Your feedback on the new Sonos App

I just got the Eff U from Sonos. They've cut us off from using S2 on android. What an unethical company. 

Actually I spoke to soon. I had a wifi outage that seems to have  caused the update now message. With wifi back on S2 is running fine. 

Acardshort wrote:

I just got the Eff U from Sonos. They've cut us off from using S2 on android. What an unethical company. 

 

Oh no this sucks. PSA for others If you have S2 currently and want to keep it, you need to turn off auto updates for the app/appstore and the firmware/system in the app. 

Honestly how this is a new and improved app is beyond me/by the looks of it the whole community. Give us back the old app that worked and keep working on the new one and when you think it’s ready try again. The amount of money we have sitting in speakers round our homes that you can’t even set an alarm on is disappointing! 
 

Not to totally overwhelm the app developers when trying they are trying to put an alarm function on the new app could we maybe ask them for out of home control? 

My entire systems are down in two locations rendering them useless. The new App STINKS and does not connect to existing systems. Kindly join the lawsuit 

Isn’t that what the Web App caters for? I think it provides some out-of-home features.

There had better be a lot of Sonos developers looking for work soon. In all my years in IT and DevOps, I have NEVER seen such a total cluster f*** Most of use have spent thousands of dollars on Sonos hardware. This sorry excuse of a app is an insult at every level and I will be leaving this ecosystem as soon as I can. I need to stop typing, I can feeling myself really starting to escalate here. GRRRRRR!!!

Hey Fuck. ...I LIKE YOUR STYLE

I have been trying to communicate how horrible the new app is and how I am dumbfounded at its premature release, and low and behold, the stock market has done that for me.  $2.00 a share should make them “courageous” enough to roll back until this app is at least finished.

…and yet it’s gone up today by 3.55%. So I would perhaps not read too much into these things:
 

Very well said!

Ken_Griffiths wrote:

…and yet it’s gone up today by 3.55%. So I would perhaps not read too much into these things:
 

 

Yep...don't read to much into stock prices. There's currently a stock listed on the NASDAQ with 4 million in revenue and 60 million in liabilities that the traders have valued at over 6 billion. Some stuff is incomprehensible.

Performance issues with current app and S2 app: 

the current solution relies on the app reaching out to the cloud and the cloud community instructing the boxes to execute the user action. Because the cloud is in the middle the user notices the latency. Today latency was over 2 minutes!!!

local solutions, using node.js don’t suffer latency.  They also reduce network traffic on your cloud.

Would you please explore bypassing the cloud in the new app?

OMG AGAIN SONOS? I am so glad I watched Peter Pee before updating ...I read that trueplay doesn't work, speakers dropping from network, and other issues...All I wanted was individual channel volume control for my surround sound and to be able to set locations of additional speakers.What do you send instead? A bag of useless crap.Wishing Sonos would listen to customers and move more quickly with issues than like the post 14.10 update that killed sub sound that took months to fix.

Ever since I got my Sonos system (8 years ago) I have loved the sound but have been frustrated with the app. I rarely use the streaming services that are included with the Sonos app but I do use them on rare occasions, so I don’t mind them being there. I got my Sonos system primarily so that I could listen to music using my local music library of which I have thousands of songs. In the process of updating the app it seems that Sonos has focused primarily on streaming services (kickbacks?) and have left the other features to wither. And judging by the stock-price I suspect they are not too concerned about the other features as the world has gone to repeatedly paying ransom for the privilege of listening to a copy of music owned by someone else. Unless Sonos re-enables the ability to connect to my local music library (which, as far as I can tell, they say will happen) I’m done with Sonos.

I can’t use my $2000 system. The app does  not recognize my system. Chat is full and 2 hour wait for phone.  Why would you shut donw peoples system with an app?  Me and family posting negative reviews about your products and stock on visited possible. Fix the app now! 

If you are good at network stuff, I found I can make the new app really pissed off by blocking Sonos.com domains. 
 

my ad blocking appliance has this this for me IF I wish to cut off access from my home to sonos.com sites. 
 

Good luck to us all!

Seriously what on earth was so catastrophically broken in the old app that there was a rush to market of this one? It’s not like this HAD to come out until all features were ready. You keep patting yourselves on the back with press releases like you took some big risk doing this, but this isn’t new tech, it’s new UI and UX and even if you overhauled the engine, how did you possibly think replacing a feature set with a “soon to come back of features” set was going to go over with your install base?

In case you missed the announcement….I see we have to wait until MID JUNE for the first tranch of corrections.  🤞

I so miss my NAS database and playlists..

Ken_Griffiths wrote:

…and yet it’s gone up today by 3.55%. So I would perhaps not read too much into these things:
 

 

Maybe Patrick is learning that he can create app-havoc, try to push an update that positions his company better, hear this very small part of the Sonos community rise up, and still get pats on the back from stockholders and the board of directors. 
 

I really think we are just too small a community to warrant a response. Not kidding here. Maybe the whole team knew this was coming…maybe they actually ‘up-staffed’ the help desk ahead of time. And perhaps taking care of this small community is a distraction from the day to day operations of a public company. 
 

Remember that when you think someone is being mean, it’s probably just stupidity. A mistake here I think, but with too much pride to admit a mistake. Who knows. 

