Sonos has introduced the Sonos Controller for iPhone as a free download on the iTunes App Store. Music lovers with an iPhone 3G, iPhone or iPod touch can now control the award-winning Sonos Multi-Room Music System all from their favorite portable device. A video demonstration of the free Sonos Controller for iPhone is available at www.sonos.com/iphone.
Sonos wirelessly plays all the music you want, all over your house, providing an unparalleled multi-room music experience. With Sonos ZonePlayers connected wirelessly in the rooms of your choice and a Sonos Controller for iPhone in hand, you can find and play the music you want with ease. Simply pick a room, pick a song and hit play. Play the same song in every room in perfect synchronization, or play different songs in every room.
By combining Sonos’ industry-leading multi-room control user interface with the iPhone’s large display and touch-screen technology, the Sonos Controller for iPhone lets you control the entire Sonos system and a world of music at the touch of a finger. The Sonos user experience allows you to quickly link and unlink rooms, without interrupting music playback. Select, Play, Pause, and Skip music in any room. Search for your favorite artists and songs by typing on the touch screen. Browse your collection by pointing and flicking. Change the volume in a single room, or in all your rooms at once, all from the Sonos Controller for iPhone.
The Sonos Controller for iPhone is the only iPhone Controller app that provides multi-room music control for the entire house and direct access to an infinite world of music including Last.fm, Napster, Pandora, Rhapsody, SIRIUS Internet Radio, 15,000 plus radio stations, shows and more. Plus, the Sonos Controller for iPhone gives music lovers control over their entire music collection located on any computer on their home network, a Network Attached Storage (NAS) drive and even an Apple Time Capsule. And, Sonos is the only multi-room music system that doesn’t require you to have your computer on or a piece of server software on the network to play music all over the home – just walk into your house, reach into your pocket, grab your iPhone, and turn on the music.
“The Sonos Controller for iPhone is another example of Sonos offering features and applications that make the system better, at no cost to our current or future customers,” said John MacFarlane, CEO, Sonos, Inc., in the press release. “Today’s announcement enables all of our customers to use a great personal product from Apple to control the world’s best multi-room music system.”
Sonos was the first multi-room music system to deliver wireless handheld control and today offers more ways to control music throughout the home than any other multi-room product on the market—the handheld Sonos Controller CR100, Sonos Desktop Controller for PC and Mac and now the Sonos Controller for iPhone. You can mix and match Controllers for the ultimate in convenience and control.
The Sonos Controller for iPhone requires an iPhone or iPod touch and at least one Sonos ZonePlayer to operate. The Sonos Controller for iPhone utilizes your existing home WiFi network to communicate to the Sonos Multi-Room Music System. iPhone, iPod touch, and Sonos ZonePlayers are sold separately. The Sonos Controller for iPhone is currently available in English only. Additional requirements include Sonos 2.7 System Software and iPhone 2.0 Software. The Sonos Controller for iPhone is compatible with all generations of Sonos hardware.
In conjunction with the new Sonos Controller for iPhone, today Sonos introduced Sonos Software 2.7. The new feature update, which is free to all Sonos customers, includes brand new support for a suite of music content including free access to more than 15,000 radio stations and podcasts from around the world, Last.fm and Pandora.
Note: Sonos Multi-Room Music System is not able to support AAC files with iTunes Fairplay Digital Rights Management.
Source: Sonos, Inc.
I just moved into a big house. This gives me one more reason to consider the Sonos system. Too bad that DRM has to come back to bit us again.
Yea me to. I just moved into a nine bedroom place and I’ll get great use of this feature, even by the pool and tennis courts.
Yeah, this works great in the 12 square foot house I just moved into……..wait……….
Don’t need this. Use Apple Airport Express with iTunes to connect to ANY whole house audio system. Control iTunes via your iPhone.
BayouGator: Don’t need this. Use Apple Airport Express with iTunes to connect to ANY whole house audio system. Control iTunes via your iPhone.
Exactly.
You can even switch on and off individual speaker sets connected to different Airport Express modules in the house though the iPhone or iPod Touch.
