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Sonos have one of the worst music apps I have never seen in a desktop

  • 17 December 2016
  • 27 replies
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The visual aspects and the options are very poors and the way it manages the library is the worst intuitive and usable ways to run...Please tell SONOS if you are agree.
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Best answer by ratty 19 December 2016, 11:33

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27 replies

Userlevel 7
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Many people love the layout of the desktop application and complained rremendously when the tablet version was changed. I don't forsee Sonos putting any development into changing the desktop layout. I personally like the desktop version and don't care that the colors aren't the most modern.
The visual aspects and the options are very poors and the way it manages the library is the worst intuitive and usable ways to run...Please tell SONOS if you are agree.

Totally disagree - the desktop PC version is the only decent software controller left - the rest have changed to the new 'form over function' versions. It a real joy to be able to use the desktop version. And the more muted colours are fine, particularly in a darkened room.
Userlevel 7
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See. I told you.
Userlevel 5
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The visual aspects and the options are very poors and the way it manages the library is the worst intuitive and usable ways to run...Please tell SONOS if you are agree.

The desktop controller is excellent and is very intuitive - it just works differently from the rest of the unintuitive pack that you have just got used to and so longer notice they aren't very good.
Desktop? What year is this, 1997? Lol.
I quite like the controller for PC. But hardly ever use it. Voice control is coming - like Sonos are going to revamp the controller? No reason, no chance.
And it isn't actually a music app anyway. Perhaps this explains the OP's bewilderment.
I've used the Windows Desktop Controller, in its current guise and its original style, pretty much every day in my home office for 9+ years. Perfectly intuitive and a doddle to use.

Elsewhere in the house are mostly Android controllers, apart from an iTouch employed for Trueplay. The CR100s are left on a shelf as museum piece curiosities.
I prefer the desktop controller and I hope that it is not "updated" to follow the current trend of minimalist white screens. Yes, minimalist screens may seem "easy" if one views a screen snapshot out of context, but one must dig and dig down through layer after layer in order to accomplish anything. These "easy" screens waste a lot of my time.

For example, on the other SONOS controllers, it has become tedious to play just one track from an album. I must dig down to do this. On the desktop controller I can drag, drop, done. This is a great time saver for me.
I've used the Windows Desktop Controller, in its current guise and its original style, pretty much every day in my home office for 9+ years. Perfectly intuitive and a doddle to use. .

Agree completely.


Elsewhere in the house are mostly Android controllers, apart from an iTouch employed for Trueplay. The CR100s are left on a shelf as museum piece curiosities.


Problem with an Android controller is you have to find a device that uses wireless charging so it is as convenient as the CR100 charging cradle to just pick up and use without dealing with any cables. It also requires a lot of configuration so it will wake when picked up, always open into the Sonos app, and use Sonsnet instead of Wi-Fi. If you want the same level of water resistance as the CR100 it gets even more challenging. I think the CR100 has a lot of important features that are hard to replicate making anything else a bit of a step backward. If the CR100 is a "museum piece curiosity" then all of the other alternatives are "unfortunate compromises" that cannot live up to past achievements.
Problem with an Android controller is you have to find a device that uses wireless charging so it is as convenient as the CR100 charging cradle to just pick up and use without dealing with any cables. It also requires a lot of configuration so it will wake when picked up, always open into the Sonos app, and use Sonsnet instead of Wi-Fi. If you want the same level of water resistance as the CR100 it gets even more challenging. I think the CR100 has a lot of important features that are hard to replicate making anything else a bit of a step backward. If the CR100 is a "museum piece curiosity" then all of the other alternatives are "unfortunate compromises" that cannot live up to past achievements.
For all its strengths -- hard buttons, modal menus, water-resistance, cradle charging, dedication to Sonos, etc -- the CR100 had a small, indifferent TN display, was awkward to use for Search (or any text entry for that matter), and is now sufficiently memory-constrained that a lot of stuff won't run on it. And of course in the modern world of touch the CR100 is precisely nowhere.

Any Android can potentially be re-purposed as a dedicated controller, by pinning the Sonos app. (The same goes for iOS and Guided Access.) Using, say, a Nexus 7 (2012) and its charging cradle the device can also be configured to wake when touched. Alternatively there are plenty of options using wireless charging, Nexus 7 (2013) being but one.
Androids can also be configured to stay awake while charging by enabling Developer Options. An Android tablet with wireless charging or a charging dock, with the Sonos app pinned and stay awake enabled makes anyone pining for the overly expensive, inherently flawed, out of date Sonos CR100 look either silly, or like a third party installer who misses over-selling his clients with proprietary hardware.
Proprietary hardware is not over-selling if it provides the best solution for a given situation. I agree that Android controllers can be made to do some things almost as well as the CR100 did them and also do some new things the CR100 can't do that may be useful to some people. Just noting that it takes a lot of extra work to get it all set up to act the way the CR100 does.
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Proprietary hardware is not over-selling if it provides the best solution for a given situation. I agree that Android controllers can be made to do some things almost as well as the CR100 did them and also do some new things the CR100 can't do that may be useful to some people. Just noting that it takes a lot of extra work to get it all set up to act the way the CR100 does.

