SONOS are you reading this? Please put the controller queue function back how it was!

  • 12 September 2016
  • 353 replies
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I've downloaded version 6.4 of the app. What a mistake. To anyone who is about to do it, DON'T DO IT IF YOU LIKE YOUR QUEUE.

Sonos please put it back how it was. This new app is so awful I am considering selling my entire Sonos rig (6 pieces!) and walking away from you, after what was until this week, many happy years.

Touching on a track because I want to play it, or add it to the queue (the queue that I DID WANT), does not mean I want to delete the whole queue and replace it with the entire album (which I DON'T WANT) which the newly added track comes from.

If I wanted to delete my queue, I would delete it. If I wanted to add the whole album, I would add it using the play all function.

You've just taken something intuitive and user friendly which worked so well and turned it into a worse than hateful mess.

PLEASE UNDO THIS AWFUL, HORRIBLE CHANGE.

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353 replies

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Ryan S:

Do you even comprehend why long time users are upset with a FUNDAMENTAL change in the operation of Sonos? I have been a Sonos user since 2007. Some updates have been frustrating, but this one is downright infuriating. I hove not been around the forums since you castrated the old Sonos forum, but for years on the old forum we would tout the superiority of the Sonos queue over other systems. Now, after many years of loyalty and promotion of Sonos you go ahead and make a change that goes against everything we have been promoting for you.

The worst thing is that I did not have a choice in this update. I just brought a Sonos unit out of storage and was forced to update the app before I could update the player.

Please add the ability to disable the touch to play feature.
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I just discovered that my non-updated iPad app still works with the system. I only was forced to update on my iPhone when I added the old component.

I wonder how long before I am forced to update the app? No way I am updating otherwise...
Ryan S:
The worst thing is that I did not have a choice in this update. I just brought a Sonos unit out of storage and was forced to update the app before I could update the player.


A good example of why the "if you don't like it just don't upgrade" argument is not practical.
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If you're on Twitter... it's #SONOS #6.4, tweet your disdain. They *are* listening; give them an ear full.
I wonder if the change was necessary in order to accommodate the upcoming Spotify Connect and third party apps? Maybe the streaming providers demanded the change so that their apps wouldn't need to be changed. There has to be a reason we aren't aware of.
I wonder if the change was necessary in order to accommodate the upcoming Spotify Connect and third party apps? Maybe the streaming providers demanded the change so that their apps wouldn't need to be changed. There has to be a reason we aren't aware of.

Maybe not necessary, but I can see them pushing for a similar look and feel. It still does nothing to separate the single user with headphones vs. multi-room communal sharing experience of Sonos.
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If that is the case, IMHO, it would have been better to create separate apps for that functionality rather than blowing the rest of us to kingdom come.
Well it is no secret that the queue has been a thorn in the side of a very vocal, if not very large contingent of Sonos users. It started with diehard iTunes users, who were used to the "select a song and play from here" function of the first iPod, and continuing with the apps that mimicked the iPod interface because it was ubiquitous, as much as it was limited. I personally felt liberated when I first used a Sonos queue. Still having an iPod for use in the car, I would curse at the dashboard because I couldn't insert a song I wanted to hear into a playlist without deleting the current playlist and playing the rest of the album that song was on. I've said it before, going to the Sonos queue after using an iPod was like driving with my feet on the steering wheel for years and then learning you could steer with your hands. This update defaults to my feet on the steering wheel again, and I hate it.
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It is rather like they traded a flexible and fairly powerful database system for an iPod. It's clear that someone (or several, as it might be) didn't appreciate what they had and trashed it for the simpletons who also could not appreciate it.
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be aware that sonos havent trashed anything (aside from the strange insert at track 2). The functions that existed before still exist.

However, it is the way this changed is forced on all users I take issue with.

Its clear there is one camp who are happy with the new changes as enables them to more easily play albums and playlists in their entirety and not even be aware of the queue. The other prefer to work with a more 'sticky' queue that can be easily manipulated and added to as in 6.3 and everything before it.
Moving the 'album and playlist' play functions centre stage comes at the expense of the previous 'jukebox' style queueing options being buried deeper.

