I would like to issue my feedback:
Oh my gosh the new app, sonos website + forum are very complex!
I could easily list a number of fundamental user interface rules that are broken, and many interfaces that are just so complex that it beggars belief.
Many folks that I know personally who have purchased on my sonos recommendation are similarly expressing their frustrations with such a massive UI change, to make matters worse, without warning.
Michael Lee - 20 years software development professional.
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Sonos original menu interface was great. SOOO Easy to use. What the hell happened? Navigation is terrible. Select something to play and good luck trying to get back to it to change speakers, stations, etc. Go back to your roots. Sometimes you don't have to change things.
Oh my gosh the new app, sonos website + forum are very complex!
I could easily list a number of fundamental user interface rules that are broken, and many interfaces that are just so complex that it beggars belief.
Many folks that I know personally who have purchased on my sonos recommendation are similarly expressing their frustrations with such a massive UI change, to make matters worse, without warning.
Michael Lee - 20 years software development professional.
The Laptop Controller version will forget "browsing position" which I find really annoying. Described here:
https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-software-228995/mac-controller-sleep-controller-forgets-browse-position-6794348
The app still updates artwork really slow, no improvments regarding tags for classical music.
I have used Sonos fore some years and apart from the problems mentionen above it seems to be there has been lot of changes and updates lately. I get a lot more nag screens about updating and so on. I don't like that. Especially with apps I've paid for (since I've bought Sonos hardware) I feel I as a user should be able to decide myself how much I want to be nagged about updates. Also, now I've ran into situations where I have to re-autorize music services and these re-authorizations requires updates to Sonos being made. Forcing me to update to authorize my paid for music service in a paid for system is unaccpetable. I say play my music and be quiet please, stop nagging me.
Userlevel 1
This new app (android) is quite confusing to use. It used to be so easy to select the room and my favourite music or radio but I struggle every time. I've used Sonos for years and this has really dented my confidence in it. My son-in-law feels the same - his comments have prompted this post.
John B - we know you like the app. Stop chiming in all the time to tell us. Let people have their say on this as there seem to be a lot of people who do not like the recent change.
Totally agree the new interface is appallingly inintuitive. Then to voice y concerns I have to create an account and then I have to spend 5 minutes trying to work out how to reply. Maybe a big colored button with reply here. Who ever is responsible for UI in Sonos is harming the product
Userlevel 7
+22
Going forward I intend to test new apps on an old android phone I have, I will only download new controllers if I deem them to be an improvement. Does anyone know if using old versions of the app long term will cause any problems? Will it eventually do it anyway if I keep saying update later?
Eventually some services will stop working as those services make changes which require firmware/controller updates.
I've had my 5 room sonos for 7 years, long enough to have had the orignal remotebefore there was an app...Anyway, what I find annoying is how confusing it is to change rooms. Too many steps.
After spending a lot of money over many years on a music system 10xS1, 4xS3, soundbar, bridge, connect, I expect the company and not its customers to resolve my problems.
The update app which i delayed installing, crashes everyday. It fails to see components, won't group rooms, required far more actions to do anything, requires signing in for most actions, such as trying to recover components it can't find, won't accept additional advice (phone, PC) controllers, can't find my NAS, always there before, etc. etc.
Do something!
The update app which i delayed installing, crashes everyday. It fails to see components, won't group rooms, required far more actions to do anything, requires signing in for most actions, such as trying to recover components it can't find, won't accept additional advice (phone, PC) controllers, can't find my NAS, always there before, etc. etc.
Do something!
I've been using the Sonos system for 2 years, and Sonos is my 3rd server-based digital music management system. We have 6 zones in our house and 5 of them are powered by Sonos Connect AMP units. The other by a Sonos Connect.
It is with this background that I say that the previous UI was outstanding. it was intuitive, quick and a pleasure to interact with. The latest one (introduced in the fall of 2017) is frustrating and inconvenient. It is especially hard to control which rooms/zones you want on and off, and even after over a month of daily use we still find ourselves in loops of going back and forth to the wrong screen to try and figure out how to achieve this. Much like the introduction of NEW COKE, this new structure to the UI is the **answer to the question that nobody asked**, and the head 'architect' behind this upgrade should be sacked.
