Similar to Apple’s own ‘Remote’ app for iTunes, Sonos today released a free download that turns an iPhone into a wireless controller for the company’s Multi-Room Music System. Now Sonos owners or prospective buyers can do away with the official remote and opt to use their iPhone or iPod touch instead, which not only may work out cheaper – the Sonos CR100 is priced at $400 – but also provides the touch interface that some users have requested. On that note, Dave Zatz shares this interesting tidbit:

… more fascinating than the software itself is the iPhone Controller back story. Sonos has heard the touchscreen requests, but hybrid analog/touchscreen prototypes didn’t fare well in their usability testing and a pure touchscreen device was uncomfortable for some. Whereas the iPhone demographic is obviously already in tune with touchscreen conventions.

While it’s surprising to learn that Sonos has thus far been unable to develop a touchscreen controller that resonates with its userbase, by releasing an iPhone app out in the wild they’ll gain a lot of valuable user feedback that would otherwise be hard to come by. The move also demonstrates once again the versatility of Apple’s multi-touch UI, whereby the on-screen virtual buttons can be infinitely reconfigured for different purposes.

See also: Logitech announces Squeezebox Duet, takes aim at Sonos

View the official video demo of Sonos Controller for iPhone after the jump…