The majority of reviews for the update are NEGATIVE.

While you are allowed your opinion, Sonos should have a better understanding about the statistical significance of negative to positive reviews for this release versus prior updates. Even after correcting for potential negative bias, the difference is likely too great to ignore.

If you are unable to provide data around previous Sonos releases, please avoid posting here, as my question is for Sonos. Thanks.

The majority of the views were negative for the 5.0 version when it was released, the version you all love now and desperately wants back. I can show you posts and threads identical to these, with the same screenshots and the same complaints, in the weeks following the 5.0 release. People hate change. Give it time.

I also hate hate the new update. I too have a house full of Sonos products, and have been very pleased with them for years.

Can't even conceive of how this got approved. Just a mess. Embarrassing, I no longer want to show off my system!

My post refers specifically to reviews on the Google Play Store, because there is data to back up my statement. If you have a similar histogram of reviews from past releases, feel free to post it here.

There is no point in continuing to belabor this. Sonos seems to have agreed to fix many flaws we have pointed out. The question is how soon can we expect these fixes?

I could give you a 45 page thread full of them, as well as another thread titled almost exactly like this one about terrible app reviews of the 5.0 release. But will it really do any good?

I agree with many of the comments. The upgrade is terrible. The app is updating all the time and it doesn't keep the settings for the individual rooms. It takes several menu actions to change the music. When a room is selected, there is no option to change the setting without going back. The menu on the bottom of the new application should never disappear when you select the room. Did you assign product manager that doesn't use the product? My whole family agrees this update is terrible. Over the last 3 years I would recommend Sonos to everyone. We have eight devices in seven rooms. When people visit our house, we demonstrate how great the experience can be. Unfortunately, the demo is no longer simple or intuitive. It has turned into a tough sell. Not at all simple. So unfortunate. Most people judge a products by the app store ratings, the scores are tanking. ROLL IT BACK!!! Your reputation is on the line. Pull together your most frequent users. You have the data. We don't want to see you stumble. We all have a lot invested in your product.

Very relieved to see that there is so much disquiet here about the update. Couple of weeks in and it still feels confusing and disorienting. That much already says it all. A well thought out interface feels natural, let alone after two weeks of use! Doesn't seem worth spelling out my views on what's wrong with it and how unsatisfactory that is when it's all been said. Just want to say 'here too'. Whilst we can't ditch it all because if the amount invested, I've started looking forward to the day that we can enjoy something better. Sad indeed.

Ok, I was wrong. And I am now quite used to the new app and have no issues with it of any kind. I hope - and I am sure that Sonos listens to all here - that for a long time to come only subtle tweaks and evolutionary changes are made to this version. No roll backs.

The majority of the views were negative for the 5.0 version when it was released, the version you all love now and desperately wants back. I can show you posts and threads identical to these, with the same screenshots and the same complaints, in the weeks following the 5.0 release. People hate change. Give it time.

Not true for me, i love changes and surprises, but if they are intelligent... logic...
The new update is really problematic, poor (white! Absurd!) and the functions are “hidden”.

Sonos please update with an intelligent controller like before (and give back the colored app-icon please)...

No, it is true. And I never said one is better or worse than the other. I don't give much credence to the "science" of UI design, it is more trends and fashion than any real science. As to usability and intuitiveness, people rioted over the usability and intuitiveness of the WordPerfect UI after they changed to WYSIWYG. Is anyone going to tell me that a blue screen, DOS character based, control/shift/alt/arrow key combination based wordprocessor is better than a graphic based, mouse driven, WYSIWYG interface? Of course not, but people did, because that is what they were used to.

Look, Sonos will tweak it, your muscle memory will adapt, and we will all be back here in three years arguing the same things, except by then 8.0 will be perfect and 11.0 will be horrible.

No, it is true. And I never said one is better or worse than the other. I don't give much credence to the "science" of UI design, it is more trends and fashion than any real science.
Good thing others do or we'd stil have jetfighers crash because someone had the bright idea of switching the emergency eject handle with the throttle. Sound familiar?

Still doesn't explain why you have such an issue with people that do care about user friendly design.

As to usability and intuitiveness, people rioted over the usability and intuitiveness of the WordPerfect UI after they changed to WYSIWYG. Is anyone going to tell me that a blue screen, DOS character based, control/shift/alt/arrow key combination based wordprocessor is better than a graphic based, mouse driven, WYSIWYG interface? Of course not, but people did, because that is what they were used to..
Great example, because there was a clear case to be made for WYSIWYG. Something that's completely absent with the new controller.

Look, Sonos will tweak it, your muscle memory will adapt, and we will all be back here in three years arguing the same things, except by then 8.0 will be perfect and 11.0 will be horrible.

That's the problem right there. They forced people to upgrade to an unpolished new design, for no apparent reason. And now we have to bare with them while they try to get it right.

You really expect usto trust people that not only didn't get it right but, despite the negative feedback, decided to turn our speakers into expensive bricks until we got with the program?

I suggest to you that the swapping of the controls on the fighter jets was a perfect example of the lack of science in UI design, i.e. the trends and fashion emphasis I spoke of. Luckily, changes based on fashion or trends in audio system apps don't result in lost lives and multi-million dollar craters in the ground.

At the time of the WordPerfect release, every one of the complainers could not recognize the obvious benefits of WYSIWYG because they were blinded by their familiarity and muscle memory allegiance to the old blue screen of perfection. They utterly refused to believe there could be any improvements, improvements which in hindsight, became stupidly obvious. If familiarity and muscle memory are so powerful as to blind a large portion of a user base to obvious benefits like WYSIWYG, imagine how effective they can be to mask subtle improvements, or just a different style or look with the same functionality? Kind of like how 5.0 was originally horrible until people got used to it, so that now it is intuitive, beautiful and easy to use.

See you all in 3 years.

PS - Sonos never forces upgrades, though if you enable automatic updates on your devices, they will do just that, update automatically. Also, upgrade one device and you will have limited Settings menus until you update your hardware in kind. Ditto for those who update hardware but not controllers.