Wishlist for Sonos Controller Improvements
+22So on the old ask forum wishlist items would get lost. Thought I would post a topic where people could vote their biggest wish for controller software improvements.
Wishlist Items for Controller
This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.
They haven't given any indication they won't fix it either. No real downside to just hang back and see what happens.
When I tried to raise play-inserts-into-stopped-queue behaviour as a bug with 6.4, the response I got from support indicated that it was by design, not a bug. And maybe extensive user testing has indicated that users want half their play buttons to do a play-and-replace, and the other play buttons to do an insert-and-play. I'd pay money to get back to the 6.3 approach of consistent append-and-play queue management, but I think Sonos are still confusing their intended functionality with the messy reality of the broken 6.4/7.0 user experience...
Check out the available 3rd party apps. Even if Sonos doesn't fix the 6.4/7.0 interface you may find there is no reason to even use the native app except to set up new components. Folks who haven't already updated can just stick with their current version... at least until a piece of hardware breaks and has to be replaced. Apparently about half of Sonos users don't utilize Spotify (whatever that is) so there is no compelling reason for them to update if they don't want the aggravation of the new interface.
Clinging to 6.3 on one of my laptops. Unfortunately, I stupidly updated other PC/iOS controllers. Constantly looking for other controller options that actually get things right. Mostly, I just accept that finding the "clear queue and play" button is the safest move. I actually feel bad about slagging Sonos off - I know writing/testing/designing/debugging software and managing user expectations is really hard - but the user experience of the current controller software is awful, and up until a few months ago it was truly awesome.
...and now my 6.3 controller is bricked and refuses to work with my other 7.0 controllers. Interestingly, I've seen alternative controllers like Sonopad and Zonos also run into the problem of dumping things into a stopped queue. Beginning to think that I'm wrong about wanting to just hit "play album", maybe a "play album followed by the last 90% of what I was listening to last time" button really is what most users want. Oh well, I can always clear the queue manually and remember which "play" buttons do a "replace and play" and which ones do an "insert and play".
Not sure if it's already on the list, but I'd love it if I could set all players to group automatically when music is played (as opposed to TV). I believe the player can tell the difference, so the logic here isn't all that complex. Essentially this is whenever the optical input on Playbar is NOT the source.
As it stands I have to go to the app every time I play music to first group all players. Having this happen automatically would also improve the usability of the recent Spotify 'direct' control as there would then be no need to group before starting music in Spotify.
Edit: Not sure if this is the same as 'permanent zone combining'. In my case I wouldn't want to *always* hear TV audio throughout the home, so truly permanent zone combining wouldn't seem the same to me.
As it stands I have to go to the app every time I play music to first group all players. Having this happen automatically would also improve the usability of the recent Spotify 'direct' control as there would then be no need to group before starting music in Spotify.
Edit: Not sure if this is the same as 'permanent zone combining'. In my case I wouldn't want to *always* hear TV audio throughout the home, so truly permanent zone combining wouldn't seem the same to me.
I voted "roll back" simply because I hate the "play now and obliterate the queue" functionality that came in last year. Great app apart from this horrible regression,
+22Agreed
+22Have seen it requested before. I'm highly doubtful you will ever see that happen.
My one wish. I have over 2,000 albums ripped to a music server (Vortexbox). I am old fashioned (and old) and like to listen to albums in their entirety. And I like to just set it to a "shuffle" or "random" play. Would it be possible to add such a function? To be able to just select "albums" ->"shuffle albums" or "random albums" and have one album play then go to another one etc. would be excellent (and one for "random artists", too, although not as important to me). Also, a way to skip an album if I just don't happen to feel like listening to it at the moment. Oh, if there is already this function in your app, I could not find it. Thanks.
I know of Sonopad. And Zonos is Windows only apparently. So what else is there? For an iPad.
Rewind and forward 15 second buttons. Using the progress bar is difficult and for a long podcast (45 minutes or so) requires precision which is not possible on a small iPhone screen
I would like an auto-regroup so that when my playbar auto ungroups when detecting TV audio, when the audio has gone it can go back in the group it was in, perhaps with settings to control whether it should or shouldn't if the group is currently playing so that the playbar doesn't suddenly play. Maybe that would require some 'permanent' groups that can be named instead of the ad-hoc creation.
