Sadly SONOS have enough on trying to get the buggy voice integration software stable and addressing users being disappointed and underwhelmed by the lack of functionality.
The competition are almost upon them....
From CNET this morning...
Sonos executives must be looking at vast tech companies making smart speakers and resisting the urge to hum a dirge.
Amazon launched its latest Echos last week. Google on Wednesday presented its new Homes -- including a charmingly unattractive Max that claims to offer quite a boom. Then there's Apple, whose music-based HomePod comes to market in
Common sense would be to heed the adverse feedback on the new app and revert to the old version, which had few issues being raised. Or at least give the user the choice.
I know that 'Sonos knows best' is value often perceived by customers but carrying on regardless over this issue could be huge distraction and add to what must be a worrying time for the company.
Show some courage Sonos... Withdraw the new App
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I personally hate the arrogance that Sonos shows towards their customer base. I need the previous version back to cure the problems this new version has caused me with accessing my NAS drive every time the app starts up.
This new app update must have been designed by a child of 5. The last major "update" was a dismal failure and this is even worse. It has ruined my experience. How could anyone with even a grain of common sense think that this was a good thing?
I am having trouble even formulating my words; 5 minutes wrestling to find my favourited radio station has left me incandescent with rage, I am struggling not to swear.
I am having trouble even formulating my words; 5 minutes wrestling to find my favourited radio station has left me incandescent with rage, I am struggling not to swear.
7 or 8 years ago when I first bought into Sonos you used to be hand the controller (CR200, I think) or the Ipad to someone who had never used Sonos before and they would be able to use it stragith away to play and queue up music -- it was spot on and so intuitive from the very beginning. After 2 days I am stiff baffled by the new app's navigation, and it is anything but intuitive. I dont' think I'm stupid, so I guess I can't be the only one. That can't be right, can it ??
Lol. This sort of nonsense posting happens every time any company refreshes the UI of their software. Ask Microsoft. A few users resistant to change, no matter that it improves the user experience. Ignore them Sonos.
Normally I would agree with you but not in this instance. This update has made the user experience far worse for a lot of people.
Sono seem to have copied the black & white theme from this forum, which lots of us said lacked contrast and was an eye strain. What have they got against colour??
Crap update. Have to navigate back and forth to find my music or playlists. How do you play one playlist in one room and another in another room without going round the house or using another controller.
Sonos - if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. App now a pile of crap ?
Sonos - if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. App now a pile of crap ?
Good idea, Chicks -- Go for it Sonos, ignore your users. After all, you don't need their returning custom, or their positive word of mouth amongst friends or families. You don't need their dollers, pounds or euros. You don't need them to be ambassadors of your ecosystem. You don't need to persaude them not to switch to the plethora of other smart speakers out there. Ignore them, they're all idiots.
Thanks for the feedback everyone. We've put a lot of work into the new app and it's been through lots of testing, so if you are experiencing any playback issues or problems we'd love to work with you. Odds are, it's a network or local problem, but we're happy to investigate those too. I'd recommend give us a call on our support line if you do have any of those issues.
As to the app itself, this is a solid foundation that we're going to be building on. A lot of basic steps had to be taken, and now with that done, we can work on more improvements. You can expect to see the app change as we continue to work on it. Keep on sending in constructive feedback, we'd love to send it along to the development team so they can build an app that as many people as possible enjoy using.
As to the app itself, this is a solid foundation that we're going to be building on. A lot of basic steps had to be taken, and now with that done, we can work on more improvements. You can expect to see the app change as we continue to work on it. Keep on sending in constructive feedback, we'd love to send it along to the development team so they can build an app that as many people as possible enjoy using.
I still fail to see why the app had to go back 3 steps as far as usability is concerned. I was very happy with the previous version
New app? I feel I am getting old as I am not able to figure out how to switch rooms and to select favorites. I would love to switch back. Please tell me how
Just pull the "Now playing" down, and press the tab at the bottom called "Rooms".
We don't have the option to roll back to older apps, they'd be missing a lot of options with the players updated. But the app will keep improving, so if you don't like something, make sure you share your feedback.
No going back sorry
Hi Phil,
I'm sorry to hear that you're not enjoying the new app. I hope you'll give it some time, as it's fewer clicks to play your favorites (and do most things) now.
