Wish somebody would figure out how to unlock them and convert them into general purpose music streaming systems.
I want to point my music 'streaming' device at a NFS or SMB directory and play music. Would be better if it supported some OSS streaming protocol so I could just stream off my LAN (think mpd/dlna but I have no idea what protocols are "best" here).
I'd love to open up foobar2000 or whatever, and point it at what speakers I want and let loose.
Ya, some rpi solution is "probably best here". I know they're(Sonos) going for 'this works for people who dont know what a rpi is", but stereo gear works for a long time. I don't want to be on some 'upgrade cycle' because they've decided I need to upgrade hardware so they can harvest more dollars from my wallet.
Maybe the problem is that ["I have a stereo", "mp3's", "CD's"] and they are targeting people who want to play Spotify from some 'i-device' to a speaker and don't have a stereo. Either way, the hardware is 100% avoid for me. Its a gamble on 'will it work' and 'will they support it?'.
Bonus is they do it over SMB2 allowing me to switch off SMB1 which I'd previously had to keep running for the SONOS devices.
The SONOS connects are going to goodwill.
So having done both of these two systems each for several years, I can strongly recommend Sonos.
Sonos 5's (gen2) still sell for $4-500 used where I am. Which is astonishing for a product that is many years old by now and is $6-750 new. I wouldn't exactly say that's landfill. The Ikea bookshelf thing is also great and costs very little. Sound isn't comparable to the Five though. If you see a Sonos speaker for $8 in a thrift store, it's either broken or you should buy it and sell it on ebay.