Hate this new app 8.0

  • 6 October 2017
  • 90 replies
  • 4592 views

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Just trying this new app on both android tablet and iPad. Still boring but now more difficult to use. Not intuitive or user friendly.
I didn't like the app before now I hate it more. SONOS you need to get better app designers. This app is the only thing that would put me off recommending sonos to all friends and family. HORRIBLE,HORRIBLE HORRIBLE. BORING colours, BORING design, BORING LAYOUT.

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90 replies

Ultimately this is in keeping with Sonos moving to make its app resemble and, to an extent, behave like the popular streaming services out there. It started with the queue management changes...I have a hard time following the logic here. I use Amazon unlimited in conjunction with the Alexa app and everything is "Echo queue management" and "playlists" tied to "My Music". It seems like you would have to go back at least 3 software revisions in Sonos to get to where it looked like the streaming service I use so I don't see how the UI changes can be said to be needed to better resemble the way streaming services look.
Ultimately this is in keeping with Sonos moving to make its app resemble and, to an extent, behave like the popular streaming services out there. It started with the queue management changes...I have a hard time following the logic here. I use Amazon unlimited in conjunction with the Alexa app and everything is "Echo queue management" and "playlists" tied to "My Music". It seems like you would have to go back at least 3 software revisions in Sonos to get to where it looked like the streaming service I use so I don't see how the UI changes can be said to be needed to better resemble the way streaming services look.

Good grief you love to snip context. You quote the opening premise of his post, conveniently snip the part where he cites the specific "popular streaming services out there" like Apple and Deezer which support his premise, then list a single music service that seems not to support his premise and, again conveniently, seems to resemble your beloved 4.0 Sonos app?

Well, color me surprised. But again, he said nothing about Amazon's app, he specifically mentioned Apple and Deezer.
Ultimately this is in keeping with Sonos moving to make its app resemble and, to an extent, behave like the popular streaming services out there. It started with the queue management changes...I have a hard time following the logic here. I use Amazon unlimited in conjunction with the Alexa app and everything is "Echo queue management" and "playlists" tied to "My Music". It seems like you would have to go back at least 3 software revisions in Sonos to get to where it looked like the streaming service I use so I don't see how the UI changes can be said to be needed to better resemble the way streaming services look.

Good grief you love to snip context. You quote the opening premise of his post, conveniently snip the part where he cites the specific "popular streaming services out there" like Apple and Deezer which support his premise, then list a single music service that seems not to support his premise and, again conveniently, seems to resemble your beloved 4.0 Sonos app?

Well, color me surprised. But again, he said nothing about Amazon's app, he specifically mentioned Apple and Deezer.


Yes I snip long quotes to make it clear what part of the quote I am responding to. I took Apple and Deezer to be examples of "popular streaming services" and pointed out that this did not match my experience with the "popular streaming service" that I use. Why would Sonos seek to emulate Deezer and the both loved and hated Apple Music services but not other popular services like Amazon? Serious question since I don't use those other services and don't know anything about them.
No, you didn't do anything of the sort. You stated "I have a hard time following the logic here" after snipping the actual logical explanation of his initial premise, i.e. that the new interface was like the popular services offered by Apple and Deezer. You didn't say your experience was different from his or that your service may be different from Apple or Deezer (which you admittedly have no idea of), you simply invalidated his logic and swapped in yours, without having to debate his actual logic because you snipped it. It's something you do often, and it's as transparent as cellophane.
The logic I don't follow is not the explanation of how the Sonos design aligns with Apple and Deezer but rather how this is a justification for the changes Sonos is making since not everyone uses those services and other popular services like Amazon clearly do not work like that. An additional paragraph of exactly how Apple design aligns to the new Sonos UI does nothing to address that point but if you think it is clearer to include the entire quote and let folks parse out the bits relevant to my comment then I can certainly start doing that.

I would also note I was not invalidating anybody's logic or observations. I just questioned if this was a valid basis for Sonos to be making the design decisions they are making. In other words it is Sonos' logic that I am have a hard time understanding.
Yeah, I think when you set out to invalidate someone's premise, you should probably start with . . . uhhh . . . actually debating the points he uses to support his premise, instead of merely invalidating his premise and then conveniently removing anything supporting it from the conversation. Especially when you admittedly have no knowledge to invalidate his supporting points. I'd call that Debate 101.
Yeah, I think when you set out to invalidate someone's premise, you should probably start with . . . uhhh . . . actually debating the points he uses to support his premise, instead of merely invalidating his premise and then conveniently removing anything supporting it from the conversation. Especially when you admittedly have no knowledge to invalidate his supporting points. I'd call that Debate 101.