We tested with thousands of customers to make sure it was going to allow people to get their music playing faster (and easier to group rooms, etc.). We're confident it's a step in the right direction so I hope you'll give it a chance.
Best Regards,
Patrick
______
Patrick Spence
Sonos | Chief Executive Officer | patrick.spence@sonos.com
Hi Phil,
I'm sorry to hear that you're not enjoying the new app. I hope you'll give it some time, as it's fewer clicks to play your favorites (and do most things) now.
We tested with thousands of customers to make sure it was going to allow people to get their music playing faster (and easier to group rooms, etc.). We're confident it's a step in the right direction so I hope you'll give it a chance.
Best Regards,
Patrick
______
Patrick Spence
Sonos | Chief Executive Officer | patrick.spence@sonos.com
3 steps back sounds pretty good to me. I am currently at 6.21 and have been reluctant to do any upgrades due to the changes to queue management. Are you saying this latest firmware reverts back to something functionally close to where I currently am with 6.21?
Oh jeez. :8
Profound comment. Thanks for the input.
Profound comment. Thanks for the input.
I supply what is fitting. You are quite welcome. 😉
Hi Phil,
I'm sorry to hear that you're not enjoying the new app. I hope you'll give it some time, as it's fewer clicks to play your favorites (and do most things) now.
We tested with thousands of customers to make sure it was going to allow people to get their music playing faster (and easier to group rooms, etc.). We're confident it's a step in the right direction so I hope you'll give it a chance.
Best Regards,
Patrick
______
Patrick Spence
Sonos | Chief Executive Officer | patrick.spence@sonos.com
If it is quicker with the new app will you please prove and explain that to the majority of us who are finding it more fiddly and more steps to be able to do things. I've mentioned this before but I've been writing commercial software for over 30 years now and so I'm not thick, but I'm struggling with this new app. I'm also struggling at the moment how anyone involved with it could have thought that it was good enough for Sonos.
I liked the previous version of the app right from the start so there's either some serious miscommunication going on here and we are all using it wrongly or Sonos are deluding themselves.
I liked the previous version of the app right from the start so there's either some serious miscommunication going on here and we are all using it wrongly or Sonos are deluding themselves.
The last major UI update caused a much larger kerfluffle. Dozens of whiners back then. This thread is nothing in comparison, lol.
I liked the previous version of the app right from the start so there's either some serious miscommunication going on here and we are all using it wrongly or Sonos are deluding themselves.
The last major UI update caused a much larger kerfluffle. Dozens of whiners back then. This thread is nothing in comparison, lol.
I really don't care about that. What has that got to do with people having problems with the new app? I'm not out to cause problems or anything like that, I just want my 5 zone Sonos investment to be enjoyable again.
I am now using my CR200 and CR100 controllers instead of the ipad app because they are more usable to me at the moment and that is not a good thing.
Removed the rest of my post here as I don't want to stoop to the level of the insulting people on here.
The last major UI update caused a much larger kerfluffle. Dozens of whiners back then. This thread is nothing in comparison, lol.
Very true and in that instance a lot of it was resistance to change accompanied by some minor usability issues. It took Sonos some 12 months to accept there was an issue and fix it. You think that they would have learned from that experience.
The current new app I am sure is getting some whining because it is different. However, it is fundamentaly a very poor design visually and has flattened the navigation drastically. This is fine for a single room/speaker application but has made multi room control very clumsy and non-intuitive.
Given that good multiroom audio is starting to be the only differentiator that Sonos has from the growing competition it does look like an own goal.
I have seen the claim made that they have loads of positive feedback. I have to say that this is very difficult to give any credibility. Many of us are professional designers and can recognise this as a lamentably poor design that would never see the light of day in any organisation with the lightest usability testing in place.
I know that Sonos won't have the courage to pull this, they don't respond to user feedback. This used to work OK when they were the only good option available.
The dogs are almost upon them and this is not a good time to alienate their loyal customers for the sake of principle.
Very true and in that instance a lot of it was resistance to change accompanied by some minor usability issues. It took Sonos some 12 months to accept there was an issue and fix it. You think that they would have learned from that experience.
The current new app I am sure is getting some whining because it is different. However, it is fundamentaly a very poor design visually and has flattened the navigation drastically. This is fine for a single room/speaker application but has made multi room control very clumsy and non-intuitive.
