The official solution from Sonos for getting Apple AirPlay to work with their wireless speakers includes two options: use a $99 Apple AirPort Express with the $499 Sonos Play:5, or combine the $99. Contenttype.label.conversation AirPlay cuts out on pause I just got a Sonos One (Gen 2) after reading that Airplay was finally working well with it. I was hoping to use it as my speaker when streaming video from my MacBook Pro, but have been hounded by audio issues–even with it connected via Ethernet to my Airport.
- Airplay From Macbook Pro To Sonos
- Airplay 2 Macbook To Sonos
- Can You Airplay From Mac To Sonos
- Airplay From Mac To Sonos Move
Studies have shown that playing music out loud at home is a great way to enhance most people's daily lifes. Now with a simple app, Sonos, the smart home speaker, just made it easier for you to play Apple Music on a room-by-room basis. All you need to do is downloading the Sonos app and you'll be able to access Apple Music on Sonos audio system with just one tap through mobile devices.
In addition to that, there are 2 additional solutions to use Apple Music on Sonos, even after you cancel the Apple Music subscription. To help you understand better about Apple Music and Sonos, this post will focus on the complete guide of how to set up Apple Music on Sonos speakers, as well as introducing the top 3 most popular ways to play Apple Music songs on Sonos.
- See also: 3 Ways to Play Audible Books on Sonos
- Part 1. Add Apple Music to Sonos with Sonos app
- Part 2. Play Apple Music through Sonos via AirPlay
- Part 2. Listen to Apple Music on Sonos after unsubscribing
Solution 1. Add Apple Music to Sonos with Sonos app
It's extremely easy to set up an Apple Music account on Sonos speaker from iOS, Android phone, or computer. The following guides will show you how to add Apple Music to Sonos on mobile devices and a computer.
Before getting started, make sure you have these things ready:
- A Sonos speaker
- An valid Apple Music account
- Sonos app
How to add Apple Music to Sonos with iOS or Android device
Firstly, let's see how to use iOS or Android device to add Apple Music to Sonos speakers.
Step 1. Download and install the Sonos app on your iOS or Android device and open this app.
Step 2. Tap Settings > Services & Voice.
Step 3. Choose the Add a Service button and add Apple Music from the service list. Then tap Add to Sonos button.
Step 4. Log into your Apple Music account with your Apple ID and password as required. Then Apple Music will appear in the Browse section of your Sonos app.
How to add Apple Music to Sonos with Mac or PC
The method to use Mac or PC to add Apple Music is similar to previous one.
Step 1. Open the Sonos app.
Step 2. Tap Select a Music Source > Add Music Services.
Step 3. Choose Apple Music and follow the instruction it offers.
Airplay From Macbook Pro To Sonos
After adding your Apple Music membership to Sonos app, you've got Apple Music set up on Sonos. Now you can play Apple Music playlist on Sonos speaker system.
In this case, for the Apple Music family plan, each family member must add Apple Music to the Sonos app using their Apple ID to listen to Apple Music through Sonos. You can also set up multiple Apple Music accounts on your Sonos, so everyone's playlists, libraries, and favorites are always on hand.
Apple Music features on Sonos
On Sonos, you can enjoy most of Apple Music features. Here we list some of them.
For You: Apple Music will provide recommended music based on what you already listened to and loved.
New: Find the perfect playlist for a different activity, and listen to the hits from the Top Charts.
Radio: Hear Beats 1 worldwide and listen to handcrafted stations of various genres and themes.
Airplay 2 Macbook To Sonos
My Music: You can listen to over 30 million songs in the Apple Music catalog.
All the benefits of iTunes Match: You can stream the music you bought from iTunes and others to your Sonos.
Solution 2. Play Apple Music through Sonos via AirPlay
The support for Apple's AirPlay 2 on Sonos speakers has made it much easier to use Apple Music on Sonos. With AirPlay 2 support, you'll be able to use a Sonos speaker in conjunction with Apple's own HomePod in a multi-room audio setup. Here's how to set everything up on iPhone or iPad and Mac.
