This brings the first of my only two real criticisms. In addition to the music on my phone or computer, I can setup third-party services within the app, such as Napster or Spotify. The downside is that without hacking about you can only register one version of each service on your Sonos setup - this meant we had to choose between the two active Spotify subscriptions we have in my home, removing access to the playlists and history on whichever one wasn't used. As music becomes more socially enabled (everything I play on Spotify is already pumped through to Facebook and Last.fm) this becomes a bigger stumbling block. I don't want anyone else using my account, but I want to be able to access my hundreds of playlists when I am choosing music. Sonos need to sort it - it is almost enough to put me off buying my own set.
My second criticism is the difficulty in setting up music if you, like me, keep your main music library on a NAS drive (I.e. a harddrive connected to your network rather than a computer). Eventually I got it working, but I had to work with unfamiliar network protocols and rename the router first, which for some reason then required me to basically re-setup the whole device (I use an Apple TimeCapsule - this last point is Apple's fault not Sonos') . Once setup it works like a dream - I can access any music on the drive without having my laptop on, which feels like a revelation. It does, however, demonstrate how easy to use AirPlay is in comparison. When it comes to NAS support, plug-and-play this is not.
These criticisms are both quite specific, and for many users will be irrelevant. Those people should definitely consider getting a Sonos player as everything else is pretty great. The sound quality out of the players is fairly impressive - much louder and better quality than my Bluetooth speaker (a Jambox), albeit always needing mains power... The Sonos Play:1 could do with a bit more mid-range, but I imagine this is addressed in the more expensive units. Regardless, I was impressed - the speakers are definetly loud enough to irritate neighbours, if that is your desire. The apps are pretty easy to use, if a little ugly (no iOS7 update as of yet) and the ability to play music in multiple rooms at once was great. I used to find myself walking around playing music on my Jambox whilst I carried it - I don't do that any more.
It is worth noting too that the services on offer within the Sonos ecosystem are extensive. Most cloud services are available, including Audible and Amazon's Cloud Player. There are also services specifically built for music discovery - I spent quite a bit of time playing with Shuffler.fm, which pulls together music based on what is being covered by influential music blogs. I'd not used Shuffler before but I was impressed by the fact that there were a couple of new tracks I'd not heard yet ready to be played easily within my home system. It is worth noting that both Soundcloud and Mixcloud are notable in their absence however - hopefully they will be added at some point.