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Contributor I
November 14, 2019
Answered

Spotify: Browsing through genres not possible anymore

Dear Sonos team/community,

since one of the more recent Sonos Controller updates, the experience when browsing Spotify through the controller application totally changed.

Since basically the beginning of (Sonos-)time it has been possible to browse the Spotify catalogue for the featured/highlighted playlists which change throughout the day and the thousands of playlists which are available in the different genre sections. E.g. you could go to genres and choose between rock, electronic, mood playlists, rap and many many more.

I used this workflow a lot every day to play exactly the playlists of which genre I want to hear right now.

Now, as mentioned, this experience has entirely changed. As far as I can see in the iOS or Windows controller apps, it’s now only possible to browse though folders with playlists which I either recently listened to or which are recommended by the Spotify algorithm.

Like I said, this breaks a workflow I (and my entire family) was using for quite a few years already. Now I can’t find an option anymore to manually browse the Spotify catalogue as it was possible before.

Can someone maybe issue a statement on whether this is intended behavior which is not going to change anymore or it’s some kind of bug or something?

Thanks in advance for your help!

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    Airgetlam
    AirgetlamAnswer
    December 11, 2019

    This is still a responsibility of Spotify, all Sonos does is display what the Spotify service hands them. I don’t think Spotify maintains an official presence on Sonos’ boards, you may want to send them a note directly. 

    Bruce

    37 replies

    Lyricist I
    November 14, 2019

    Same problem here. Please fix ASAP. 

    November 15, 2019

    This is a game changer and would actually give me cause to unsubscribe from Spotify!  Please fix this!  It is still possible to search by genre through the actual Spotify app, so it seems that this change has come from Sonos.

    Lyricist I
    November 15, 2019

    Inconvenient, but you can try searching for names of genres in playlists. For example, go to search, type “Jazz,” and a list of all the Spotify playlists that include “Jazz” SHOULD show up in the search results. Can’t figure out why they made this change, though. 

    Airgetlam
    November 15, 2019

    Note that the data reflected in the Sonos search field is generated by Spotify. Sonos wrote the code that sends the request (what you typed) to Spotify, and Spotify parses the data, sends back a response, and Sonos displays what they receive from Spotify. 

    You may want to voice your concerns to Spotify directly. 

    Bruce
    Lyricist I
    November 15, 2019

    +1

    dynAdZAuthor
    Contributor I
    November 16, 2019

    Note that the data reflected in the Sonos search field is generated by Spotify. Sonos wrote the code that sends the request (what you typed) to Spotify, and Spotify parses the data, sends back a response, and Sonos displays what they receive from Spotify. 

    You may want to voice your concerns to Spotify directly. 

     

    I don’t think this is completely true. This change appeared with the latest update, indicating Sonos introduced the change. Other than that the redesign is also showcased here: https://en.community.sonos.com/announcements-228985/spotify-free-now-available-on-sonos-with-10-5-1-6832169

    I think Sonos must understand that this is a major drawback in usability. While I understand that playlist curation based on listening habits makes sense, just breaking workflows that have been there for years is cruel. At least give us an option to switch back to the old style, please.

    I’m someone who usually never complains about updates because they most often make complete sense. But the Spotify experience on Sonos has dramatically degraded because of this change. Even the free Amazon (Prime) Music allows browsing through genres. In the end, if there won’t be any changes to this experience, Spotify will have to suffer though I’m using it for over half a decade already. Because mainly I use my music streaming service together with Sonos! And the removal of all possibilities to browse the Spotify catalogue makes me want to search for a streaming service where it is still possible. This shouldn’t be necessary. Is there really no one at Sonos who selects playlist based on genres in Spotify? I can’t believe this.

    Sjoop1985
    November 16, 2019

    The fact that Sonos needs to implement a software update to effect the change does not alter the fact that Spotify decides how the UX Will look and function.

    Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans (John Lennon) --- Living room: Arc, Sub, 2x One - Kitchen: One - Bedroom: Play 3 - Office: Beam - Bathroom: Play 1
    dynAdZAuthor
    Contributor I
    November 16, 2019

    While I agree with this proposition, even in an in-app notification today it was stated, that Sonos introduced this change (I won‘t paste the update here since my app Interface is in German).

    And while it indeed became much more easy to select playlists one recently listened to, like I said, it got virtually impossible to select anything else.

    Lyricist I
    November 17, 2019

    Agree that this has totally changed how I used to use the Sonos controller, and is very disappointing. I would like the functionality returned.

    However, there is a (somewhat laborious) workaround that works on Android and iOS. Doesn't appear to be available on the Windows desktop controller. Through the Sonos controller, select browse, thence Spotify. Top right hand corner has the option to open the Spotify app. Go to search in the Spotify app and all the categories (eg. Genres, decades, moods etc) are there. Select your playlist and play. This will play it on your device. You then need to start it on your Sonos speaker through  'devices available’. If you want to group speakers, you can then do this through the Sonos controller. Alternatively, bypass the Sonos app and control directly from the Spotify app, and select 'devices available’ to listen on your Sonos speaker. 

     

    Not sure how this work around would go if you were trying to play different playlists on different speakers. 

    Again, the change is very disappointing, and I believe it has diminished the usability and appeal of Sonos.

    Contributor I
    November 20, 2019

    Totally agree with the above comments. My family made great use of this feature and now it is much more difficult. It would be great to get it back.