And you can control multiple iTunes instances from the iPhone or the iPod Touch, for each selecting from where to play to where.
Apple already has a rather complete solution there, and it works amazingly well.
Although, this all sounds quite good, it’s a solution looking for a problem.
I can’t think of anything this system does, that can’t be done with Apple hardware and software, for less cost!
In fact, the opposite is true, as Sonos isn’t compatible with Fair Play.
Yeah, I just moved into an 18-bedroom house, and I think this will just fit the bill. I wish it wasn’t so expensive, though.
So what, Next week, I’m moving into a 27 BR house with ski lift, water park, zoo, etc.
My house is just one big bedroom the size of two football fields.
You are not comparing apples to apples (sorry). There are definite advantages to the SONOS System over an Airport Express/iTunes set-up…it really depends upon your budget and what you want to achieve! One is entry level, and the other is more professional/audiophile.
If you want to control a pair of powered bookshelf speakers remotely (or multiple “zones”) via your iPod Touch or iPhone and you want to keep your costs down, then using an Airport Express for each “zone” works. You give up treble and bass control, precise balance, analog input, etc. You also are limited to powered speakers (unless you invest in quality powered speakers, or pipe it into a whole-house system, but that kind of defeats your cost savings). But, it gets you in the game, and it does the job.
If you are looking to do a more custom installation (in-wall speakers, sub-woofers, analog input, etc.) Then for the money, SONOS has the best system. The quality of the system and its software is as close as you can be to an Apple product without being Apple. You can start with several sets of bookshelf (or floor) speakers and move up into a built-in installation in a snap. After that, you can get clever and run the digital audio through a DA convertor (for better sound), add an amp for greater output, sub-woofers, etc. You can also add controllers (up to 32) that can simultaneously control the entire system. Or you can use your iPod Touch, or iPhone, or any combination of controller. You are limited to 32 zones, but most wired systems are usually limited to less than that. I also like the fact that the SONO system doesn’t complete for bandwidth with your wifi setup. For whole-house, music integration, the SONOS system simply can’t be beat.
For Example; the ZonePlayer 120’s are powered, can handle two sets of discrete, non-powered speakers, have 2 analog inputs, 2 ethernet ports, and a sub-woofer jack. An Airport Express handles one set of powered speakers (I prefer Audioengine 5’s for powered speakers, plus they have an AE jack on the back) and no subwoofer.
The CR100 Controller is very “iPod” like in it’s function (scroll wheel, beautiful color screen, album/artist/genre selection, very easy to use). What sets it apart from using iTunes/iPod Touch/iPhone control is it’s ability to mash-up all of your digital music in one complete listing. Selecting music from multiple drives (Mac/PC/network drive) or inputs (CD/TV/DVD/etc) is seamless. I might play one selection that is coming from my MacPro server, followed by another selection from my daughters networked MacBook, followed by one from my NAS drive. The user creates a playlist from multiple sources that are invisible to them, as they are all combined in one huge library. Controlling multiple selections within zones and different volumes within zones is easy and straightforward.
The SONOS system is also by far EASIER to set up than an Airport Express system. By the time you run through the Airport Utility to set up the AE (normally very quick, sometimes frustrating when the utility does not see the AE) I can have the SONOS on-line and playing digital music. Like I said, it is almost “Mac-like” in its function, plug it in, it senses the network, answer a couple of questions, point it towards music (multiple sources)…and viola! Whole-house music.
This is the difference between entry-level (Airport Express) and audiophile (SONOS). I agree that the SONOS System is an investment, but to come close to the functionality ( you can’t) and quality of sound, you spend just about as much for the Airport Express set-up without the seamlessness and ease of use of the SONOS.
I too, wasn’t a believer. I have used Airport Express in the past for iTunes integration by using multiple Audioengine 5’s w/Airports and also by dumping the output from iTunes into a whole-house system and controlling the volume via individual wall volume controls in all of the rooms (zones). After the debut of the SONOS system, and researching them for a long time, I have found that AE’s for a whole-house installation is not only very cumbersome and messy, it is just downright primitive. When you are at anything slightly above an entry-level installation, Airport Express just can’t complete on features and flexibility.
