Skip to main content

Sonos could soon be the soundtrack for your next shopping trip

Sonos has announced Sonos Pro, a new way for companies with multiple locations to manage all of their Sonos wireless speakers from a central, web-based command center. The software-as-a-service (SaaS) product has subscription pricing: each location you want to control costs $35 per month. It’s a U.S.-only service for now, with additional markets planned for the future.

Store manager using Sonos Pro to control a local speaker.
Sonos

The system is flexible, letting companies decide how much control over individual locations should be in the hands of their employees — all the way from full control to no control at all. The days of your local Kroger running its own quirky playlist could be over if that sort of thing goes against the brand’s standards for its in-store experience. Or, companies could decide that a local flavor is exactly what they want to promote and give their store managers a big influence on the music their customers hear.

The system also includes a feature called schedules, which is effectively an enhancement of the alarms option within regular Sonos home systems. Playlists or other music can be set to play at specific times of day, in specific locations, or even in specific zones within locations. As part of a subscription, companies will get access to “on-demand premium support from anywhere,” although no mention was made of the support hours that customers can expect.

Example of a Sonos Pro dashboard.
Sonos

In addition to providing an intuitive dashboard that lets companies see the exact state of each Sonos speaker in each location, Sonos Pro also provides subscribers with a new way to steer clear of the potential licensing headaches that could result from using a personal Apple Music or Amazon Music account in a store. It’s called Sonos Backgrounds, a commercially licensed music service featuring a range of music from independent artists.

When Digital Trends asked if Sonos Pro users would still be able to play music from non-commercially licensed subscription music services if they chose, we were told that Sonos planned to take an active role in educating its customers about the appropriateness of such a decision, but that it would not ultimately interfere.

Apart from the centralized control and availability of commercially licensed content, Sonos Pro works just like a regular Sonos system. It’s compatible with every Sonos product that can be controlled via the company’s S2 app, including the newest Era 100 and Era 300 smart speakers.

Employees who have been granted some level of control over their local Sonos system will be invited to log in via the Sonos app on their smartphones. Sonos Pro administrators can decide which product-specific features will be accessible. For instance, the line-in feature supported by products like the Era series could be locked out.

For companies that already have a cloud-based smart control system, there’s a good chance that Sonos Pro will be able to play nicely — it already works with Crestron, Lutron, and Control4.

Editors' Recommendations

Simon Cohen
Contributing Editor, A/V
Simon Cohen covers a variety of consumer technologies, but has a special interest in audio and video products, like spatial…
Wiim’s new amplified streamer mimics the Sonos Amp, for $299
Wiim Amp in space grey.

Wiim Amp in space grey. Wiim

Wiim's newest product, the Wiim Amp, is an amplified wireless network music player that bears a strong resemblance to the Sonos Amp, both in function and form. However, in typical Wiim fashion, it costs far less than Sonos' amplified player. At just $299, and available in silver and space grey colors, it's less than half the price of the Sonos Amp. You can buy the Wiim Amp on Amazon starting November 22.

Read more
Sonos headphones to make 2024 debut, and a video streaming device is set for 2025
Sonos Era 300

Sonos will release its first wireless headphones in 2024, according to a report from Bloomberg that cites sources familiar with the matter.  The headphones are projected to cost between $400 and $500, which would place them in direct competition with Apple's AirPods Max and Sony's WH-1000XM5, two of the leading noise-canceling headphones on the market. The report suggests the new wireless cans, code-named "Duke," could appear as early as April, and will come in Sonos' two main colors, black and white.

Earlier in November, Sonos CEO, Patrick Spence told investors that in 2024, the company will enter into a "new multibillion-dollar category in the second half of the year that will complement our current offering, delight customers, and drive immediate revenue." Given the timing cited by Bloomberg, it seems likely Spence was referencing the as-yet unannounced Sonos headphones.

Read more
Your next noise-canceling earbuds may use Navy sonar tech
Two xMEMS Cypress drivers seen sitting on a U.S. dime coin for scale.

A company that is pioneering the use of earbud speakers that are manufactured like microchips says it has developed a way to convert inaudible, high-power ultrasound into hi-fi stereo sound, using a single driver. The result is what the company — called xMEMS —  says is a micro-electromechanical system (with a convenient MEMS acronym) driver that's powerful enough to deliver sound as well as active noise cancellation in a set of wireless earbuds.

According to xMEMS, these MEMS drivers possess a number of advantages for buyers and manufacturers of earbuds, like extreme ruggedness, a huge frequency-response range, ultrafast transient response (the ability to quickly shift from one sound to another), and more accurate sound reproduction.

Read more