They have ruined the PC interface.
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Mine did exactly the same on the day I installed it (2 days ago) but I've tried it a few times this morning and it has closed straight away. I'll keep an eye open for it happening again.
OK I've just closed the desktop app again and it took at least 9 seconds to close this time. It does seem an excessive amount of time for closing an app! I can't understand why sometimes it closes immediately and sometimes not.
I seem to be the odd one out here - I like the new design. The colours aren't the most inspiring but it is quite readable. I especially like the top section where all the music controls are in one place. Sensible & logical. I'd agree with others that having the ability to choose a colour scheme / skinning would be much better.
No Alt Text (?) when hovering the mouse over the new Group icon is very poor - it's not an icon that speaks "Group"!
Thumbs up from me.
No Alt Text (?) when hovering the mouse over the new Group icon is very poor - it's not an icon that speaks "Group"!
Thumbs up from me.
The same UI change happened on the Mac controller and it's awful, IMHO.
This is a terrible update. I want control of ROOMS back on the PC. The Android app is also a piece of garbage. On my kindle it is extremely SLOW. On my Samsung android phone, it is useless, can't even find my playlists. Without the PC room support it is nearly impossible to manage my eight zone setup. It took minutes for some of my 'Connect' Zones to show up and then it could'nt find parts of stereo pairs on another couple of zones. i.e Showed Office (L) so I tried to add back the Office (R), said it was already a stereo pair. Eventually it came back. Not usable anymore.
A serious question. Apart from the obvious "features" of the new desktop controller (ie. new different-from-mobile look and removal of setup /admin features), are there any UX changes that might tempt us to upgrade or stick with 9.1? Do favourites still work as one big list? Can you have favourite playlists (and fast navigation to them)? Are "artists" still called "artists"? Do you still get the "add favourite to favourites" option (and the other we-ignore-current-play-context design that is the Sonos way)? Does it still basically act like the old desktop controller we know and, er, tolerate?
Loving the new B/W interface. So easy on the eyes...
Had I been on the beta-test, this had had a lot of feedback before release:
1: Why the.... did the Room Settings get removed? You _only_do that on mobile devices as a LAST resort!
2: Group room volume: If you mute one room, the speaker icon now get's a X next too it - it was MUCH easier to see it as muted on the former version, when it got 'dimmed' out.
I look at that every evening, to make sure the Bedroom is muted so the upper neighbour is able to sleep ?
3: Controller Layout:
- Why is the 'Track info text' placed in a narrow location, with a simple icon for Tune In is placed there?
It Makes No Sense!
With both Heos and Bluesound making moves in the marked, this is a huge step back.. sadly!
1: Why the.... did the Room Settings get removed? You _only_do that on mobile devices as a LAST resort!
2: Group room volume: If you mute one room, the speaker icon now get's a X next too it - it was MUCH easier to see it as muted on the former version, when it got 'dimmed' out.
I look at that every evening, to make sure the Bedroom is muted so the upper neighbour is able to sleep ?
3: Controller Layout:
- Why is the 'Track info text' placed in a narrow location, with a simple icon for Tune In is placed there?
It Makes No Sense!
With both Heos and Bluesound making moves in the marked, this is a huge step back.. sadly!
Definitely not impressed.... The UI for the Desktop App hasn't changed in what 8+ years? You had all that time to come up with something new and ground breaking, and all you did was just flatten everything out with a dark mode, and changed the icons a bit. Whoopee, seriously... I assume you have a full time UI/UX team on staff? What do those guys do all day play foosball or ping pong and smoke weed? Actually on second thought, disregard the smoke weed part of that comment, because if they had been partaking, that would have lead to a lot more creativity than you're showing here.
If you are going to muck about with the look of the user interface for windows at least give up the optional to chane the colours or skin.
This new style SUCKS
This new style SUCKS
I'm sorry, but I just did the update having NO IDEA this would change my Mac desktop interface into this AWFUL FLAT BLACK thing! This has the complete OPPOSITE effect of being "easy on the eyes!" Please put back the ability for people to choose "classic" interface - this is awful! And as others have mentioned, you have TONS of blank black real estate with no purpose, so there was zero need to remove words like "Group" (which I couldn't even find where to add back one of my speakers on the iPhone app and had to come do it on the Mac desktop).
Other than making my desktop hideous and miserable to view, I don't see anything else that has changed - so exactly what was the purpose of this? I have about $10,000 worth of Sonos equipment and appreciate that I can now go buy another Play 1 (really?) in order get Apple Airplay to finally work, but this has nothing to do with needing to make the interface a giant black thing burning glaring white type into my eyeballs and making using it to search or do anything a misery.
