Hate this new app 8.0

With that older "PC" interface I used to be able to just hand my IPAD over to guests and let them find and control the music without any instruction from me - they were impressed as to just how easy it was to use.
Now I have to spend ages having to explain its operation to them and most just give up and hand it back. Several have gone on to say they "wouldn't buy one as it was too complicated / confusing!" That should start send nervous twitches down your product development management and marketing / sales teams shouldn't it ?

indeed those were the good old days where instruction was not needed and even the least tech savvy people could get their head around it. Now, as well as the dogs dinner of an interface, you have the continuing worry of someone adding content to the queue and destroying everyone else's' efforts ("I dont understand this - do I cut the green wire or the red wire? Ive had too much wine"....BOOM)

Bt the way PS Sonos I still cannot believe that you guys have not fixed that ridiculous situation where a listener has finished listening to the queue and resumes later via the"Play Now" option and it adds the track after the first track instead of at the end....now that is unintuitive and illogical. But Sonos insists on not fixing. That is quite poor.

I jokingly call this the "play album followed by tracks 2-end of yesterday's listening session" button. It is insane that Sonos a. shipped this, b. made it a default action, and c. have spent 15 months not fixing it. Especially as half of the various "play now/next" at least do a "clear old queue and play new stuff". Intuitive?

So the question (and I'll admit I don't really use alternatives like iTunes or Spotify desktop as music players): if Sonos are copying other players/services, how do they handle the interaction between the "play" button and the queue? Do users really want new stuff inserted into old queue as a default?

iTunes doesn't use a queue per se. It most definitely plays an entire album, playlist, artist, etc. from the point you choose until the end of the album, playlist, artist catalog, etc. But without a queue, the iTunes function really is more playing from this point on and also replacing the queue, which is exactly what Sonos is trying to emulate. Because of this, the main complaint from many of us when the new queue functionality came out was we hated them making it like iTunes.

FWIW, I think the new iOS apps are good once one spends a few moments
......
There was a similar furore when Strava changed its iOS app from dark to light. Lots of angry jumping up and down before everyone just got used to it. I guess Sonos could probably implement a night (dark) mode without too much effort if there really is a persistent widespread objection, but I'd leave it a few weeks to see if folks get used to it.

No it's just bad UX/UI.
The fact that it needs "a few weeks" getting used to defy the hallmark goal of good design - intuitiveness.

I'm a flexible tech savvy user and this app keeps annoying and confuse me since the launch.

I'm not a designer so no suggestion other than get some outsourced UI expert firm to help and (as important if not more) get feedback from focus groups, user surveys, etc.

For instance - Much too many times clicking the 'back' button on Android exits the app instead of going to the previous screen... God if wanted to exist the app I would f**** close it alright? Back button is convenient and intuitive for a library app... Why make it close the app?

And many more (like I feel common stuff are way too buried away and uncommon items just always in your face.. but that might be just me. Although my music and audio enthusiasts friends agree).

All very fixable, much less complicated than making something like the 2x Play:5 + Sub sound so darn good 😉

I agree that the new app has some major design problems. Need more clics to play songs, search, change rooms, and also need to move around the screen more extensively to finish selection and play. Much less user friendly 😞

What idiots do Sonos employ to write their software?....what a completely dysfunctional and unintuitive interface - it makes Spotify look almost acceptable!! Come on sonos....employ some decent software engineers who are older than 11 and who live and operate in the real world and get this hideously obstructive interface sorted. Your going to lose custom.

Thank you for that high standard of insightful analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the new controller. It is what I have come to expect .

What idiots do Sonos employ to write their software?....what a completely dysfunctional and unintuitive interface - it makes Spotify look almost acceptable!! Come on sonos....employ some decent software engineers who are older than 11 and who live and operate in the real world and get this hideously obstructive interface sorted. Your going to lose custom.

Yes, Sonos have real problems with their software, but... I suspect it's not the developers' fault. I build software for a living, so I'm well aware of
1. The compromises that go into development, and the prioritisation of new features over fixing bugs or getting the core user experience right
2. The need to get your software in front of real users for feedback as early as possible (seriously, watching real users let loose on your software and using it in ways you never expected is a sight) - if only the comments on this forum led to changes...
3. Developing to deadlines - at least where live production software is concerned, Sonos don't employ an agile "continuous delivery" approach of constantly shipping minor changes, but an infrequent "big bang" quarterly (with minor patches) schedule

The new design does not work for me.... I really hate it. I've got 9 zones and been loyal since 2004. This app is so horrible I feel betrayed.

Fix this and play around on the Windows interface, that UI sucks anyway.

FWIW, I think the new iOS apps are good once one spends a few moments
......
There was a similar furore when Strava changed its iOS app from dark to light. Lots of angry jumping up and down before everyone just got used to it. I guess Sonos could probably implement a night (dark) mode without too much effort if there really is a persistent widespread objection, but I'd leave it a few weeks to see if folks get used to it.

No it's just bad UX/UI.
The fact that it needs "a few weeks" getting used to defy the hallmark goal of good design - intuitiveness.

I'm a flexible tech savvy user and this app keeps annoying and confuse me since the launch.

I'm not a designer so no suggestion other than get some outsourced UI expert firm to help and (as important if not more) get feedback from focus groups, user surveys, etc.

For instance - Much too many times clicking the 'back' button on Android exits the app instead of going to the previous screen... God if wanted to exist the app I would f**** close it alright? Back button is convenient and intuitive for a library app... Why make it close the app?

And many more (like I feel common stuff are way too buried away and uncommon items just always in your face.. but that might be just me. Although my music and audio enthusiasts friends agree).

All very fixable, much less complicated than making something like the 2x Play:5 + Sub sound so darn good ;)

Just a quick correction here: the 'few weeks' I mentioned clearly just referred to the light-mode look, not to the app's functionality. It took me very little time to figure out the new user model and interface changes, and in the most part I think they're beneficial. However, I do use the iOS apps not the Android ones.