Disclosure: I am a SONOS reseller AND an Apple Authorized Service Provider and long-time Mac fanboy.
TriggerCat: You are not comparing apples to apples (sorry). There are definite advantages to the SONOS System over an Airport Express/iTunes set-up…it really depends upon your budget and what you want to achieve! One is entry level, and the other is more professional/audiophile.
There is a lot of mythology in audiophile circles. probably even more so in the digital age than in earlier times…
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TriggerCat: If you want to control a pair of powered bookshelf speakers remotely (or multiple “zones”) via your iPod Touch or iPhone and you want to keep your costs down, then using an Airport Express for each “zone” works. You give up treble and bass control, precise balance, analog input, etc.
What business does any “audiophile” have with crude treble and bass controls? I haven’t touched mine after disabling them on my amplifier. If you really care about frequency response, install a decent DSP directly before the amplifier which is calibrated for the speakers and the room they’re installed in.
And that can be done just as well with an AirportExpress. It even has a digital output to avoid analog losses on the way.
As far as I’m aware, AirportExpress uses lossless compression for transmission and thus should present exact CD quality on its optical outputs (if the tracks themselves are encoded losslessly themselves, of course).
iTunes automatically compensates latencies between all speakers connected either directly or indirectly, so parallel playback even with speakers directly hooked to the Mac and to a wirelessly connected AirportExpress will remain in sync.
For a “quick and painless” setup, Apple seems to have done their homework pretty well, I’d say.
TriggerCat: You also are limited to powered speakers (unless you invest in quality powered speakers, or pipe it into a whole-house system, but that kind of defeats your cost savings). But, it gets you in the game, and it does the job.
It does, and if you’re looking for a multi-room setup, powered speakers will always be in play anyway in some form, whether built into the speakers or powered by amps and optionally sound processors hooked to the distribution node (such as AirportExpress).
TriggerCat: If you are looking to do a more custom installation (in-wall speakers, sub-woofers, analog input, etc.) Then for the money, SONOS has the best system. The quality of the system and its software is as close as you can be to an Apple product without being Apple.
Do they play FairPlay-protected tracks? It’s a diminishing issue with the waning of the DRM problem, but for many people it’s still a factor.
TriggerCat: You can start with several sets of bookshelf (or floor) speakers and move up into a built-in installation in a snap. After that, you can get clever and run the digital audio through a DA convertor (for better sound), add an amp for greater output, sub-woofers, etc.
You should be able to do all that just as well on the Apple side.
TriggerCat: You can also add controllers (up to 32) that can simultaneously control the entire system. Or you can use your iPod Touch, or iPhone, or any combination of controller.
Are there any limits to the number of iPods/iPhones to be used with iTunes? I’m not aware of such a limit.
TriggerCat: You are limited to 32 zones, but most wired systems are usually limited to less than that. I also like the fact that the SONO system doesn’t complete for bandwidth with your wifi setup.
AirportExpress has an Ethernet port. No competition for bandwidth there either, if a cable connection is feasible. It’s just a convenient option.
TriggerCat: For whole-house, music integration, the SONOS system simply can’t be beat.
I’m still waiting for anything that can’t be done with the Apple solution, as simple as that happens to be.
TriggerCat: For Example; the ZonePlayer 120’s are powered, can handle two sets of discrete, non-powered speakers, have 2 analog inputs, 2 ethernet ports, and a sub-woofer jack. An Airport Express handles one set of powered speakers (I prefer Audioengine 5’s for powered speakers, plus they have an AE jack on the back) and no subwoofer.
The ZonePlayer also costs about eight times as much as an AirportExpress, and it is so large and clunky that you could add a relatively fancy splitter/preamp to the AirportExpress without exceeding either cost or volume of the Sonos part.
TriggerCat: The CR100 Controller is very “iPod” like in it’s function (scroll wheel, beautiful color screen, album/artist/genre selection, very easy to use).