Except I wasn't debating or challenging or invalidating anything in the post. I was pointing out that my experience was different and therefore their design is not universal and therefore I do not understand how Sonos can use this as justification for their new UI design. And I still don't understand that logic but that is to Sonos, not to Burt.
It certainly seemed like you were invalidating Burt's premise, but you've explained it now. It just seems you have a long running habit of snipping parts of people's posts that do not fit your worldview, you have no answer for, or that disprove your facts, instead of actually answering them.

Burt wasn't stating that Sonos is designing the interface to match some generic ideal, he said they were looking to make it more like other popular streamers like Apple and Deezer. Your reply seemed to be "No they aren't, cause it's nothing like Amazon." Perhaps initially including the analysis that you came up with only after being called on your post snipping would have avoided this.
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Guys did not mean to start a fight :D

I any event I am not necessarily supporting Sonos choice to move the app in this direction but more making the point that it has sought to make it more akin to........... Maybe I should say........ SOME streaming services. I specifically mentioned Apple and Deezer because I use those and can compare what Sonos has done to them. The whole compartmentalized finish with the menu at the bottom is very typical of a few services.
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SONOS you have done it again !

Every time you update the design of the controller for the IPAD it gets worse and worse, its more confusing than ever now, it's more fragmented with umpteen screens and drop downs to flow through just to do very basic tasks.

The new "My Sonos" tab is badly thought through - now we have to use My Sonos and Browse in some quirky combination to see and control my music sources and playlists - Why ????

I want to be able to browse every music source so why aren't Sonos Playlists visible under Browse ? and why isn't my Music Library and all its options plus all My Radio Stations available in its entirety under "My SONOS" without having to add individual items such as "Artists" ???
Being able to browse all of my music library is such an obvious thing that one would want to do under "My Sonos" I cant understand why its missing or seemingly only available under browse.



Anyway here is a positive suggestion for your app "designers"

Take a look at the PC version - it is simple and logical to follow and its all in one screen - although you could argue that Music Sources should be on the left hand side 🙂 , followed by "ROOMS" (ie where do you want to play it) , followed by whats in the queue or playing - perhaps that would be an even more logical flow..


Could your next update offer an option to allow people to revert to the PC controller design template on the IPAD ? (ie the old one that we used to have on the IPAD) it was so easy to follow and to find what you wanted to play.

You really must learn not to change things just for the sake of it - you had a reasonable design in the first place (functional not flashy) and then you let it drift away to the fragmented nonsense that you have today. - it might be better for a phone but its a very poor implementation on a tablet.

And for Your marketing team to listen to here is a very real example of how damaging this is......

With that older "PC" interface I used to be able to just hand my IPAD over to guests and let them find and control the music without any instruction from me - they were impressed as to just how easy it was to use.
Now I have to spend ages having to explain its operation to them and most just give up and hand it back. Several have gone on to say they "wouldn't buy one as it was too complicated / confusing!" That should start send nervous twitches down your product development management and marketing / sales teams shouldn't it ?
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With that older "PC" interface I used to be able to just hand my IPAD over to guests and let them find and control the music without any instruction from me - they were impressed as to just how easy it was to use.
Now I have to spend ages having to explain its operation to them and most just give up and hand it back. Several have gone on to say they "wouldn't buy one as it was too complicated / confusing!" That should start send nervous twitches down your product development management and marketing / sales teams shouldn't it ?


indeed those were the good old days where instruction was not needed and even the least tech savvy people could get their head around it. Now, as well as the dogs dinner of an interface, you have the continuing worry of someone adding content to the queue and destroying everyone else's' efforts ("I dont understand this - do I cut the green wire or the red wire? Ive had too much wine"....BOOM)
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Bt the way PS Sonos I still cannot believe that you guys have not fixed that ridiculous situation where a listener has finished listening to the queue and resumes later via the"Play Now" option and it adds the track after the first track instead of at the end....now that is unintuitive and illogical. But Sonos insists on not fixing. That is quite poor.

I jokingly call this the "play album followed by tracks 2-end of yesterday's listening session" button. It is insane that Sonos a. shipped this, b. made it a default action, and c. have spent 15 months not fixing it. Especially as half of the various "play now/next" at least do a "clear old queue and play new stuff". Intuitive?

So the question (and I'll admit I don't really use alternatives like iTunes or Spotify desktop as music players): if Sonos are copying other players/services, how do they handle the interaction between the "play" button and the queue? Do users really want new stuff inserted into old queue as a default?
iTunes doesn't use a queue per se. It most definitely plays an entire album, playlist, artist, etc. from the point you choose until the end of the album, playlist, artist catalog, etc. But without a queue, the iTunes function really is more playing from this point on and also replacing the queue, which is exactly what Sonos is trying to emulate. Because of this, the main complaint from many of us when the new queue functionality came out was we hated them making it like iTunes.
Userlevel 1
FWIW, I think the new iOS apps are good once one spends a few moments
......
There was a similar furore when Strava changed its iOS app from dark to light. Lots of angry jumping up and down before everyone just got used to it. I guess Sonos could probably implement a night (dark) mode without too much effort if there really is a persistent widespread objection, but I'd leave it a few weeks to see if folks get used to it.