Given that good multiroom audio is starting to be the only differentiator that Sonos has from the growing competition it does look like an own goal.
I have seen the claim made that they have loads of positive feedback. I have to say that this is very difficult to give any credibility. Many of us are professional designers and can recognise this as a lamentably poor design that would never see the light of day in any organisation with the lightest usability testing in place.
I know that Sonos won't have the courage to pull this, they don't respond to user feedback. This used to work OK when they were the only good option available.
The dogs are almost upon them and this is not a good time to alienate their loyal customers for the sake of principle.
This is a copy of the email I sent to Patrick Spence yesterday. I thought I'd post it here in case it got lost amongst hundreds of other emails in his inbox :)
I have got a bit heated over the last couple of days on the forums and I don't like that. I usually like to remain positive about software because I know what it's like to put your whole life into a software package and then people pick fault with it.
At the moment I feel like I'm trapped by Sonos and I don't like that feeling. I have no option but to accept the latest ios app which has completely spoiled my enjoyment of the hardware that I've bought from your company over the last few years (since 2009). At the moment I've resorted to using my old CR100 and CR200 controllers due to the problems with the ios app.
I've just been for a long walk to think over if I should sell all my Sonos gear, I wouldn't do this lightly but I would if I can't get rid of this feeling of Sonos not caring about existing users and treating them badly by not keeping them informed about anything and forcing unpopular updates on people. I have no option but to use Sonos software as far as I know because it's a closed system.
My current problems with the app are that it's not as quick and intuitive to use as the previous version. I liked the previous version and used to show it to visitors proudly. The My Sonos page is virtually useless for me because it only shows up to 8 favourite radio stations and then you have to click on See All. The main problem I have with the My Sonos page is that it keeps starting my NAS drive up to look for the album artwork for my FLAC playlists. I want to be the one who decides when to access my NAS drive - that should only happen on the evenings when I want to listen to my own music. At the moment it's starting the drive up every time I go to the My Sonos page and I find that unacceptable.
I'm hoping that there's something that a lot of users don't know about, and that we're using the app wrongly.
Regards
I have got a bit heated over the last couple of days on the forums and I don't like that. I usually like to remain positive about software because I know what it's like to put your whole life into a software package and then people pick fault with it.
At the moment I feel like I'm trapped by Sonos and I don't like that feeling. I have no option but to accept the latest ios app which has completely spoiled my enjoyment of the hardware that I've bought from your company over the last few years (since 2009). At the moment I've resorted to using my old CR100 and CR200 controllers due to the problems with the ios app.
I've just been for a long walk to think over if I should sell all my Sonos gear, I wouldn't do this lightly but I would if I can't get rid of this feeling of Sonos not caring about existing users and treating them badly by not keeping them informed about anything and forcing unpopular updates on people. I have no option but to use Sonos software as far as I know because it's a closed system.
My current problems with the app are that it's not as quick and intuitive to use as the previous version. I liked the previous version and used to show it to visitors proudly. The My Sonos page is virtually useless for me because it only shows up to 8 favourite radio stations and then you have to click on See All. The main problem I have with the My Sonos page is that it keeps starting my NAS drive up to look for the album artwork for my FLAC playlists. I want to be the one who decides when to access my NAS drive - that should only happen on the evenings when I want to listen to my own music. At the moment it's starting the drive up every time I go to the My Sonos page and I find that unacceptable.
I'm hoping that there's something that a lot of users don't know about, and that we're using the app wrongly.
Regards
There's a great opportunity for third party developers to provide a good alternative UI.
Does anyone know if Sonopad still works for IOS?
Is there an equivalent Android offering?
Sorry JohnG666 its unlikely to fix your NAS issue
Does anyone know if Sonopad still works for IOS?
Is there an equivalent Android offering?
Sorry JohnG666 its unlikely to fix your NAS issue
Android users just google 'sonos 7.4 apk' and download it, delete 8.0 and install 7.4 again
Does anyone know if Sonopad still works for IOS?
Is there an equivalent Android offering?
Sorry JohnG666 its unlikely to fix your NAS issue
Just checked out SonoPad and it still exists. The developer still maintains the app. It was last updated last July. I just bought the app for €1.09. Works like a charm on my iPad. I feel immediately at home on it. It's not perfect, but it feels nicer than the current Sonos controller app.
Thanks for the tip, Lozboz!
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