Update on the Sonos App from Patrick Spence

S2 App coming back?  Before they have to layoff more?

The majority of Verge articles about Sonos comes from @chriswelch, including this article, and he’s almost always accurate.  To the point that people have speculated that Sonos intentionally leaks info to him.  I have no doubt that management has considered reverting the app, but as stated in the article, it’s discussed, not a sure thing.

I can’t speak to any other part of The Verge.

Fair enough @melvimbe 

I would expect the app being rolled back has been discussed a few times already internally. Between the extended length of time support volumes and queue times have been sky high and feedback from the forums, even without any publicity I’d be very surprised if it hadn’t been discussed.

I would hope it was part of a rollback plan for the original rollout.

Just seems an odd article to write without any real news or outcome.

Every company I’ve worked at would have been having daily then as things get better weekly crisis meetings. Senior management were always involved and updated. In terms of ways forward nothing was ever off the table.

I just hide behind the sofa thinking “WTF have they broken now!!” 😱

The last time there was a big about turn from Sonos was back in March 2020 when a public uproar forced Sonos to reverse the bricking of old speakers tactic as part of the discount for new speakers, with an apology from Spence. At that time Sonos apologists had said for weeks prior to the about turn that Sonos does not do about turns. There was no little consternation from said apologists at that time when Sonos about turned; from one of them even about how upset he was that other users would not have to suffer from what he did via his old speakers being bricked in his rush to upgrade with the 30% discount on offer. Those that know how to search, will find this sentiment in his posts from that time.

The same set, by and large, have been vocal this time around as well - reversal not happening, they have been saying since May 10th.

The quote above must have them worried now, about yet another possible Sonos reversal that will again leave them with egg on their faces.

Question: why not just permit a move back to S1 for those that are ok with the feature set there, along with the option to use SMB Ver 1 to enable local libraries to the extent they were usable in March 2020? This will not be as good as a reverting to a S2 as it was at the beginning of May, but may be easier/faster to implement? With a revert to S2 made available some time after?

Sonos can then take time do a proper job of crafting whatever the brave new world this new app is to be part of, before unleashing it on the user community.

Add to queue works. Yea!

Library album art, Library album art, Library album art next please!

Not answering uncomfortable questions, but delivering instead the answer to a more convenient question not asked is standard practice across the board everywhere - from CEOs to police to politicians of all stripes. There must even be a term for this tactic in schools that teach PR/spin.

 Yes to the triple Library Album Art.  That’s how I know what’s playing.

Now that you would have the opportunity, please re-consider having Trueplay functionality on Android. Perhaps limit it to the latest version of Android if there are too many devices to test.

Maybe just my imagination, but things do seem to have gotten a bit quieter around these parts.

Question: why not just permit a move back to S1 for those that are ok with the feature set there, along with the option to use SMB Ver 1 to enable local libraries to the extent they were usable in March 2020? This will not be as good as a reverting to a S2 as it was at the beginning of May, but may be easier/faster to implement? With a revert to S2 made available some time after?

3-word answer: Sunk Cost Fallacy

Sonos can then take time do a proper job of crafting whatever the brave new world this new app is to be part of, before unleashing it on the user community.

Assuming the Board successfully explains “sunk cost” to Spence and/or replaces him with someone who does understand the concept, part of the “proper job” will be circling back to the debate within the development staff (we all know there was such a debate!) between the “incremental change” group and the “rebuild from scratch” group. Tell the first group they’re now in charge. Tell the second group they almost destroyed the company and they’re lucky to still have their jobs.