The New Sonos App and Future Feature Updates

I think he’s comparing the features in the S2 version 16 app to the S2 version 80 app that I believe was considered an update. At least from an end user viewpoint it got on my phone as an update to my existing app.

Plenty of people can play their own music, nothing has changed about that.  What 90% of the people who can’t see/play their own music are experiencing is Sonos no longer supports SMB v1 due to (questionable) security issues.  Once one follows the steps to stop using SMB v1, the library is accessible from the new app.  The queue features, indexing, and search are only available from the PC/Mac app, but the library is there (and Sonos has promised to restore the queue and search features by the end of this month).

So although the app is a disaster, and I agree it shouldn’t have been released, all the silly FUD about Sonos no longer supporting local libraries is pure bunk.  

I STRONGLY RECOMMEND that everyone who hates the app update write 1 review every day that says DON'T BUY SONOS until they let us have the old app back.  They'll probably act pretty quickly.  6-3-24

Doubt it tbh

i am fortunate enough that I didn’t upgrade my application or firmware as I thought things might go wrong due to the beta testing email I received 

it was for a web based application which I wasn’t interested in as I have had experiences of using those in the past 

thankfully I have dodged all the issues that people have had gl with your system 

Not the case at all.  I don’t know what the “playback” is referring to, but here’s proof it works in the new app:

Music library listed and visible:

Track playing from Music Library (circled in red):

As to the queue features missing, nobody claimed they weren’t.  And nobody is claiming everyone has gotten it to work.  But the Music Library has NOT been “taken away” from the new app, which is what was stated. 

 

So in that case why do they list the following above :

Coming soon

• Continued improvements to navigation for visually-impaired customers: mid-June
• Adding to queue and playing next: early June
• Sleep timer: mid-June
  • Use the Sonos app for macOS or Windows or Sonos Voice Control to set sleep timers today.
• Local music library search and playback: mid-June
• Update WiFi settings: mid-June
• Snooze alarms: TBD

The playback part would seem to indicate that it is missing and when I updated (my system uses SMB 2.0 or 3) the Q was seen but would play 1 song at a time over and over again (regardless, if an album was added in one go to the Q). No ability to do anything except replace whole the Q anytime. So you can see the library, as long as you don’t wish to actually use it, you’re all good!

 

Not the case at all.  I don’t know what the “playback” is referring to, but here’s proof it works in the new app:

Music library listed and visible:

 

 

Track playing from Music Library (circled in red):

 

 

As to the queue features missing, nobody claimed they weren’t.  But the Music Library has NOT been eliminated from the new app, which is what people are saying. 

and the second track in that album plays after track 1 finishes ? without you having to do anything ?

If you add the whole album, yes (and I hated the new queue style that added everything from a track on, but I understand that’s subjective);

So look, the app is awful.  There’s no excuse for leaving off basic functions.  However, there’s also no need to exaggerate or misrepresent what is there (or why some can/can’t use it).  Sonos didn’t take away local libraries.  They aren’t forcing you into streaming in order to increase revenue they don’t even get from streaming.  They aren’t selling your data (or preparing to sell your data). 

They released a half-baked crappy app before it was done in order to keep their promise to investors that headphones would be released by end of fiscal year.  It was a customer screwing decision to please investors.  That’s all.  Some people (and their many sock puppets) are here to set things on fire and watch them burn. Don’t buy into it, don’t feed the flames. 

Why are you being so adamant about something which is so easily proven wrong?  A couple hundred or so people (maybe even thousands) can’t access their local libraries, which is not good.  Some need to disable SMB v1.  Some need to download the PC/Mac app and reindex.  Even fewer than that probably have to call up Sonos support and find out why their particular install isn’t working.  Is that great?  Of course not.  Does that mean every one of the millions of Sonos users have had access to their local library “taken away”?  Again, of course not.  Does this mean you should be happy?  Probably not, but I’m certainly happy that a couple hundred people is not millions, and there’s hope that everyone gets a fix eventually. 

But depending on their agenda, I’m sure some out there are unhappy that anything good can be reported about this farce and will always hope for the negative (even if they have to exaggerate and mislead).  Those are the ones who are here to watch things burn. 

If you have a problem with my posts, I suggest you report them to the mods.  Only they decide who should or shouldn’t be allowed to post and if they are found to be against the TOS, the mods will edit or delete them.

Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct.

I appreciate that some of the app functionality has been restored, but there is still a lot left to be desired. I have a long laundry list of things I dislike about the newest version of the app, but among my top current complaints:

-The volume controls are highly unresponsive. Trying to adjust a group volume sometimes affects some speakers but not others. Sometimes the volume reverts back to where it was. Sometimes tapping in the volume slider bumps the volume up/down one notch, and sometimes not. Increased performance: FAIL

-I’m glad the alarms are back, but I wish they weren’t buried under 3 layers of menus. They used to be easy to access. For those of us who don’t necessarily wake up at the same time every day, this is irritating.

-Many stations in the “Recently Played” list return an error when trying to play them from that list. When that happens, it’s again, three menus deep to access them (because tapping on the station in the ‘favorites” menu doesn’t play the station; it just pops up info about that station with a play button to then play the station). Faster access to music: FAIL

-Also, why do half of my stations not display their icons anymore? That, combined with the two-wide layout, makes the stations I’m looking for much more difficult to find. Faster access to music: FAIL AGAIN.

I am very much in agreement with others here who would prefer to revert to the old version of the app while this version is polished… or taken back to the drawing board? There’s nothing to love about it.

I want to continue to love my Sonos system and recommend it to others, but right now I’m hoping another viable company comes on the market soon, because y’all are clearly losing your way.

Perhaps Sonos should have done a much better job informing customers that SMBv1 was going. It affected one of my brothers I suspect. I had no notification of it.

Still a Sonos issue as far as I’m concerned.

In summary for the late comers trying to parse all this noise and just want some answers:

1. Local libraries (NAS, PC based, etc. collections of ripped/downloaded files) have ceased to work for many systems.
2. Many other systems continue to work quite happily with local libraries, but tread carefully and don’t disconnect them. They may not come back if you attempt to add a new source.
3. The 913 error is a networking permissions error that relates to authorising Sonos speakers to access and add the folder with the content. This is a firmware issue that will not change until a fix is available for download and update in mid-June. 
4. There are literally dozens and dozens of differing configurations for local libraries and most of the suggested fixes are very config specific. Sadly, until the fix is released, you may be just spinning your wheels engaging in attempts to correct it. If you get a 913 error, even after a full shutdown of all your speakers, it is game over until mid June.
5. A local Plex server (highly recommended) or upload to the Youtube Music service (free service for uploads and a good way to backup a collection) will give you access to your collection as music sources in the app. Not perfect, but they do work without issue.

This took me about 15 minutes to put together. Sonos management; get your act together and show some solidarity with your customers and start providing some feedback that is visible on your home page.