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Answered

Do they have no shame or skilled product mgrs.

Customers with their own music stored locally made Sonos. Put them on the map. They exist due to us.  Sonos has since by conscious design left us and moved to connected services. I understand why.  But this latest complete removal of the ability to use my Sonos as it was marketed and sold to me, to listen to my music absolutely beggars belief. 
 

The update was automatic. I have now lost the ability to play my music in FLAC format.  Like many I’ve invested thousands over the years. 
I moved much to Blusound. Dumped my Sonos because of how they treated us. But I kept some for some rooms. Now I guess I’ll be dumping that too. 
Blusound is superb. 
I’ve had enough of being ignored by them.  
 

There is no way this is a bug. This was design. The complete omission of a capability is not a bug.
 It was a conscious decision to remove any ability to play localised music. Probably to save money on developers and have less and less requirement to have staff. 

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20 replies

UKMedia
Userlevel 7
Badge +20

Please see:

 

Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)
B
Userlevel 5
Badge +2

When Sonos first launched, they were strictly a music product. Frankly, they changed the way a lot of multi-room audio was done back then. Average consumers without any audio experience could start creating "zones" and the coolest thing was the ability to have a different music source in each zone at the same time! Many of us early-adopters jumped on the chance (at the recommendation of SONOS I might add, a feature/benefit they really pitched) to put our CD Collections onto a hard drive or preferably a NAS device. My God I could now listen to all the music I bought on CD in any room individually or grouped together with no lag or delay ... this IS the reason I bought into this eco-system from the beginning and spent lots of $$$ over the years. The surround sound market came years later. Suddenly today the music seems to be secondary, ... I was surprised to see how many people wanted the new headphones for TV and not music. So a new App launches and all of a sudden, this old crowd didn't seem as important evidenced by the fact that people lost access to their music libraries. This old crowd has every right to complain and be upset, we are the ones who started the company .... there are many features I used to rely on literally everyday just suddenly gone!

G

Ridiculous conjecture.  

Removing the SMBv1 protocol (for allegedly security concerns) has impacted on how local file libraries are accessed.  That's it.  No conspiracy to disenfranchise local file users or force them to remote streaming services. 

🎵 First We Take Manhattan Then Berlin 🎵
Sullydks
Userlevel 4
Badge +6

Greenland. -  Can you explain this ? Any more detail? 
why is it ridiculous conjecture? 
what has been stated to explain your conclusions. I’ve seen nothing. I’m happy to retract. 
what security implications.
And if so then fix them.  

it’s a ridiculous reason to completely prevent all its customers from using the products they sold to us specifically for this purpose.  To play your local music. 
 

and how do I get to my music now ? 
I haven’t got hours and hours to research and  search and become an expert again. My Sonos has worked since 2005.  No Comms from Sonos saying they would remove these features.  Nothing. 
Appalling customer service. 
 

Do others have this issue ?  Ie Blusound. 
they’ve had years to resolve this. Surely there is a way. 

====, Synology NAS. FLAC only.
Sullydks
Userlevel 4
Badge +6

@UKMedia  so I’ve got to wait until Mid June to listen to my music. 
 

any idea how I get the old app?  I was an idiot and had auto update apps turned on.  How do I get S2 back?  The gold logo ? 
Else  no music until June.    
as I said. Appalling customer service and a ridiculous product release strategy.  
I spent 40 years in software companies and this is ridiculous.  
I don’t know a single s/ware company who would release a product with such a gap without informing customers first. Give us a chance and option NOT to upgrade. 
 They did because they don’t care about local music users any more.  I get that online services is the way of the world now but…. We built them. 
We put them on the map. 
They need to show us some care. 
 

====, Synology NAS. FLAC only.
Sullydks
Userlevel 4
Badge +6

@Greenland   see prev post. The tag failed. Would appreciate any views or link you may have.   Thx. 

====, Synology NAS. FLAC only.
UKMedia
Userlevel 7
Badge +20

@UKMedia  so I’ve got to wait until Mid June to listen to my music. 
 

any idea how I get the old app?  
 

