- April 20, 2015
Today I received an update to my Sonos system. Great things abound.
Included in this release is Sonos access to Last.fm, Pandora and 1000’s of radio stations and ‘shows’ from around the world.
Just messing around I entered West Chester, Ohio and got a list of all the local radio stations. Of course you can enter any city you wish. Very cool.
Sonos®, Inc., the leading developer of wireless multi-room music systems for the home, today released Sonos System Software 2.7. Sonos 2.7 delivers a world of music to every room of the house-free of charge-by providing instant, computer-free access to Last.fm and Pandora® personalized radio services, plus more than 15,000 radio stations and shows via Sonos Radio.
The system now provides music from both subscription-based services (Napster®, Rhapsody® and SIRIUS®) and free music services (Last.fm, Pandora and Sonos Radio) right out of the box.
All of these services stream music directly from the Internet to the house, so they work even when the computer is turned off – no need to download songs or have a server running.
Sonos’ new Radio guide, powered by RadioTime, lets you tune in to more than 15,000 free Internet radio stations, radio shows and more. You can browse easily for both local and international stations or use Search to find a specific station, show or host. When you find what you want, simply add it to Favorites for your future listening.
Last.fm on Sonos is a free global music service that lets you discover, play and share new songs and artists based on your unique musical tastes - right from any Sonos Controller. After an account is created on Last.fm, Sonos customers can enjoy continuous music streaming all over the house. Simply enter the name of a favorite artist or tag keywords and Last.fm’s unique recommendation system instantly creates a personalized radio station featuring music you’re sure to love. Last.fm on
Sonos also features the capability to scrobble all the music you play on your Sonos Multi-Room Music System. Every song you listen to on Sonos - whether it’s from your personal music library or a music service like Napster®, Rhapsody®, Pandora®, and of course, Last.fm - is automatically added to your personal music profile. This allows Last.fm to customize your music recommendations and open the doors to even more music discovery, in more rooms of the house.
Pandora, the popular personal radio service is now available for free on Sonos. After creating a free account on Pandora.com, Pandora lets you create and play up to 100 radio stations based on your favorite songs or artists. Using Pandora’s Music Genome Project®, Pandora’s highly-trained musicians analyze songs, one at a time, using close to 400 musical traits including melody, harmony, instrumentation, rhythm, vocals, lyrics, and more to automatically build a station with songs that share interesting musical similarities. With a Sonos Controller in hand, you can rate the music you hear to further refine the station’s playlist on the fly. Play the same Pandora radio station in each room, perfectly synchronized; or, play different stations in different rooms to fit the mood.
Other new features of Sonos System Software 2.7 include:
• Updated Rhapsody support with improved sound quality. Rhapsody now streams at 192 MP3 (versus 128 kbps WMA previously).
• Support for RTSP streaming protocol which allows for expanded Internet Radio coverage.