As we head into the craziest holiday shopping weekend of the year, we wanted to give the Droid Life community a chance to start things off with a bang, a melodic bang. The folks at SONOS are running a holiday promotion this year that involves a Wireless HiFi Bundle for $299. The bundle includes a PLAY:3 speaker and Bridge. It’s like the ultimate starter kit for anyone who has been needing a reason to turn their house into a wireless musical haven. The bundle will be available at Target, Best Buy, Amazon and Sonos.com. 

Not familiar with SONOS? We actually reviewed a SONOS system a couple of years ago and loved every minute of it. In fact, since that review, I’ve purchased multiple SONOS products to help round out my house’s wireless HiFi system.

The idea is simple – beautifully designed speakers that put out incredible sound, yet are easily manageable over your home wireless network. The PLAY:3 is the smaller of the speakers that SONOS offers, but that doesn’t mean it won’t pack a punch. The Bridge is the device that connects everything from your phone to your speaker to your other speaker. And speaking of phones (tablets too), SONOS has one of the better Android apps you’ll find anywhere for controlling it all.

Beyond your home music collection, SONOS has tie-ins with Pandora, Spotify, Rhapsody, Last.fm, iHeartRadio and more. They claim that you can “listen to all the music in the world” through SONOS, and they may be right.

So, who wants to win a bundle?

Contest

Update: We have our winner and they have been emailed. Thanks to everyone who entered!

Prize:  1 (one) SONOS Wireless Bundle which includes a PLAY:3 and BRIDGE.

How to enter:

1.  Follow @droid_life and @Sonos on Twitter.
2.  In the comments, list out your top 5 albums of all time.
3.  Also, would love to hear which music services are your favorites. (Spotify, Pandora, etc.)

Winner:

A winner will be randomly chosen on Wednesday, November 21, at 12:00PM Pacific.

Contest: Win the Ultimate Gift of Music – a SONOS Wireless HiFi Bundle! (Update: Winner Picked) is a post from: Droid Life

Sonos is one of those tech companies that seems to get it. When they made their initial push into your living rooms, they put their Hi-Fi sound systems into the hands of as many tech minds as possible to help spread the word. It seems to have paid off, because their products have seemingly blown up over the last year. But rather than ignore them like so many other companies and focus on new goods, they continue to work on improvements that will benefit current customers. While the speakers themselves can’t really be updated once a customer purchase them, they are choosing to focus on the software used to run them.

The latest example is the update for the Sonos Controller that came out today on Android, iPhone and iPad. For Android, they released a tablet-optimized version, that when in landscape, mimics the desktop version. It’s as fully-featured an app as you’ll find anywhere. It also looks beautiful now that they have included much larger album art pictures. For the iPad version has even been built to take advantage of the new retina display. Keep at it, Sonos.

Play Link

Sonos for Android Receives Update, Optimized for Tablet Use is a post from: Droid Life

The Sonos Controller app for Android found itself a much needed update this morning, bringing it to version 3.6. Included in the update is support for more tablets like the Kindle Fire, more Spotify features (new releases and top tracks), and the addition of Slacker Radio to its music services.

If you own any of their HiFi speaker systems, be sure to update the software on all of your portable devices, but on your PC and Macs as well.

Our Sonos review.  

SONOS ADDS MORE CONTROL AND MORE MUSIC TO WIRELESS HiFi SYSTEM

Sonos Now Offering Android Tablet Support, Slacker Radio in US and Canada, and New Spotify Features

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – November 30, 2011 – Sonos, Inc., the leading manufacturer of wireless music systems, today announced Sonos System Software 3.6, an innovative update that adds more control and more music to the Sonos Wireless HiFi experience. This free software is available to all Sonos customers via a one button update to their system.

“Today’s feature update reaffirms our commitment to persistently innovate so that Sonos users have the ultimate music experience in every room of the home,” said John MacFarlane, founder and CEO, Sonos, Inc. “Endless music and effortless control are what will keep us as the gold standard for listening out loud in the home.”

The free Sonos Controller for Android now supports Android® tablets as well as smartphones, letting you control Sonos from any Android device.  With Sonos, you can stream all the music on earth wirelessly in every room, and now control it wirelessly on a larger screen with any Android tablet running 2.2 or higher, including the Kindle Fire, HTC Flyer™, Motorola Xoom™, Samsung Galaxy Tab™, Sony Tablet S™, and many others.  Plus, Sonos Controller for Android includes new enhancements such as alarms, music library management and Twitter support for Android smartphones and tablets alike.  Download it from Android Market.

