A music service is just about as good as the devices it supports. That’s why Microsoft has been pushing its Groove Music service to as many platforms as possible. This morning, the company announced that they’re now supporting the popular high-end Sonos sound system, putting Groove Music on one of the more highly-regarded sound systems out there.
Sonos is a little different than some audio solutions in that playing music on their speakers requires a specific app, which among other features enables access to music libraries on up to 16 PCs, Macs, or other storage devices on a home network, various Internet radio services, and music services like Groove Music. Rather than just opening Groove and playing tunes to a Bluetooth speaker, music lovers first need to fire up the Sonos app and then sign into a service and to access their library.
Currently, the Sonos app supports iOS, Android, OS X, and Windows, and so Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile users are out of luck for the moment. Hopefully this is a situation that Microsoft and Sonos plan to rectify sooner rather than later (perhaps with a universal app once Windows 10 Mobile is officially released, if we’re lucky).
Certainly, Sonos seems excited about the prospect of working with Groove Music:
“With Groove, Microsoft gives you an easy way to access millions of tracks on demand alongside your personal collection,” said Sonos Chief Product Officer Marc Whitten. “We’re excited to welcome another great service for listening out loud at home on Sonos.”
Groove on Sonos supports the usual features, including unlimited access to Microsoft’s music library via Groove Music Pass or grabbing tracks from a local collection or OneDrive. If you’re a Sonos owner and Microsoft Groove Music fan, this should be exciting news all around.