Sonos, the makers of the excellent multi-room speakers, is making it easier to keep the music going at home. The latest beta update for Android, Mac, and Windows simplifies music selection and queuing. Sorry iOS users; you'll have to wait for these new features.
The update allows you to start any song from an album, playlist or queue and Sonos will continue playing whatever's next in the track list. No more abrupt stops in your music flow.
The update also tweaks how you select a song to play. Previously you had to tap on a song and then select "Play Now" or "Play Next," but the updated app allows you to simply tap once to play. If you're using the Mac or Windows control apps, you double click to play a track.
To make sure your tunes never stop, Sonos made it much easier to queue up songs. Instead of tapping on the song title to see listening options, there's now a menu button (three dots) that appears to the right of each track. Tapping on the menu button shows options for "Play Now," "Play Next," or "Add to End of Queue." No need to jump back and forth.
The minor interface tweaks continue with options for "Play All" and "Shuffle" being relocated at the top of Albums and Playlists. Want to listen to an entire album? Simply tap "Play All." If you're bored of the playlist order, tap "Shuffle."
Indie grooves
Last but not least, Sonos announced it's adding Bandcamp to the list of supported music services. If you're not familiar, Bandcamp is an awesome marketplace for independent music artists. Musicians set their own prices and can sell merchandise alongside their music. It's a great place to discover music that's not in the Top 40.
Sonos now lets Bandcamp users stream their purchases for convenience, but also supports downloads, even in lossless formats like FLAC.
Bandcamp joins big names like Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play Music, Pandora, Soundcloud, and Tidal on Sonos.
