[Closed] Sonos and BBC Six users

In short. I listen to 6 Music on my Sonos every day, I have the android app. It works faultless.

Longer version: The sonos app itself does not allow you to play any music on it, you have to add specific music services to the app that then play via the Sonos, so for example you would add Spotify and then can control that via the Sonos app.

For most live radio streams, including BBC 6, Tunein Radio is the best radio streaming service to use. If I recall BBC have stated that they want to remove their reliance on 3rd party services like Tunein and instead make their own apps directly available on speakers such as Sonos, however this is still in development and they have confirmed that they will not remove themselves from 3rd party services until their own app is fully integrated to sonos.

All fine here. I can get bbc 6 music on my device

What tenacious_doug said

i just ask Alexa to play it on the Sonos

Just go into sonos app and search stations for 6music, works fine here.

What the others above said.

It gets more confusing because there are two radio providers on Sonos. Tunein and Sonos Radio. I can't find ALL of the BBC stations on Sonos Radio for example R5 Sports Extra but it's on Tune In.

You can't stream from phone to Sonos without a physical connection or a Chromecast Audio. Only the Sonos Play 5 has an external jack plug. You can play physical music on your device on your Sonos.

Spotify Sonos integration is OK. You can either go through the Sonos app, or use the Spotify app it will recognise your Sonos and allow to play that way. The searching is easier via Spotify App than Sonos app.

Good news - the Tunein issues might have been scare mongering then.

So live stream radio good, streaming from bbc sounds app bad (or at least not possible with the Sonos 1)
Thanks all, makes decision a lot easier now.

No problems here with it, and I listen to 6Music every day for 3-4 hours on Sonos.

As noted above, TuneIn is the main provider which was installed by default within the Sonos app - and if not can be linked as a 'music service' easily enough. It also has the benefit that you can listen again to many BBC radio shows - so you can listen to Cerys Matthews' R2 Blues Show on Thursday afternoon rather than Steve Lamacq's droning monotony, or Craig Charles first thing on a Tuesday if that's your bag.

Occasionally TuneIn spits the dummy and can't find anything, or complains about stations being 'in the wrong format'. It is possible to manually add urls for the station's direct streaming link (www.bbc....[etc]) quite easily.

Finally, there are other radio apps that can be linked as well, such as the Global one and others.

Just get a Sonos with Alexa...

“Alexa, play six music.”

“Ok, playing Pittsburgh Channel 6.”

“Alexa, play B. B. C. Radio SIX MUSIC!”

“Ok, playing Sweet Sixteen by The Furey Brothers and Davey Arthur.”

“ALEXA, FOR ****S SAKE, PLAY BEE! BEE! SEE! RADIO SIX MUSIC.”

“Ok, playing Canberra 696 Music Hits Radio.”

Bin Alexa, load Google, works every time.

In Alexa's defence, when I come down each morning and wish her a good morning (Alexa, good morning) she always returns the greeting with a handy fact about this day in XX year.

Sonos with Alexa…etc.

My Sonos still works with both TuneIn and Sonos Radio for all the BBC stations. Asking the Sonos (Alexa) to 'play radio 6' works for me - it grabs it from BBC Sounds automatically. There's no BBC Sounds music service though, so bit confused how it does this Perhaps it needs the BBC Alexa skill enabled and logged in?

The thing you can’t do which would be a really welcome addition is listen to catch up / podcasts from the BBC. I hope it comes eventually if they add BBC Sounds as a service.

I could AirPlay it but none of my Sonos devices are new enough to have AirPlay.

The thing you can’t do which would be a really welcome addition is listen to catch up / podcasts from the BBC. I hope it comes eventually if they add BBC Sounds as a service.

Yeah the BBC is becoming a bit of a 'walled garden', pulling much of their stuff off TuneIn, podcast apps etc. and expecting you to use BBC Sounds. I wonder if there's a BBC smart speaker in the works? They already have a voice assistant they're working on.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/usingthebbc/privacy/about-beeb-privacy/

My Sonos still works with both TuneIn and Sonos Radio for all the BBC stations. Asking the Sonos (Alexa) to ‘play radio 6’ works for me – it grabs it from BBC Sounds automatically. There’s no BBC Sounds music service though, so bit confused how it does this Perhaps it needs the BBC Alexa skill enabled and logged in?

Stopped working for me about 6 months or so ago. There are threads about it on the sonos forums so I'm surprised its ok for you. My alexa thingy is separate to the sonos unit as they are older so maybe that part of the issue.

My (stolen from a thread) workaround is to setup a IFTTT skill to play something from my Sonos favourites. So "Alexa, trigger cricket downstairs" turns on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra on across the ground floor.

I need to buy one more newer sonos so I can get airplay going. I am struggling to play the podcasts I like at the minute which is a shame.

I'm finding Sonos/BBC really frustrating.

Recently moved in to a new house, it has speakers built in to the ceilings of a few rooms, each room fed from its own 'Sonos Multi Room Zone player ZP120' hidden away in a cupboard.

Because the kit is quite old I have to use the SONOS1 app rather than the more recent SONOS2.

Playing Spotify through individual rooms, or grouped rooms is easy and works very well. But for the life of me I can't get any BBC services through any speakers.
I love a bit of Radio 4 and Radio 6, and in the last house would usually listen to BBC podcasts, live radio and catch up on BBC sounds on my Android phone either Bluetooth or Chromecast Audio to whatever speakers were in the room.

I can't access any BBC, i've tried the Sonos Radio Player and TuneIn. At best I can find Works Service and a few other obscure BBC ones but not the main channels.

Any other work around? Sadly the ZP120s don't have a line in otherwise I would just plug in a Chromecast to them.

Short of spending thousands on new hardware I don't know how I can listen to BBC through the inbuilt speakers.

Short of spending thousands on new hardware I don’t know how I can listen to BBC through the inbuilt speakers.

What about buying the cheapest Sonos they do with airplay and adding that to your groups? Could you then airplay to the group (which would be both your older and new speaker?)

My alexa thingy is separate to the sonos unit as they are older so maybe that part of the issue.

Yes, that's the difference. BBC have removed their stations from TuneIn if they consider there's an alternative. So dropped for Amazon Echos, as you can use BBC Sounds instead. Unfortunately, that stops a Sonos working that you control via an Echo too. IFTTT is a hack for that.

A Sonos speaker with Alexa built-in still works though (plus you have Sonos Radio too). A bit baffled why @peekay can't get BBC Radio on his ZP120 setup though.

I can get bbc 6 on my Sonos using tunein and apple phone etc. I’m on the old Sonos 1 app.

@Jamze I'm equally baffled.

When searching BBC through TuneIn on Android all I get is BBC World Service and an odd assortment of eight UK regional stations (Oxford, Tees, Sussex, Wiltshire, West Midlands, Essex, Newcastle and Somerset).

@peekay OK. But what about if you search from the Sonos app? On mine (which is the s2 one), I hit search, pick the 'stations' category at the top, and they pop up. Once you find them, you can add them to your Sonos favourites.

Or doesn't the s1 app have them?

@peekay You should contact Sonos Customer support.  They can be pretty helpful.