new app (iOS) and local music library (NAS)

Why would any company reduce the capability of their product. This was a horrible move. If they don’t fix it quick I will need to trash these paper weights that used to be speakers. Very frustrating.

It’s not the first time they’ve done this. The app used to play music files that were installed on the phone ,which was extremely useful, given I have all my music on my phone to e.g. play in the car. So they removed this functionality from the IOS app, but fortunately I was on Android. Until, I don’t know, a year or so later when they removed that functionality from Android too.

They've also totally failed to fix e.g. YouTube music screwing up library play by reducing the browseable albums to 100 from its previous (improvement of) 1000 or so. Which surely wouldn’t exactly be a difficult fix since it had that functionality before.

At which point we might be noticing a common theme. Every one of these “upgrades” makes it harder to play our own music, something that I suspect was what most of us bought the Sonos systems for. Same is true for Amazon who once provided filespace and a workable music player. Then the filespace was taken away, and the music app now barely useable (and keeps trying to play “similar” streaming offerings instead of what you asked it to). Because nothing must interfere with the holy income stream of STREAMING!

Why would any company reduce the capability of their product. This was a horrible move. If they don’t fix it quick I will need to trash these paper weights that used to be speakers. Very frustrating.

It’s not the first time they’ve done this. The app used to play music files that were installed on the phone ,which was extremely useful, given I have all my music on my phone to e.g. play in the car. So they removed this functionality from the IOS app, but fortunately I was on Android. Until, I don’t know, a year or so later when they removed that functionality from Android too.

They've also totally failed to fix e.g. YouTube music screwing up library play by reducing the browseable albums to 100 from its previous (improvement of) 1000 or so. Which surely wouldn’t exactly be a difficult fix since it had that functionality before.

Bad examples: none of these issues were due to Sonos screwing up. Direct playback was due to Apple/Google rules and YTM is 100% Google’s problem.

I am so sorry my user experience only has "bad examples". But regardless, the app has seen a persistent continuous reduction in functionality which Sonos appear quite unable or unwilling to care about. And now have made even worse.

They write a workaround in the website, referring to the usage of the Library (using macOS app), but it's simply not working. I've asked support to make it work. They just told me that there's not other way, except wait, and wait. And there's not an ETA. They removed the features for what I bought Sonos, and my systems are totally out of use now. They also told me to use Airport (not applicable in my case) or to use some music streaming service (not applicable, I can’t find my files there, and just in case… you should offer it, not to tell us to buy services…!!!)

This is the chronicle of a terrible day, the new perfect slogan for Sons is:
Sonos, silent waiting to get back your music

Thanks Sonos.

Just to make sure I am correct (because it is hard to believe): the new app does not allow connection to a local music library - only to streaming services. I had the confirmed in a chat with the customer service people but it seems so whacky that I thought I should check here.

Re:Search - Sonos (i.e. Amazon) deliberately broke searching in NAS libraries a while back - because of course we should all be subscribing to Amazon Music to make Mr Bezos even richer!

Sonos executives are definitely getting Kickbacks because of all of this. They sold out their customer base for a little quick cash and destroyed company loyalty for a lot of their users in the process.

No, actually it allows connecting to a local library, but with a lot of limitations :

No set-up of new librairies
No indexing of the music librairies
No search in the music librairies
No full shuffle play of the music libraries
No queue control (but it is the same from every source)

So if you can, it is best not to update. If you have updated, the best workaround until they (eventually) fix all of this is to run a Plex server on your NAS if you can, and add this as a music source in the Sonos app.

Or use the desktop applications for Windows or Mac.

add this as a music source? How? I don’t have any music sources listed, then I do, then I don’t, then I do. Either way, no way to add one! ‍♂️🥵 iOS.

Any suggestions Cochonou?

DONT BUY SONOS

Absolutely disgusted! I can’t see any reason why they would remove this feature. I have a ‘Play 5’ and only use it to play my own music. I don’t use streaming services and I haven’t listened to radio for about 20 years! Now it is a totally useless black box taking up much needed space. You have now taken away all my enjoyment. I would love to cuss and swear but Sonos obviously does not listen to their customers. £500 down the drain!!! THANKS!!! (not!)

Patrick Spence suggests that we “adapt to that change”! Why the hell should we!! When I have paid £500 on a quality speaker, I would expect to be able to play my own music through it! The guy is an idiot!!

