Just picked up my first Sonos (3) but really surprised at how much functionality is not there. I use Spotify but no Spitify Radio or Browse function. Can’t access ‘My Music’ so everything needs to be search for or moved to Playlists.

What a shame. Much more lunky than I expected.

Are there any easy workarounds? Ideally, I would just like to use the Spotify App playing directly to Sonos rather than relying on integration (or lack of) with their app.

Your problem is that you bought Sonoe from the Barras rather than Sonos from a shop. 😉

There’s a Spotify specific device I was thinking about

https://gramofon.com/index.html

Click on “add music service” I think
Or, RTFM
Spotify works perfectly fine on my sonos

Spotify works perfectly fine on my sonos

So can you listen to artists or albums saved in Your Music directly from Your Music?

The Sonos app is a bit limited in regard to the full Spotify app. If you really just want to use Sonos as an AirPlay speaker, which you could then just select via the Spotify app, then check out AirSonos. Shame Sonos doesn’t support AirPlay natively really, suspect a marketing decision as much as a licensing one.

I actually quite like the Sonos app most of the time. I like the way I can have Amazon Music, Google Play and Spotify set up and when I search it just looks through all of them and I don’t need think about where some album might be.

I think this is a limitation of the functionality available to developers (API).

I use another app, spotcommander, and I cannot view albums or artists saved to my spotify, just a list of track I’ve saved. This basically means I end up saving playlists or searching as you’ve said.

I know I should have done more research before buying but I assumed that it would work just like a wireless alternitive to a 3.5mm jack lead and you would control the playing of your music from whatever source you wanted.

it would work just like a wireless alternitive to a 3.5mm jack lead

AirPlay and Bluetooth speakers do pretty much that. Sonos is quite different.

As I said, there are a few ways you can turn a Sonos into an AirPlay speaker if that’s what you want. Or just take it back and exchange it for an airplay/bluetooth speaker.

You are right, there is no browse or ‘my music’, only search (for song/album/playlist/etc). I can live with that as it is how I use Spotify e.g. on the desktop. What is more annoying are the outages (like at xmas) due to the seemingly odd way that sonos interfaces into spotify through a third party. Still think it’s pretty good though.

I’ve been looking at these kind of speakers for a while now and it does seem that Sonos is perhaps starting to get a bit limited compared to others in terms of flexibility.

The Pure Jongo range I’ve been looking at does wireless, Bluetooth and old school 3.5mm jack for connectivity and I think you can just send music to it from any app/device.

So, I think in your case OP, you could just use Spotify as you would normally rather than having to go through the Sonos app.

I’ve been looking at these kind of speakers for a while now and it does seem that Sonos is perhaps starting to get a bit limited compared to others in terms of flexibility.

Your comment does kind of miss the point of Sonos though, in that it’s the Sonos device that’s streaming the music and not the app. If you just want to stream from apps then (assuming Mac/iOS) get an Airplay speaker. Loads of nice ones about. It is a bit of a shame you can’t do that as well with Sonos out of the box, but then that’s not what it’s about.

Your comment does kind of miss the point of Sonos though, in that it’s the Sonos device that’s streaming the music and not the app

So if that is the point, then what is the advantage of that? For me the beauty of Spotify is the Radio & Browse functions, both of which are lost on Sonos.

That said and done, I love the build, sound and style of the Sonos 3 so it is not all bad!

So if that is the point, then what is the advantage of that? For me the beauty of Spotify is the Radio & Browse functions, both of which are lost on Sonos.

many services on many speakers in many rooms innit

So if that is the point, then what is the advantage of that? For me the beauty of Spotify is the Radio & Browse functions, both of which are lost on Sonos.

That said and done, I love the build, sound and style of the Sonos 3 so it is not all bad!

What llama said and the fact that the Sonos app is really just a remote control and not the player. There’s loads of benefits to that if you think about it. So I can use my phone to play something and then turn it off, or do something else on it and it won’t mess with what’s playing. Or I can set something playing in one room, then have something else playing in another room. Quite handy for a family where you have multiple sonos and multiple iOS devices controlling them.

