Heartbroken by the Sonos App Disaster and What's Happened to the Company • Hacker News Board

Re: Heartbroken by the Sonos App Disaster and What's Happened to the Company

#31

Post by fragmede » Tue, Sep 03, 2024, 6:34 AM UTC

Spivak wrote: post #7

What's the current best whole home audio setup that doesn't locks you into a specific brand/product line? Must work on iOS/Android/PC, sorry AirPlay. I'm okay with smart dongle-y things that don't fit the criteria so long as they could run on a set of passive speakers. Because if they turn to shit I just pitch them.

I've got several Chromecast products, including Chromecasts in regular and ultra flavors, a Chromecast audio (discontinued), Chromecast mini speakers, and a regular Chromecast that I use with an HDMI audio splitter to hook it up to dumb speakers.

I'm not going to lie, the UX is kinda terrible compared to Sonos, but it means not paying Sonos, and it's functional. Not that Google hasn't done bad things in general, but in this area Sonos is the bad actor, which is why I chose this ecosystem despite the downsides.

Re: Heartbroken by the Sonos App Disaster and What's Happened to the Company

#32

Post by floppiplopp » Tue, Sep 03, 2024, 6:51 AM UTC

"Just an honest opinion from a huge fan of Sonos speakers."

Ah yes, of course, the most honest opinions come from the hugest of fans. But in all seriousness: I will make fun of every single person who will show this level (or less) of emotional attachment to any tech. It's literally "victim of product and an abusive relationship with company".

Re: Heartbroken by the Sonos App Disaster and What's Happened to the Company

#33

Post by radicality » Tue, Sep 03, 2024, 6:56 AM UTC

floppiplopp wrote: post #32

"Just an honest opinion from a huge fan of Sonos speakers." Ah yes, of course, the most honest opinions come from the hugest of fans. But in all seriousness: I will make fun of every single person who will show this level (or less) of emotional attachment to any tech. It's literally "victim of product and an abusive relationship with company".

I mean, the guy worked there as a hardware engineer for some years years, it would be a little bit strange if he showed zero emotional attachment to it.

Re: Heartbroken by the Sonos App Disaster and What's Happened to the Company

#34

Post by boesboes » Tue, Sep 03, 2024, 9:22 AM UTC

dr_kiszonka wrote: post #11

ryndbfsrw wrote: post #2

I feel certain products just dont need apps or 'tech'. Speakers should not be 'smart' anymore than a powertool needs an app. It just turns products that should otherwise be long-lasting become disposable waste once software support evaporates for any reason. I dont think it was a good product even back when it did 'work'. We received a pair as a house-warming gift and I remember not understanding how or why I should…

Imagine living in a big house and having the music follow you from room to room, from one floor to another, playing from high def wireless speakers that you can place anywhere you want. I think that is a pretty neat idea. I don't have a house or Sonos speakers, but I can see how some people would want that experience.

Neat, but useless waste.

Re: Heartbroken by the Sonos App Disaster and What's Happened to the Company

#35

Post by trainspotter » Tue, Sep 03, 2024, 11:13 AM UTC

0x008 wrote: post #26

tikkun wrote: post #6

Sonos owner; I strongly dislike it. I disliked it on the old app, too. Will get Apple homepods next.

Apple forces you to use Apple Music though :/

No they don’t. I use Spotify on mine all the time.

Re: Heartbroken by the Sonos App Disaster and What's Happened to the Company

#36

Post by kotaKat » Tue, Sep 03, 2024, 12:23 PM UTC

trainspotter wrote: post #35

0x008 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple forces you to use Apple Music though :/

No they don’t. I use Spotify on mine all the time.

The only problem is that you get a non-optimal experience because Daniel Ek has decided "fairness for me, not for thee" and refuses to implement AirPlay 2 support for years now while crying that Apple is so unfair to them.

