Sad day for me and my CR100

@Mike_195,

I always enjoyed my CR100 and the CR200 that followed. Unfortunately, they have all died. Currently, I prefer the desktop controller and this works well for me because I spend lots of time on my computer. When I’m not at the desk, I have a phone and a pad and must use these to change system configurations because the desktop controller does not support modifying configurations.

The CR100 sits in a beautiful cradle right in front of the ZP120. When I walk into the kitchen I stretch out my arm and press one button and the radio plays - how much simpler could the world be?

(And the buttons do have have lovely tactile feedback.)

I do not feel the need to carry my phone around with me all day long.

When I do feel the need to browse the internet, look at stars, message / call people and even take photographs, I’ll happily pick up my phone and use it.

All far less convenient .. just to switch on the radio. 

Rightly or wrongly, I’ve already chosen the Google offering for home control and have been using it for several years.

In my experience thus far, voice assistants are “not terribly good” (Siri and Google used) and generally take longer to achieve anything than the simple flipping of switches - providing that they are, of course, within reach.

I think it fair to make a comparison with Philips Hue: when walking into a room, it’s far easier to flip a wall switch (Friends of Hue) to switch the lights on than to utter something to a voice assistant and hope it understands (I do have some sensors too). Hue Tap is a movable physical switch module, and there’s the mobile phone app which is the most powerful but ‘least accessible’ way to interact with the lights.

I think that I, and the missus, could live with the voice assistant for the vast majority of the time - providing that a simple request to switch the radio on was far more reliably fulfilled than some of the other actions I ask of Google.

However, having a tablet “permanently” running the Sonos app and sitting just where it needs to be, may just about replace the simplicity and reliability of the CR100 for the simple tasks [On/Off, Vol Up/Down]; however, I perhaps need to look into the SYMFONISK Sound remote.

There is also a level or risk re-engaging with Sonos who have displayed utterly contemptible attitudes to its customers in the bricking of CR100, and then the attempted bricking of first gen equipment.

Apologies for the tome...

I think this post is definitely worth ignoring.

@Mike_195 As I understand it there where valid technical reasons for Sonos to retire the CR100. Sonos usually supports stuff for a much longer period than other manufacturers.

I agree with you GA is not perfect as an only way to command the system, though it usually works well.

Though maybe worded a bit strongly I do agree with @jgatie that using a phone to command the system works well. Why this aversion to using a phone for this purpose?

> Why this aversion to using a phone for this purpose
Simplicity and speed (to just switch it on and off) - plus I am not welded to my phone.

I think we may have different use cases: I don’t sit down and listen to the radio (much as one would do if one were listening to an album) - the radio is just switched on when I walk into the kitchen and ‘is there’ whilst I do other things.

I thought the Hue System analogy was pretty reasonable: physical wall switches (simple functionality, convenient, reliable, and fast to action); voice activation (medium functionality, convenient, not reliable, and slower to action); application (complex functionality, less convenient, reliable, slow to action). I would not want to only have the application running on a mobile phone as the only control mechanism.

I’ll go the other direction: would you want a TV without a dedicated physical remote control and have to open an app on your phone to switch the thing on? Physical remote controls are great - you don’t have to look at them to be able to use them (for decent TV brands). Apps are good when you want to search for a specific programme. 

If the Sonos phone app were the beginning and end of it all, then there would not be a market for Ikea to bring out its physical switches, iPort to have made its physical switches and the several other manufacturers who make theirs. You need a blend of input devices.

The CR100 used a long-abandoned embedded version of Adobe Flash as its platform. TuneIn have most likely updated their https endpoint to TLS version 1.2 which is newer than the ancient Flash version can handle. Over time every https endpoint will make this update I am sure. I addition, TuneIn “classic” is no longer supported even on S2, they want us to use the newer version that requires an account and login.

@controlav I’ve not seen any change in TuneIn. Maybe this is location based? I’m in the Netherlands.

Just wonder if we “did something unusual” over the holidays with the Sonos that meant we “flipped away from Tune-in” and unfortunately could not get reconnected…

I think I am resigned to the fact that the CR100’s days are finally over and that a low cost tablet sitting in a holder is going to have to suffice.

Anyone put a Raspberry Pi inside a CR100 case? :-)