Same issue as everybody else, absolutely appalling!! Sonos wake up and smell the coffee AND SORT IT OUT

Patrick Spence suggests that we “adapt to that change”! Why the hell should we!! When I have paid £500 on a quality speaker, I would expect to be able to play my own music through it! The guy is an idiot!!

Couldnt agree more

This is yet another result of frat boy capitalism. Greedy CEO's like Spence Focus 100% on their own Pockets instead of the customer base, customer satisfaction or product viability.

They sold products that they knew they were going to make useless as soon as they did this downgraded upgrade to force their customers to for pay streaming services.

Anyone that still believes that they aren't getting Kickbacks because of this disaster is either highly gullible or also profiting. I would not be surprised if Spence and his cronies hired some fake commenters to pump up this downgraded upgrade to help them justify forcing this on their real life customers.

In fact, anyone that truly believes this app is not the disaster that its users know it is is free, and I would say obligated, to buy my Sonos products. If you want to pay top dollar for useless paper weights for me so that you could get some really really awesome gear show up with that money.

That includes the CEO of this frat boy company. Let him do a little adapting and come up with money to pay me back for the worthless sonos products that I wasted good money on. He could tear into some of that streaming music Kickback money he's got pocketed away and adapt to having less of it.

Big thank you to the people that recommended SonoPhone as an alternative IOS app. My wife was very happy being able to play her music collection (about 2000 CDs worth) from our NAS. She was disgusted when Sonos changed the app to make that either impossible or at least much more difficult. I think SonoPhone will serve our needs very well.

In my case the best alternative Is to use a Plex Server instead a NAS with SMB.
I described the thing better here

Hope it helps

Local Libraries of Music instantly rendered useless by the new app...who’s brilliant idea was this? I am strongly considering a class action lawsuit against Sonos for this abuse of product and services offered and promised when I originally purchased the system and it’s now practically useless for what I inteneded...a loca library of songs, not streaming which is ok, but capabilities are now useless to others like me. I might as well throw away the system and simply stream my local library with an Apple Ipod and my JBL speaker. Torching your clients is not very smart Sonos, get ready to pay the price...

Holy cow. These people really don’t want to keep their customers do they. Not being able to play my own music?? Are you kidding me?? Hello BlueSound.

When will the new update be available so that we can use our nas again…?!?

When we’re old

It is their Platform and Business, but where they went wrong, were deceitful and possibly in violation of consumer fraud laws is the decision not to give reasonable notice of the plan to discontinue local libraries. I am sure they knew this a year ago and still advertised the products as being able to play local music. I purchased a $449 port a few months ago. Had I known that I would not be able to play my library I would have purchased a bluesound product or Roon service.

Sonos should have given reasonable notice to its customers and potential customers of this change.

I called them, they said it will be possible with the next update again. Supposedly 9 June in the Netherlands.. let’s hope so. This is so stupid…

It is their Platform and Business, but where they went wrong, were deceitful and possibly in violation of consumer fraud laws is the decision not to give reasonable notice of the plan to discontinue local libraries. I am sure they knew this a year ago and still advertised the products as being able to play local music. I purchased a $449 port a few months ago. Had I known that I would not be able to play my library I would have purchased a bluesound product or Roon service.

Sonos should have given reasonable notice to its customers and potential customers of this change.

Where do you see they have discontinued local libraries? They have discontinued support for SMB v1 due to some questionable security issues, which has caused some user’s libraries to malfunction. However once the SMB v1 problem is gone, local libraries are still there and usable. They have also specifically promised that support for the missing queue features and local library search are being released soon. A company with a “plan to discontinue local libraries” certainly isn’t going to publicly promise to add/fix features relating to a local library, are they?

I also lost the access to the Music Library through NAS on a time capsule. Was forced to update the desktop up and then the Music Library was completely gone and cannot be re-added, regardless of allowing permissions in system settings, entering correct password, etc. Cannot even add the local Music folder, receiving persistent errors after setup that also wants me to change all my energy system settings. And worse, since I only updated one of my Android devices, it now asks me to update the other device, too, in order to add Music libraries, although that feature no longer exists in the new app. Go figure… I will contact the BBB and claim false advertisement of the new app. It is a downgrade in all regards, and has never been worse. I am done with Sonos. What are these speakers worth without a functioning software access? Pretty much nothing. I also write to their CEO and suggests that you all do. This is simply not acceptable.

