Hi @James Truelove 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

While I don’t know exactly who thought of it, the reasoning behind it is to significantly increase security. While our newest products include NFC tags with the PIN number on them and products without the tags but with their own speakers will “chirp” the code to your controller device, so no reading of the PIN is required, products with neither the NFC tag nor their own speakers must instead be read by the user. This is only the Amp and Port devices.

I believe that during the manufacturing process, the PIN is etched on by laser under control of a computer to minimise the possibility of the wrong code being applied to a unit’s housing (which could easily happen with an easier-to-read sticker going through a mechanical application process). The etching also prevents the code being rubbed off after a time, as could happen with a sticker.

In the majority of cases, the PIN code need only be used once for each of these products so the impact is seen as momentary, though I appreciate your feedback about the PIN code’s legibility - unfortunately, a laser can only burn, and the casings of these products are quite dark in colour.

Thank you

unfortunately,  you miss the point being made.

yesterday i had 7 amps all installed in a rack, tied down and therefore impossible to read the underside.  Needed to be factory reset to reassign to a new owner of a home

Spent all afternoon figuring out what was needed and only after my 3 rd call to support did someone know how to get this done.  The pin is somehow tied to the mac address and so you have to do one at a time, then update and so on.  Takes forever!

If more than one is powered On there is a chance you press the wrong button and the process fails, the message just says error, no reason and no indication that the pin no doesnt match, which would guide you.

support lady was awesome but i believe she didnt spot the pin no mac address mismatch and had me looking at network issues instead

completely false move

after 5 hours im only half done. A label on the front As well would at least be useful.  If the label got removed the etching would still be there

how about a magnifying glass too?

motoroa finally figured it out with their cable boxes.  And this had made activation so simple.

some of these amps get installed behind tvs, what a mess that is now!
i just think the designers only live in a lab environment and dont get what is like in the real world

every time we do an install something has changed.  
 

consistency is the hallmark of great designers 

Hi @James Truelove 

Ah - as you’re an installer, I appreciate that this change in the setup process will be much more significant to you than to the average user.

Thank you again for your feedback - I’ll pass this along to the relevant team for consideration.

I believe there is a special/secret Sonos forum for installers, you should definitely check that out, if you can figure out how to get access.

I am afraid not.

Thank you

im afraid sonos became a little mickey mouse after they climbed into bed with amazon and alexa.  Passwords and updates all the time etc

they are no longer the great product they were and i no longer recommend it

In bed with Amazon?  LOL.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/07/technology/sonos-sues-google.html

They may be suing google thats a patent issue

but the whole voice control thing is awful and led to all users having to have all sorts of passwords and continuously do updates to their hardware and their app

for the first 10 years most of my customers taught themselves how to use it,  now some one somewhere is always off line or unable to update without logging in to their “ sonos account”

you cant even adjust the eq without logging in,  or add a new device without a password or verification e mail.

It is not better!

You can most certainly change the EQ without logging in, and adding a new product does not require any verification email. Way to know the product you are installing.

If you read the article, it mentions that they have the same issues with Amazon, but simply don’t have the ability to sue both at the same time.  I find it hard to believe that Sonos would be ‘in bed’ with a company that it would like to sue.

The link below are the release notes for S2, with a subsequent link to the S1 release notes.  It doesn’t look like a lot has been done for Alexa functionality.

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3521?language=en_US

I get that there are more frequent updates now, but I see that reason as  greater need for security and a more competitive marketplace where new features need to be release more frequently.  And sure, that’s not always a good thing for customers and installers.  From what I’ve seen on the boards, there are just as many people who want more features and more passwords as there are those who want fewer updates and passwords.

So you think things aregreat since they added alexa etc ?

It’s a couple of years since Sonos acquired Snips, the voice recognition company. I wonder when we’ll see that technology rolled out in Sonos’ products? But we’re drifting off the original topic here! 

My system is rock solid, and has been for years.  I suggest your installers reserve IP addresses on the client’s router for all Sonos devices.  That will take care of 99.9% of problems with updates, reboots, controller resets, wonky routers, etc. 

I don’t see why adding Alexa would be a looked at as point when things shifted for Sonos in this regard.   You could maybe make an argument that Sonos started trying to move faster when they started getting competition from Amazon, Google, and others, which happened well before Sonos got voice control.  

As far as that being great or not, I do like competition and improvement in products, understanding that it doesn’t always go smoothly, which has certainly been the case with Sonos.  I also get why people want Sonos, or things in general, to just stay the same.

To get back to the point TS is making: isn’t the use of the pin described in the manual? If it is not, I can appreciate his surprise.

Same thing is happening elsewhere to. I bought my first QNAP NAS in 2011 completely set up. Earlier this year I bought a new one from the same company. Because of all the passwords and e-mails needed they do not do set ups anymore….

Hmm, I’ll have to ping my customer who said there was such a place and get the full scoop from him.

@controlav 

I think there used to be one. Or there were plans for one.

There certainly isn’t one that’s active.

We have all gotten off track

my observation was that i didnt understand why the pin number was

almost invisible

in a position that could not be read if had already been installed ( and needed to be reassigned)

necessary at all

that the sonos app couldnt differentiate between one amp or another, which requires them to be activated, one at a time, and updated one at a time, 

they all work great once set up.

Hi @James Truelove 

A recent change to the adding process was that each unit is now updated to the latest version of software before another unit can be added. While this does slow down the process of adding multiple units simultaneously, it makes the whole process more reliable (and facilitates the automatic configuration prompts, like adding surrounds).

Taking notes during installation may be the best way around the PIN issue and if it’s difficult to power on one unit at a time.

Due to getting so many calls/contacts from users complaining that a visitor to their home had reconfigured the system in some way and they needed help restoring everything, it’s now necessary to log into the system to configure it. This also of course increases security in general, which has long been a customer request. An app that is not logged-in can still control playback.

All good answers

have there been security concerns ?

Yes, and while they were wholly the fault of people who stupidly open their local network up to the internet, they were very public and blown way out of proportion by some shady websites..

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/sonos-bose-security-flaws,news-26304.html