Contributor I

Answered

Bring back the ability to search music library

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
May 8, 2024
119 replies
6027 views

I have been using Sonos for several years, and it is attached to a streaming service and my music library on a USB drive, which has years worth of accumulated music, including a lot not available on streaming. I have just (8 May) updated to the new Sonos app. Now I can still see and trawl through my music library, but cannot search in it. The general search function just returns the streaming and Sonos radio results, and there’s no dedicated search for the music library. This effectively cuts off my access to my own music, by making it prohibitively difficult to find anything. Please bring this functionality back. I know you want to prioritise revenue generation, but this is disrespectful to your customers.

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Best answer by BazDistro

Taking away search capabilities is bad enough—I’m already looking for Sonos alternatives. But they also removed the alphabetic side bar that allowed us to more efficiently move around the library. It’s hard to imagine this was an oversight. It’s a concerted effort to turn us away from our own music libraries and I agree with others who interpret this as egregious disrespect. If things remain unchanged, this is an absolute deal breaker. I don’t use streaming services and never wish to. Sonos is useless if it cannot help me to easily stream my own carefully curated music collection.

Show previous replies

L

Lindsmcd

Lyricist I

I want to add my frustration eliminating search for my music library. Bring back the functionality ASAP. Please

I also see that you can no longer update your music library index from the App. So you cannot make any changes to your library either.

What does Sonos have against personal libraries?

B

BazDistroAnswer

Lyricist I

Taking away search capabilities is bad enough—I’m already looking for Sonos alternatives. But they also removed the alphabetic side bar that allowed us to more efficiently move around the library. It’s hard to imagine this was an oversight. It’s a concerted effort to turn us away from our own music libraries and I agree with others who interpret this as egregious disrespect. If things remain unchanged, this is an absolute deal breaker. I don’t use streaming services and never wish to. Sonos is useless if it cannot help me to easily stream my own carefully curated music collection.

R

RoyBucks

Lyricist III

Sonos have advised the following will be reinstated:

May 21

Screen reader for visually impaired customers

Adding and editing alarms

Early June

Adding to queue and playing next

Mid-June

Local music library search and playback

Update Wi-Fi settings

It's a start even if it doesn't cover everything. I'll give it until the end of June otherwise I'll be going to a competitor. I've put up with the buggy apps and problematic updates for years but this could be the final straw.

A

Ash1111111111

Lyricist I

I just want to add my voice to the MANY that want to be able to search their music library. I like to listen to my own music library but that is now impossible without the search / shuffle functions. It takes an age to scroll through all of my artists to find the one I am looking for so I give up & listen to my music on my phone with my bluetooth speakers. My Sonos speakers have become useless. I shall be selling them on ebay if this doesn’t get resolved.

In my opinion it was an incredibly stupid thing to do to remove these functions - what were they thinking! I also find it hugely disrespectful.

L

LouisJordaan

Enthusiast II

This is very frustrating. My system honestly feels unusable to me. Can’t find kids sleep music at night. Can’t search my library. Can’t index my library from app. All my playlists are gone. The app no longer has alphabetic selection to speed up scrolling through library, the volume level doesn’t appear in the app anymore. How does an App update like this get passed. They pretty much stripped all the critical features out of the app. It looks like the app has been designed by graphic\web designers with no idea how a Sonos system actually should work. This is atrocious. My Sonos system has been a massive part of my life for nearly 7 years and it is now useless too me.

M

madmachinery

Lyricist II

Sonos have advised the following will be reinstated:

May 21

Screen reader for visually impaired customers

Adding and editing alarms

Early June

Adding to queue and playing next

Mid-June

Local music library search and playback

Update Wi-Fi settings

It's a start even if it doesn't cover everything. I'll give it until the end of June otherwise I'll be going to a competitor. I've put up with the buggy apps and problematic updates for years but this could be the final straw.

It is a start, I agree. Not being able to search my massive library of music until Mid-June (if they stay on this timeline) is somewhat absurd.

I’m not sure if this is an issue in the Android world, but it would be nice if Apple’s ecosystem allowed users like us to downgrade iOS apps.

L

LouisJordaan

Enthusiast II

Rediculous that it will take that long to reinstate features that should never have been taken away. Better than nothing but mid June is far away, can’t believe we’ll have to deal with this rubbish app for that long.

@Sonos, why can’t you just make the old app available and let us install it instead and forget about the mess you created with this new app. If I was in charge I would scrap the new app entirely and forget that it ever happened, it is an embarrassment. Why make loyal customers wait months while their systems are useless.

D

Diogenes-blood

Trending Lyricist I

What’s a good Sonos alternative? Bose?

M

moe_2020

Contributor I

Sonos have advised the following will be reinstated:

May 21

Screen reader for visually impaired customers

Adding and editing alarms

Early June

Adding to queue and playing next

Mid-June

Local music library search and playback

Update Wi-Fi settings

It's a start even if it doesn't cover everything. I'll give it until the end of June otherwise I'll be going to a competitor. I've put up with the buggy apps and problematic updates for years but this could be the final straw.

It is a start, I agree. Not being able to search my massive library of music until Mid-June (if they stay on this timeline) is somewhat absurd.

I’m not sure if this is an issue in the Android world, but it would be nice if Apple’s ecosystem allowed users like us to downgrade iOS apps.

NOT an issue on Android, I've uinstalled the new update and reinstalled the previous version of the app on all my android devices.

M

moe_2020

Contributor I

Sonos have advised the following will be reinstated:

May 21

Screen reader for visually impaired customers

Adding and editing alarms

Early June

Adding to queue and playing next

Mid-June

Local music library search and playback

Update Wi-Fi settings

It's a start even if it doesn't cover everything. I'll give it until the end of June otherwise I'll be going to a competitor. I've put up with the buggy apps and problematic updates for years but this could be the final straw.

It is a start, I agree. Not being able to search my massive library of music until Mid-June (if they stay on this timeline) is somewhat absurd.

I’m not sure if this is an issue in the Android world, but it would be nice if Apple’s ecosystem allowed users like us to downgrade iOS apps.

NOT SURE IF THIS HELPS YOU.

"Can I revert to a previous version of an app iOS?

To do this, go to the My Apps section in iTunes; you will find all the purchased and synced applications. Choose the app to downgrade and select the version number from Get INFO"

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