Slacker® Radio is now available as a free music service on Sonos in the United States and Canada.  With Slacker on Sonos you can tune in for free to over 150 expert-programmed stations and create unlimited custom stations from a library of millions of songs. You can even read artist biographies as you listen in every room. Upgrade to Slacker Radio Plus for an ad-free experience or Slacker Premium Radio for even more features like on-demand access to millions of songs, albums and artists and the ability to create custom playlists. Subscribers can also fully personalize their ESPN Radio stations with their favorite shows, plus team and sports updates.  To register or learn more about Slacker on Sonos, please visit slacker.com/Sonos.

With Sonos 3.6 software, Sonos is also introducing Sonos Labs, a new Beta environment where customers will be able to test out music services before they’re officially launched on Sonos.  New music services will be added to Sonos Labs on an ongoing basis.  Media and music service developers can learn more about becoming a Sonos Labs music partner at http://musicpartners.sonos.com.
Sonos 3.6 also includes improved Spotify® integration on Sonos, giving Spotify fans on Sonos access to their Spotify Inbox and ability to play music from Spotify’s new releases and top tracks.

Other features of Sonos 3.6 include:
•        AAC+ codec support
•        More local language support with Danish and Norwegian

Full details of Sonos 3.6 software can be found here: http://www.sonos.com/support/software_updates/.

The Sonos Wireless HiFi System makes it extremely simple to bring a world of music to any room of any home. Forbes recently said “it really is the best way I’ve ever found to play music.”  The Boston Herald recently claimed “If you’re ready to completely make the switch to digital music, the new Sonos PLAY:3 may be the answer for a home stereo system in the age of streaming.”  For more information about Sonos or to demo it at an authorized Sonos dealer near you, please visit sonos.com/storelocator or call 877.80.SONOS.

About Sonos, Inc.
Founded in 2002, Sonos is the leading manufacturer of wireless music systems, With Sonos you can stream all the music on earth, wirelessly, in any room and control it with your Android® smartphone or tablet, iPhone®, or iPad®. In addition to playing your personal digital music collection, The Sonos Wireless HiFi System gives you access to millions of songs and thousands of radio stations by partnering with AUPEO!, Deezer™, iheartradio™, JUKE, Last.fm™, MOG, Pandora®, Rdio®, Rhapsody®, SiriusXM® Internet Radio, Slacker® Radio, Spotify®, Stitcher SmartRadio™, TuneIn®, Wolfgang’s Vault®, and more. The award-winning system is available at more than 11,000 retailers in over 65 countries worldwide; or direct from Sonos at www.sonos.com.  Sonos is a privately-held company, headquartered in Santa Barbara, CA with offices in Cambridge, MA, Hilversum, Netherlands, Beijing and Shenzen, China, and Penang, Malaysia.

Sonos Controller For Android Receives Update: Better Tablet Support, More Spotify Features, and Slacker Radio Included is a post from: Droid Life

The folks at Sonos have been doing a great job at keeping up support for the Android app that powers all of their wireless HiFi systems.  Today, they introduced the next version of their controller app (Android only) to include support for SD installs and other languages, but the biggest piece has to do with the fact that it supports their brand new PLAY:3 speaker unit.

This new all-in-one unit produces all of the same “Big Sonos sound” that we saw in our review of their PLAY:5 units (formerly S5), only in a smaller package.  Looks like they are weighing in at $299, making it a little easier to convince that special someone in your life that you need one.  You can find out more at the links and video below.  

Market Link | More info on the new PLAY:3

Click here to view the embedded video.

______________________________________________________

FORGET EVERYTHING YOU’VE HEARD BEFORE:

INTRODUCING THE SONOS PLAY:3

Stream all the music on earth wirelessly in any room

Big Sonos sound in a compact size

Control wirelessly with Android smartphone, iPhone, iPad

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – July 20, 2011 – Sonos, Inc., the leading manufacturer of wireless music systems, today introduced the SONOS PLAY:3, the compact, all-in-one Sonos player with wall-to-wall HiFi sound.  Start with one PLAY:3 in any room and stream all the music on earth.  Expand wirelessly over time – bringing a world of music to every room of the home.  Plus, wirelessly control PLAY:3 and all your music from anywhere via free Sonos Controller Apps for Android®, iPhone® and iPad®. PLAY:3 is ideal for any room where you want music and versatile enough to work both vertically and horizontally.  PLAY:3 is available globally beginning today for $299 at Sonos retailers and at sonos.com.  To rock the PLAY:3 demo, check out: sonos.com/PLAY3.

