Sponsored by Sonos
You probably notice that Sonos is now sponsoring my "In Heavy Rotation" list on the left sidebar of this blog. This is the result of several things, first my decision to partner with FM Publishing who is now representing this blog to the advertising community, and second an email I got from Sonos asking to sponsor the music picks on this blog. Now that I have FM as a partner, I can respond to emails like this, which I get fairly often.
Most of my readers know that I donate all the revenue that this blog generates to non-profit organizations and the money that Sonos pays for this sponsorship will go to FM, who will take their cut, and the balance will go to good causes. I am not doing this for the money.
But I am doing this to explore the possibilities of new advertising and media models and also to showcase new interesting products to my readers. This deal with Sonos is a good example of both. My "In Heavy Rotation" list is a typepad list that I update regularly. Sonos has chosen to sponsor this list and that's cool because turning a typepad list into an ad unit is a neat trick. Sonos makes a digital music system which does some pretty cool things. Here is a short description from their website:
Sonos is the first and only digital music system that lets you play all your digital music, all over your house—and control it all from the palm of your hand. Best of all, you don't need a PC in every room, a music server or a wireless network. Just a SonosTM ZonePlayer and speakers in the rooms of your choice and a SonosTM Controller in hand to access all your digital music, no matter where it's stored—on your PC, Mac or Network Attached Storage box.
As part of this deal with Sonos, I am going to get a test unit to try out. I'll post a review of my experience on this blog and if I like it, I will buy it.
You may also see some advertising banners on the right sidebar for Sonos over the next month or so. Sonos has also purchased some ad banners and they will rotate along with other FM ad banners.
I hope you all like this new advertising. I think its great.

Great to see the Sonos focus your end, Fred. As a long-time Sonos customer, I'd heartily re-recommend it.
previous post on it:
http://tinyurl.com/hv9tz
Posted by: Michael Parekh | March 11, 2006 at 10:57 AM
I'm looking forward to your Sonos review. I've had it for about 8 months and really enjoy it. Make sure to try out the Rhapsody integration.
Posted by: Mike | March 11, 2006 at 01:38 PM
Many are using the lame "give to non-profit charity". If FM really doing this, why there is no no list or non-profit charity organizations mentioned on their site?
And, how do these "non-profit" become qualified with FM?
Posted by: Kevin | March 11, 2006 at 07:31 PM
Kevin - FM isn't giving the money to charity, I am.
Posted by: fred | March 12, 2006 at 08:12 AM
Very interesting concept - FM brokering ad buyer and seller then get a cut.
Wondering what's the benefits thru FM instead of directly with the publisher?
Anyhow - it's an interesting model.
Posted by: Kevin | March 12, 2006 at 04:33 PM
I'm pretty anxious to hear about your experience with Sonos's system since i'm very interested in. For now, i'm using an airport express to play my music in my living room, quite boring to move back to my office to change songs or music groups...
Posted by: martin | March 12, 2006 at 08:48 PM
Hi,
I am another satisifed Sonos user - 9 months now. Good to see their advertising expanding in the blogosphere. I am thinking about starting a podcast on Sonos - I am looking to find some other user(s) who may be interested in this as well. Also, a new user to Last.fm.
tony
aka: "techsavvyguru"
Posted by: Tony | March 14, 2006 at 07:45 PM
Tell me - what cool in this service?
Posted by: red bull | May 03, 2006 at 04:13 AM