SONOS...don't be silent about V8 backlash

What is more likely - that the few positive people are trying to convince each other that negative comments are being posted by the same set over and over?
When I posted my reply that's exactly what the conversation had gotten to: "Always amusing how changes trigger these visceral responses, with often the same people who complained bitterly about the previous update now claim it was beautiful. It never ends, lol."

It's obvious though that most of the negative comments are from people with no prior history on this forum.

so the ratio of many negatives to few positives on a forum of posters is largely meaningless
Looking at the app ratings on the play store, that's open for interpretation. More importantly though, the inherent imbalance between positive and negative comments does not mean that negative comments reflect a small minority of the customer base at all times, regardless of how much negative feedback you might be receiving.

At a certain point, you do need to acknowledge that there is indeed a problem.


And to get the negative commenters to understand that most of the negative aspects go away with some learning and that both negative comments and relearning based hiccups are things that are an inseparable part of every upgrade?
While familiarity does indeed play a role, the current issues are more fundamental than that, as they are often about basic usability and efficiently. And that doesn't change no matter how used you may have gotten to the new interface.

Changing rooms for example has become incredibly more cumbersome than in the previous version. Even if you are fully used to the new process, you still need numerous additional clicks, often jumping from the top of the screen to the bottom and back, to get that done. And Why? No-one can tell, as the previous approach with the little drop down underneath what's playing was a lot more straightforward.

Same story with the screen design to select a speaker where you now need to scroll while previously you didn't for the same amount of information, Again, that will remain less efficient. doesn't matter how used you may have gotten to it,

And why does that matter so much? Because most people do not care about how pretty that interface looks, they just want to quickly change what is playing and where and continue with what they were doing. So when you make that harder, is no more than normal that people get upset.

And to add insult to injury, Sonos doesn't even properly acknowledge all this, except for some empty 'we value you feedback'-like statements (hence this thread).

And the irony in the same set that attacked the prior version when it was released now pining to go back to it?
That's actually quite logical. The current version is worse than the previous one, while the blue version in turn was better than that previous version.

The problem is much bigger this time though as some of the most basic functionality is impacted quite significantly, without any meaningful improvements to compensate. Previously it was more of a mixed bag, with some elements changing for the better, while others changed for the worse. This time around however there's little benefit to be found.

The way this is done can be abrupt at times, I agree; but consider the circumstances for this - when this has to be done the nth time on the nth thread on the same beaten to the death subject, it isn't easy to be otherwise..
There is an alternative and that's to demand form Sonos that they user test their new interfaces, and actually take feedback into account during a beta. That way, by the time the new update rolls out, the kinks have been ironed out, and you don't get a huge backlash when you force people to upgrade (something you shouldn't be doing in the first place, especially when confronted with a backlash).

You just don't treat people that have often payed several thousands for your hardware as a bunch of insignificant guinea pigs that should roll over when you say so.

On the other hand, there are a small set of negative posters that offer constructive and calm feedback that do not get this kind of response.
While that's true for some posters, like John B for example who wrote that guide, that's certainly not the case for all of them.

Posters like jgatie are just being aggressive and rude, and no more that that. Blaming people for not getting with the program - while refusing to acknowledge the sound argument they bring to the table - is not something you can call constructive.

. This is just the beginning of the new app, so you'll see revisions as we build.

And that's the problem right there!

You forced people to upgrade - from a reasonable functional controller - to some kind of early release.

Just roll this back until you get it right.

Yes how ridiculous to have organised Favourites by type when they could have left everything mixed up with no customisation. Outrageous.

I will engage you once (and never again, since your 5700+ replies indicate this is your hobby, if not your obsession), and state flatly that you clearly don't understand the point of what I posted if you interpret it as not wanting customization. Read it over once again. I merely see no point in the customization (it's not customization by the way, it's categorization - and fixed, at that - customization would imply that the user can control it) that Sonos provided. It is useless to me, and I suspect, many others.

The backlash is pretty minor compared to some prior updates.
IMO, it is more, but there is the simultaneous Alexa release that muddies the waters for a good comparison. But the point remains that every app change results in a barrage of complaints and that those that either like the change or are neutral about it, very rarely post to say so. It therefore gets to be bit like saying that hospitals contain a very large majority of sick people.

Thanks for sharing that post, jgaite.

My apologies if it seems we've been quiet, I can assure you that we're reading everything posted and talking about your feedback here as we continue to develop the app. We'll keep on working on the software and you'll see some changes soon with more to come. This is just the beginning of the new app, so you'll see revisions as we build.