Clunky, inefficient use of space and volume. Definitely not pocket-sized. I would not lug that thing around if I could avoid it. An iPod Touch I can have in my shirt or pant pocket all the time without thinking about it. Plus it’s an independent music player, application platform, internet terminal and — in its iPhone incarnation — even a cellphone.
Sonos doesn’t seem to be doing a bad job there per se, they’re just a few curves behind the state of the art as defined by Apple right now.
TriggerCat: What sets it apart from using iTunes/iPod Touch/iPhone control is it’s ability to mash-up all of your digital music in one complete listing. Selecting music from multiple drives (Mac/PC/network drive) or inputs (CD/TV/DVD/etc) is seamless.
So it’s just the same as with iTunes, which does the exact same thing.
TriggerCat: I might play one selection that is coming from my MacPro server, followed by another selection from my daughters networked MacBook, followed by one from my NAS drive. The user creates a playlist from multiple sources that are invisible to them, as they are all combined in one huge library. Controlling multiple selections within zones and different volumes within zones is easy and straightforward.
Sounds exactly the same as with iTunes, controlled via an iPod Touch / iPhone.
TriggerCat: The SONOS system is also by far EASIER to set up than an Airport Express system. By the time you run through the Airport Utility to set up the AE (normally very quick, sometimes frustrating when the utility does not see the AE) I can have the SONOS on-line and playing digital music. Like I said, it is almost “Mac-like” in its function, plug it in, it senses the network, answer a couple of questions, point it towards music (multiple sources)…and viola! Whole-house music.
Five minutes saved on installation wouldn’t be worth it paying several times the price and then being saddled with a relatively clunky solution while Apple is simultaneously upgrading and developing its solution several technological generations ahead.
Sonos really looks as if they’re being left behind there.
TriggerCat: This is the difference between entry-level (Airport Express) and audiophile (SONOS). I agree that the SONOS System is an investment, but to come close to the functionality ( you can’t)
At least what you’ve described so far can all be matched by Apple, and then some.
TriggerCat: and quality of sound,
Lossless digital data is exactly identical to the (CD) original. That’s the “downside” of the digital age for self-appointed audiophiles: At least in the digital domain, even the cheapest chips will be exactly as good as divinely blessed and handcrafted gilded ones. Mathematical audio processing algorithms can make a difference again, but the actual chips are practically meaningless as long as audio data remains digital.
That changes only at the D/A converters — but you can use the most esoteric ones with an AirportExpress as well if you want (via optical digital connection). Sonos or Apple merely provide a transport medium for digital data in that case, and that can be as crude as you want as long as it gets the job done without affecting audio quality.
TriggerCat: you spend just about as much for the Airport Express set-up without the seamlessness and ease of use of the SONOS.
I’ve yet to see anything more intuitive than my iPod Touch controlling the iTunes incarnations on my Macs (you can even choose which one to play from, as well as to which speaker set(s) right from the touch screen).
TriggerCat: I too, wasn’t a believer. I have used Airport Express in the past for iTunes integration by using multiple Audioengine 5’s w/Airports and also by dumping the output from iTunes into a whole-house system and controlling the volume via individual wall volume controls in all of the rooms (zones). After the debut of the SONOS system, and researching them for a long time, I have found that AE’s for a whole-house installation is not only very cumbersome and messy, it is just downright primitive. When you are at anything slightly above an entry-level installation, Airport Express just can’t complete on features and flexibility.
As explained above you don’t seem to be up-to-date on the Apple side. I’m not saying it would in every possible way be superior to the Sonos solution, but for the massive price they don’t seem to provide any obvious advantage as far as I have seen so far.
TriggerCat: Disclosure: I am a SONOS reseller
Ooookay…!
Now that is an obvious incentive to prefer Sonos over Apple, at the massive prices they charge, including healthy margins for their resellers, I’d hope!
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TriggerCat: AND an Apple Authorized Service Provider and long-time Mac fanboy.
I obviously like much of what Apple is putting out, but in this case I simply can’t see what the advantage of the Sonos solution is supposed to be.
A few years ago? Certainly. Today? Not any more.