And on the subject, in this same new app version, when one clicks on 'Pandora' THEN one has to ALSO make an additional click to select "My Stations" — this is the height of annoying redundancy.
Formerly elated, now disappointed,
TH
Asheville, NC
It is with this background that I say that the previous UI was outstanding. it was intuitive, quick and a pleasure to interact with. The latest one (introduced in the fall of 2017) is frustrating and inconvenient. It is especially hard to control which rooms/zones you want on and off, and even after over a month of daily use we still find ourselves in loops of going back and forth to the wrong screen to try and figure out how to achieve this. Much like the introduction of NEW COKE, this new structure to the UI is the **answer to the question that nobody asked**, and the head 'architect' behind this upgrade should be sacked.
And on the subject, in this same new app version, when one clicks on 'Pandora' THEN one has to ALSO make an additional click to select "My Stations" — this is the height of annoying redundancy.
Formerly elated, now disappointed,
TH
Asheville, NC
It is interesting to consider what genius decided users would like an extra step to see their list of favourites nor why the playlist need to be screen covering generic icons. It's not even consistent. And after weeks of trying and lots of online help, the phone app still cannot see my NAS while other apps and PCs can.
And why did someone decide it was more useful to be only able to see two favourites as the default?
+1
As someone who almost exclusively uses Playlists in iTunes I find it very frustrating to have to scroll through the many (100's) of playlists I have to reach one near the end of the alphabet.
An alphabet menu at the side (like in songs, artists ect) shouldn't be too hard to add, should it??
An alphabet menu at the side (like in songs, artists ect) shouldn't be too hard to add, should it??
Userlevel 7
+26
Thanks for sharing Michael, we're collecting feedback and sharing with the team on the app to work with for future versions.
Have to agree that the new app configuration is not easy to use or look at. As well, it seems to be much less responsive in its recognition of a change of song, and it no longer consistently will display album art work for songs that I know it would show before. I'm finding this on the both the phone app and the desktop app.
Providing useful information is indeed not trolling. Pretending the new app is easy, quick and logical however - despite this forum being a clear testament to the contrary, for over a month now - definitely is.
Providing useful information is indeed not trolling. Pretending the new app is easy, quick and logical however - despite this forum being a clear testament to the contrary, for over a month now - definitely is.
I am not arguing, and never have, that this was a good change by Sonos, or that the new app is better than the old. I respect everyone's right to think it a step backwards, too bright, less easy to use...whatever. But anyone finding it impossible to select a room and get the music of their choice playing in it is missing a trick, because that IS easy.
Right now, the only Sonos app we have to work with is 8.2. My only aim now is to help people to see that it isn't impossible or even difficult, even though they may legitimately think it less easy than before, or a step backwards, or a pointless change.
So I will continue to try and help those who are finding it impossible, to find it possible, and start enjoying their Sonos systems again until such time as any changes to the app are made.
And one of the key bits of advice remains to avoid the 'quick group' thing, which is at best useless and at worst the cause of confusion and frustration and should be scrapped. I am not trying to defend Sonos or the app, but to help individuals to avoid a couple of pitfalls that undoubtedly exist, and use the app in the best way possible..
How can you call this a great start? Sonos is not some right out of the gates startup, and neither is this some early release new app.
We are discussing version 8 of an app that already was quite mature and which got changed for the worse without a sound reason to do so. At best it's change for the sake of change, but more likely this is the result of mindlessly copying another app (e.g apple music).
Userlevel 7
+20
Providing useful information is indeed not trolling. Pretending the new app is easy, quick and logical however - despite this forum being a clear testament to the contrary, for over a month now - definitely is.
Who appointed you as some kind of moderator over whose opinions are right, and whose are wrong?
There are millions of Sonos users. Those who are happy with the new app won’t feel the need to post on this forum to say so.
