New Sonos System......What to expect next....?

[admin_exported]

Hi forum members,

What Hifi have announced a new Sonos platform out in 2011. There are talks of maybe a video streaming platform or even the ability to control devices that your Zoneplayer is connected too. [All speculation at the moment however]

What does anyone else want from their Sonos sytem?

One great thing about Sonos is that I am sure these new platforms will still integrate with existing Sonos Systems seamlessly - so dont panic sell yet []

 

[Clare Newsome]

News story here, for those that haven't read it yet.

There was no indication that the new hardware would include video support, by the way.

And yes, Sonos sees its products as an evolutionary family, so i'd expect backward compatibility in new kit.

 

[Anonymous]

I'd like to see a smaller self contained unit to go alongside the S5. Something a bit more portable like the Squeezebox Radio.

I'd also like an easier way of viewing the artist on a compilation album. The old cr100 controller was better in that it showed the artist on the top right of the screen when you highlighted a track.

 

[Lee H]

I'd like to be able to use my desktop PC as a zone. My router is in the living room along with 1 zone, the kitchen and the dining room make up the other 2.

 

[True Blue]

I would love a geniune app from Sonos for use on Android.

 

[The_Lhc]

True Blue:I would love a geniune app from Sonos for use on Android.

That will happen, should be this year, hopefully.

 

[Clare Newsome]

Yep - Android was very deliberately mentioned in my Sonos meet

 

[True Blue]

Hooray

 

[The_Lhc]

They were advertising for Android developers months ago, recent interview last year contained the quote "we want users to control their systems the way they want to" with the implication that they'd be supporting most "smart" platforms. I'd imagine the Windows 7 mobile controller won't be far behind, whether it'll arrive before the Android controller does is open to conjecture...

 

[Clare Newsome]

The big sticking point re Android for many manufacturers is waiting for the latest versions of the OS to become available. All the manufacturers releasing/upgrading tablets at the show were chomping at the bit to get version 2.3 (Honeycomb) with its tablet-optimised design....

 

[The_Lhc]

I thought version 3.0 (Gingerbread) was supposed to be the tablet optimised version?

 

[Anonymous]

As i understand it, Gingerbreak has been downgraded from 3 to 2.3 and Honeycomb is listed as 3.0. Honeycomb is customized for tablet use. This fragmentation is getting a little annoying now.

There has been a lot of discussion about apple's airplay and how it could be the death of sonos. I dont agree, If sonos offers airplay support this year, it could be one hell of a purchase. The ability to stream any form of audio to sonos would be great.

 

[Clare Newsome]

I agree the Android releases are getting confusing (as well as long overdue...)

And I wouldn't hold your breath re Apple AirPlay support from Sonos, as is covered off in our news story....

 

[Anonymous]

Hehe, Yep just read the source article.. Too bad.

Denon and Marantz are already offering airplay support as an upgrade to a number of devices. Wont be long until this comes standard. I just hope Sonos stays away from Video.

Sonos + WDTV Live + NAS has been a perfect combo for me.

 

[The_Lhc]

Nukzter:
Hehe, Yep just read the source article.. Too bad.
Denon and Marantz are already offering airplay support as an upgrade to a number of devices. Wont be long until this comes standard.

It might become the standard but if it doesn't work as well as Sonos what's the point of using it? Sonos listened to users bleating and gave them an iPod dock, WHF marked it down because it doesn't integrate as well with the rest of the Sonos system as a NAS would do (for example, although most of the issues with the dock are due to limitations with the iPod hardware, from what I understand of things), if adding Airplay makes the Sonos system less useful then there's no point.

Of course none of that will stop sales being taken away from Sonos by people who don't understand the added benefits of the system and just go for whatever has "Apple" written on the box...

 

[Anonymous]

Each system is going to have it's pros and cons. As much as love the Sonos system there are a few niggles which annoy me. The compliation artist listing, sorting artist names, and 'The' being counted in sorted to name some. I would hope somethings like these would be sorted along with major revamps/evolutions.

 

[Anonymous]

I must admit I find it a lot quicker to use than Apple TV. But the greatest thing for me is the reliability - never failed so far.

The thing that annoyed me most about the Apple TV was that it used my existing network so Music could sometimes be a bit slow, and in some cases - crash. I would go crazy when this happened

 

[Anonymous]

I would really like to understand what sonos are up to! but this post has simply confused me. Android this! Android that, hardwear change,video?

What's with the cryptic news headline. Sonos might be doing something! but what they cannot say! aye.

confused dot com or hype. somebody explain please.

 

[Clare Newsome]

OK, let's recap.

Sonos are going to introduce new hardware in 2011 - this much they would confirm to us. They mention new form factors, but nothing more.

They also plan to support both more music services as they become avaialble - to add to their support for Spotify, Napster etc - plus to add more interface options (including potentially one for Android-based portables) to add to their existing Apple iPhone/iPad apps.

That much is fact, but some have chosen to speculate further.

Make sense now?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks very much for your time Clare.

 

[The_Lhc]

The reason for the speculation, or hype, if you want to call it that, is that this briefest of interviews is more indication of what Sonos are planning to do than anything I've heard in 2 years of ownership. Sonos NEVER give any indication of what's in the pipeline, until it's ready to go to market, so this is pretty heady stuff, comparatively speaking...