Password to avoid guests changing music

I think it's a good idea. Shouldn't be too difficult to implement either.


This has come up dozens of times, the oldest request I can find is from 2005.

http://forums.sonos.com/showthread.php?t=3271

Given it's been 8 years, I suggest you start giving you family some behavioural suggestions 😃

It's not exactly a life and death problem, is it?

I think your daughter will learn very quickly if you ban her device from the WiFi for a while after any problematic incident.

Absolutely not a life and death problem!

You seem to miss the fact that my daughter is not the problem, her guests are! (maybe later in life, she will be problematic ;))

Tell me why my idea is a bad idea?

With passwords in place, i can set up her controllers to only control one (or more) Sonos devices. Any guests, be it adults or children, would also be denied access, even if they install a controller on one of their own devices.

That wouldn't work, Sonos is a single user connecting to the music share regardless of how many controllers are in use. It also wouldn't stop someone from switching to internet radio or an online service for example.

I guess that's the point - perhaps there is a way that Sonos can require a login for each individual controller (which of course can be entered once and memorized foe ease of access later), so that restrictions can be set up for each individual controller. Certainly not as easy to implement as originally thought, but possible, and accomplishes what OP was suggesting.

I guess that's the point - perhaps there is a way that Sonos can require a login for each individual controller (which of could can be entered once and memorized foe ease of access later), so that restrictions can be set up for each individual controller.

And when somebody picks up a controller that isn't "theirs"?

Absolutely not a life and death problem!

You seem to miss the fact that my daughter is not the problem, her guests are! (maybe later in life, she will be problematic ;))

Tell me why my idea is a bad idea?

With passwords in place, i can set up her controllers to only control one (or more) Sonos devices. Any guests, be it adults or children, would also be denied access, even if they install a controller on one of their own devices.

Did you over own a record player? Tape desk? CD player?

When you had a party in your home, did you lock them in a cupboard so nobody could change the music? No, I thought not.

If you don't want your children's Sonos household to be able to control the rest of the house, you can already do this. You configure their Sonos players to be part of a separate Sonos "household", just like my next door neighbour cannot control my Sonos devices. No password required.

The reason you don't have a password on your daughter's phone/tablet etc. is because they are a pain in the ***. If you had to type a passcode each time you wanted to skip track or change volume, it would remove the simplicity that Sonos has been built upon.

If it was commonplace to have a key on a CD player, I'm sure Sonos would have implemented this many years ago.

From a more technical perspective:

UPnP doesn't specify any kind of authentication. This is sort of the mentality behind it, it should just "work". Passwords tends to add a complexity for users and often bog down support with trivial questions like "how do I reset my password that I mistakenly activated?"

Since there are no standard for it, Sonos would either need to deviate from the specs, and go rogue, or add it as proposal for all other manufacturers to implement. This kind of feature would also break a lot of 3rd party solutions that speak with Sonos.

Thirdly, are you really considering that your cost for a new router actually would have any relevance from an economic perspective? Implementing a feature like this would at LEAST take 50-100 man hours to implement, and then testing, beta testing, roll out, not to mention all time needed to follow up on this. So your cost for buying a new router ($100?) is relevant here, how? 🙂

And when somebody picks up a controller that isn't "theirs"?

No different than using a computer that isn't "theirs". If owner of device has a passcode for the device itself (Ipad, Ipod, computer), they won't gain access. If they don't, that's their fault.

I use Quicken on my PC. Both my computer and Quicken require passwords. My choice. I could eliminate one or both passwords if desired. Could work the same with Sonos.

Thirdly, are you really considering that your cost for a new router actually would have any relevance from an economic perspective? Implementing a feature like this would at LEAST take 50-100 man hours to implement, and then testing, beta testing, roll out, not to mention all time needed to follow up on this. So your cost for buying a new router ($100?) is relevant here, how? :)

My router (Asus RT-N56U) fully supports guest network/access. I have no need for a new router, and have never stated i need a new router.
I still believe it would be a good feature to add to every controlling device.
And what is 50-100 man hours + testing for a company like Sonos?

Did you over own a record player? Tape desk? CD player?

When you had a party in your home, did you lock them in a cupboard so nobody could change the music? No, I thought not.

But you definitely close/lock doors to parts of the house you don't want people getting into. With Sonos, they could still control players in rooms you don't want them to. Also, if there are CD's you don't want your kids to play at a party (perhaps Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name for instance), yes, you would remove it from the cd's they can access. Might be a pain to do, but if it's important to you, you do it. With digital music, it could/should be easy.

If you don't want your children's Sonos household to be able to control the rest of the house, you can already do this. You configure their Sonos players to be part of a separate Sonos "household", just like my next door neighbour cannot control my Sonos devices. No password required.

That seems to be the best solution currently.

The reason you don't have a password on your daughter's phone/tablet etc. is because they are a pain in the ***. If you had to type a passcode each time you wanted to skip track or change volume, it would remove the simplicity that Sonos has been built upon.
If it was commonplace to have a key on a CD player, I'm sure Sonos would have implemented this many years ago.

Let's not carry things to the extremes. No one is talking about passwords for every user action (skip tracks, etc). It's simply access/no access. Obviously, passwords are important for many applications, otherwise they wouldn't be so ubiquitous or recommended. Let the user decide how much access the password would allow - that way you could require no password since you don't like them, and others could get the level of control they desire. Do you have something against allowing others to benefit from features that you don't necessarily need? Your only valid argument would be if it cost you more cash or makes things overlying complicated for you.

And what is 50-100 man hours + testing for a company like Sonos?
Opportunity cost