonos system before Play:5 has an input. And quite honestly 6 chromecast audio dongles isnt the same thing but clearly the Sonos isn't built for you.

 

[danielwsmithee]

As will this
http://www.apple.com/us_smb_83039/shop/buy-tv/apple-tv

or this
http://www.apple.com/us_smb_83039/shop/product/MC414LL/A/airport-express?fnode=58

at a fraction of the cost. I get people like Sonos, I've never understood why. The only reason I can think of is that you have a mixture of Android/Windows in your home, maybe then because it will work with other operating systems outside of Apple?

 

[dwhittington]

If you have Sonos, airplay is not relevant. You can access your entire iTunes library from the Sonos app, as well as SiriusXM, Apple Music, and many others.

Still doesn't support airplay which is relevant to those of us who stream live audio. This announcement makes little sense unless Sonos has a nice firmware update up their sleeves. HomeKit, airplay?

 

[jasonkratz]

As will this
http://www.apple.com/us_smb_83039/shop/buy-tv/apple-tv

or this
http://www.apple.com/us_smb_83039/shop/product/MC414LL/A/airport-express?fnode=58

at a fraction of the cost. I get people like Sonos, I've never understood why.

I get people don't like Sonos, I've never understood why. See how that works? I dont get why the guy who posted previously would prefer 6 Chromecast dongles.

 

[danielwsmithee]

Spoken like someone who has never used a Sonos system before Play:5 has an input. And quite honestly 6 chromecast audio dongles isnt the same thing but clearly the Sonos isn't built for you.

I'm suffering from the same lack of understanding I guess. I've never used a Sonos system, but no one has actually been able to clearly describe what it provides that AirPlay or chromecast don't.

 

[Madmic23]

Never really understood the advantage of Sonos over Airplay, and I'm surprised that Apple is supporting a proprietary competing format in their stores.

I've got Airplay in 4 rooms of the house. The only feature I wish it had that it doesn't is the ability to play to multiple zones directly from the iOS and not just my Macs (though the Remote App covers that pretty well).

A similar Sonos setup would be much more expensive and have a poorer selection of Amps and speakers to play through.

The nice thing about not using AirPlay is that you can use your device for other things at the same time as the music is playing. Let's say you AirPlay from your phone to some other speaker. What happens when your phone rings? Or what happens if you open a video app on your phone and want to look at a video, but other people in your house still want to listen to the music that was playing?

With Sonos, the app is used to control the music, and that's it. It doesn't have to stream anything from the phone to the speakers. If you really want to stream something from you iPhone music library, you do have the option using the app, but why would you want to? Sonos can use your online Apple Music library, your local iTunes library, Spotify, Google Play Music, and other sources.

With one of the recent updates, you can even control the music from your iPhone or iPad lock screen, just as if you were using AirPlay.

It's a great system, I just wish it didn't cost so much so that I could add more zones to my house.

 

[TheMountainLife]

Spoken like someone who has never used a Sonos system before Play:5 has an input. And quite honestly 6 chromecast audio dongles isnt the same thing but clearly the Sonos isn't built for you.

I have and returned it. It sounds like you've never used chromecast audio before .

 

[ayala421]

What is going on with Apple Airplay speakers? Seems like Apple has lost interest in furthering their relationship with mfg's.

Even the Apple store has only 1 speaker that is Airplay enabled. There used to be many offerings until a few months ago...

 

[44267547]

Nice. I will definitely check with local Apple Store next week. Hopefully I pick up one.

 

[load97]

I get people don't like Sonos, I've never understood why. See how that works? I don't get why the guy who posted previously would prefer 6 Chromecast dongles.

I LMFAO. So true. I'm done with Airplay unless it's something I want to pull from my phone (or someone that's over who owns an iphone) every once in awhile. Hate the prices of Sonos gear though. Seems like it could be a bit cheaper.