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Sonos CEO Patrick Spence steps down after disastrous app launch

theverge.com

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Re: Sonos CEO Patrick Spence steps down after disastrous app launch

#81

Post by Bhilai »

chipgap98 wrote: post #54
Bhilai wrote: post #22

I’m not an audiophile, but after hearing Sonos at a friend’s house and being impressed, I decided to purchase a speaker for my kitchen, where I often listen to music while cooking. I opted for the Sonos Five, assuming that Bluetooth connectivity would be a standard feature on a standalone speaker, especially at this price point. To my surprise, a speaker costing nearly $600 doesn’t support Bluetooth—it only works via…

This seems like a strange gripe for this thread. That is something you could have looked up before purchasing the speaker. I also might be in the minority but I much prefer Wi-Fi streaming to Bluetooth in my house.

I do acknowledge that I did not read that the speaker does not support BLE. I assumed that a $600 speaker will come with basic features.

Re: Sonos CEO Patrick Spence steps down after disastrous app launch

#82

Post by 112233 »

Bhilai wrote: post #22

I’m not an audiophile, but after hearing Sonos at a friend’s house and being impressed, I decided to purchase a speaker for my kitchen, where I often listen to music while cooking. I opted for the Sonos Five, assuming that Bluetooth connectivity would be a standard feature on a standalone speaker, especially at this price point. To my surprise, a speaker costing nearly $600 doesn’t support Bluetooth—it only works via…

Using the opportunity to mention AIAIAI Unit-4

First, why it is so hard to find out it exists when searching for wireless speakers?

Second, it eats most things twice it's price on sound and features, methinks. except power bricks, those are brütal

Re: Sonos CEO Patrick Spence steps down after disastrous app launch

#83

Post by leeoniya »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #69
subpixel wrote: post #61

IIRC Sonos emerged as a tool to allow you to access all of your music, from different speakers throughout your house. I might be glossing over some details but isn't this problem largely solved by other products almost everyone has now? Any cloud music service, a smart phone, and some bluetooth speakers? In my entire social network, I know of one person who has all of his music stored locally and who cares about the…

> I might be glossing over some details but isn't this problem largely solved by other products almost everyone has now? Any cloud music service, a smart phone, and some bluetooth speakers? How do I configure several bluetooth speakers to play music across my whole house with a single phone?

https://www.whathifi.com/advice/what-is-auracast-and-when-is...

Re: Sonos CEO Patrick Spence steps down after disastrous app launch

#84

Post by mleo »

SoftTalker wrote: post #49

Remember when you could just plug in anything with an "aux" cord or line-level RCA connectors to your stereo and everything worked. We have gone so far backwards.

We traded one convenience for others. I can play the same music in sync across every room in the house and the backyard, and I didn't have to run speaker wires to 23 locations to do that. I can play any of millions of songs without having a room full of physical copies of the music. I can plug in an aux cord into the system if I need to do so.

Re: Sonos CEO Patrick Spence steps down after disastrous app launch

#85

Post by duxup »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #68
duxup wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think for some (not all) folks writing code there is a sort of built in "this should actually work" mentality and that keeps A LOT of things running. Granted not all, I've worked with some widget makers who would rather just take tasks, do EXACTLY what it says, and move on regardless if it works or not. They love the certainty of process and want to just do that. Steve Jobs ran into that: https://www.youtube.com/wa…

> Granted not all, I've worked with some widget makers who would rather just take tasks, do EXACTLY what it says, and move on regardless if it works or not. They love the certainty of process and want to just do that. I've been this guy, as a software engineer. It turns out that making widgets feeds my family, whereas pushing back on executives from my position on the totem pole runs a very real risk of being unable…

I think it certainly depends on the organization. Some companies seem to only allow coders to be widget makers.

On the other hand, I worked with widget makers at companies where you had more freedom and sometimes it seemed like they were more interested in malicious compliance… it can really shaft coworkers too.

Re: Sonos CEO Patrick Spence steps down after disastrous app launch

#86

Post by kristjansson »

DudeOpotomus wrote: post #36
davidu wrote: post #16

So what are people using instead of Sonos AMP for home sound control?

Apple airplay works flawlessly. Or you can buy an old Amazon fire and connect them to your own hardware. Both of these solutions allow you to use any speaker/amp setup you choose. And if you truly care about sound quality, this is the only path.

Sonos Amp / Port act as airplay receiver to analog out (with amplifier in the case of Amp). They're meant to act as an input for existing ‘dumb’ speakers/amplifiers/home audio systems, and is extraordinarily fit for that purpose.

How do else could one Airplay to a ‘dumb’ stereo without something to act as an airplay receiver?

Re: Sonos CEO Patrick Spence steps down after disastrous app launch

#87

Post by duxup »

amelius wrote: post #77
duxup wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the article actually goes into detail why a rewrite does cause these things. The reasons matter.

To me this reads more like a mismanagement issue than an issue caused by a rewrite.

In a perfect world maybe, but we don't code there.

Re: Sonos CEO Patrick Spence steps down after disastrous app launch

#88

Post by duxup »

sergioisidoro wrote: post #39
duxup wrote: post #19

They violated the "Things You Should Never Do, Part I" rule: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-... It's such a TEMPTING rule to violate... The amazing part was how BAD it went, supposedly engineers were raising every red flag possible that it wasn't ready and still they did it. Considering how bad it was I can't imagine having any faith in anyone up the chain of command having the power, or…

Basecamp violates that rule often and they are doing ok. If I remember right they even make it a strategy to re-write their whole application every few years. There's no hard rules in software engineering, and all best practices should be put into context. You don't know what monsters lurked in the old code base. So yes in some cases (but not often) re-write is a good / only choice.

I don't know much about them. It would be interesting to see how the manage all the usual pitfalls.

Re: Sonos CEO Patrick Spence steps down after disastrous app launch

#89

Post by kristjansson »

What’s so bad about the new app? I have half a dozen Sonos devices (Amp, One SLs, … ) I use in various groupings, and haven’t had any huge issues? I guess the new app is a bit less intuitive, and maybe a bit slower (although that’s improved since launch)? I just haven’t seen behavior even approaching the “unusable” complaints I’ve seen online.

Re: Sonos CEO Patrick Spence steps down after disastrous app launch

#90

Post by HelloMcFly »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #57
sofixa wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you’re an Android user, the limitations are even more frustrating. Playing music directly from YouTube isn’t possible without jumping through hoops Unfortunately that's due to Google's bullshit. There's a lack of appropri APIs, that's why you'll notice that any "smart" audio device (by smart I mean, integrates directly with music streaming services/locally stored music) doesn't support YouTube nor YouTube Music.…

Soooo maybe Sonos could just put bluetooth on their speakers then? I get that google is shitty, but that doesn't make sonos a saint.

Their newer speakers (Era 100, Era 300, Arc Ultra are the ones I know of) are Bluetooth enabled.
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