- Cache album artwork in the app and update when update when updating the music library. Album artwork almost never seems to appear, or when it does, it loads album by album, much more slowly than I'm scrolling, as if it's loading from the iTunes library.
- Meaningful shuffle / or Genius-like function that crosses over various albums, preferably with some information about what songs are likely to be played together.
- More informative error codes. Is the problem that the library isn't on the network, that there are network problems? Errors like [1001] or [1002] are no help.
- More meaningful layout when album artwork is absent. The controller layout on iOS places so much emphasis on the album artwork that the functional elements of the interface are relatively small. This is fine if artwork is showing. But since (see above) artwork very rarely shows up in my app, functional interface items shouldn't take a back seat to a placeholder icon.
- Ability to use Controller app to play library music from mobile device speakers. When out in the yard, or in a room that doesn't have Sonos components, it would be great to be able to play from the music library
- Meaningful shuffle / or Genius-like function that crosses over various albums, preferably with some information about what songs are likely to be played together.
- More informative error codes. Is the problem that the library isn't on the network, that there are network problems? Errors like [1001] or [1002] are no help.
- More meaningful layout when album artwork is absent. The controller layout on iOS places so much emphasis on the album artwork that the functional elements of the interface are relatively small. This is fine if artwork is showing. But since (see above) artwork very rarely shows up in my app, functional interface items shouldn't take a back seat to a placeholder icon.
- Ability to use Controller app to play library music from mobile device speakers. When out in the yard, or in a room that doesn't have Sonos components, it would be great to be able to play from the music library
Siri integration
Volume normalization across tracks
Volume normalization across tracks
Only could vote for additional support for casting from a device, but i would like to see more support for allowing external controllers (Google Assistant, Siri, Alexa) control the sonos app from my phone.
Sonos webmaster should copy "Spotify Ideas" process on their community site. It is the best way to follow new demands and votes from each user. What we experience here is pretty messy...
Sonos webmaster should copy "Spotify Ideas" process on their community site. It is the best way to follow new demands and votes from each user. What we experience here is pretty messy...
Sonos webmaster should copy "Spotify Ideas" process on their community site. It is the best way to follow new demands and votes from each user. What we experience here is pretty messy...
Is there some way a numerical display could be added to the volume control? I can never figure out if the slider is set at the correct volume for an alarm vs when I listen to music. It would help to know I like my alarm volume set at 14 (for instance), so when I set up a new alarm, I know where to place the slider.
Stateful Mute for Group Members
Desired action: Mute individual speaker in a group. Mute group. Un-mute group. Only previously un-muted group members should be un-muted
I guess another way to put it, if a speaker is muted individually within a group, then the only way to take it out of Mute should be to individually un-mute that speaker.
If I have a 2 speaker group, say Office and LR. I sometimes mute my office speaker (via individual volume drop down in controller) while on the phone. If someone in the living room Mutes the group, and then un-mutes the group, my office speaker starts playing during my call.
The only solution of course is continuously grouping and ungrouping, which is less than optimal.
Desired action: Mute individual speaker in a group. Mute group. Un-mute group. Only previously un-muted group members should be un-muted
I guess another way to put it, if a speaker is muted individually within a group, then the only way to take it out of Mute should be to individually un-mute that speaker.
If I have a 2 speaker group, say Office and LR. I sometimes mute my office speaker (via individual volume drop down in controller) while on the phone. If someone in the living room Mutes the group, and then un-mutes the group, my office speaker starts playing during my call.
The only solution of course is continuously grouping and ungrouping, which is less than optimal.
I really wish the last played song in the queue would be remembered after I switch from the line in jack on my play 5 and then back. It's hooked up to a tv so any time I watch tv, I then can't resume in the queue when I want to play music. I usually have a long playlist do it's not trivial to get back to where it left off. Thecqueue always goes back to the first song in the list.
Enter your E-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.