Get Apple Music on Sonos with AirPlay on iPhone or iPad
Firstly, let's see how to use iOS or Android device to add Apple Music to Sonos speakers.
Step 1. Open Control Center on iPhone or iPad and find the audio card.
Step 2. Tap the AirPlay icon. Choose a Sonos device to play Apple Music
You can also open the Apple Music app. And find the AirPlay icon as well as choosing a Sonos device to play Apple Music on Sonos.
Get Apple Music on Sonos with AirPlay on Mac
You can also use a Mac computer to load Apple Music to Sonos with AirPlay. See how to play Apple Music on Sonos in the guide below.
Step 1. Open System Preferences on your Mac and click the Sound option.
Step 2. Go to the Output tab and choose a Sonos product.
Solution 3. Listen to Apple Music on Sonos after unsubscribing
Those above-mentioned solutions only work well during the validity period of Apple Music subscriptions. What if you decide to end your Apple Music membership someday but still access the music library on Sonos? Can it be possible? That's what we are going to discuss in this part.
You should have known that most Apple Music songs are protected in M4P format. Once unsubscribe Apple Music service, all the music catalog will disappear from your library even if you already downloaded them onto your computer or phone. In order to break the limit, the ultimate solution is to convert Apple Music to unprotected format.
To convert Apple Music songs, you'll then need a third-party Apple Music converter like TunesKit Audio Converter. As a professional tool in converting Apple Music songs, it can help you easily convert Apple Music to plain MP3, AAC, WAV format with original ID3 tags and quality preserved. After conversion, you can get full ownership of the Apple Music songs and enjoy them on Sonos or any other device even when the subscription expires.
- Losslessly convert Apple Music and iTunes songs
- Convert Apple Music M4P to MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC, M4A, M4B
- Keep original music quality and ID3 tags
- Support Audible, iTunes audiobooks and other audios
You can download the free trial version of this smart Apple Music converter and follow the steps below to learn how to convert and stream Apple Music to Sonos.
Step 1Download and add Apple Music songs to TunesKit
Firstly, open the TunesKit Apple Music Converter on your computer and click the Load iTunes Library button to import the downloaded Apple Music songs from the iTunes library to TunesKit. You can also drag the Apple Music songs directly and drop them to the TunesKit conversion window.
Step 2Set output preferences
When all the Apple Music songs are added successfully to TunesKit, move to Format panel and click the MP3 format. Then in the pop-up window, you will be required to select the output format, audio codec, channel, sample rate, bit rate according to your own needs.
Step 3Start to convert Apple Music to Sonos
Now simply press the Convert button on TunesKit Apple Music Converter and it will start to convert the M4P Apple Music songs to MP3, WAV, AAC, FLAC, etc. at up to 30X speed. Once the conversion is done, you'll locate the well converted Apple Music songs by clicking the Converted icon at the top center of TunesKit.
Step 4Stream Apple Music on Sonos
Open the Sonos app on your computer. Go to the Manage menu, select the Music Library Settings. Then click '+' on Mac, or the Add button on PC. Then import the converted Apple Music songs. Once added, you can freely play the Apple Music tracks on Sonos speakers without limit even if you canceling the music subscription.
Adam Gorden is an experienced writer of TunesKit who is obsessed about tech, movie and software.
Sonos is a brand like no other. Its quality speakers and the flexibility of installing in any room makes it the preferred choice for many audio lovers. For those who’re on their computers most of the time, but want to use Sonos, it could be a problem because Sonos doesn’t offer computer-specific speakers — at least not at the time of writing this article. Moreover, from 2019 onwards, it has discontinued the feature of setting up the speakers from your PC as the company prioritizes mobile.
But does that mean it’s the end of the road for PC? Not really. You can still play music on the Sonos speaker installed in your room from the computer. In this article, we’ll explain to you how you can still set up the speakers.