This is really a case for a configuration option to have the new way or the old and, since this entirely controller based, I can see no reason why it cant be done.
Userlevel 5
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This one is listening out loud and I like the changes. Much more useful.
I liked the old way too. All things change and the clanky and annoying quirks of the queue I just lived with, learned how to use them and then realised that way was rather a good way to do things.
As you have no experience of the new way why is it terrible/bad.

RTFM works very well.
This reminds me of a situation a few months back where Amazon made a change to Alexa where she would respond to a command with a ping sound instead of the "OK" voice response used previously. The reaction to that change was similar to this with a huge uproar from the user community. After a few weeks Amazon acknowledged the change was a bad decision and pushed out an update to restore the previous functionality.

Sonos by contrast has been in this situation before and in one case, the mute button change, acknowledged that they had screwed some things up for people with very large systems and promised a future fix to mitigate the problems they had caused. Years later those promised fixes have never been implemented.

I don't have any particular point to make other than an observation that each company has a very different culture and approach to dealing with development missteps and that might be an indicator of how likely it is that Sonos will do anything in response to the complaints around 6.4.
On the other hand, there was a huge uproar after 5.0, and Sonos did listen, promised changes, and followed through to the point where 90% of the former naysayers were at least content, if not happy. I'm hoping for this type of reaction. Either way, both the changes and the effort needed to put them in and/or take them out are a multitude more impactful than Amazon changing the "Ok" to "Ping" and back.
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I've been a Sonos user since 2008 and I absolutely love the update. I have 2 main listening habits, shuffling playlists or listening to albums in full from beginning to end (not shuffled). This new update makes it so much easier to just play what I want in the mode that I want, without needing to go into the queue to turn shuffle on or off. I hated the way replace queue with an album would start playing the album in shuffle mode if I had previously been listening to a playlist in shuffle mode. I really don't understand the negativity as it's still possible to do everything that was possible before but with the added benefits. I built a queue of tracks and albums last night and it was just as easy as before, just a little different. I also don't understand the negative comments about queue protection. Once you have started building a queue of tracks you get a warning if you use the play from here function.

I am obviosuly used to the queue as I've had Sonos since 2008, but I actually find it a hindrance in some scenarios. For example, I just want to shuffle my 8000 track playlist of all Apple Music tracks I have added to my libary. To do this, I have to wait about 4 minutes for the entire playlist to be loaded into the queue before the music starts playing. What we really need is an instant mix feature like in the Google Play app, where music is dynamically added to the play queue (from the chosen playlist) as playback gets close to the end of the currently loaded tracks. This feature works really well in the Google Play app.

No way would I want Sonos to revert back to the old way!!!
Userlevel 5
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I've been a Sonos user since 2008 and I absolutely love the update. I have 2 main listening habits, shuffling playlists or listening to albums in full from beginning to end (not shuffled). This new update makes it so much easier to just play what I want in the mode that I want, without needing to go into the queue to turn shuffle on or off. I hated the way replace queue with an album would start playing the album in shuffle mode if I had previously been listening to a playlist in shuffle mode. I really don't understand the negativity as it's still possible to do everything that was possible before but with the added benefits. I built a queue of tracks and albums last night and it was just as easy as before, just a little different. I also don't understand the negative comments about queue protection. Once you have started building a queue of tracks you get a warning if you use the play from here function.

I am obviosuly used to the queue as I've had Sonos since 2008, but I actually find it a hindrance in some scenarios. For example, I just want to shuffle my 8000 track playlist of all Apple Music tracks I have added to my libary. To do this, I have to wait about 4 minutes for the entire playlist to be loaded into the queue before the music starts playing. What we really need is an instant mix feature like in the Google Play app, where music is dynamically added to the play queue (from the chosen playlist) as playback gets close to the end of the currently loaded tracks. This feature works really well in the Google Play app.

No way would I want Sonos to revert back to the old way!!!


The ease of shuffling and playing options included here is not really the issue. Maybe people think the naysayers as saying thrash the entire update. Not at all! The fundamental queue management change of erasing queue is certain circumstances with one tap is the real problem here. I maintain that that is totally unnecessary. One tap just not produce these outcomes as the default.
Userlevel 1
Oh sweet mother of jesus, I thought this was a glitch that would be fixed with a consequent update. You are telling me Sonos did this ON PURPOSE???