“PLAY:3 gives music fans an incredibly easy way to listen to all the music on earth,” said John MacFarlane, CEO, Sonos, Inc. “PLAY:3’s innovative design sets a new bar for Hi Fidelity audio in a compact package and makes it simple to amplify the music experience in any room of the home.”

PLAY:3 is connected to the Internet, giving you access to unlimited music.  Play your entire digital music library, including iTunes® stored on any computer or Network Attached storage, such as an Apple Time Capsule.  Find and play over 100,000 radio stations, shows and podcasts for free.  Plus, Sonos works seamlessly with the most popular music streaming services to provide access to millions of songs and stations from AUPEO, iheartradio, Last.fm, MOG, Napster®, Pandora®, Rdio®, Rhapsody®, SiriusXM Internet Radio, Spotify, Stitcher SmartRadio™, TuneIn, Wolfgang’s Vault, and more.

PLAY:3 is simple to set up, easy to expand and 100% compatible with all other Sonos products. Just plug in the PLAY:3 wherever you want music. One Sonos player or SONOS BRIDGE (sold separately) must be connected to your router, then all other Sonos players will work wirelessly. When you’re ready to play more music in more rooms, just add another PLAY:3.

When it comes to controlling the music and PLAY:3, you can use free Sonos Controller Apps for Android, iPhone and iPad. With your smartphone or tablet in hand, you can wirelessly search for songs and stations, choose the music and control the volume in as many rooms as you like.  PLAY:3 also includes the free Sonos Controller for Mac or PC. Or you can let everyone in the house share the control with the dedicatedSONOS CONTROL (sold separately).

Other features of PLAY:3 include:

Sonos HiFi sound: 3 integrated speakers and 3 dedicated digital amplifiers provide crystal-clear, wall-to-wall sound.

Innovative, smart-directional design: Internal sensor detects if the speaker is positioned vertically or horizontally and modifies the speaker’s output to ensure clean, balanced, room-filing sound in any position.

Multi-room: Put several PLAY:3s around your home and enjoy perfectly synchronized all-over-your-home music.

Stereo pairing: Add two PLAY:3s to the same room and enjoy even bigger sound with each playing a dedicated Left or Right channel.

PLAY:3’s innovative design sets a new bar for Hi Fidelity audio in a compact package.  PLAY:3 features three Class-D digital amplifiers and three drivers – one tweeter and two 3” mid-range.  One passive, rear-firing bass radiator for rich sound.  The cabinet features volume and mute control.   PLAY:3 dimensions are 5.2 x 10.5 x 6.3 in. (132 x 268 x 160 mm)/ 5.7 lb (2.6 kg).  Full PLAY:3 specifications and details can be found atwww.sonos.com/PLAY3.

In other news today, Sonos makes it even easier and more affordable to get started with Sonos.  Sonos has lowered the suggested retail price of the BRIDGE to $49. BRIDGE connects directly to your router and initiates SonosNet, the world’s most robust wireless music network. This gives you the freedom to place the PLAY:3, or any other Sonos players, anywhere in your home.

Additionally, today’s launch features an update to Sonos Software.  Along with support for PLAY:3, Sonos Software v3.5 adds several improvements to the Sonos Controller for Android, including the option to install the app to SD cards and localization in Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, and Swedish.

For more information about Sonos or to locate an authorized Sonos dealer in your area, please visit www.sonos.com or call 877.80.SONOS.

About Sonos, Inc.

Founded in 2003, Sonos is the leading manufacturer of wireless music systems. The Sonos Wireless HiFi System lets you stream all the music on earth wirelessly in every room of your home with control from your Android smartphone, iPhone, or iPad.  In addition to playing your personal digital music collection, Sonos gives you access to millions of songs and thousands of radio stations by partnering with AUPEO, Deezer, iheartradio, Last.fm, MOG, Napster®, Pandora®, Rdio®, Rhapsody®, SiriusXM Internet Radio, Spotify, Stitcher SmartRadio™, TuneIn, Wolfgang’s Vault, and more. The award-winning Sonos Wireless HiFi System is available at more than 6000 retailers in over 65 countries worldwide; or direct from Sonos at www.sonos.com.  Sonos is a privately-held company, headquartered in Santa Barbara, CA with offices in Cambridge, MA, Hilversum, Netherlands, Shenzen, China, and Penang, Malaysia.
© 2004-2011 Sonos Inc. All rights reserved.  SONOS and all other Sonos product names and slogans are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sonos, Inc. SONOS Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off.  iPhone®, iPod touch®, iPad® and iTunes® are trademarks of Apple Inc. Android® is a trademark of Google Inc. All other products and services may be trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.

