There was no doubt that, when initially released, the Sonos was a game changer.

But as time progressed, and Apple introduced the Airport Express with AirTunes, then the AppleTV (also with AirTunes support), and then the iPhone/iPod touch with the Remote app; the Sonos began to show its age.

While Sonos has continued to release variations of their Zone Players, where they were originally garnered much of their praise, their Controllers — based around the original iPod scroll-wheel design — now feel very dated. Now, breathing some new life into their lineup, and not to let Apple steal all their glory, Sonos has released their own controller app for Apple’s touch devices.

Available for free, the Sonos Controller (iTunes link) allows you to do everything you could via the original controller — including listening to Pandora, Rhapsody, and Last.FM as well as streaming music off your NAS/Time Capsule, and controlling the song/volume in each area. Additionally, now you can also search for artists via the on-screen keyboard and set-up/manage your Zone Players directly from the device.

I can almost hear the collective “finally” from the Sonos community as something like this has been a long time coming.

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