@Sullydks The only option that I can think of is to downgrade your devices to the S1 app as per: https://support.sonos.com/en-gb/article/downgrade-a-sonos-product-to-s1

Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)
Pools-3015
Userlevel 5
Badge +12

@UKMedia  so I’ve got to wait until Mid June to listen to my music. 
 

any idea how I get the old app?  I was an idiot and had auto update apps turned on.  How do I get S2 back?  The gold logo ? 
Else  no music until June.    
as I said. Appalling customer service and a ridiculous product release strategy.  
I spent 40 years in software companies and this is ridiculous.  
I don’t know a single s/ware company who would release a product with such a gap without informing customers first. Give us a chance and option NOT to upgrade. 
 They did because they don’t care about local music users any more.  I get that online services is the way of the world now but…. We built them. 
We put them on the map. 
They need to show us some care. 
 

While it may be a little inconvenient right now, you can still use a device with the old app or a PC/Mac that has the desktop app to edit and play your locally stored files. I updated a single device, iPhone 13 Pro, and left the old app on everything else, just incase the was an issue. I also NEVER have auto updates enabled on anything I own. Sonos is not the only manufacturer who has had issues with updates. Should have they allowed users the ability to downgrade: Yes the should have. But i like the app for the most part and I am eagerly waiting for the re-addition of missing features.

I have a Synology NAS that have FLAC files and I'm playing some music right now through a Sonos Five. I did update the protocol from SMB v1 to SMB v2 on my local library as soon as Sonos allowed. I use my Mac to edit the queue for now and all the changes are there after an app restart.

I didn't have any connection issues, issues adding a device or the app not being able to see my library, like others have had. The update has gone very smoothly for me.

Sullydks
Userlevel 4
Badge +6

@UKMedia 

Also synology NAS .
need to check my other devices and find one with older Sonos app. But such a pain. They’ve slowly driven me away and I’ve gone from 7 zones downto 1 Port and the playbar and Play1’s for TV. 
 And the port is purely because it has balance control and the Blusound equivalent doesn’t. 
but I’ll probably now abandon that and say farewell to what I once thought was the best thing since sliced bread back in 2005 when I had to wait until Simply Sonos was set up as first UK distributor to buy one.  I still buy from Simon and team.
But not Sonos.

 Oh well. 
Sonos win.

They took my money and drove me away.
 

====, Synology NAS. FLAC only.
B

When Sonos first launched, they were strictly a music product. Frankly, they changed the way a lot of multi-room audio was done back then. Average consumers without any audio experience could start creating "zones" and the coolest thing was the ability to have a different music source in each zone at the same time! Many of us early-adopters jumped on the chance (at the recommendation of SONOS I might add, a feature/benefit they really pitched) to put our CD Collections onto a hard drive or preferably a NAS device. My God I could now listen to all the music I bought on CD in any room individually or grouped together with no lag or delay ... this IS the reason I bought into this eco-system from the beginning and spent lots of $$$ over the years. The surround sound market came years later. Suddenly today the music seems to be secondary, ... I was surprised to see how many people wanted the new headphones for TV and not music. So a new App launches and all of a sudden, this old crowd didn't seem as important evidenced by the fact that people lost access to their music libraries. This old crowd has every right to complain and be upset, we are the ones who started the company .... there are many features I used to rely on literally everyday just suddenly gone!

I agree,  so so frustrated at this backwards step 'uodate'  3 steps to get BBC radio 2 to work and 4 or 5 presses of icon.  Have great WiFi here and so it's their app that is now causing delay. I'm not a techie n so can't understand a lot but just know that the gold app wasn't perfect but this latest is very very frustrating and bad for blood pressure LOL

Sullydks
Userlevel 4
Badge +6

@UKMedia

so my laptop has the old app. V 15.11  S2.
But it won’t run until I update it.   Any ideas how to avoid doing that? 
I cannot get past the UPDATE screen.  
 

====, Synology NAS. FLAC only.
G
Userlevel 7
Badge +10

The technical term for this release in product management speak is:

A HIPPO release because it was released based on the HIghest Paid Person’s Opinion. 

UKMedia
Userlevel 7
Badge +20

@UKMedia

so my laptop has the old app. V 15.11  S2.
But it won’t run until I update it.   Any ideas how to avoid doing that? 
I cannot get past the UPDATE screen.  
 

