Now there's a reason for Sirius Premium (Internet) Streaming - Sonos
I've been a SIrius subscriber since last year and have been extremely happy with the service in my car. The three or so stations I regularly listen to (The Beat, Area 33 and Howard 100) are almost without commercials (unlike many other stations) and are great to have on as background music (or talk). I've been mulling a home receiver so I can catch some of the news stations when at home and stream it over our Sonos system. We've been using the Sonos system at home for over two years and absolutely love it. Most gadgets are too complicated for guests to learn to use and frustrate Steph, my wife, to no end because she gets sick of the on again, off again usability. Sonos is different. Anyone with basic experience with an iPod or similar device picks up how to use the system in a very short amount of time.
Lo and behold, today, Sirius and Sonos announced a partnership that allows me to do just what I've been patiently waiting for, except natively through Sonos's Controllers. It was as if the two were reading my mind. In the past, I had listened to the low bitrate streaming service offered to current customers and wondered how in the world I could justify another $3/mo. for the premium version of the service when I'd use it all of two hours a month. (As a current subscriber to one of their satellite units - whether stationary or mobile - you had access to listen to the service online. It streams for "free" at 32kbps versus 128kbps for the premium stream. There is a big difference in the quality of the two streams; so much so that listening to anything other than talk on the "free" stream was annoying. I couldn't figure out how anyone could justify the premium service just to stream to a computer... until now.) Well, with the Sonos connection, there is now a good reason to do so. I've been streaming The Beat for the past few hours while cleaning up at home and am fascinated to find the quality of the sound better than in my car! Integration into the Desktop or Wireless Controller is typical, simple Sonos style. You choose stations just as if you were to do so with one of their satellite units.
This is a great combination and I hope it lasts. Thumbs up from me.
I definitely should not be commended on 'doing things right the first time.' As my good friend Russ says, "we always seem to have time to do it twice, but never to do it right once."
