I love my Sonos Speakers and I love my Apple devices. But most of all I love the simplicity of AirPlay. Unfortunately I hate the Sonos software. It’s difficult to use and doesn’t integrate well with other services such as Spotify. 

So why not use AirPlay directly from my iPhone or iPad to play music to my Sonos speakers? Well the answer is simple. Sonos chose to not include the necessary hardware and software components needed in their speakers. I don’t really know why, except for the cost of licensing from Apple. For those of you waiting for native AirPlay support from Sonos, that won’t happen. Well not for existing systems anyway. AirPlay does require hardware components as well as software to work.

Enter AirSonos…

AirSonos is an open-source free server that adds AirPlay support to your Sonos devices on the network. The only catch is that you will need to have your Mac running if you want this work all the time. But small price to pay for AirPlay!

So here’s a step by step guide to getting up and running in no time:

1. Download and install Node.JS (a JavaScript open-source, cross-platform runtime environment for server-side applications). This also include ndm (a Node.JS download manager – needed for installing and running AirSonos).

Downoload the files here (Mac OS X Installer (.pkg) – Universal is what you need for Macs)

2. Once downloaded, install the package. Make sure you use the default settings.
3. Start the Terminal App.
4. Type sudo npm install airsonos -g (enter your account password when prompted). The install will take a while (note an Internet connection is needed).

5. Once that is completed, just type airsonos and voila, you will see all your Sonos devices visible in the prompt. Note that this must remain running if you want to have access to them from your iDevices as well as any other Macs.

6. Now open your AirPlay menu on any iDevice and you will see your Sonos players there (might take a few seconds).
7. If you want to run this more easily then simply create a new plain text file in TextEdit (make sure you switch to Plain Text (in the Format menu). Type airsonos in the document and save it on your desktop as airsonos.command. Then grant this file execution rights from the Terminal (navigate to your Desktop folder) and type
chmod u+x airsonos.command

8. Then double click the file and there you have!

You can read and contribute to the project here.

Enjoy your music!!!