It used to just be ugly, but now the desktop apps are falling behind in functionality (for example the Sonos favourites). Just wanted to let somebody at Sonos know that some people aren't completely converted to controlling everything from their phones and would like the desktop apps to keep up (surely it's their turn now).
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Agreed...Sonos has to allocate development resources appropriately, but if they want to build a real ecosystem they have to support Apple and Windows desktop software as well. There are probably >30 feature requests for the Windows desktop controller that are languishing in some queue. My feature request for Windows desktop is pretty simple— when looking at songs under "Genre", should be able to look at list view of all songs that can be sorted by clicking at top of the column. Right now have to dig through each album. This makes playlist creation tedious and unnecessarily painful. Makes me want to look for alternatives to Sonos.
This feature should not be hard to implement, and would be a differentiating feature between Sonos and services like Amazon Music and Google Play music, which also have poor sorting capabilities for music that is uploaded to them.
Each music service has gaping holes in usability.
Unfortunately, most people are content with mobile and poor music quality. So every company is catering to that market segment, which is the largest one.
With that said, Sonos could really lock in the audiophile market with better software. They are really a hardware company, but software is "eating the world". Why compete on hardware alone, when it is far easier to lock in a customer with the combination of hardware and software? A company called Apple does that pretty well....
This feature should not be hard to implement, and would be a differentiating feature between Sonos and services like Amazon Music and Google Play music, which also have poor sorting capabilities for music that is uploaded to them.
Each music service has gaping holes in usability.
Unfortunately, most people are content with mobile and poor music quality. So every company is catering to that market segment, which is the largest one.
With that said, Sonos could really lock in the audiophile market with better software. They are really a hardware company, but software is "eating the world". Why compete on hardware alone, when it is far easier to lock in a customer with the combination of hardware and software? A company called Apple does that pretty well....
I use the desktop controller extensively to run Sonos when I am at my desk and I for one am happy to see no changes at all there for another five years.
Look around the forum boards at this time to see the noise and heat generated by the recent change to the phone app. This happens EVERY time there is one, which now seems to be an annual feature. I am neutral about all the changes Sonos keeps making there dictated by changes in fashion, but having to relearn/rejig "muscle memory" every few months is always a PITA. I would hate to have to frequently relearn the Mac controller in the same way as well.
Yeah the desktop app is totally out of whack with current design/feel/functionality and needs updating asap.
Based on the fairly exhaustive reply to a data collection request I got a couple of months ago (and seriously, try requesting your data just to see what happens), Sonos do, if you have additional data sharing enabled, track usage data including which controller applications you use and how often. It's very possible that users like me who use whatever controller is to hand (tablet or desktop depending on which room I'm in, and also desktop because the UX is better) are a clear minority, and all the development is on mobile/tablet because that's where the users are.
Then again, Sonos do operate a clear "prioritise new features over fixing/improving the core product" policy (see the lack of fixes to play/queue controls and My Sonos UI). And maybe having completely different UX for desktop and mobile makes sense (except, y'know, for customers). Anyway, back to listening to one of my favourite artists, sorry, a "My Sonos other"...
Then again, Sonos do operate a clear "prioritise new features over fixing/improving the core product" policy (see the lack of fixes to play/queue controls and My Sonos UI). And maybe having completely different UX for desktop and mobile makes sense (except, y'know, for customers). Anyway, back to listening to one of my favourite artists, sorry, a "My Sonos other"...
Like Kumar, I am also quite content that the (Windows in my case) desktop app has stayed the same. I specifically like the feature that allows you to select your music provider when doing a search, since when searching 99% of the time I know which provider I'm looking in, and makes scrolling through the results quicker. Wish that was a permanent setting you could configure on the other apps. Overall, I like that you can see everything in one place, easily.
The desktop apps are really good - please do not change them. I am scared that the people who designed the mobile UI might damage these apps as well.
Lol. A hearty Amen to that.
Ok to be clear - there are no favorites on the desktop app?? Instead they get added to my mobile app?
I DO NOT want to have to control the Sonos from my phone when working at my laptop. This is a deal breaker for a system that I otherwise like: Sonos team - please fix this trivial feature addition or I'm ditching my unit.
I DO NOT want to have to control the Sonos from my phone when working at my laptop. This is a deal breaker for a system that I otherwise like: Sonos team - please fix this trivial feature addition or I'm ditching my unit.
Sonos favourites are first in the list of Music Sources on the desktop controller, that I use over 50% of my listening time since much of that is at my desk.
I DO NOT want to have to control the Sonos from my phone when working at my laptop. This is a deal breaker for a system that I otherwise like: Sonos team - please fix this trivial feature addition or I'm ditching my unit.
Completely wrong.
Everything that is on the mobile apps is on the desktop app both for Max and PC. The only exception is Trueplay that is only available for iPhone and iPads.
The desktop app is the only way to enter a manual URL for radio stations. I believe there may be some music services that can only be added via mobile (not sure).
BUT. You can control the system completely via the desktop app*
* Ensure you have a supported OS
Do the desktop apps have access to the "My Sonos" section?
Yes, although the terminology is "favourites", and the "favourites" screen is a simple list of all your flagged favourites. No splitting by category, no hiding favourite playlists in the "all Sonos playlists" folder, no including lists of Spotify playlists, and no edit screen that lets you accidentally rename or permanently delete stuff if you're not careful. Just a list of your favourite stuff.
But wondering where something is because it's called different things in different official Sonos v8.4 controller apps is understandable.
So, in this case, the desktop app is indeed lagging behind the smartphone app
Well it's certainly a different approach. And as there's a gap between the (actually rather awesome) intended behaviour of the "My Sonos" screen, and the current implementation, you could argue that the unchanged desktop app is actually ahead of mobile when it comes to fast navigation access to favourite items and playlists.
I use the desktop app with windows 10. For a company that is keen to develop and evolve their products, Sonos have been very slow to modernise the desktop control. It is not very user friendly at all. Two things I would like to see: Firstly, a choice of 'skins' and/or choice of colour scheme; blue on black is not great if you are visually impaired. Secondly, the addition of an alphabetically led search, so you just click on a letter and the listing will jump straight to that letter, avoiding the need for a scroll. I can't fault Sonos for sound quality, ease of set-up etc. Making the interface easier to use would seem to be a relatively simple thing to do, but it doesn't seem to be on the Sonos R&D radar.
Other features missing from the Desktop version: the Inbox feature. Setup for Alexa support. Setup for a few music services (eg Apple Music, on PC).
The Desktop apps are in legacy mode: only updated to keep working with newer hardware, no new features.
The Desktop apps are in legacy mode: only updated to keep working with newer hardware, no new features.
On many library screens (eg. Music Library->Artists), you can just hit a letter key to jump to that point in the list. But I'm pretty sure that, as with so many Sonos screens, it's not completely consistent, and quick alphabetical navigation doesn't just magically appear after the list gets large enough.
Anyone who owns a Sonos is aware that making the controller experience really awesome and consistent across all desktop and mobile platforms is not top priority at Sonos. Vent in the forums, learn the workarounds, repeat...
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