Whoever heard of releasing new software less functional than prior release. CEO did same thing at BlackBerry…look where they are at….

I was fascinated to read about SonoPhone and SonoiPad. I’ll check those out. From the most recent posts, do users who have updated to the newest software version of Sonos have any positive news to report? I see an update 2 days ago (June 4th) that says “ Improved local library connectivity”. I’m not sure what the heck that means but would love the input.

I also am in the NON-Streaming world. I have all my music which I spent years curating and fine-tuning. I’m in the radio/media business and have no need for streaming. It’s going to keep getting more and more expensive (though it’s not a cost thing for me). I have my music in excellent quality housed on my Synology 423+ NAS, using three 18TB hard-drives. It’s full of music, videos and photos. The music on Sonos plays “okay” (sans the irritating number of dropouts - despite an excellent internet setup) but at least all my 900+ playlists are accessible.

As someone who oversaw major radio stations and created two massively successful internet media companies, which several years were spent creating the software, Sonos is really leading themselves to oblivion. If you want to give streamers great stuff, that’s wonderful. But don’t sell me thousands upon thousands of dollars of equipment and then take away my ability to use their product?

I’ve been with Sonos for years. I wasn’t happy when they stopped supporting the DOCK but I got over it, and am actually fine as it turns out as I moved to the NAS platform as I worked to get what I wanted.

Anyway, if I play Plex on my iPhone or iPad using PlexAmp, it’s flawless. It never drops out. It’s perfect. Why Sonos can’t provide the same quality performance continues to be a mystery. And then to pull the rug out from under it’s users like this is shameful. There really should be a class-action lawsuit filed if they don’t get this figured out fast.

How they can tout this new software as being so amazing, only to be met with furious outcry from users, is stunning. Test the crap before you roll it out. Or offer the earlier version at least as an option. Having developed software used on the internet or devices, I know the work that goes into it. But I also know not to bring something to market before it’s ready.

Shame on you - again - Sonos.

I was fascinated to read about SonoPhone and SonoiPad. I’ll check those out. From the most recent posts, do users who have updated to the newest software version of Sonos have any positive news to report? I see an update 2 days ago (June 4th) that says “ Improved local library connectivity”. I’m not sure what the heck that means but would love the input.

I also am in the NON-Streaming world. I have all my music which I spent years curating and fine-tuning. I’m in the radio/media business and have no need for streaming. It’s going to keep getting more and more expensive (though it’s not a cost thing for me). I have my music in excellent quality housed on my Synology 423+ NAS, using three 18TB hard-drives. It’s full of music, videos and photos. The music on Sonos plays “okay” (sans the irritating number of dropouts - despite an excellent internet setup) but at least all my 900+ playlists are accessible.

As someone who oversaw major radio stations and created two massively successful internet media companies, which several years were spent creating the software, Sonos is really leading themselves to oblivion. If you want to give streamers great stuff, that’s wonderful. But don’t sell me thousands upon thousands of dollars of equipment and then take away my ability to use their product?

I’ve been with Sonos for years. I wasn’t happy when they stopped supporting the DOCK but I got over it, and am actually fine as it turns out as I moved to the NAS platform as I worked to get what I wanted.

Anyway, if I play Plex on my iPhone or iPad using PlexAmp, it’s flawless. It never drops out. It’s perfect. Why Sonos can’t provide the same quality performance continues to be a mystery. And then to pull the rug out from under it’s users like this is shameful. There really should be a class-action lawsuit filed if they don’t get this figured out fast.

How they can tout this new software as being so amazing, only to be met with furious outcry from users, is stunning. Test the crap before you roll it out. Or offer the earlier version at least as an option. Having developed software used on the internet or devices, I know the work that goes into it. But I also know not to bring something to market before it’s ready.

Shame on you - again - Sonos.

Regarding “Improved local library connectivity”:

The positive news is there is increased functionality on my iPad but it only works sporadically, if at all. Sometimes songs play from the music library with album artwork, but most times there is NO library. My Android has the un-updated app with diminished music library functionality, i.e., no indexing.

My alternative is to access my current, updated library on the NAS through Apple Music on macOS and output to the discontinued sonos Playbar via AppleTV.

My future relationship with sonos is grimm.

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