Sonos added Google Play Music to its...

Sonos added Google Play Music to its streaming music service lineup, giving users the ability to play music from the Sonos software menu or to cast it directly from the Google Play app on a smartphone. Google Play is integrated into the Sonos ecosystem in the same way as other music apps, but the Google Play integration adds the ability to cast music from a smartphone to a Sonos speaker without having to switch apps, a Sonos spokesman told us. A user listening to a song on Google Play while driving in a car can now return home and “throw” the tune to the Sonos system by hitting the “cast” button in the Google Play app, he said. The music automatically jumps from the phone to the Sonos speakers, eliminating the need to stop the music, find the Sonos controller, navigate to Google Play and hit play on the device, which would likely start the song from the beginning. “It’s a seamless, quick way to keep that music going,” the spokesman said of the feature. Google Play is the second implementation of the technology, he said. The first was with Chinese streaming music service QQ Music. Sonos’s agreement with Google Play Music is its first global implementation of casting that will be available in the 25 markets where Google Play is available. As markets are added, they'll have the casting capability as well, he said. On plans for implementation with iOS, the spokesman said there’s no set timetable but it’s “definitely something we want to add.” Enabling the feature requires participation from both companies, he said.