Please give people back the choice to use the old GUI.
Thanks
Other than making my desktop hideous and miserable to view, I don't see anything else that has changed - so exactly what was the purpose of this? I have about $10,000 worth of Sonos equipment and appreciate that I can now go buy another Play 1 (really?) in order get Apple Airplay to finally work, but this has nothing to do with needing to make the interface a giant black thing burning glaring white type into my eyeballs and making using it to search or do anything a misery.
Please give people back the choice to use the old GUI.
Thanks
Totally agree, the loss of all system settings is the real let down for me. Ridiculous.
Combined with the fact my Sonos One integrations with Alexa are constantly failing and my Connect:Amps now don't get new features. I have to pay $10,000+ to upgrade my system to the new Amp. Well, I'm ready to sell all of my Sonos Gear and buy Echo Link Amps for less than half the price with better integration. Really sad to see Sonos fall off a cliff like this. Seems like they are alienating all of the customers that got them where they are.
Combined with the fact my Sonos One integrations with Alexa are constantly failing and my Connect:Amps now don't get new features. I have to pay $10,000+ to upgrade my system to the new Amp. Well, I'm ready to sell all of my Sonos Gear and buy Echo Link Amps for less than half the price with better integration. Really sad to see Sonos fall off a cliff like this. Seems like they are alienating all of the customers that got them where they are.
Spot on!
There is a change, I cannot say that I'm full of joy over it, but nor am I in rage over it. The fact that it does not remember size and position is a bummer, but I expect that to be fixed. (I only start the controller when I boot Windows which is not that often.) For me personally there is an improvement: the icon in the taskbar is different. The old icon was a little bit to similar the icon for Waterfox which I use as my web browser.
Different colours, but as Alan points out, very little has really changed.
Being able to choose the skin? Personally, I have never really had confidence in software that permits you to choose skins. But, OK, for a music player it would make sense. But, hey, would it really be Sonos if they would let us make that choice? For good or bad, that simply is not the Sonos way.
The PC update is terrible, terrible , terrible. Can't read a thing. Who comes up with these designs. With poor eyesight the light grey on black is unreadable; the white on black gives too much contrast. Why not offer colour options or keep it blue.
I'm not sure who designed the desktop controller but now I can't see a damn thing on it. Black and white looks cool and all, but there is no contrast on the buttons, the white text is blurry on my 27" monitor and it gives me a headache looking at it. Please please PLEASE go back to the old skin, or at least let us choose it as an option.
For Windows 10 users there are several 3rd party Sonos apps in the Store. Including mine. Try them out, find one you like. And for the record, I hate the blackness of the new Sonos desktop controller. I run my own app in White mode, except on my Xbox where Black mode looks easier on the huge screen.
What are you guys smoking? Just when I though the previous design was terrible... How is it possible, I don't understand?!
I was pleading for a better designed app for years! I've been in countless beta cycles. Nothing changed, absolutely nothing. This is my message to Sonos 2 years ago from 10 August 2016
I'm deleting the app from my system.
""
Comment on the app development (concerning all platforms but with special emphasis on desktop)
How can one have such an amazing product on the hardware side but being so sloppy on the software?
Are there any plans to overhaul the UI anytime soon? I’ve been in the Beta update cycles for years and the improvements are painfully incremental considering any other platform leaping lightyears ahead. Including non-linear navigation, drag & drop, rich visual feedback are completely absent. Only drag&drop from 90s is partially implemented.
The App on the desktop seems extremely static, linear impersonal UI, with non-sensical sliding back and forth between a myriad of textual menus. It's an appliance like solution for one-fingered blue (now black) alien who loves to read very similar two word sentences.
Sorry for my language, I the hardware and I know it’s hard to build anything valuable in UI with so much competition on other fronts. But the UI is what your clients look at and use hours every day.
Just imagine how much time of it is wasted because of really bad design.
Please, please do something about it.
It's too bad the desktop app is neglected. Your competitors offer a full spectrum of experiences and deep discovery tools with social integration (without the hardware).
There is one simple and maybe obvious solution - SONOS could adapt proven methods for rapid UI dev cycles from others using web technologies (and package them as native app) with all the benefits of the web
and/or
integrate with the user's system and become a system layer offering secure network connection to the speakers. (AirPlay-like integration but with support not limited to iOS). "SONOS Aether"
I'm deleting the app from my system.
""
Comment on the app development (concerning all platforms but with special emphasis on desktop)
How can one have such an amazing product on the hardware side but being so sloppy on the software?