 

cpalmer74 wrote:

Ken_Griffiths wrote:

…and yet it’s gone up today by 3.55%. So I would perhaps not read too much into these things:
 

 

Maybe Patrick is learning that he can create app-havoc, try to push an update that positions his company better, hear this very small part of the Sonos community rise up, and still get pats on the back from stockholders and the board of directors. 
 

I really think we are just too small a community to warrant a response. Not kidding here. Maybe the whole team knew this was coming…maybe they actually ‘up-staffed’ the help desk ahead of time. And perhaps taking care of this small community is a distraction from the day to day operations of a public company. 
 

Remember that when you think someone is being mean, it’s probably just stupidity. A mistake here I think, but with too much pride to admit a mistake. Who knows. 
 

 

 

Do you really think it’s a coincidence the release of a not ready for prime time app on 5/7 and the Sonos earnings call was 5/8? 

“There are four things I want to highlight that stem directly from the investments we're making and how we're laser focused on attracting new customers and getting existing customers to add more products. The first is the all new Sonos app. This is our most extensive app redesign and re-architecture yet. Our original app was designed and architected over a decade ago, when Sonos and our customers' needs were very different. We started from the ground up so we can build an app that would deliver our customers a great experience every day, allow us to more easily add new products and categories to it and move faster with new innovations and features going forward. Our new app bring services, content and system controls to one customizable home screen, creating an unprecedented streaming experience.

Best of all, our redesigned app is easier, faster, and better. It once again raises the bar for the home music listening experience and sets up our ability to expand into new categories and experiences. Our app is a proof point of what we have always said. We are the story of software eating audio. Our software truly differentiates our products from everything else on the market and is key to unlocking the opportunity ahead for us. Speaking of which, the second is that we are just weeks away from unveiling our newest product. This launch will give us a foothold into a new multi-billion dollar category, expanding the number of categories we play in from five to six and further diversifying our business. This has been a multi-year investment and we expect it to pay off in spades in Q3 and beyond.”

clovenguth wrote:

cpalmer74 wrote:

Ken_Griffiths wrote:

…and yet it’s gone up today by 3.55%. So I would perhaps not read too much into these things:
 

 

Maybe Patrick is learning that he can create app-havoc, try to push an update that positions his company better, hear this very small part of the Sonos community rise up, and still get pats on the back from stockholders and the board of directors. 
 

I really think we are just too small a community to warrant a response. Not kidding here. Maybe the whole team knew this was coming…maybe they actually ‘up-staffed’ the help desk ahead of time. And perhaps taking care of this small community is a distraction from the day to day operations of a public company. 
 

Remember that when you think someone is being mean, it’s probably just stupidity. A mistake here I think, but with too much pride to admit a mistake. Who knows. 
 

 

 

Do you really think it’s a coincidence the release of a not ready for prime time app and the Sonos earnings call was 5/8? 

“

There are four things I want to highlight that stem directly from the investments we're making and how we're laser focused on attracting new customers and getting existing customers to add more products. The first is the all new Sonos app. This is our most extensive app redesign and re-architecture yet. Our original app was designed and architected over a decade ago, when Sonos and our customers' needs were very different. We started from the ground up so we can build an app that would deliver our customers a great experience every day, allow us to more easily add new products and categories to it and move faster with new innovations and features going forward. Our new app bring services, content and system controls to one customizable home screen, creating an unprecedented streaming experience.

Best of all, our redesigned app is easier, faster, and better. It once again raises the bar for the home music listening experience and sets up our ability to expand into new categories and experiences. Our app is a proof point of what we have always said. We are the story of software eating audio. Our software truly differentiates our products from everything else on the market and is key to unlocking the opportunity ahead for us. Speaking of which, the second is that we are just weeks away from unveiling our newest product. This launch will give us a foothold into a new multi-billion dollar category, expanding the number of categories we play in from five to six and further diversifying our business. This has been a multi-year investment and we expect it to pay off in spades in Q3 and beyond.”

Oh. After reading it again, it’s just sad in retrospect. 
 

Self serving Gobbledy Gook, these words from Spence. Sonos is just a home audio appliance even today. My needs from it are much the same as they were in 2014 when I bought the last of my 12 Sonos units that still deliver in full today, in an S1 environment.

The only changes I have made is for eliminating all WiFi issues by ethernet wiring all units.

The other change I needed and received is from Spotify and its native app, that casts music to any Sonos unit I have without the need to invoke the S1 controller, because the Spotify native app is a lot slicker.

The way I use S1 to play music from my NAS is also the same since 2011. I just use it a lot less now because there is Spotify.

Sonos needs now, as a Wall Street company, are very different from what they were in 2014.

Mine haven’t changed. Sonos devotees will of course respond to this by saying that this is because I don’t live in the first world. I am quite content not to do so.

Our app is a proof point of what we have always said. We are the story of software eating audio. Our software truly differentiates our products from everything else on the market

​​​​​​The only feature where Sonos leads is in the number of media sources, for example, no other streamer system has Audible, IBroadcast, etc.  In every other respect there are similar or better systems. Some even engage in significantly less bombastic self-promotion 😛

The software eating audio thing also smacks of arrogance of the kind Apple showed in its recent crush ad.

I refuse to let any software hawker eat audio at my home. Not Apple. Not Sonos.

This new app is complete rubbish. The look and feel of the old app was much more user-friendly. Where’s the alphabet index which will allow me to jump to, say, albums beginning with S?  Why do individual songs not show the duration. Some songs have a longer versions but I can’t tell which one it is by looking at the song list. I prefer the old version anytime.