Sonos Updates Android Controller, Releases New PLAY:3 Speaker System is a post from: Droid Life

The folks at Sonos are doing everything they can to make sure you are all aware of their new Sonos Controller app on Android and how it can turn your wireless home sound system into something really special.  The app is now available for free and can power your entire Sonos setup from any room in your house as long as you are connected to your WiFi network.  Multi-room control is something I hadn’t imagined before receiving a bundle of products from Sonos, but I’m now trying to imagine how I could ever live without it.  

Background.  A couple of weeks back, Sonos sent out one of their wireless home system bundles to us which includes two S5 units and a ZoneBridge, so that we could set up a multi-room system and give their new app a proper run-through and share our thoughts on it.  A Sonos S5 is a high performance, all-in-one, 5-speaker music system (2 tweeters, 2 mid-ranges and 1 subwoofer) that can be paired with multiple units, giving your house a simply brilliant sound setup.  A ZoneBridge is the wireless connector between S5s, allowing you to wirelessly power multiple devices from various rooms that you may not have network access to.  The entire bundle can be purchased together at their site for $798.

Setup.  The set up for this bundle was a breeze.  After opening each box and placing each piece in the room I desired, all I had to do was install some quick software on my PC, click a couple of buttons and start jammin’.  I placed one S5 in my office, the other in my living room, and the ZoneBridge next to my wireless router.

Sound.  Since I’m no audiophile, and am not about to act like one, I’ll just say this:  these S5s are insanely crisp and clear.  In fact, they will be the go-to music option for my entire house for the foreseeable future.  Part of that has to do with the amount of control I can have over it, but most of it has to do with the sound quality.  I would be surprised if anyone wasn’t impressed by these.  And I’d attempt to go into detail on how amazing they are, but this is really about the app isn’t it?

Sonos Controller on Android.  So the app…how does it work?  Let’s jump into some visuals.

Actually, the first thing you’ll set up is the PC software which gives you ultimate control.  As you’ll see in the picture below, you can control the different “Zones” you have set up individually or together; my two “Zones” are the rooms I have my two S5s set up in.

Once you have that set up though, it’s time to get the app up and going.  After downloading it from the market, I pressed a couple of connection buttons and the entire system was then accessible from my phone.  I had complete control over both “Zones” in almost the exact same way that I did from a PC.  You can set up one Zone to play from Pandora and the other to play from your music library, both from the same service, or even just use 1 at a time and turn the rest off.

And as I mentioned earlier, you have access to services like Pandora, but you also get iheartradio, Last.fm, Napster, Rdio and the list goes on.  You can view your own library once you’ve allowed Sonos access, but can also turn on Radio stations from across the country or even shrink the list down to your local favorites.

You can set up a queue of your favorite music for parties, adjust the volume level in each room, and do things like browsing by artist.

Overall.  It’s hard to deny that this is one of the most impressive Android apps to date. No force closes, was a breeze to set up, it has an incredibly polished UI, has the full functionality that is seen on the PC controller, and is more-than user friendly.  Pair the Controller with a set of S5s as an entire system and you have a musical force to be reckoned with.  Assuming you can afford it all that is.  This is definitely not meant for the average music lover.  Well, I shouldn’t say that.  The system will sound amazing to everyone, but as a bundle for $798, we can see it not necessarily matching up to everyone’s budget.

So I’ll say this – if multi-room high-performance music is something of interest, I highly suggest that you stop by a local high-end music store or even a Best Buy to hear a Sonos system for yourself.  You definitely won’t be disappointed with the app, but we all have different ears, don’t we?

S5 Info | ZoneBridge Info | Sonos Store | App Download

Review: Sonos Controller on Android is a post from: Droid Life

If you are a music lover and happen to own a Sonos wireless music player like the S5, then news of a controller app for your Android device should make your day.  Sonos produces award winning wireless music systems for your home and their new app will allow you to control it from anywhere in your house using your phone.  The app brings you access to internet radio stations, services like Pandora or Spotify, and of course, lets you stream your entire music library.

The app will be officially announced next week at MWC and available for free in the Android Market by late March.  A video intro is waiting for you after the break.  

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sonos Announces Android App to Control Your Wireless Home Music System is a post from: Droid Life