Wishlist for Sonos Controller Improvements

I'd like to see the possibility for the app to help place devices (especially bridge and boost) for the best mesh coverage. Google wifi has an app that does just that to set up their mesh for the best coverage.

Interesting on poncho. Thanks for sharing.

Downloaded the 7.0 desktop controller, still seems to have the same flaws as the horrid 6.4 release. "Play" button does different things on different screens, rarely what you'd expect, but at least now I've learned which "play" buttons do a "play and replace queue". Everyone's favourite feature - the "play album followed by tracks 2-end of yesterday's stuff" button is still there (the bit where hitting "play" inserts into the stopped queue instead of appending / overwriting). It's clear that Sonos don't consider this a bug (which it is), but instead a deliberate design feature. I'd love to see the user testing that went into this...

Downloaded the 7.0 desktop controller, still seems to have the same flaws as the horrid 6.4 release...

Thanks for the heads up. Will stick with 6.2.1 till they get that sorted.

Sonos has given no indication they are doing anything to change the functionality for queue users who dislike the play now method introduced in 6.4 version if you awaiting a fix.

They haven't given any indication they won't fix it either. No real downside to just hang back and see what happens.

They haven't given any indication they won't fix it either. No real downside to just hang back and see what happens.

When I tried to raise play-inserts-into-stopped-queue behaviour as a bug with 6.4, the response I got from support indicated that it was by design, not a bug. And maybe extensive user testing has indicated that users want half their play buttons to do a play-and-replace, and the other play buttons to do an insert-and-play. I'd pay money to get back to the 6.3 approach of consistent append-and-play queue management, but I think Sonos are still confusing their intended functionality with the messy reality of the broken 6.4/7.0 user experience...

Check out the available 3rd party apps. Even if Sonos doesn't fix the 6.4/7.0 interface you may find there is no reason to even use the native app except to set up new components. Folks who haven't already updated can just stick with their current version... at least until a piece of hardware breaks and has to be replaced. Apparently about half of Sonos users don't utilize Spotify (whatever that is) so there is no compelling reason for them to update if they don't want the aggravation of the new interface.

Check out the available 3rd party apps. Even if Sonos doesn't fix the 6.4/7.0 interface you may find there is no reason to even use the native app except to set up new components. Folks who haven't already updated can just stick with their current version... at least until a piece of hardware breaks and has to be replaced. Apparently about half of Sonos users don't utilize Spotify (whatever that is) so there is no compelling reason for them to update if they don't want the aggravation of the new interface.

Clinging to 6.3 on one of my laptops. Unfortunately, I stupidly updated other PC/iOS controllers. Constantly looking for other controller options that actually get things right. Mostly, I just accept that finding the "clear queue and play" button is the safest move. I actually feel bad about slagging Sonos off - I know writing/testing/designing/debugging software and managing user expectations is really hard - but the user experience of the current controller software is awful, and up until a few months ago it was truly awesome.

...and now my 6.3 controller is bricked and refuses to work with my other 7.0 controllers. Interestingly, I've seen alternative controllers like Sonopad and Zonos also run into the problem of dumping things into a stopped queue. Beginning to think that I'm wrong about wanting to just hit "play album", maybe a "play album followed by the last 90% of what I was listening to last time" button really is what most users want. Oh well, I can always clear the queue manually and remember which "play" buttons do a "replace and play" and which ones do an "insert and play".