We've done something similar with Sonos at Cowork Frederick. We found that most streaming services get repetitive after a couple hours, so we use Sonos alarms to change the station every 2 hours, plus have music automatically start at 7am and end at 7pm M-F. The iPad app is better than the phone app, in my opinion. For some streaming services like Pandora, they will time out after a few hours if you're on a free plan, pretty rarely on a paid plan. I find Tune-In stations run into network congestion (theirs, not ours) around 3pm for some reason and start to stutter or timeout. Switching stations every few hours also helps prevent the idle timeout. And going back to my Philly roots, we end our Fridays with the 5-7pm Funky Friday programming on XPN. You might want to check out kxt.org from Dallas/Ft Worth for an interesting mix as well. They're listener supported like XPN, so send them a few bucks to keep them on the air if you listen.
Sonos timer hack if you want hands-free music on one station all day: the alarm interval has a "no limit" setting, plus people sometimes manually choose stations throughout the day. To make sure it turns off at 7pm, we have an alarm set with a "15 minute" duration (the shortest interval offered) that plays at 6:45pm. The station and volume are different enough that it works like a pre-closing heads-up to let people know it's getting late. We thought about creating a playlist of closing-time themed songs just for fun, but haven't followed through with it yet. *Glen Ferguson* Phone: 301-732-5165 Email: [email protected] Website: https://www.coworkfrederick.com Address: 122 E Patrick St, Frederick, MD 21701 On Wed, Aug 23, 2017 at 10:30 AM, Alex Hillman <[email protected] > wrote: > We have this issue too, though we play all of our music through Sonos > which is hands down the best investment I've made in playing music at Indy > Hall. It hooks into just about every streaming service I've wanted to use, > and even lets you link multiple accounts from the same service so members > can contribute playlists & such. The mobile software to control it is > pretty bad, but the desktop software works great. > > That said - the issue you're describing though is often less with the > device, and more with the source. Even if you set up timers and alarms, > most "streaming" services like Spotify, etc is that they use playlists > which eventually end, or they have licensing that is designed to turn off > automatically so they don't pay for plays of the music that a typical > consumer-style customer isn't listening to cuz it kills their margins. > > Even if you create custom playlists that last the full stretch from > 8am-6pm, there's a good chance that the service will stop paying at some > point if the software thinks the device is idle. > > One of the best alternatives I've found is using a digital radio stream, > like any of the channels at http://somafm.com which are all listener > supported so commercial-free. Another similar option is to find a local > public radio affiliate that has limited commercials and plays variety mixes > throughout the day. Our local favorite is http://www.xpn.org but you > likely have something similar - ask around your community to see what > people like! > > -Alex > > > > ------------------ > *The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.* > Better Coworkers: http://indyhall.org > Weekly Coworking Tips: http://coworkingweekly.com > My Audiobook: https://theindyhallway.com/ten > > On Tue, Aug 22, 2017 at 9:11 PM, Jeran Fraser <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Question for some of you technical guys/gals out there. We use music in >> our space and currently run the music off Apple TV. We've tried Amazon >> music, Spotify, etc. We are trying to figure out a solution to put music on >> a timer and then pick up where it left off, i.e. ends at 6pm and starts at >> 8am. Problem is every tablet I use and app seems to have a mind of it's own >> and eventually the music stops and needs someone to manually put it back >> on. Does anyone have constant music playing and if so what technology do >> you use, i.e. app, tablets, etc. Thanks in advance! >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Coworking" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
