Account optional again?

Adding to MikeV's response - I recently powered down my complete network and Sonos kit, disconnected the Internet connection and powered everything up again. All came up ok and Sonos worked fine playing from my NAS without any access to the Internet

Hi MikeV, Ryan S,

Thank you very much for the official reply. Very much appreciated.

I think we (the 10 users) and Sonos have a different view on what needs security and what not. In our opinion there’s no need to secure any settings or access to any Sonos player from people being on the LAN the Sonos player are on. That network itself is secured offcours. Any security measure just adds a layer or complication and does not serve any purpose. Maybe you can give me a scenario in which this security measure is helpful. We cannot think of one. BTW, we have the system in use since 2014. What has changed since then concerning security risks for basic home/work audio operation?

I understand Sonos is considering to put more settings behind the password such as the recent new settings you mentioned. That means that we can count on more complication in future which we don’t feel very comfortable with.

Putting the password on the players is an option for now but some of the players (of which one with the most drops) hangs high on the wall so it’s not very easy to read anything on the device. Although I realise factory resetting a player also needs pressing buttons on the device itself.

With respect to hardwiring the players. That could be helpful since we cannot switch off any of the WiFi radios in our neighbors businesses and household. But in the past that only worked when the WiFi was turned off for that player via the command line controls (for which you say there is a password protected setting now). With more than one player hardwired Sonos brings down quite a lot of LAN’s with broadcast storms and loops after a day or two with the WiFi radios left on. That has been my own experience.

Maybe it would be a great idea to also introduce an on/off toggle for Sonosnet (behind the password offcourse!). Most current networks are more stable without it and let all players connect to the router directly via wire or WiFi accesspoint. And it frees one valuable WiFi channel in the air.

Wrapping it up we feel unhappy with Sonos at the moment and this answer does not make it go away. Tomorrow we have our monthly meeting and we will decide what to do.

Thanks again for commenting the official reply which is very insightful. Have a great day!

A frequent request has been to protect system settings from being adjusted by anyone on the network, including friends who might have access to your WiFi or even other family members (like children). Some businesses have even asked for this, to prevent employees from changing things when the boss isn't around. For example, setting a low volume limit, so neighbors don't get annoyed by loud music... among other things.

Hi Joehoe, I'm happy to provide an official reply for you, and the forum regulars suggested, we don't have any plans to revert the changes to the account requirement. We're constantly working to add new features and improve the Sonos experience, and it's just good practice to have a security step in place when it comes to making changes at the system level. We've just added the ability to add a max volume and turn off the wireless on players, two settings that are behind the login credentials for more obvious reasons.

Permit me to be stupid and ask what those obvious reasons are? I saw this thing about the max volume, so I was curious and went to Room Settings to try it. My jaw dropped when I saw that I was supposed to give my Sonos account. What the ****? It is not Sonos's business what settings I make. But, sure, if I you don't want me to use new features, well, why bother to put them out? I value my privacy. I would never log in when there is no good reason to.

It's called security. Since everyone prefers to have friends and neighbors on the same WiFi network as their computer(s), NAS, and Sonos speaker(s), rather than a separate guest network, Sonos figured they'd add a little security and prevent access to some of Sonos' settings without having logged into your Sonos account. Considering many have asked for some kind of security to be applied to their Sonos systems to prevent settings from being changed by others, Sonos likely felt that they were doing some good here.

I am about to pose a question based on common sense and not wild paranoid conjecture:

What good would a maximum volume setting be if anybody using the system could just go into settings and override it?

Answer: No good at all. That's why they require authentication. No tracking data, no privacy issues, they merely want you to be able to set your brat's speakers on a low level, and they don't want the brats to be able to reset it to "let's wake up the whole house" level without authentication.

In our opinion there’s no need to secure any settings or access to any Sonos player from people being on the LAN the Sonos player are on
https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-software-228995/must-have-password-protection-to-our-business-sonos-setup-6807551
https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-software-228995/password-to-avoid-guests-changing-music-36704/index7.html
https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-software-228995/password-protect-sonos-6763985
etc etc

You cannot please all the people all of the time.

It's called security. Since everyone prefers to have friends and neighbors on the same WiFi network as their computer(s), NAS, and Sonos speaker(s), rather than a separate guest network, Sonos figured they'd add a little security and prevent access to some of Sonos' settings without having logged into your Sonos account. Considering many have asked for some kind of security to be applied to their Sonos systems to prevent settings from being changed by others, Sonos likely felt that they were doing some good here.

Was that supposed to be an answer to my question? It that case it falls flat. The question was not why I have to specify username and and a password to access some settings, but why I for "obvious reasons" must use an account that is registered with Sonos. That could be be a local username/password. Or, for that matter, I could use the fingerprint reader on my telephone to authenticate.

And the "obvious reason" why this would be better is that I would be able to access the settings also if my Sonos would for some reason be disconnected from the Internet.

Also, I may make my own decision about security. I live alone, I rarely have guests at home, and I don't have much secrets on my Sonos system, so I don't feel it very compelling to protect my settings. Also, to reach the settings, an intruder would first have to authenticate on my phone or tablet, so there is also a gate. I can see the point of having the option to specify a means of authentication, but I less point in making it mandatory. And whatever the "obvioius" reason why it has to be a Sonos account, no, security is not the obvious reason. So my question is still unanswered.

Answer: No good at all. That's why they require authentication. No tracking data, no privacy issues,

No privcay issues? When it is a account on their servers? If all they cared about was my own security, they would have done it differently.

And, obviously, a max volume setting can still be useful for me without password protection. I could use so that I (or an occasional quest) would accidently turn up the volume so that it disturbs the neighbours.

No privcay issues? When it is a account on their servers? If all they cared about was my own security, they would have done it differently.

And, obviously, a max volume setting can still be useful for me without password protection. I could use so that I (or an occasional quest) would accidently turn up the volume so that it disturbs the neighbours.

Differently how? With a PIN? What makes you think they can't link a PIN to your account? I've got some news for you, they already have your account info and every unit you own is linked to it, so they can track everything you do. Why would authentication of a max volume setting be more invasive than that?

And a no password max volume setting may be useful to you, but it is useless for the vast majority of people who asked for it. Sonos isn't going to customize software for the paranoid.