No it's just bad UX/UI.
The fact that it needs "a few weeks" getting used to defy the hallmark goal of good design - intuitiveness.

I'm a flexible tech savvy user and this app keeps annoying and confuse me since the launch.

I'm not a designer so no suggestion other than get some outsourced UI expert firm to help and (as important if not more) get feedback from focus groups, user surveys, etc.

For instance - Much too many times clicking the 'back' button on Android exits the app instead of going to the previous screen... God if wanted to exist the app I would f**** close it alright? Back button is convenient and intuitive for a library app... Why make it close the app?

And many more (like I feel common stuff are way too buried away and uncommon items just always in your face.. but that might be just me. Although my music and audio enthusiasts friends agree).

All very fixable, much less complicated than making something like the 2x Play:5 + Sub sound so darn good 😉
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I agree that the new app has some major design problems. Need more clics to play songs, search, change rooms, and also need to move around the screen more extensively to finish selection and play. Much less user friendly 😞
What idiots do Sonos employ to write their software?....what a completely dysfunctional and unintuitive interface - it makes Spotify look almost acceptable!! Come on sonos....employ some decent software engineers who are older than 11 and who live and operate in the real world and get this hideously obstructive interface sorted. Your going to lose custom.
Thank you for that high standard of insightful analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the new controller. It is what I have come to expect .
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What idiots do Sonos employ to write their software?....what a completely dysfunctional and unintuitive interface - it makes Spotify look almost acceptable!! Come on sonos....employ some decent software engineers who are older than 11 and who live and operate in the real world and get this hideously obstructive interface sorted. Your going to lose custom.

Yes, Sonos have real problems with their software, but... I suspect it's not the developers' fault. I build software for a living, so I'm well aware of
1. The compromises that go into development, and the prioritisation of new features over fixing bugs or getting the core user experience right
2. The need to get your software in front of real users for feedback as early as possible (seriously, watching real users let loose on your software and using it in ways you never expected is a sight) - if only the comments on this forum led to changes...
3. Developing to deadlines - at least where live production software is concerned, Sonos don't employ an agile "continuous delivery" approach of constantly shipping minor changes, but an infrequent "big bang" quarterly (with minor patches) schedule
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The new design does not work for me.... I really hate it. I've got 9 zones and been loyal since 2004. This app is so horrible I feel betrayed.

Fix this and play around on the Windows interface, that UI sucks anyway.
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FWIW, I think the new iOS apps are good once one spends a few moments
......
There was a similar furore when Strava changed its iOS app from dark to light. Lots of angry jumping up and down before everyone just got used to it. I guess Sonos could probably implement a night (dark) mode without too much effort if there really is a persistent widespread objection, but I'd leave it a few weeks to see if folks get used to it.


No it's just bad UX/UI.
The fact that it needs "a few weeks" getting used to defy the hallmark goal of good design - intuitiveness.

I'm a flexible tech savvy user and this app keeps annoying and confuse me since the launch.

I'm not a designer so no suggestion other than get some outsourced UI expert firm to help and (as important if not more) get feedback from focus groups, user surveys, etc.

For instance - Much too many times clicking the 'back' button on Android exits the app instead of going to the previous screen... God if wanted to exist the app I would f**** close it alright? Back button is convenient and intuitive for a library app... Why make it close the app?

And many more (like I feel common stuff are way too buried away and uncommon items just always in your face.. but that might be just me. Although my music and audio enthusiasts friends agree).

All very fixable, much less complicated than making something like the 2x Play:5 + Sub sound so darn good ;)


Just a quick correction here: the 'few weeks' I mentioned clearly just referred to the light-mode look, not to the app's functionality. It took me very little time to figure out the new user model and interface changes, and in the most part I think they're beneficial. However, I do use the iOS apps not the Android ones.
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I absolutely cannot stand the new app. It's so awful and unintuitive. Bring back the old interface!

Did anyone actually user test it?? It really doesn't feel like it was tested by actual users with decent sized systems.
I've given this new app a real chance, and still find it unintuitive and cumbersome to use. It was far, far better before. Please revert.
I've given this new app a real chance, and still find it unintuitive and cumbersome to use. It was far, far better before. Please revert.If you will excuse my asking, is your principal (or only) controller device a tablet or a phone?
I think the new UI is an improvement. I like the buttons always available at the bottom, very much like the new dock configuration on iOS 11. Simple, intuitive, fast navigation. One thing I’d suggest is to allow personalization of the background with a photo. I use a picture I took of several hundred Sandhill Cranes gathering at dusk for my iPad’s background. Very soothing.I will agree with you totally when the Sonos bar really is always visible, including on the Now Playing screen.

Just swipe up. Simple.
That is what I do. Simple but should be unnecessary.