About Sonos Controllers

by Volker Weber

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Sonos offers their own controller in a stylish little aluminum shell. It works really well, but it is kind of expensive. Not so much because Sonos would make a huge profit, but because they do not enjoy economies of scale. No matter what, Sonos could never make a controller at the same price point as Apple hits for its iPods.

Since Sonos wants to make their players affordable to people who would not want to buy the Sonos hardware controllers, they also provide a free software for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. You bring the hardware, Sonos provides the software. And then there are the desktop controllers for Mac and PC.

So, what's next?

I don't have any inside knowledge, and if, I could not share with you. If you look at what positions Sonos is hiring, then an Android controller is quite likely. If it were imminent though, I'd probably have seen a beta. Then what about other platforms? Blackberry? Support nightmare due to draconian security policies. Windows Phone 7? Too early. Symbian? Well, well, well.

Here is what I would do, if I had to plan for the future.

Did you notice that all 3rd party efforts hit a wall, when it comes to music services on the Sonos platform? That is due to the fact that Sonos has some proprietary information they cannot share with you. Otherwise the music services would not be available on Sonos.

I would encapsulate that knowledge in binary libraries for as many platforms as possible and then license them for free to interested parties. I would also supply some artwork Sonos is using in their own controllers. Good developers are often lousy designers, and we want pretty controllers, don't we?

These controllers aren't exactly rocket science, but Sonos has to test them against all existing hardware and provide translations into all supported languages. 3rd party efforts could be a bit more relaxed under the release early, release often paradigm. Sonos does not do that. They hardly ever have to publish a bug fix. They always test until it just works.

Comments

Word.

But why a binary library? Are there secrets stored on the controlling device or only on the zone players?

If the latter, it "should be possible" (*) to put up a semi-official controller protocol description wiki at Sonos and let others build those libraries for any language they like.

(* naive presumption.)

Hanno Zulla, 2010-10-27

I am waiting for usability improvements of the controller software. On my wish list are:
- user specific favorites, i.e. two clicks to any favorite, first select user, second select an icon for your favorite folder, radio station, tag radio... etc.
-autoplay or pause instead of a mute button
- simple way to listen to radio stations / podcasts that are not listed by radiotime.com

My 2,5-year old can select and operate games on the iPhone, on a Sonos controller even 5 or 6 year old kids will have a problem to find their favorites. Binary libraries for 3rd parties might solve theses feature requests, but I think Sonos could very well accomplish this too.

My wish list for the hardware:
- less energy consumption in standby
- no humming when muted (2 out of 3 S5 hum when muted)
- small devices with simple integrated controller that could serve as speakers for kitchen, bathroom or as a radio clock replacement (in order to achieve affordable prices some devices even mono with just one speaker)

Felix Binsack, 2010-10-27

Jammern auf hohem Niveau. :-)

Volker Weber, 2010-10-27

Ja, so ist das im Premium Segment ;-)

Felix Binsack, 2010-10-27

Felix hat vollkommen recht, ein im S5 integrierter Controller - das wär was feines

Olaf Boerner, 2010-10-28

I think it's already public knowledge that an Android controller is on the way but I believe it got delayed whilst we waited for the iPad Controller to get out the door.

Your suggestion, re: platform support, is a good one and I believe you're not alone in that thought :O)

Ben Rose, 2010-10-29

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