This is a key feature that I use that needs to be added back. Louis Rossman covers news stories like these when companies remove features - maybe we can get him to report on it.

Rossman already did a video on the new Sonos app focused on Sonos selling usage data and privacy policy though. 

Moderator note: Sonos do not sell user data, and Louis Rossman is not a lawyer. Please see our response: 

Inability to Search Library

I agree completely. I use Sonos exclusively to play my own music collection (365Gb) currently. I want /need to be able to search. I and my family use our iPhones for using Sonos. 
Pls bring this back. This a deal breaker for me. 
 

Also there is a lot of stuff on the home screen of the app I have no use for. I should like to customize the screen to what I have/use. 
 

Again, pls restore the search or I will go  elsewhere. 
Thank you. 

Use Desktop or third party apps, they can still search local library.

The new app is garbage. Besides the laggy nature of it, horrible UI (did anyone who worked on the app actually use Sonos before??), the removal of queue management features so you can actually merge music sources, they removed local library search. Ridiculous, this was a core feature when I bought into the Sonos ecosystem. I spent thousands of dollars the first round, then spent thousands of dollars to upgrade hardware that was not S2 app compatible. Upgrade the hardware and get higher bitrate capability from your library they said. Upgrade the hardware and get larger library/playlist capacity they said.

Using the Desktop isn’t an option for hanging out with friends and talking about and listing to music. Why is a 3rd party app the solution when the solution used to exist? 

Because the old UPnP APIs still work. The new app uses the new APIs, and there isn’t one that allows local library search.

It is all about the money from the streaming apps….

So whatever happened to this Mid-June fix??? Its nearly August!

It appears that the music library feature is back. However, I’m now struggling with the change in supported SMB versions. Previously I was running from a 1TB USB thumb drive in the back of my (UK) BT Smart Hub router, which runs on SMB v1. Sonos has restricted support to SMB v2 and v3.

I can’t immediately see a way round this without moving back to a full-blown powered NAS. I previously used (and still have) a ReadyNAS NV+. It worked, but it’s power-heavy vs a USB drive in a router, and it suffered from slow spin-up times when it hadn’t been used for a bit.

Suggestions appreciated.