Sonos Botched Update May 2024

[JStewart]

Seems to be a lot of noise over the most recent Sonos update. Sample here:

Disaster App Update 80.xx.xx - May 2024 | Sonos Community

I just want to put my review (app store) from the latest update here in as already so many of us feel the same way: first of all - i m a customer and fan since 2011 and i ve several setups in my home: 1x arc - 2x era 300 - 1x sub (3rd gen) - 1x beam (2nd gen) - 2x era 100 - 1x one (2nd gen)...

en.community.sonos.com

I have just a single unit and won’t update. I also use Roon to steam to the device anyway.

This got me thinking though. We streamers are totally vulnerable to the same problem. That is, a botched update or poor app re-work brings our entire music ecosystem down.

I feel badly for the thousands of affected Sonos customers and feel fortunate that Roon has continued with feature and performance updates at a fairly rapid pace since their acquisition by Harman. Still, the Sonos situation gives me pause. They have to be far and away the biggest player in the space. They’ve created a lot of ill will that can only cost them customers. How could they even come close to letting this happen?

A decent article in the Washington Post summarizing all the problems if you’re willing to give them an email.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/05/17/sonos-new-app-update-problems/

 

[Sonnie Parker]

I've never used anything Sonos... first streaming rig I got was Roon and it's been flawless, although I suspect anything could happen.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Wow. That's really unfortunate. You'd think that a company with a consumer base as large as Sonos would have done a better job beta testing.

Anymore, a firmware update for any product seems like a no-brainer download and install routine. I just assume that due diligence has been executed and that flaws have been found and remedied.

At least the update didn't brick a bunch of products! That would be my number one biggest concern.

 

[JStewart]

Wow. That's really unfortunate. You'd think that a company with a consumer base as large as Sonos would have done a better job beta testing.

I would have thought so, too. You’d think breaking trust with your loyal fan base would be priority one if for no other reason than their own self interest.

Maybe we‘re all looked at as a bunch of unpaid beta testers these days? Or possibly things have become too complicated for us poor humans to execute without oversights and errors?

 

[SRW1000]

Wow, thanks for posting this or I would never have even known about the problem.

I've had various Sonos products for decades and been happy with them, but this sounds like a disaster. I'm going to ignore the upgrade option if/until they get this straightened out.

 

[Todd Anderson]

I would have thought so, too. You’d think breaking trust with your loyal fan base would be priority one if for no other reason than their own self interest.

Maybe we‘re all looked at as a bunch of unpaid beta testers these days? Or possibly things have become too complicated for us poor humans to execute without oversights and errors?

You'd assume that a company as large as Sonos wouldn't look to make its customers the beta testers... based on the Post article, it sounds like they probably overestimated the level of simplification users want from the Sonos app. Correctable, but they'd better hurry!