Sonos allegedly won't bring back Last.FM integration

Sonos users who’ve been enjoying their seamless scrobbling experience with Last.FM might want to brace themselves for a bit of bad news: Sonos has quietly removed support for Last.FM, and it seems there are no plans to bring it back. This development has left die-hard fans frustrated, especially those who invested heavily in Sonos gear expecting this feature to be part of the package.

A Reddit post recently highlighted the frustration of one such user, who shared a response from Sonos support confirming the removal of Last.FM. In the support reply, Sonos acknowledged that they’ve dropped the feature and don’t intend to reintegrate it anytime soon. This has understandably upset users who relied on the service, with some pointing out that smaller, independent apps still manage to keep Last.FM alive, making Sonos’s decision feel even more baffling.

Adding another layer to the story, Last.FM support chimed in back in May, explaining that they had reached out to Sonos to offer assistance with re-implementing scrobbling in the new Sonos app. Unfortunately, they’ve yet to hear back. Last.FM’s team expressed confusion over the technical difficulties that Sonos encountered, noting that their scrobbling API is quite straightforward. Despite this, the door remains open on their end for collaboration, but the ball is firmly in Sonos’s court.

Interestingly, despite the official stance, some users are reporting that they can still set up Last.FM scrobbling through the Sonos desktop app — specifically on Mac. However, the experience has become buggy, and there’s no telling how long this workaround will continue to work, given the feature’s apparent sunset.

Adding to the intrigue, a Sonos support page detailing the integration with Last.FM has been taken down, leaving behind a 404 error. The page, before its mysterious disappearance, was a handy guide on how users could scrobble tracks from their Sonos system to Last.FM, building personalized music profiles along the way. Here’s a screenshot of the page prior to being taken down.

For those mourning the loss of this feature, there are a couple of glimmers of hope. Scrobbling still works if it was set up prior to the feature’s removal, although it might be a bit glitchy. And as some savvy users have pointed out, using the Sonos desktop app may still allow you to sneak in Last.FM setup — just don’t expect it to be a smooth ride.

So, while it seems like Last.FM integration is being quietly phased out by Sonos, there’s a small but determined group of users who aren’t giving up without a fight. If you’re one of them, now might be the time to submit feature requests to both Sonos and Last.FM. After all, if enough voices chime in, who knows? Maybe we’ll see this feature return to the Sonos lineup.