Can you post a screen shot?  It normally states that some functionality may be unavailable but allow you to not update.

Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)
UKMedia
Userlevel 7
Badge +20

The technical term for this release in product management speak is:

A HIPPO release because it was released based on the HIghest Paid Person’s Opinion. 

🤣

Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)
Sullydks
Userlevel 4
Badge +6

@UKMedia

so my laptop has the old app. V 15.11  S2.
But it won’t run until I update it.   Any ideas how to avoid doing that? 
I cannot get past the UPDATE screen.  
 

Can you post a screen shot?  It normally states that some functionality may be unavailable but allow you to not update.

There’s nothing.  Big black screen saying “we need to get Sonos running on the latest software. Choose ‘Check for updates’ to get started. 

If I do thatI  get an “update” or “not now”  option. But choosing “not now” just drops me back to the first screen and so I’m stuck in the loop.  
No menu items are active on top left.  
More options allows a reset but then back in the loop.  It’s not letting me proceed.  Can’t blame it. I’ve said some crap things about it over the last few years as I watch their demise and sell outs.  
😂

 

 

====, Synology NAS. FLAC only.
UKMedia
Userlevel 7
Badge +20

@UKMedia

so my laptop has the old app. V 15.11  S2.
But it won’t run until I update it.   Any ideas how to avoid doing that? 
I cannot get past the UPDATE screen.  
 

Can you post a screen shot?  It normally states that some functionality may be unavailable but allow you to not update.

There’s nothing.  Big black screen saying “we need to get Sonos running on the latest software. Choose ‘Check for updates’ to get started. 

If I do thatI  get an “update” or “not now”  option. But choosing “not now” just drops me back to the first screen and so I’m stuck in the loop.  
No menu items are active on top left.  
More options allows a reset but then back in the loop.  It’s not letting me proceed.  Can’t blame it. I’ve said some crap things about it over the last few years as I watch their demise and sell outs.  
😂

 

 

How old do you think the App on your laptop is?  The current firmware is compatible with the new release and the previous version but if your App is older then maybe not compatible for now upgraded firmware on your Sonos devices.

Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)
106rallye
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

@Sullydks The PC and Mac app are still the old apps. You can update the app,.

Sullydks
Userlevel 4
Badge +6

@UKMedia

so my laptop has the old app. V 15.11  S2.
But it won’t run until I update it.   Any ideas how to avoid doing that? 
I cannot get past the UPDATE screen.  
 

Can you post a screen shot?  It normally states that some functionality may be unavailable but allow you to not update.

There’s nothing.  Big black screen saying “we need to get Sonos running on the latest software. Choose ‘Check for updates’ to get started. 

If I do thatI  get an “update” or “not now”  option. But choosing “not now” just drops me back to the first screen and so I’m stuck in the loop.  
No menu items are active on top left.  
More options allows a reset but then back in the loop.  It’s not letting me proceed.  Can’t blame it. I’ve said some crap things about it over the last few years as I watch their demise and sell outs.  
😂

 

 

How old do you think the App on your laptop is?  The current firmware is compatible with the new release and the previous version but if your App is older then maybe not compatible for now upgraded firmware on your Sonos devices.

As above V15.11 S2     - As far as I am aware its the version prior to the latest  daft release. 

====, Synology NAS. FLAC only.
Sullydks
Userlevel 4
Badge +6

@Sullydks The PC and Mac app are still the old apps. You can update the app,.

THANK YOU   -  It worked.   Well, it said there was an error, but actually is working fine.  
THANKS 
 

Still a ridiculous scenario. I now need a laptop to listen to my own music on the SONOS system. 

I wonder if the original founders and innovators of SONOS would think of that !!   
John MacFarlane, Craig Shelburne, Tom Cullen, and Trung Mai.  (if anyone was wondering). 

Although MacFarlane announced the move to focus on Streaming some years back so I guess he’s a fan of this chaos.  Not that he’s still there. 

HIPPO indeed. 

====, Synology NAS. FLAC only.
Y
Userlevel 2
Badge

Headphone ads but no access to my files or Sonos playlists? Galling to be served new ads but not old function. As if I’d consider buying more Sonos products while my existing ones are crippled. Galling. 

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