why so many updates

My problem with the updates is that nothing really seems to change or get better. Recent updates only took away functionality instead of adding them. You also don't get any info off what is about to change when it does like taking away of the - On This Device - option. 

Here are the release notes.

A lot of the issues are going to be bug fixes that only a small number of users are experiencing in rare cases.  It does not make a lot of sense to give details about these changes, since the vast majority will not care, or perhaps even understand what the issue is (myself included since I don’t have inside knowledge on how some parts of Sonos work)

It could also be security related changes to protect against known attacks.

It could be that these are pre-emptive changes to deal with future OS changes that Apple or Google has planned.  Or changes that Sonos has planned but not yet fully implemented.

And sure, as a consumer, we might prefer to have less updates and only apply the changes that we care about.  However, that makes it rather difficult and expensive to troubleshoot issues when every installment is potentially a different version of your software.  So Sonos requires that you update to the current version before working on issues.

Sonos might consider a dual-track update system, several things I use offer that.

Instant updates - As soon as they are ready you get them.

Scheduled updates - You get them once a month, if there were any.

Given the App Store issues that could well mean having to have two different Apps to work around the built-in auto update limitations.

i diddnt tosss the speakers into the bin like i convinced myself i would, instead i kept them, and i updated and updated and updated and updated and updated like a good little lad and all that happend is that the chick fell a sleep on the couch and now the controller is worse than EVER. 

So you’ve still not done the right things:

• fix your router
• ste updates to automatic.

Some of the packages that I use have a “stable” version that is well tested and could be a year or two old, and a “new” version that may still have a few bugs or developing features.

Certainly would increase complexity for the user, and cause Customer Service to support more versions of the system. 

The routers shouldn’t have any effect on whether or not Sonos system updates suck.  We have sonos in 3 retail locations, at home and a rental unit.  CONSTANT updates are so bothersome.  I want my systems to be up to date.  I don’t understand why they can’t figure out how to do it at 3am in the background.  I have selected automatic updates to no avail.  The app, controller and speaker updates are just too much.  Most of the time you also have to reconnect apple music or spotify accounts because the update disconnected you.  It’s such a crappy experience.

There are several points I find puzzling about your post. 

First is the use of the word ‘CONSTANT’. This is certainly counter to my experience, and if you look at the dates on the release notes page, not what I would consider constant.

Second, there are two parts to an update, generally speaking. The first is on the computers that run each speaker, and controlled by that ‘automatic updates’ flag you’ve mentioned. Since that feature was released, I’ve not had to update my speakers once, it has always occurred automatically, I assume at the assigned time. However, I mostly use the iOS controller, so that I manually update, once on each device (I tend to have three, two iPads and an iPhone). At most, this takes a minute to download and install, on my sub-gigabit network. When I sit down at a desktop, I update the controllers there, but that doesn’t happen often.

Having to reconnect a streaming service frequently is more concerning to me. You shouldn’t be needing to do that. It suggests that either Sonos has stored an old authorization token (which aren’t supposed to change), or that your speakers are unable to properly connect to the service’s authorization server. This is unlikely to have anything to do with an update, unless the network is experiencing duplicate IP address issues being generated by the router. 

It may be worth the time to read the manual for the router, and set up reserved IP addresses for all Sonos devices. It’s good network practices, and certainly won’t hurt anything, and it could resolve this issue you seem to be experiencing. 

Since doing the reserved/static IP settings I have not noticed Sonos updates, they happen overnight, invisibly.

I lean to the IP issues being Sonos’ fault but without access to the internals I ca’t prove anything. The wide variety of routers that seem to have issues with Sonos point in the same direction.