You read that and think they're going to tunnel into your network and break your speakers? To me this is clearly lawyer CYA language to ensure that when Spotify changes their API and Sonos only supports it in a future software update, you will have been warned.
And they might. Which would be more frustrating to a user - their Sonos turning into regular speakers, or arbitrarily and randomly not functioning as expected?
Imagine the difference between your phone suddenly bricking itself, or random refusing to dial certain numbers.
That's a good point, there must be a way to block access from these devices to the Sonos mothership. I have seen zero software improvement in the few years I owned my Sonos set, so I can't say that I would miss much.
Run Squeezelite on multiple Raspberry Pis paired with decent USB audio adapters (Berhinger UCA222 - decent analog and also optical out). Music served from a PC using the standard Logitech Media Server software, playback controlled with either the standard web interface or the Squeezer android app.
Plug the RPis into decent stereos (not a powered speaker unless you are some kind of rabid animal) and you've got a good setup that can be controlled from anywhere in the house. Multiple stereos can playback in sync and be controlled from the same UI.
I second this. I've been using various squeezebox devices (and software players) for years, for both listening to my own music collection as well as streaming (spotify mostly). The squeezebox server (i.e the core software that various clients can connect to) has been open-sourced, and is still actively developed/updated. There are also open-source software clients readily available.
Great advice. I've had squeezeboxes since the SB1 in 2003, and recently got a Hifiberry amp running Squeezelite. It's as minimal as it gets -- power brick, RPi + amp in a custom case, and speakers. The class D amp is surprisingly pleasant.
A few of them look familiar, but I don't use that stuff. My advice was given with someone with a digital music collection in mind. Spotify, for example, was available on the Squeezebox Touch (and not the earlier Squeezebox Classic) but I don't know how tricky it would be to make it work with Squeezelite.
Thanks, I know someone who can use this. I also saw a year or two ago some guy was selling some product or service or something aimed at supporting the older hardware with newer streaming services. I just don't generally use the streaming stuff.
What's the latency like? I've got some Qualcomm Allcast gear that seems to do sync properly with no perceptible delay, but it's the only one I've heard that does it properly.
An appropriately-loud sound system that fills the whole house with music. I can hear my Bose radio throughout the entire apartment, without digital interference because everything is wired.