See More:How To Connect Sonos To WiFi
Playing Audio on Sonos Speakers from Computer
Before you start playing audio on Sonos from your computer, you need to understand that Sonos is a closed system. This means that only Sonos controllers and apps can access and control the speakers.
It has exclusive partnerships with services like AirPlay, Spotify, and IKEA, among others, which allows these services to connect to Sonos via the S1 or S2 app. But that’s not the case with PCs and laptops.
Sonos no longer allows setting up the SonosNet system from Windows, or MacBook for that matter. This is now a mobile app-only feature. While the Sonos Controller App is still available and you can download it, you’d only be able to play music and not set up the system from scratch. So if you have already set up your system on your mobile, you can connect to it from the desktop app. Visit the Sonos Controller App download page and get the Sonos S2 or S1 app for Windows or macOS version.
If you’re setting up the SonosNet system, there’s no way but to set up the system from the app only.
However, if you want to connect directly to the Sonos speakers from your computer for the purpose of playing audio, you’d need third-party software. There are many software packages that enable this capability. But two of the main ones are SonoAir and SWYH or Stream What You Hear. SonoAir is for MacBooks while SWYH is for Windows. Here we’ll guide you through the process.
SonoAir
If you’re on MacBook and want to connect to Sonos, then you should be using the SonoAir project. It is an open-source project (technically speaking, a node.js module) that lets you stream audio from your MacBook over AirPlay. SonoAir also extends the AirConnect project, whose main goal is to play audio to Sonos, Chromecast, and other wireless devices directly from AirPlay.
AirConnect can connect to any device that has access to your local network. It will detect the Sonos speakers and act as a bridge.
Here are the steps involved:
- To start using SonoAir, download the software package on to your MacBook. Since this is not an official Apple app, you need to download it from its official website, which can be found here.
- Install the package and give it permission to whatever the requests are.
- Go to the menu and look for the AirPlay option. It should show you the Sonos speakers available in the network.
- Now get Sonos Connect and wire your PC to the line-in on the Connect. This will link the Sonos app to the computer’s audio output.
- In the AutoPlay menu, you must set the Sonos speakers as your default speakers.
The current version of SonoAir also works fine with High Sierra after it switched from AirSonos to AirConnect.
Since Sonos Speakers are designed to stream music, there might be a slight mismatch between the audio and video output. You can solve this from the Sonos Controller app using the Audio Delay feature. Check out this guide.
SonoAir is a community-based project and is supported by donations. This means, you’re supposed to do everything from end-to-end, and there might not be any support from the team.
The best alternative to SonoAir is AudioBridge. It offers a much simpler process, and there’s a paid version too that you can use.
SWYH
If you’re running Windows on your PC, then your best option is Stream What You Hear. This is an open-source project and developed in .NET framework.
To get started with SWYH, here are the steps involved:
- Download the SWYH package on to your Windows PC.
- Install the package and launch the app.
- From the app’s icon menu, right-click on the system tray.
- Then navigate to Tools>HTTP Live Streaming.
- Here you’ll find a URL that you need to copy. Copy the URL to paste somewhere.
- Open the Sonos app and navigate into Manage>Add Radio Station
- Paste the above URL in here and save it.
Now you can use this “radio station” to play audio from your PC on your Sonos speakers. Just make sure that you have audio running on your PC. Otherwise, this feature may fail to detect it.
Please note that SWYH is an open-source project, and you might not get any assistance when you encounter an error. Therefore, it’s better to go with a paid application instead.
Can You Airplay From Mac To Sonos
The final thing you should know that Sonos, as a company, do not recommend these methods. In fact, they’re against tuning your speakers and discourage users from doing so. The process explained to you is a workaround that has been using by many users around the world.
Airplay From Mac To Sonos Move
The closest you can get to computer-enabled speakers from Sonos is the Play:1 and Sonos One. While they don’t exactly function as a computer speaker should, you can connect to them using the Sonos desktop app. At least that’s what the official statement from Sonos is.
Since Sonos is distancing itself from desktop and focusing more on mobile instead, it remains to see what the future holds for PC users.