NEW SONOS APP IS ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE

Thanks jgatie, that is a helpful reminder.

To be clear, the issue (at least for me) is not so much a "drop out" as it is the music just stopping playing.

For pandora, it manifests as the music playing fine for a while, then at some point the station advancing to the next song, playing about 10 seconds of it, and then stopping on all speakers. The iOS apps will either show the music as paused or they will show "No Music".

I have seen true drop-outs (where one speaker drops audio for a small amount of time and then resumes play) for things streaming from my playbar and Play:5 but only when I had an older router.

It's my understanding that Pandora and the likes don't stream in the same way as audio from a connected device: rather each speaker has its own connection to Pandora.

(This is why you can hear a pause when adding a new speaker to a group already playing - the speaker needs to connect/download the audio. Connecting to a device-connected group (e.g. to a playbar) is nearly instantaneous.)

If this were related to network, I wouldn't expect it to be isolated to Pandora. Other music services seem to work for longer. I recently had a TuneIn station playing on my system for 72+ hours while I was gone and I came back to it playing just fine. Pandora won't even run during an 8-hour workday anymore. I'm one of those cool kids who plays music for his dogs - don't judge :)

It really seems like the Pandora "application" on the speakers is crashing. It could be the iOS app playing a part, but it's not clear.

In any event, I expect more from Sonos. Only recently has this become a problem, and it really does feel like a big step backward in the mark of quality of the product's software.

This is all aside from the fact that I genuinely think the new application's UI is bad. Everybody hates a new UI at first, but after several weeks of learning how to use it, I have to really think about how to use it almost every time. It's no longer fun or easy.

I agree wholeheartedly with the negative comments on the new UI. I spent more than 15 years in software product management and marketing and that UI wouldn't have passed muster coming out of any of my groups!

Ditto comments on the drop outs. Haven't touched my network in at least 9 months. The dropouts only started after 8.2.2. Attempting to eliminate them, I switched over from Wi-Fi-only to having one of my speakers hardwired and it hasn't made any difference. And yes, I went through the whole reboot power-cycle rigmarole. (none of my 10 speakers is more than 15' from another...) (You guys also need to update your docs as instructions for a Wi-Fi reset are now useless with the new UI.)

Please PLEASE change the app back to what it used to be with the black background.. This new app layout is terrible, i wanna swear how bad this software is ??. To Anybody readying this dont bother buying a Sonos piece of kit until this is changed as its shockingly bad !! Who in there right mind chose this crap ?? At least give me the option to change it back to 1 that was better to use and that actually worked ?? I havent paid over £1200 for this terrible way of selecting music ?? I use spotify and since the sonos update it terrible to try to select a track..

Please PLEASE change the app back to what it used to be with the black background.. This new app layout is terrible, i wanna swear how bad this software is ??. To Anybody readying this dont bother buying a Sonos piece of kit until this is changed as its shockingly bad !! Who in there right mind chose this crap ?? At least give me the option to change it back to 1 that was better to use and that actually worked ?? I havent paid over £1200 for this terrible way of selecting music ?? I use spotify and since the sonos update it terrible to try to select a track... edit i have since rebooted my phone which enabled the "Search" tab to work properly.. As it had vanished before ? Im an android user.. I will still say though that this update is really poor and i for 1 would like it to be changed back.. If not maybe i will sell up and try a different manufactuer of equipment like B&O or Bose.. See what happens ??

Yet another update a few days ago, and sadly it looks like Sonos team are being deaf (!) to customers' requests and comments: Still no dark background option, still way too numerous taps required to get the music one wants in the room(s) he wants.
For the sake of trying to be supposedly trendy and mimic, blindly, Apple Music look and feel, Sonos forget both their Android users base and more importantly those who actually use the controller app in Sonos' natural habitat, a house with comfy atmosphere and often dimmed lighting.
Sonos, keep the all flashy, shiny, over-bright display for tradeshows and stores if you feel the need to, but please consider what your loyal users are asking for...
And if you could also think about reducing the eye-tearing 100% contrast as experienced in the room selection pane for example (as well as this website), that would be the icing-on-the-cake...

I posted as much elsewhere, but Sonos have now pushed out 5 updates since version 8.0 was dumped on us. They seem to have a very clear idea where they are going with the app, and this coupled with a 'we know best' attitude seems to imply that save for a few tweaks here or there, what we have is what we are going to be stuck with for the future.

I get it that some are indifferent to the new app and some may like it. That is good thing. But for the rest of us who on a daily basis pick up the app and despair about the wonderful system we bought into and what it has been allowed to become, all we get is a 'we will pass your feedback on to the team'. To Ryan and the nameless guys in 'the team', listen -- we love you guys, but this is now not enough. Have you read the posts from homeowners who are putting off purchases; from the installers fending off complaints from their users, from the retailers no longer recommending your kit ??

Sonos, you can choose to make no meaningful comment if you want to. At the end of the day, we can choose to spend our money elsewhere.

Andrew

Andrew i couldnt have put it better myself.. To think that i purchased the soundbar over any other brand, to think that i was sold over the quality of the base speaker .. Then before i was to purchase any other speakers for the otger rooms Sono's have changed the app from something brilliant and user friendly to this frustratingly annoying unuser friendly app doesnt make sense ? Sono's has a group of customers who once loved the simplicity of the way music was played on there system which is now terrible in many ways.. We dont like the white background or the change in layout ? What makes matters worse is you have to update to this annoying crap app which doesnt give me the option to change back, my wife even suggested we sell the soundbar and base unit because of the hassel and trouble caused when trying to play music like before.. Please change it back before we take our business elsewhere ?

Hello andrewmk and others,

I totally agree with your comments. It is absolutely incredible the lack of response, but better said, lack of action from Sonos in regards to the terrible app and our feedback to it.

It was so good and now, nobody at home want to play music at home due to the frustrating experience of using this terrible app. They have to stop using us as guinea pigs. My 6 year old used to know how to find her favorite tracks at night... sleeping sounds of nature, soothing ocean waves, etc. Now, the glaring interface and unintuitive operation of it this app makes her (and us) not using it.

NAIM has probably now the most intuitive interface. They DO hear their customers who spend big bucks on their products. We, as many others, have spent thousands of dollars in their devices, 7 areas, multiple amps, players, etc. One would think they would hear us. I hope Sonos goes back to basics and give us a simple app to use.

I’m going to repeat my normal post

Just posting that you hate the new app will do no good. If you want change post what you would like changed so that feedback can go to developers working on future updates.

Chris,

First of all, I did not use the word "hate", you did.

I thought you could read in my post my complaints that not just me, but many people are expressing.

1) Glaring interface = White background, blinding for use at night. There was no need to change it.

2) Unintuitive = Going up and down, swiping up and down for selecting zone, search music, up and down.

Now, adding to these two, make text bigger and the three dots for going into the menu to add to playlist, queue, etc. more evident. Give us the ability to increase the contrast and text size so it is more legible.

That's it Chris.

Thanks.