8.2 Is Completely Frustratingly Awful

As John B has said many times in this forum, just stay well away from the red rooms function at the bottom of now playing screen, it creates all sorts of chaos, who knows where it will end up playing, and then getting things back drives everyone completely nuts 😠

Add in Friday night friends in our kitchen when we've all had a few and the new UI becomes a real challenge.

All in all, I've got to say that Sonos has become a bit of an irritation in our house - no longer a thing of beauty.

No complaints about the Windows app, this is still really straightforward.

This exactly

I expect the "We heard you" app update will be nothing more than an option on background color....

I know how to use the new app. I can make it work. But after weeks of using it, I still despise the new app. I find myself creating shortcuts with Macronos on my Android devices to ease some of my frustrations. Too bad there is nothing nearly as good as Macronos for iOS devices.

As John B has said many times in this forum, just stay well away from the red rooms function at the bottom of now playing screen, it creates all sorts of chaos, who knows where it will end up playing, and then getting things back drives everyone completely nuts :@

While this may be sound advice, it highlights how poor the new app is. That we should ignore a key feature of the new app in order for it to function better says it all.

I agree with others. I can use the app, I can get music playing but I constantly need to pause, think, look at what room is in focus etc etc. I have never had to do this before and I started on version 4.

A month or so on and I still dislike it.

At the end of the day most of us can get by with the new app. I’d describe the situation with a lawn mowing analogy. When I want to mow my lawn I go to my garage, where my mower (22” blade) is waiting. I start it up, follow it around my lawn until finished, then return the mower to my garage. Now, I go to my garage. The mower might be there, or it might be on my back porch, or it might be in my basement. When I finally find the mower and start cutting the grass, I learn someone has removed my 22” blade and replaced it with an 11” blade making the job take twice as long.

My primary complaints center around lack of intuitiveness (my wife’s inability to navigate zones, never getting to attempt music selection) and my belief that It takes twice as long to get to my music. Neither is acceptable to me as a consumer.

Yes, I’m bored and spend too much time on this. Done now.

That's one of the best posts I've read on here, sums it up very well.

Well, having just convinced my partner to try Sonos, setting up play base and two play 1's (after some multiple re-attempts to even get the app to find the players) we find the app controller to be utterly non intuitive and creating sheer rage full frustration. Songs dropping out mid stream, then another random song starts, and stops. Or maybe it plays through. But what next? Tune-in channels start, stop. This, THIS! Is what I have been waiting to experience?!?! I just bought this system. It may well go right back in the box as I got two good hours of "this is awesome sound!" Before next day got up and all of a sudden the app did not "see" the play1's and it all went to hell. I am not the most technically apt person. But this is why I chose Sonos over Bose. I had heard how effortless it was. HA! The amount of effort and brow sweat I exerted over this is already testing my generally high patience levels.

Well, having just convinced my partner to try Sonos, setting up play base and two play 1's (after some multiple re-attempts to even get the app to find the players) we find the app controller to be utterly non intuitive and creating sheer rage full frustration. Songs dropping out mid stream, then another random song starts, and stops. Or maybe it plays through. But what next? Tune-in channels start, stop. This, THIS! Is what I have been waiting to experience?!?! I just bought this system. It may well go right back in the box as I got two good hours of "this is awesome sound!" Before next day got up and all of a sudden the app did not "see" the play1's and it all went to hell. I am not the most technically apt person. But this is why I chose Sonos over Bose. I had heard how effortless it was. HA! The amount of effort and brow sweat I exerted over this is already testing my generally high patience levels.

You’re absolutely right about the app being non-intuitive. However, it’s highly unlikely that it is the cause of your problems with playing audio or setting up Sonos. It sounds like you’ve got a networking issue somewhere. If you search through these forums you’ll find lots of tips on how to resolve that. Often the problem is conflicting IP addresses, although there are other potential issues. Sonos actually does work very well once is it set up properly. The first thing you might want to do is to unplug your entire network and then start plugging everything back in, starting with the router and then working forward through any switches you might have and then the Sonos gear.

Perfect timing to put the final nail in the Sonos UI coffin.
Middle of Thanksgiving Day.
Like I have nothing better to do than jack with software that used to work
Was playing music on the Living Room Connect. MacBook and iPad are in the basement.
Cell phone rings, try to pause the music from the phone but I'm forced to upgrade the controller.
Run to the basement where the MacBook is booted up and pause the music.
Now, all devices want the controller updated.
I reluctantly comply.
Now, iPhone and iPad only show the basement Sonos Connect (I have 3, one in the living room one in the basement, one In the garage).
MacBook needs me to create a new Sonos account. Huh!?
I used to sing the praises of the Sonos system, but now I'm beyond frustrated.
Typical corporate mentality: Change to justify my job, not to improve a product.
You'll be seeing my system on e-bay soon...:-(

Update:
Sitting in silence, I continued to revive my Sonos system.
All devices are running the latest software.
All controller devices are running the latest version.
MacBook shows only the Living Room Connect.
iPad shows only the Basement Connect.
iPhone shows only the Basement connect.
***Mind you, I was listening to the Living Room system only earlier today.***
So I begin adding the other Connect...
1. On the MacBook, I begin searching for a new device.
2. On it's own, the iPad finds a new device that is not linked to the system.
3. Okay, so on the iPad, I link the new device to my Sonos Account.
(did I say you must establish a Sonos account now to link your devices to?)
The device now shows up on all controlling devices.
But that's only 2 Connects.
I begin again. Steps 1 thru 3.
Now all 3 Connects show up on all controllers.

The funniest thing is now the red Room Selection at the bottom of the screen works beautifully!!!!!

All this was frustrating to deal with, but I have to thank the Sonos Software folks for fixing the Room Selector.

Finally after trying to upgrade the desktop controller through the UPGRADE option in the app, I downloaded the app directly and ran the Windows installer.

The update sort of worked. I still had to run the Update option from the app, then go through all the steps of updating the speakers and with having close to 20 devices it took quite some time to complete. However then I had to re-register my account and update all of my product information to Sonos.

Version 8.2.1 still has problems in the way that you cannot sort the stations you have saved in Pandora in alphabetical order, instead the app has them listed by date they were added? WTF. Why is there no sorting functionality of the app. The same holds true for the Android app, no sorting by alphabetic.

The app is still broken for being able to access stored music that I have on a media server. It links to the folder, but it cannot play any files. I more than 500 CD's stored in digital format, more than 5000 songs that can no longer be played by the Sonos controller. This is unacceptable.