Thank you John. I appreciate your advice. It is making the app more useablefor me. I can’t go as far as saying I like it...but your advice is helping me.
From the Rooms menu, I can do nothing. I have to select the room, which logically would expect you to access the room "options", but no, you then have select a different nav bar icon, which is counter intuitive - wy can I not access rooms, then select music, without jumping between nav bar items?
If I double click the room I go to a full screen "Now Playing" view which allows me to do - well not very much really.
I cannot select music from the now playing screen - it seems to be an enormous waste of space when they could easily give you more usable features.
Frankly, there are too many "ways" of getting to the end result.
Swipe, select from Nav, select room, then access nav bar again, then search - wow - so many different styles of UI to get music playing.
It could be so, so, so much simpler.
This app makes NO SENSE whatsoever. Even after using it for hours I find it frustratingly useless as a UI
Nothing is logical. The thing you want to do you need to approach from the wrong direction.
I would actually pay money to get a better app.
SONOS need to admit that they have failed badly on this one - the product is outstanding -this app UI is a car crash, a complete disaster of a user experience.
Your comments suggest that you have not explored the app properly to find out what happens where.
Select room. Then select music. Sounds logical to me. It’s different but more logical.
Now playing screen. What do you mean can’t select music? Does Show Queue not work for you?
Does selecting the room in My Music not work for you?
What a colossal waste of both our times this debate is. I concede that you are correct on every point, and I am completely wrong.
Userlevel 3
Stuart_W and Amun thanks for your comments, very helpful.
One change I would like to see is the ability to change the Music Library menu structure. For example, if I could, I would change the menu path to be Music Library>Genres>(albums). Currently this path ends with artists. With classical music this would be especially helpful as "composers" is often not correctly filled in by iTunes. A list of all albums, as currently provided in the path (Music Library>Albums) is way too long to use and it would be nice to narrow down by genre.
Userlevel 7
+22
The people who designed the Apple Music app and the Spotify app which Sonos obviously tried to emulate.
A constructive feedback:
First: I like the new look - the blue was so 2007
Second: The main interface bar at the bottom - good idea in general.
But one important element is missing!
Sonos forgot its core business in the App: Providing a MULTI-ROOM experience!
Choosing and selecting rooms has to be the center of it all. But currently it has same priority than all the other functionality. This leads to a total headache whenever you want to switch between the rooms. Because most often I am in the detailed view of a room also to open the current playlist. From here one only has the possibility to group rooms together, etc. But you can not switch to an other room or select new music! It is actually a totally confusing and useless UI layer. First swipe down, then select the new room, then choose what should be played. This is much too long and chunky!
You could at least allow to swipe left or right to switch between rooms faster or you add a bar at the bottom which can be scrolled from left to right to choose and select the rooms. On top of this you add the bar which is currently at the bottom. Whereas the room button would then show the info of the detailed “current playing” view.
Now you never loose sight which room you are currently in and you choos the functionality easily per room.
But last of all: Please change something! It can not remain like it is now. Thanks
First: I like the new look - the blue was so 2007
Second: The main interface bar at the bottom - good idea in general.
But one important element is missing!
Sonos forgot its core business in the App: Providing a MULTI-ROOM experience!
Choosing and selecting rooms has to be the center of it all. But currently it has same priority than all the other functionality. This leads to a total headache whenever you want to switch between the rooms. Because most often I am in the detailed view of a room also to open the current playlist. From here one only has the possibility to group rooms together, etc. But you can not switch to an other room or select new music! It is actually a totally confusing and useless UI layer. First swipe down, then select the new room, then choose what should be played. This is much too long and chunky!
You could at least allow to swipe left or right to switch between rooms faster or you add a bar at the bottom which can be scrolled from left to right to choose and select the rooms. On top of this you add the bar which is currently at the bottom. Whereas the room button would then show the info of the detailed “current playing” view.
Now you never loose sight which room you are currently in and you choos the functionality easily per room.
But last of all: Please change something! It can not remain like it is now. Thanks
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