Hi there.
Quick question / UI concern I have in the iOS app - which I otherwise really enjoy.
I would like there to be a way to clear the queue without stopping the currently playing song.
By entering the now playing queue and pressing the "clear queue" button, the current song is stopped, and the queue is cleared. This ends up being frustrating in practice.
A common use case amongst me and my friends is that we want to clear the current queue, without ending the song currently playing - in order to either let the current song finish and then the music to stop - or to clear the queue ready for adding more music after.
I think it would be A HUGE IMPROVEMENT if the "clear queue" button would remove all songs AFTER the currently playing song - and then pressing the same button a second time could then stop the currently playing song.
Sometimes I queue up many songs, but then want to stop listening after the currently playing one. Say I have 20 songs queued up - the only way to achieve what I just mentioned is by editing the queue manually and swiping sideways 20 times. (Not to mention that removing songs one at a time from the queue is a bit laggy and the list often scrolls around by itself).
Think it would be an easy to implement and big quality of life improvement for many users.
What does everyone think?
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+21If you're currently playing music from the queue and you press the Clear Queue button, then I would fully expect it to clear everything from the queue, including the currently playing song, and stop playing that song. If it leaves one song in the queue, then the queue hasn't been cleared.
Yup. Sonos plays queued tracks from the queue. Ergo if there are no queue contents then there can be no track playing from it.
I understand that conceptually, but in practice often find that I want all music to stop playing once the current track ends, which seems to be like a relatively common need.
There's no good way to achieve that if there is a relatively sizeable queue...
There's no good way to achieve that if there is a relatively sizeable queue...
A crude alternative is to set a sleep timer.
+3Hey cgarmstrong, I'll pass your feedback along to the rest of the team.
+3I can only echo what cgarmstrong proposes, it would be a smart refinement in my book.
Thanks - my initial idea would be "clear up next", as a first press of the button - clearing all the songs from the queue but not touching the one currently playing - then a second press the button could rename itself automatically to "stop" or something, and then it would actually stop the current song.
I'm sure the clever folks making the app would think of many ways to do it, but just seems like something I've come across a few times and would make me happy if it were easier. I often wanna get rid of all the songs in the queue, but not touch or change the one currently playing. Anything to make that easier is a win 🙂
I'm sure the clever folks making the app would think of many ways to do it, but just seems like something I've come across a few times and would make me happy if it were easier. I often wanna get rid of all the songs in the queue, but not touch or change the one currently playing. Anything to make that easier is a win 🙂
I would actually support this feature. And, despite my earlier pedantry, it should be quite straightforward for a player to not clear the currently playing track when the queue's emptied. After all, it can play a track at a time from online 'radio' services via HTTP requests. A local track is similarly a CIFS request.
The devil would be in the detail, especially of making the UI intuitive. Sonos shies away from complexity.
The devil would be in the detail, especially of making the UI intuitive. Sonos shies away from complexity.
I'd like to second this, as I sit here at my computer checking each of the 100+ items in my queue so that I can remove them and queue up some more holiday music without stopping what is currently playing.
Andy B wrote:
Hey cgarmstrong, I'll pass your feedback along to the rest of the team.
I agree this is really important. Please make clear queue not to stop the current playing song.
Thanks!
Gimpson wrote:
I'd like to second this, as I sit here at my computer checking each of the 100+ items in my queue so that I can remove them and queue up some more holiday music without stopping what is currently playing.
Totally agree!
My view of the queue feature:
- there’s a separate “history” song list
- when a song finishes playing from the queue it is moved to the history song list
- the top song on the queue is therefore the playing song (or next to be played if player is stopped)
- “clear queue” clears the entire queue of player is stopped. If player is running the playing song keeps playing and all the other songs are cleared. When the only song playing finishes it goes into the history song list as expected.
I think this behaviour would better reflect the spirit of a Sonos system. The end goal is keep playing music autonomously.
Please take this in consideration. I would be able to help you guys discuss this free of charge :)
Pedro
- there’s a separate “history” song list
- when a song finishes playing from the queue it is moved to the history song list
- the top song on the queue is therefore the playing song (or next to be played if player is stopped)
- “clear queue” clears the entire queue of player is stopped. If player is running the playing song keeps playing and all the other songs are cleared. When the only song playing finishes it goes into the history song list as expected.
I think this behaviour would better reflect the spirit of a Sonos system. The end goal is keep playing music autonomously.
Please take this in consideration. I would be able to help you guys discuss this free of charge :)
Pedro
I agree with this request. I conceptually think about the queue as the songs waiting to be played. So it’s not intuitive to me when I choose to replace the queue and the current song stops, wouldn’t I just choose play now in that situation? I’m not sure If the majority of users share that view, but some targeted user testing should reveal the answer. Thanks Sonos team.
Came here to say what CoreyC said - a queue is the "up next" list, and should not include the currently playing song, by literal definition of the word "queue."
I find it jarring to have a track stopped in it's... tracks... while trying to curate what will be playing in the future.
I find it jarring to have a track stopped in it's... tracks... while trying to curate what will be playing in the future.
If the queue was truly ephemeral and, y'know, a queue, I'd expect songs to disappear as you played them. Because the queue sticks around for you to jump back into, then it makes sense that the queue doesn't clear until you request that it does. And if the current track is part of the queue, killing the queue should kill the song (see "play now"/"replace" options).
Of course, there are things about the Sonos "sort of ephemeral but also sort of persistent" queue design that don't make sense (see the "consistency over context" design philosophy that led to the pointless "expired" queue "play next" option).
Basically, don't think of the queue as a "queue", think of it as a "living playlist" of "today's listening".
Of course, there are things about the Sonos "sort of ephemeral but also sort of persistent" queue design that don't make sense (see the "consistency over context" design philosophy that led to the pointless "expired" queue "play next" option).
Basically, don't think of the queue as a "queue", think of it as a "living playlist" of "today's listening".
+21The queue is everything that has been requested to play... a playlist, album, or whatever was selected (radio content not included). This functionality is consistent with other apps like Google Play Music, Plex, and others. The current song is part of the queue, so if you clear the queue, the current song stops playing. I just tested this with Google Play Music to be certain that I'm accurate, and it worked exactly the same way.
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