Are there any plans to overhaul the UI anytime soon? I’ve been in the Beta update cycles for years and the improvements are painfully incremental considering any other platform leaping lightyears ahead. Including non-linear navigation, drag & drop, rich visual feedback are completely absent. Only drag&drop from 90s is partially implemented.
The App on the desktop seems extremely static, linear impersonal UI, with non-sensical sliding back and forth between a myriad of textual menus. It's an appliance like solution for one-fingered blue (now black) alien who loves to read very similar two word sentences.
Sorry for my language, I the hardware and I know it’s hard to build anything valuable in UI with so much competition on other fronts. But the UI is what your clients look at and use hours every day.
Just imagine how much time of it is wasted because of really bad design.
Please, please do something about it.
It's too bad the desktop app is neglected. Your competitors offer a full spectrum of experiences and deep discovery tools with social integration (without the hardware).
There is one simple and maybe obvious solution - SONOS could adapt proven methods for rapid UI dev cycles from others using web technologies (and package them as native app) with all the benefits of the web
and/or
integrate with the user's system and become a system layer offering secure network connection to the speakers. (AirPlay-like integration but with support not limited to iOS). "SONOS Aether"
Just noticed the update broke my connection through Spotify. Nothing works
For anyone who wants to downgrade here are the links.
http://update.sonos.com/software/mac/mdcr/SonosDesktopController91.dmg
http://update.sonos.com/software/mac/mdcr/SonosDesktopController90.dmg
Version 9.0 needs an older firmware on the speakers but 9.1 works but I noticed that they removed all the audio settings from the app, only Date/Time settings remained. Please, who the hell needs Date/Time settings in a music controller app?! What a piece of crap really...
For anyone who wants to downgrade here are the links.
http://update.sonos.com/software/mac/mdcr/SonosDesktopController91.dmg
http://update.sonos.com/software/mac/mdcr/SonosDesktopController90.dmg
Version 9.0 needs an older firmware on the speakers but 9.1 works but I noticed that they removed all the audio settings from the app, only Date/Time settings remained. Please, who the hell needs Date/Time settings in a music controller app?! What a piece of crap really...
The PC Controller update is horrible. Please add a skin button so we don’t have to look at this monochrome display. The PC Controller was the last saving grace for me because they destroyed the Smartphone app back in 8.2 so we can't find anything or manage my groups anymore, and now I have an 80's looking monochrome color scheme. I understand that things change but losing functionality with each release is total crap in my opinion. The smartphone app is so hard to use and now this. I wish I never upgraded. Can someone build another interface based on 7.0 and just leave it alone? You could call it Sonos Classic, and I would buy it because I hate this new interface. I'm thinking of pulling out my CR100 controller..............
This isn't going to be popular but I actually like the refreshed look. To me it's crisper, more modern, fits in more with the look of other apps and now is closer to the look of the mobile apps. I really can't see a downside. Everything is very clear on my Macs (and my eyes are not the best these days).
This is obviously a very subjective thing.
On the other hand, the removal of some of the functionality is not so great and removes some convenience but not a huge deal to me.
This is obviously a very subjective thing.
On the other hand, the removal of some of the functionality is not so great and removes some convenience but not a huge deal to me.
+1 for this - I don't need a BLACK interface on Windows. Yeesh.
AND - the app auto-resizes to the largest possible size and can't find it's position on the desktop EVERY TIME I OPEN IT! I use a two-monitor setup and have it set to a certain position and I have to reset it EVERY TIME. 😞 😞 😞
AND - the app auto-resizes to the largest possible size and can't find it's position on the desktop EVERY TIME I OPEN IT! I use a two-monitor setup and have it set to a certain position and I have to reset it EVERY TIME. 😞 😞 😞
I thought the change to bring it in line with the color of the mobile app was generally a good idea, but I think the legibility has gone down. The dark gray room groups on the black background are really hard to see, at least on my monitors, and the gray text on the gray buttons on bottom of UI are poorly legible. In addition some of the UI widgets appear a little blurry, such as the sound slider, the grouping icon, etc. (I'm on Windows 10.) Finally, I use small icons on my dock, and the 'Sonos' lettering is completely unreadable. They should replace that with their icon they use in the title bar, or something, to make more user-friendly. Now I look for the little black icon with a smidgen of white to know which one to click on.
All in all I think this could have been done better, but wasn't the worst thing in the world, for what it's worth.
All in all I think this could have been done better, but wasn't the worst thing in the world, for what it's worth.
The new flat black with bright white interface is horrific. Very hard on the eyes , looks not polished at all. Please consider going back to the older color scheme, thanks.
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