What the actual?

So now, when my daughter puts one of her songs on, my entire queue is replaced with that album????? She is 6. We do not share music tastes.

And I spend a while curating my queues.

This is awful!! And frankly enough for me to sell my players and switch to another system if it's not fixed!

Especially if you have a queue set up for a party, then someone puts their one track they want to hear on and replaces your ENTIRE QUEUE with that album!! People who don't know sonos will do this everytime. It is so counterintuitive. This exact scenario happened to me last night.

God, this is frustrating SONOS. Please fix it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Userlevel 5
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Save your queue. Problem solved.
Show your daughter how to play one song. Problem solved. (Just as you showed her before)
Saved queue. Load it again. Problem solved.
Tell/show people how to add a track. Problem solved. (Just as you told them how to before)
I never showed people how to use Sonos. Ever. I handed them a controller and let them go. Little kids to my 80 year old mom. All got it intuitively, all added a song for a party, and not one of them erased a queue. It did exactly what they expected, they picked a song to be played after the songs picked before yours are played. If you go from an intuitive interface to one you have to explain in order to not do something irreversible and unrecoverable, your UI needs work.

And stop with the save the queue thing. Are you saying not only do I have to hold a pre-party class to teach every guest to do what used to be intuitive, I now have to have them save their work after adding their track in case someone else fails the pop quiz?
I never showed people how to use Sonos......
..... Are you saying not only do I have to hold a pre-party class to teach every guest to do what used to be intuitive, I now have to have them save their work after adding their track in case someone else fails the pop quiz?


QFT. They need to bring back an option to lock the queue.
RTFM works very well.
And which "FM" are you talking about?

I pressed Help on the DCR ... nothing there that I can find about these non-intuitive changes to past behaviours
I followed the Help links from my android tablet ... can't find anything there either

I went to their support site: http://www.sonos.com/en-us/support/using-the-app
Nothing there either.

It seems as if you have a better handle on this than I do ... have you a link?
Userlevel 7
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I disagree with every single solution BoredofBedlam gave as "problem solved". Jgatie is correct I have never had to teach anyone how to use my Sonos. Saving the queue doesn't keep myself or my guest from stopping what is currently playing. It is not feasible either to be saving the queue all night long as friends and guests add dozens of songs to the queue.

BoredofBedlam - you obviously use your Sonos in a much different manner. That doesn't mean that changes should be made to the controller that don't allow users who use it in a multiuser, multiroom environment should not have protections to keep the music going.

If you were at a bar and the touchtunes jukebox at the bar allowed anyone to walk up and tap on a song and all of a sudden interrupt what everyone was listening to how would you like it. Even if there was a big honking sign on top the touchtunes saying "don't click on a song" people would click on songs all the time.
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Maybe BOB is OTL. I don't see any docs and don't expect any. It's every (pick your acronym) for themselves.
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I am trying to recall all of the options that the participants have offered. I might miss one here or there, but I have noted this many:

1. Allow users to roll back the revision

2. Provide a switch for the UI to handle parallel functionality

3. Create separate apps

4. Disable queue clearing from the top level of the apps

5. Obliterate 6.4 and send it to Hades

Add any I missed. As it stands, I'd vote for #2...
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...and my bigger issue is not the click on song in album replacing queue (for the most party of you have edited queue it gives you dumb warning box). My bigger issue is when searching for tracks or in folders if you click on a track it interrupts current song playing with a play now command. If you go back for years people have been asking for a party mode that disables play now from the menu. Now not only do we still have no party mode to disable play now .... it has been absurdly made the default action when clicking on a searched song. Not sure why searching for a song means by default I want to hear it right now. That is totally against the previous use of Sonos in building playlists.
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2 but Sonos never allows user customizable switches. Maybe a queue lock on queue screen could get traction. But a switch in settings menu I am certain will never happen as they have never allowed customization like this as a philosophy. Of course they have already abandoned some prime philosophies with this update so....