The New Sonos App and Future Feature Updates

To get access to my music library, I remember an app called Airmusic being mentioned on the forum, so that’s what I’m using in the interim until Sonos sort out a functioning android app.

Thanks...

You are hardly making a valid comparison, Nvidia shares are currently vastly overinflated as they are riding the AI bubble, which will pop, at which point Nvidia share prices will suddenly get hit with reality. Nvidia gfx cores are currently the best value product for cuda processing and everyone from home users wanting to learn ML processing to the cloud giants filling data centres as their clients have fallen for the AI hype is buying from Nvidia.

The general IT tech industry, which was crazy both in client demand and salaries the companies were offering to try and get staff to switch jobs early in the pandemic, started correcting their unsustainable hiring and salaries last year. Multiple rounds of layoffs (10-15% +) of their global workforce helped keep their profits up, so share prices didn’t get so badly hit, but the industry and market is still correcting.

Where I work made record profits during the pandemic, I also received multiple job offers direct from companies offering 80-100% increases on my base salary. Working in the right part of the Tech industry and having the right skills during the pandemic was a profitable few years if you were in a position with no ties and could chase the money, but none of us were under any illusion it was sustainable, or that there would even be a job when the pandemic passed and normality returned. It was a short term bubble that would end.

Sonos did well at the beginning of the pandemic for their market segment, shifting boxes of devices for playing music, people suddenly stuck at home wanted devices for playing music around the home. Like a lot of audio devices it’s a one off purchase for a number of years. Coupled with a lack of new must have products in their offerings and people returning back into offices the stock returned to normality quite quickly.

As for their future, Sonos will survive, in reality the mass market and the Internet has a short memory and app ratings and stock prices are meaningless to consumers. They will likely need to adjust projected earnings and the random number analysts will reduce the stock price, but it’s not going to end the company.

Companies have done far worse than Sonos and while there is short term media coverage and outrage on forums and Reddit in the long term it gets forgotten except by the faithful followers until the next time they mess up. Even the mainstream media doesn’t care anymore, it’s old news, so unless the retailers refuse to stock Sonos, it’ll continue being business as usual.

So, let them eat cake 

@Andrew-s, I haven’t seen a reply. I have the same problem as Jordanstown. No library access.

Are you a Sonos customer or a Sonos employee trying to avoid the reality?

Sonos employees are marked as such. @Andrew-s  is not one of them.

Andrew is entitled to express his view and, as I discovered, his core point is correct - Sonos has not removed local library access.  They have, however, made it unnecessarily difficult, and communicated poorly. Anyone (like me) not familiar with the history of the issue is likely to interpret Keith N's message (ability to create a library is 'coming soon') as removal, in light of the difficulties with the app. 

For the benefit of anyone experiencing similar difficulties, here is a description of what I encountered, and how I stumbled to the solution. 

1. Turned on my Sonos pair yesterday for the first time in a few months (out if the country) - updates required.

2. After updating, the app would not recognise either speaker. There was no sign of my library, but some entries in 'recently played.' A few seconds of a track would play, before the app crashed. The app would not permit removal of the stereo pair (as it couldn't see them).

3. Following the Sonos help page advice, I performed a factory reset of both speakers - still no success in connecting. 

4. I reinstalled the app and removed and replaced the existing room set up. This allowed the app to finally discover and configure the speakers, but... 

5. The app had no means of accessing my local library. 

6. From information gleaned from the forum, I sought access from the Windows app. The Windows app has the functionality to configure a local library, and could see mine (an ancient NAS). However, multiple attempts to connect failed, as did attempts to use the music folder on the PC itself. A firmware update of the NAS made no difference. 

7. After a cup of tea, and a wait of  few hours, I tried again on the windows app (no other changes made) and, bizarrely, the library was in place and fully indexed - I conclude that the earlier 'failure' messages were false negatives.

8. Having re-established the library on the Windows app, it does indeed appear in the mobile (Android) app. 

So, at the risk of irritating Andrew further, I think my criticism of Sonos was inaccurate, but justified. An app update that then requires a factory reset, firmware update of storage, and reconfiguration via a PC is hardly an exemplar of excellence. 

If Sonos is aware of these difficulties, then a simple 'if this happens, take these steps' communication would be helpful. If that exists, I couldn't find it. 

To reiterate, tomorrow’s app update addresses music libraries, amongst other things:

“Sonos is reintroducing some basic features to its new app next week, including the ability to configure local music libraries. These functions were already in Sonos' old app, but were missing in the new mobile application that the audio manufacturer released in May.

Sonos will release the update for its new app on July 22. The biggest changes are in support for local music libraries. For example, the 'settings and configuration' of such libraries are now available via the mobile app. It [will] also possible to search local music libraries in the app.

The July 22 update also includes improvements to line-in autoplay, compression settings, settings accessibility, firmware update notifications and volume settings. In addition, the Sonos Amp and Port can now be configured in mono and stereo and the 'Forgot System' option has been added to the Android app.

Some other functions that are currently missing from the new Sonos app will follow in August. For example, in early August, users will be able to downgrade their devices from S2 to S1 again and keep offline devices. At the end of August it will be possible to adjust playlists in the Sonos app and there will be an editing function for queues.”

You would need to provide more detail about the type of share that you’re using to maybe get some suggestions, if that’s what you’re looking for - Is it a NAS, or a Windows/MAC share …and are you currently using the HTTP/SMBv1 protocols? Have you tried an SMBv2 (or higher) share for your local library?

I need to be able to clear the god da** queue, why is that so much to ask for?!?!

When trying to play a radio station or an AI generator playlist, it just continually plays the same list of songs. Because this new update literally does not allow even the app itself to clear the queue, let alone we should be able to clear it manually like users previously could. 

The app is not garbage. 

I've turned dozens of family and friends onto Sonos over the years and have 20 plus products in my house, but I couldn't in good conscious, continue to recommend the product with faulty updates like this

If using an iOS controller there is a 3rd-party (iOS shortcuts plugins) App called Soro that can clear room queues, or you can use the Windows, or MAC, desktop controller Apps. HTH