There’s also stuff like linking together Sonos in multiple rooms.

mrblobby – Member

Your comment does kind of miss the point of Sonos though, in that it’s the Sonos device that’s streaming the music and not the app. If you just want to stream from apps then (assuming Mac/iOS) get an Airplay speaker. Loads of nice ones about. It is a bit of a shame you can’t do that as well with Sonos out of the box, but then that’s not what it’s about.

Does it matter what is streaming the music? Not trying to be facetious, but what difference does it make?
I’m not sure I entirely understand what you mean either, but that’s probably because I don’t own a Sonos device; I’ve just been looking at the various options and what would suit our set-up at home.
My brother-in-law has a couple of Sonos devices and as far as I can tell he has to control it through some kind of device; whether that’s his laptop or his Asus Transformer tablet thing. He has to use an app to interface with Sonos.

The Jongo speakers allow you to have multi-room (separate streams or the same music), sync speakers to have stereo pairs etc. so I am genuinely not sure what Sonos does differently/how it is better.
I don’t think the Pure system creates it’s own wireless network, but again – in real life do I care/does it matter so long as my Wi-Fi connection throughout the house is decent enough?

EDIT – mrblobby, just seen your reply about using your phone to set something playing and then turning it off etc. I guess that could be an advantage, but not sure it would sway my decision one way or another.
And as in my pre-edited post above – the Pure stuff (and most of the others now) do the whole multi-room thing anyway….

stumpy01, see response above. If you only have one speaker and one controller and one audience listening to it then it doesn’t make much difference.

Beauty of the Sonos is that I can set something playing from the iPad. My wife then pinches the iPad and goes off and does something else with it. Doesn’t matter as it’s not actually streaming the music. I can then pick up my iPhone and use that instead to control the Sonos and it immediately comes up with what’s currently playing, track lists, etc. In our house it’s great as I can just pick up whatever device is nearest (PC, Pad, Phone, etc.) and immediately see and control what any Sonos in any room is doing. If it was just a speaker then I’d need to go hunt for which device was actually streaming to it.

Sonos app is really just a remote control and not the player. There’s loads of benefits to that if you think about it. So I can use my phone to play something and then turn it off, or do something else on it and it won’t mess with what’s playing

A while ago a ‘friend’ was aceessing an educational website forgetting that the iPad was still connected by bluetooth to the speakers in the kitchen. My friend had some serious explaining to do.

Now I understand why I paid a fortune for Sonos, to stop this sort of thing happening again in my house.

Stand down, nothing to see here anymore!

Glad I bought Cambridge Audio BT speakers for my girls – the problem now is that they are so loud it’s like living in a nightclub if they’re all using them at the same time!
I’m not a fan of speakers that needs a dedicated app in order to work.

A while ago a ‘friend’ was aceessing an educational website forgetting that the iPad was still connected by bluetooth to the speakers in the kitchen. My friend had some serious explaining to do.

I bet he turned the volume up to max too thinking there was something wrong with the sound on the iPad 😆

I would be prefectly happy using an app to control Sonos if that app gave me the same functionality that I have within Spotify.

AirSonos

Have you done the AirSonas hack? I instinctivly feel very nervous about this and assume ti will all go wrong when Sonos push and upgrade or something. any real world experience of this working?

Does it have to be Sonos, do you have a long term subscription that you are tied to? Both Deezer and Google Play music integrations have been pretty faultless for me.

The more I look at it, the more I think that the Sonos system doesn’t really offer any advantages that I would benefit from over the alternatives like the Pure system, or the new LG system that has recently come out.

It would be good to be able to go somewhere that had a couple of these different systems set-up with two or three speakers for each, so you could see the differences in real terms before committing to one system or another.

I think you need to do your research before buying – you just wanted a bluetooth / airplay speaker & amp with a nice sound and good design. The Sonos rocks when you have a shared library somewhere on smb (bit annoyed it doesn’t support afp / nfs .. again marketing I suspect.. but it works fine) or more than one sonos around your house. Plus you can just walk in and press play on the box and if you were listening to radio 4, it starts up streaming without needing the app. It does what it does very well.

Biggest issue I’ve found is that it can be a bit flaky network wise – but that maybe down to my powerline adaptors and the wireless bridging I have to do to make my house work.

I used to have the same issue as Mr Sinatra but I eventually found the search function within the Sonos plugin for Spotify. Not as nice as having the Browse function but you can get what you want from there.
I’m happy now