But that is exactly the lots of money option vs the free option.
i was not going to buy Sonos until it was available to work well without extortionately expensive controllers and a sillyhub.
a sillyhub.
You surely can't be referring to SonosNet. If so, this has ceased to be a sensible discussion.
a sillyhub.
If you're referring to SonosNet, this has ceased to be a sensible discussion.


Was in Best Buy the other day, had to chuckle a bit that several of the latest and greatest WiFi routers have finally caught up to SonosNet's mesh system, including heavyweight Google.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/6/13843536/google-wifi-review-mesh-router-system-vs-eero
Was in Best Buy the other day, had to chuckle a bit that several of the latest and greatest WiFi routers have finally caught up to SonosNet's mesh system, including heavyweight Google.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/6/13843536/google-wifi-review-mesh-router-system-vs-eero

Ironically these mesh WiFi systems seem to be causing grief for some Sonos (SonosNet mainly) users. Many apparently don't appreciate that they've bought a meshed WiFi and a NAT router.
I still prefer a wired multi-wan router plus separate wireless access points. I know that works with Sonos and probably does a better job of roaming from radio to radio than these mesh router/WAP combo deals. Also more advanced options on both the router side and the WAP configuration.
I'm sorry m
y English is so bad because the colors do not matter to me, what annoys me are many other things:
- Have access to my ridiculous library in a small column
- Not being able to order my library by date of the disc or by news in my library, cities, etc.
- You can not choose a start view with the library when you start the application.
- Not be able to search all services at once.
- Not having a decent podcast service
- Can not hide the view rooms if I only use it in one or do not want to see that information.
- Not able to change or choose the configuration of what I want it to do when double clicking on a song or folder (substitute queue, queue, put at the beginning of queue ...)

In the end up to the volume seems to me that it has a little progressive use and coarse ...
I feel if something or a lot does not make sense, I'm using the translator.
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Universal search is the real thing the desktop app is missing.
Userlevel 7
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Voice control is coming
Like I see myself or other members of my household yelling about the house wanting to hear some artist or radio show... I don'think so.
Userlevel 7
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Universal search is the real thing the desktop app is missing.
In spite of what Sonos is saying, they don't have Universal search for you can't search the category Contributing artists.
I'm sorry my English is so bad
No worries. It's infinitely better than my Spanish.

- Have access to my ridiculous library in a small column

The 3 panes are re-sizable, at least to a degree.

- Not being able to order my library by date of the disc or by news in my library, cities, etc.

That's a not infrequent request. Unfortunately Sonos doesn't store a date tag, and given that index space is severely constrained to maximise track capacity it's highly unlikely that any changes will be made in this area. Many users simply prefix the album name with the year.

- You can not choose a start view with the library when you start the application.

Actually I agree this would be nice. The controller remembers the last room, so why not a menu position.

- Not be able to search all services at once.

Agreed it would be a nice option to have an 'all sources' in the dropdown menu.

- Not having a decent podcast service

That's nothing to do with the controller. Services are being added all the time, but it takes a willingness from the service provider to interface to Sonos' open API.

- Can not hide the view rooms if I only use it in one or do not want to see that information.

You can squeeze that pane, but not eliminate it totally.

- Not able to change or choose the configuration of what I want it to do when double clicking on a song or folder (substitute queue, queue, put at the beginning of queue ...)

That could be a nice option too, at least for the Desktop controller. Some would also want that kind of flexibility in the iOS/Android controllers.

In the end up to the volume seems to me that it has a little progressive use and coarse

You can in fact adjust the volume by 1% at a time using a mouse pointer. The shortcut keys or mousewheel move it in increments of 2%
Userlevel 5
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a sillyhub.
You surely can't be referring to SonosNet. If so, this has ceased to be a sensible discussion.


I refer to the extra box you had to buy to use the speakers wirelessly. Was it a Connect? aka a hub.
a sillyhub.
You surely can't be referring to SonosNet. If so, this has ceased to be a sensible discussion.


I refer to the extra box you had to buy to use the speakers wirelessly. Was it a Connect? aka a hub.

No it wasn't a CONNECT. In fact the user often didn't have to buy anything additional, assuming it was convenient to wire a single player. For situations where this was not possible a wired BOOST (or its forebear the BRIDGE) was a simple addition.

And as for 'silly', well that betrays a lack of awareness of the virtues of SonosNet operation. For an installation of any significant size this remains the preferred mode.