We'd love to get your feedback and suggestions as we go.

Just a note, things like playback problems and rooms not responding aren't likely to be app related, so if you do experience this sort of problem, it's best to contact us and do some troubleshooting. Those are almost certainly fixable and caused by something environmental.

What exactly do you find unusable or unstable about the app??

Maybe you could have a read of the 100's of angry posts from others here about how terrible the new version is.

SONOS, now is not the time to be silent. People have spent SIGNIFICANT money on your products, and for you to FORCE an update on everyone, an update that the large majority find unusable, unstable, and overall just BAD, we need to hear from you on what your intentions are. Transparency is important. Do not just sit back and be silent. Don't make us sort through hundreds of posts to find whatever information you are giving. Put information clearly on your support page.

In the future, remember that your software is tied to very expensive hardware that we, your customers, have purchased. Before you go making huge changes to the software, how about putting it out as a trial, or send users emails with images of the UI, demo site, so we can give feedback BEFORE you ruin everyone's systems? Or better yet, give us a ROLLBACK option that works.

I second this very eloquent plea for reasonableness (especially ROLLBACK - you had some pretty great software back in the day, and for the most part it just got worse and worse), and wish to add my own related suggestion:
One of the things I find simply horrendous is the partitioning of Sonos Favorites into the very arbitrary, one-size-fits-all categories tied to item type (playlist, podcast, station, albums, etc.) Since EVERY function that applies to actions performed on these things is consistent across-the-board regardless of their placement, why not let users define their own hierarchy of "buckets" for faves? I couldn't care less WHERE my stuff is sourced, so I would, as an example, create three folders for music labeled "Bedtime", "Relaxing", "Lively" and a fourth called "Spoken" for podcasts, news, and sports. Other people might divide them as "Jazz" and "Classical"; and some might even just rock it old school and leave the items in the Sonos Favorites root folder (always worked for me - I only ever had about 20 favorites.) My one parting remark (question, really) is this: on what planet does ANYONE care to sort their favorites by whether they're a list, an album, or a podcast? (Did you hire the same person who designed the method of programming Japanese VCR's in the 70's???)

That is all. Great hardware and concept, but I REFUSE to buy one more piece until this software sh*t-show is resolved. (And may just sell my four Connect units on Ebay, as there's a pretty vigorous market for them and I won't lose much at all.)

Peace, out.

Might want to tone down that condescending tone a bit. It's quite obvious the positive comments are all from the above 3 accounts, and 1 or 2 others.

O' this makes me so glad I'm no longer involved in consumer software product management! 🙂

The need to balance the views that a product is 'stale' and 'out of touch with new technology' vs 'It's not as good as the app I know and have used for years' is never easy and it takes a huge amount of effort and time to canvas opinion from many varied sources and plan a product roadmap. Sometimes there are obvious problems and changes in architecture are bound to increase stability issues in the short term but we should all remember that a lot of people are trying to develop a product that everyone will love and that during the delivery of that road map emotions will run high!

Constructive feedback is always good but emotion always clouds peoples responses - the old adage 'Please Respond and not React' comes to mind.

I also think Sonos may have long term plans for the new interface that we are not yet privvy to.
Or it might just be that someone decided to cut corners and copycat the apple music player instead of doing proper research. It sure would explain a lot.

What exactly do you find unusable or unstable about the app??

Maybe you could have a read of the 100's of angry posts from others here about how terrible the new version is.

Doesn't answer what exactly is "unusable" in the app? Colour schemes and change of layouts don't render things unusable..

Change can be good

What exactly do you find unusable or unstable about the app??

Maybe you could have a read of the 100's of angry posts from others here about how terrible the new version is.

Doesn't answer what exactly is "unusable" in the app? Colour schemes and change of layouts don't render things unusable..

Change can be good

I, for one, find the white theme unusable. Literally, I cannot look at it without my eyes hurting and in my use, it ruins the displays of my tablets that I use 7/24 as Sonos controllers.

If you read the barrage of complaints, people complain that their services don't work anymore, they've lost room control, etc.

You're right, change can be good. And it can be bad. And if people don't generally post about good things, then there shouldn't be threads of 100's of posts of people that, literally, say they hate the new update and want to roll back.

I agree I prefer the black theme.. hopefully there will be an option added to switch colours, but i currently work for Sonos as a promoter and when asking them about this they said it's not something they plan to include yet unfortunately - hopefully this may change. They could add an option called "night mode".

And there are 1000's of happy customers with this update - everything is subjective; although it's not good to see people having issues whatever they may be