Re: Heartbroken by the Sonos App Disaster and What's Happened to the Company

#37

Post by oliwarner » Tue, Sep 03, 2024, 2:15 PM UTC

A million years ago when Sonos and Slimdevices/Logitech Squeezebox were both newish, I was cheap and chose Logitech on price and an open source server. Today we have their devices in 6 rooms, and open source players in 2 more.

Logitech abandoned the ecosystem almost immediately after I started buying into it and I've worried what would happen but the open source community has made these things better than ever. Don't get me wrong, there have been teething issues with Spotify, breakages in service, and any new hardware is all a bit DIY, but I'm glad I chose the open solution.

The community is currently rebranding everything to Lyrion and you can get started without any official hardware. https://lyrion.org/

Re: Heartbroken by the Sonos App Disaster and What's Happened to the Company

#38

Post by J_Shelby_J » Tue, Sep 03, 2024, 2:24 PM UTC

ryndbfsrw wrote: post #2

I feel certain products just dont need apps or 'tech'. Speakers should not be 'smart' anymore than a powertool needs an app. It just turns products that should otherwise be long-lasting become disposable waste once software support evaporates for any reason. I dont think it was a good product even back when it did 'work'. We received a pair as a house-warming gift and I remember not understanding how or why I should…

I wrote a home automation script that would use a camera as a motion detector and when we weren’t home would play a text to voice message on every Sonos speaker in the house if someone entered our apartment. Mostly for announced maintenance visits so they know that I know they’re there.

Being able to listen to the show on the tv while in the bathroom or shower is nice. Means we don’t have to pause shows if we don’t want to for breaks.

Having music playing across the whole home during dinner parties is a nice vibe.

A whole house alarm would probably be nice for families on the same schedule.

The concept of Sonos is really nice and it mostly works, but yeah the new app was rough. Not sure if I’ll buy anymore sonos gear. For a long time they were the only ones that had the tech required to stream to multiple devices in sync. I’m not sure what the other options are now

Re: Heartbroken by the Sonos App Disaster and What's Happened to the Company

#39

Post by com » Tue, Sep 03, 2024, 2:58 PM UTC

oliwarner wrote: post #37

A million years ago when Sonos and Slimdevices/Logitech Squeezebox were both newish, I was cheap and chose Logitech on price and an open source server. Today we have their devices in 6 rooms, and open source players in 2 more. Logitech abandoned the ecosystem almost immediately after I started buying into it and I've worried what would happen but the open source community has made these things better than ever. Don't…

Are there new hardware options for new adopters of Lyrion?

Re: Heartbroken by the Sonos App Disaster and What's Happened to the Company

#40

Post by HelloMcFly » Tue, Sep 03, 2024, 4:17 PM UTC

_heimdall wrote: post #21

stephenitis wrote: post #9

My Sonos experience has been fine eight years now 10+ devices. That said I do dislike the new app rollout. I do feel like there has been 500ms to 2 seconds of added lag in certain actions. I can't quite place what's going on though. Not enough to be a deal breaker yet. I feel the surround sound experience has been very hit or miss but can't tell if it's Sonos or the media platform I'm watching videos on.

The deal breaker for me has been the loss of certain features. Specifically for me, they removed most of the functionality related to local network music libraries. Originally they said the feature was totally supported but just didn't make the cut for the initial app release. I've heard that story before, including from my own PMs. Can't say I'm too surprised that the feature still isn't supported and I've yet to se…

Being forced to unplug my speaker to get the music to stop playing was my deal breaker for the new app.

That having been said, I've been a longtime Sonos customer and have loved the experience until this disaster. Unlike other commenters in this thread, my family has loved the ease of use and ability to move music between rooms and add / remove speakers. We also have our record player hooked-up with the Sonos Bridge. I don't want to run a server, and it would be an absolute nightmare to hardwire my house. I hope they get it figured out, I'm not throwing away my speakers but it'll be years before I make a new Sonos purchase (if ever).