Here's the deal, invest in your software development because it blows

It’s odd, I’ve been using Sonos since the late 2000s, and don’t have any issues across 20 plus devices. Is there a possibility that there is something wrong in your system? Perhaps a network issue, an older BRIDGE, or even some sort of hardware failure in your devices?

Have you tried to call Sonos Support directly to discuss it, or is your only attempt to resolve the issues you are experiencing this post?

As explained before even if the software is fine, things can still go wrong because of external influences. It's very easy to complain about the software, but in my experience other things are usually more to blame (like wifi interference).

I’ve had Sonos for years. I’ve spent hours on the phone with tech support. The issues are never resolved. Most of the time when I want to play my own music from the computer that the controller is on it says that it can’t find the folder. I’ve never had a music app that couldn’t find the music on the same computer that the app is on. I constantly get errors when I try to add music to the que. The Android app is very slow to load, and it often doesn’t load correctly so it doesn’t show me my play lists. Even when it does load it’s impossible to get it to play one of those playlists because of errors. If by some miracle I get my music to play, one of the speakers will keep dropping in and out. I have to press pause and play a few times on that speaker to get it to play continuously. Many times I’ve had it start playing one song, and then skip to the next one before that song finishes. These are not network issues. They are software issues. I’ve been doing quality assurance testing for the last 13 years in new product design and development. I would be ashamed to let any of our products go out the door with even one issue that is this severe. The Android play store review section is full of users having the same issues, so I know it’s not just me. I do not recommend Sonos to anyone. In fact, when the topic comes up I actively recommend that they buy something else. The speakers are great, but the constant unresolved issues make them almost unusable. I would expect better from a cheap system. With the price of Sonos speakers this is completely unacceptable.

When in troubleshooting mode, once you’ve decided that the issue must be [ … ] or cannot be [ … ], you are likely to be blindsided. Play the percentages. Don’t chase the 0.5% possibilities before checking the 99% probability.

SONOS requires more robust network support than many home devices. We’ve helped hundreds of people with “perfect” networks resolve issues by suggesting some network reconfigurations. Note that there are a few routers and access points will not support a SONOS system. 

A fly bashing into a window comes to mind…..

With SONOS everything involves the network. The controllers don’t  play anything. You can think of the controllers as complex remote controls. All commands and music play are done through the players. SONOS Playlists, the music library index, music service registrations, and the Queue are maintained in the players. A copy of this data is stored in each player, a controller does not store anything critical. The controllers must access this data over the network. A controller will “Associate” with a player and fetch its data through this player. The Associated player is not necessarily playing any music. Once music play is started, you could uninstall the controllers and the music will continue. In the case of music stored on a computer, a controller will initiate play through a player and the player will fetch data directly from the computer. Obviously, in this case the computer must stay awake while SONOS needs the music data, but the controller could be shut down.

If you pair players, the left player will become the pair’s “Coordinator”. All traffic for the pair is initiated by the Coordinator. If Rooms are Grouped, the first player in the Group is the Group’s Coordinator. All Group traffic passes through the Group Coordinator.

As you can see a simple request to play a track in a Group of Rooms generates a blizzard of local network traffic. This is very different from displaying a web page or fetching and sending email. 

Ok. Then why has Sonos tech support repeatedly failed to fix it? And why does streaming work pretty reliably, but playing music from my computer does not?

Also - power them all down first; then restart in the order @jgatie suggests. Make sure wifi is fully running before restarting any Sonos devices. 

@Airgetlam is absolutely correct. The most successful tech company on the planet (at least by revenue) has Support Advisors literally plucked off the street. OK...not literally, but the qualifications only require a high school diploma.

Ironically, the people who call in for assistance think they’re talking to a tech guru when in actuality the person on the other end is following a script/scenario based upon “if this...then that”. Some are more adept than others.

IMO the people who participate in this community (on a regular basis) have more expert knowledge than the majority of so-called “tech support” personnel. The only compensation given is a “Like” or “Best Answer” accolade.

So count your Apples and be thankful for the free assistance given in this community. 🤣

How is your computer connected to your network?

In what format are your local music files?

What is your network setup?  Any extenders / access points?  Any wired Sonos device(s)?

S1 or S2?

By the way, thank you for providing evidence that the Sonos software is robust.  99.9% of what it does is identical whether streaming from the internet or from a local drive, and you say it is solid for the former.  The difference lies in how the music data gets from the source to the router.  Streaming from the Internet does not use your network for that. Playing from a local drive does. Go figure.

I don’t think of software as an afterthought, but Sonos sells hardware, software is pretty much a necessary evil.  Sort of like how no company makes any money by having a good accounting department, but you still need it.  Sonos can’t spend a ton of money and effort chasing down the relative few odd cases where the system isn’t working correctly and rather specific home environment.  They have to focus on the system working for the vast majority of cases.  Especially since those rather specific cases tend to take the most amount of effort to resolve, if they can be resolved.

You’re thinking the Sonos system isn’t working well and easy to use for the employees?  What gave you that impression?  I would bet all, but a few exceptions, have good home networks where the system works well.  The ones that do not do to network interference from neighbors or what have you, have hard wired the system or something else.

Absolutely. I’m not trying to be an internet troll. But if anyone actually used this at home and had a non-engineer try to… say change the volume… they’d just put it on the lock screen. Yes, I’ve read their site and airplay mumble mumble mumble. It could work like every music or podcast or metronome or other app and just put the info where you can easily see it. But just find the app… no the Sonos app… yeah… then watch the spinner… wait for it… Change the volume… no on the screen not the volume buttons... yup it takes a few seconds… no don’t turn it off…

Again, “app volume control” is a bullet point they can claim. But try having a non techie use it and it’s clear they’ve not really put much thought into this.

Sorry, but you’re assumption that the system works poorly for employees and their households is just silly.  Your assumption that everyone, or nearly everyone, or even close to a majority, experiences the sort of issues you see and yet Sonos continues to sell speakers to new and repeat customers...doesn’t make a sense. 

I’ve heard of people having issues with airplay and seen it myself a bit. completely unrelated to Sonos, but yet millions still use it, so logically, it has to be more reliable than what my personal experience is.