‘On this Device’ for Android controller no longer supported

I read the thread. Bottom line is I don't have a NAS, my Sonos speakers are not Bluetooth enabled and I do not have line in option. So Sonos unilaterally removed functionality that I bought. That is theft. And a huge loss. If this is their way of operating, I have bought my last Sonos product. Awful support. 

You’ve probably accepted Sonos’ terms of use. They will say Sonos can do this. I understand you don’t like that they’ve had to take this function away, but it isn’t theft.

So, suggested solutions are to buy NAS which is at least $200 or to upload music to some server which is not option for me. 

Hence my Sonos which cost me $400 is now just piece of garbage. 

Granted, the more accurate term is legalized theft, written into their terms of use. It remains an unacceptable and unethical business practice. I was an avid Sonos fan due to the quality of their speakers. But a super speaker driven by functionless software is a white elephant. They have lost a client and marketer. 

Legalized or not, theft assumes that you own the software.  You don’t.  You own the hardware, you license the software.  Says so right in the EULA you agreed to when you signed up..  

The original post suggested four solutions, not two.  And you do not have to buy a NAS in many cases.  A USB drive in your router will often work just fine.  Or, if you have a PC or Mac, a network shared drive.

You’re also ignoring the catalyst for this change, which was android changing how files can be accessed externally.

I understand the frustration about the feature going away, but I don’t understand the need to paint it more negatively than it actually is in expressing your frustration.  If all you care about is playing from the android file system, then so be it, Sonos is not for you anymore.  Pretending the Sonos speakers can’t do anything else is just silly.

I bought the functionality to listen to my music on my device. If that is not the case then the whole point of buying it is flawed. The hardware is useless without the software functionality. A software license provides you legal access to use the functionality, it cannot be taken away. Taking your point that i don't own the software and hence neither the functionality, makes a mockery of buying the speaker. According to your argument and their EULA, they can remove all functionality if they so choose and all Sonos Users will be left with stunning white elephants. Your argument makes no sense.

What I have learnt is never again to fall for the same trap again. I will read the smallprint and avoid companies that work on the same unethical principles as Sonos. 

And that is my point, you buy the speaker with the functionality you want and then it is taken away and "Sonos is not for you anymore". That makes no sense

You didn’t buy any functionality at all.  You bought hardware.  You licensed the software, and that license doesn’t guarantee any continuing functionality, especially the functionality that can’t be continued due to the actions of an OS manufacturer. 

It makes 100% senser.  Ask a lawyer if you don’t believe it. 

You will be avoiding every piece of software ever produced, because they all have a EULA attached.

You Can spin it any way you like, with or without lawyers, Sonos will be losing customers.The nr if complaints on this thread is enough proof. 

Not all Eula's are the same 

The vast majority have a contingency for continued functionality and features.  They have to, since some functionality and features are out of the manufacturer’s hands, such as 3rd party operating system changes (as this one was).  

You made the claim that the speaker no longer has any functionality, which is patently untrue. And you claimed that it was unethical and illegal, also not true.  I would agree with the ethiical claim if Sonos intended to only support for a time to lure people in without maintaining the feature long term.  But that’s not remotely what happened.

And yes, Sonos will lose some customer over this.  No one is pretending otherwise.  

“You’re also ignoring the catalyst for this change, which was android changing how files can be accessed externally.”

I am software developer with experience developing applications for Android devices. I know that it is very easy to detect OS version of the device in the code. Why Sonos didn’t do an easy algorithm - check OS version and if it is below 12 add the menu to access local files? So all older devices will continue to work as usual. 

Instead Sonos disabled that functionality for all devices and made forceful update. I see here not much care about customers.

I’m not Sonos, so can’t say with a 100% certainty, but my guess would be that they did not want to add complications to the code, for development and support, of what features work under what conditions.  It seems like a minor condition right now, but that can get even more complex over time other features and conditional program gets added. Having some experience in software support, I’ve it happen several times.

On the customer side of things, while some will understand the situation and appreciate Sonos trying to get it to work, others will not.  Similar issue happened with iOS a few years back, and many complained that Sonos was showing favortism for keeping a feature on android, but no iOS.  And of course, people don’t like that trueplay is supported on iOS and not on android...until recently.

@andrejoubert 

Putting the eula aside, if you have read the thread then you should have seen it is still possible, using a third party app, to continue to play music stored on your phone on your sonos speaker.

Give us back this feature Sonos!

Stop taking features away!

I'm not buying anymore Sonos products in the foreseeable future.

This was a pretty basic and important feature for me. You guys lost customers for sure.

Complain to Google.  The feature was made impossible via an Android change, not a Sonos change.

Absolutely disgusting! Not being able to play MY music through MY speakers is ridiculous! If you cant make this an option then the product is not fit for purpose and we all deserve a refund. What is the point of having speakers that only play music through online services or having wireless speakers that can only play my music though a wired connection. A true failure from sonos.

Read your EULA. 

All the Sonos worshippers going on about terms and conditions and that it's Google to blame…

A third party independent app - Hi Fi Cast - can cast music from my devices to my Sonos speakers. To say it's out of Sonos' control is nonsense. Sonos just want one less thing to take care of and ultimately want people to use streaming services because it's makes their job easier. You don't need to look any further than 'New Search' to confirm this 

You can only cast though if using a ‘player’ and the Sonos App is not a player, it’s merely a ‘remote’ that directs the speaker(s) to play music direct from source. It’s why with the Sonos App you can power off the mobile device or take it away from the Home and speakers carry on playing. That’s not possible with  a mobile ‘player’ App.

Remote or player, is it really beyond the imagination and capabilities of Sonos to incorporate what a small independent app developer can do? Sonos apologists coming out with excuse after excuse in Sonos' defence... Guaranteed that they'll be doing the same when Classic search is eventually discontinued and all search results returned are for streaming services.

It should be noted that HiFi Cast makes money from ad revenue and in-app purchases.  It looks like it will also sell your data to other parties, including location.  You can’t request that your data be deleted.

I personally don’t care if Sonos decides to make their own player app as a companion to the Sonos app.  Actually, I would be in favor of it if it included Sonos radio so the service could be used away from a WiFi network.

Defence No.1 - There’s always Plex that will return search results from a users local library, (In some respects Apple Music can do it too, if mirrored in iCloud)… ha ha 😂