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Sonos: users must accept new privacy policy or devices may “cease to function”

zdnet.com

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Re: Sonos: users must accept new privacy policy or devices may “cease to function”

#151

Post by intopieces »

majewsky wrote: post #17
cujo wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

* Shared playlist/queue between all users of a household. * No need to have a second device present to stream music. That is, I can start up music with the controller on my phone, and go to the store, but the music still plays since all the streaming is handled by the sonos speaker. * No need to pair your phone/computer to the device every time you come home. Just get on the wifi, and you're set. Those are the big on…

Why would you need to play music at home while you're going to a store? Also, activating Bluetooth is as frictionless as activating WiFi.

>Also, activating Bluetooth is as frictionless as activating WiFi.

Oh my, no. Activating bluetooth is so frustrating that Apple built a special chip to make it easier. That Sonos work over Wifi and not Bluetooth is the primary selling point.

Re: Sonos: users must accept new privacy policy or devices may “cease to function”

#152

Post by cabalamat »

Sir_Substance wrote: post #144
leggomylibro wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The answer is, nobody does. They implicitly agree under duress, because their time is worth far too much to even read 10 pages of fine print for every product they use. I'm not being flippant; it bloody well is. I'm not sure why courts consider that to hold any weight; to me it goes against the whole notion of informed consent in binding agreements. And to be fair, often the courts don't consider to hold any weight.

>They implicitly agree under duress, because their time is worth far too much to even read 10 pages of fine print for every product they use. I'm not being flippant; it bloody well is. You don't need to read 10 pages of fine print for every product, because it's functionally the same fine print for every product. If you don't like this, don't ever buy smart devices because they /all/ reserve the right to do this kind…

All my speakers are low-tech analog only devices. There really is little benefit to making most of these devices "smart".

Re: Sonos: users must accept new privacy policy or devices may “cease to function”

#153

Post by JetSpiegel »

cm2187 wrote: post #105
lamecicle wrote: post #8

I remember a time when the phrase "if you don't know what the product is, you're the product" made sense. Now it's, "if you don't kn... oh f*ck it, you're the product!"

The sentence is if you don't pay for the product, you are the product. But Sonos isn't exactly free. It isn't exactly cheap either.

Note that the original sentence is a one-way equivalence.

Just because you pay for the product, doesn't mean you can be the product too.

Re: Sonos: users must accept new privacy policy or devices may “cease to function”

#154

Post by pavel_lishin »

alphaalpha101 wrote: post #138
throwaway2016a wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My point being the speakers are the only part of it that are a product. Everything else is clearly a service. The part of the speaker that is actually a product is unlikely to stop working.

Everything else is 'clearly' a service? On what basis? You buy a product, it has these features, you can do these things, that's the product. Being able to play music on a 'smart speaker' from my phone isn't a service, it's just a feature of the product. If you sell a product with features that require you to host some servers somewhere publicly accessible on the internet, that doesn't make that product feature a ser…

To be fair, one of the "features" is streaming Spotify, which may require a constant dance to keep up with API changes.

Re: Sonos: users must accept new privacy policy or devices may “cease to function”

#155

Post by driminicus »

MikeGale wrote: post #150

I suspect that legislators are so far behind the curve on this, that they'll never protect decent humans from such guys. Answer: Forget the protection afforded by the state. Protect yourself. Blacklist the scum manufacturers, warn your acquaintances. What other suggestions.

In this specific case: if you own a sonos, try to get your money back over this.

Re: Sonos: users must accept new privacy policy or devices may “cease to function”

#156

Post by alphaalpha101 »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #154
alphaalpha101 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything else is 'clearly' a service? On what basis? You buy a product, it has these features, you can do these things, that's the product. Being able to play music on a 'smart speaker' from my phone isn't a service, it's just a feature of the product. If you sell a product with features that require you to host some servers somewhere publicly accessible on the internet, that doesn't make that product feature a ser…

To be fair, one of the "features" is streaming Spotify, which may require a constant dance to keep up with API changes.

'Compatible with service X' is a feature. If it stops being compatible with service X because service X changed their API, then you either need to fix it so it's compatible again, or refund to your customers.

If you want to announce you are compatible with service X as a feature, you should have an agreement of compatibility with service X.

Re: Sonos: users must accept new privacy policy or devices may “cease to function”

#157

Post by alphaalpha101 »

throwaway2016a wrote: post #141
alphaalpha101 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So they've already released 'updates' that break the device and reduces its feature set, and you're okay with this?

From what I understand that one was more Audible's fault than there's. It sounded like Amazon deprecated the API. I am sure if I kept using it without updating that it would eventually stop working. Anyone who got effected by that should blame Amazon.

The only people that should be affected by it are Sonos. They should sue Amazon for violating their service agreement to maintain Audible so it would continue to work.

Re: Sonos: users must accept new privacy policy or devices may “cease to function”

#158

Post by hellbanner »

dvdhnt wrote: post #76
hellbanner wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I highly recommend "Seeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition have Failed" reviewing the rise of top-down city planning especially in recent modern cities like Brasilia (which systematically removed public space & spontaneous street interactions by design ) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeing_Like_a_State https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bras%C3%ADlia

> Compulsory ujamaa villages in Tanzania, collectivization in Russia, Le Corbusier’s urban planning theory realized in Brasilia, the Great Leap Forward in China, agricultural "modernization" in the Tropics―the twentieth century has been racked by grand utopian schemes that have inadvertently brought death and disruption to millions. Why do well-intentioned plans for improving the human condition go tragically awry? T…

Great! Other recommendations: City of Quartz & Season of the Witch (on LA and SF's civic development), everything by Jane Jacobs, Organization of Man

Re: Sonos: users must accept new privacy policy or devices may “cease to function”

#160

Post by pedrocr »

pedrocr wrote: post #133

Anyone have another suggestion for a pair of wifi speakers that can be assigned to Left/Right to get stereo and can be network streamed to and have another device on the network with a line-in? I was about to buy 2 Play1's and a Connect to do a stereo install in a room where I don't want to run speaker cable. I had researched wackier home-built solutions and was going to give up and go for the Sonos. Now I'm once aga…

If anyone is on the same boat here's the best non-smart/IoT/lock-in tech I've come up with for a single room setup with wireless speakers:

1) 4 to 1 HDMI splitter with audio out: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/HDSW4-HDMI-Switch-4X1-With-A...

2) Connect all your sources through HDMI (your PC, your TV box, a Chromecast, a raspberry, etc). There are versions with more inputs if you need that. That one has a nice simple remote.

3) Connect the HDMI splitter audio output to a RF audio transmitter: https://www.altoproaudio.com/products/stealth-wireless

4) Use some powered studio monitors with one of the RF receivers each (there are plenty to choose from)

This way if you're streaming audio+video everything syncs up because the RF link adds very little latency (unlike the Sonos that adds 70ms). The chromecast gives you easy streaming of audio and video from all your apps and if you are only streaming audio you can just turn off your TV/projector and the audio still works fine. The speakers can be placed anywhere there's power. It doesn't have the fancy multi-room and 5.1 possibilities of the Sonos nor the good industrial design.

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