Is it me or is spotify on sonos - rubbish!

[Dubman72]

I have been a sons user for many years now and have historically used Napster streaming service since I set it up which I have always found easy to use and packed with features (sucn as recommendations and Napster playlists etc)

However I noticed over xmas that Napster obviously have some licensing issues as many artists I looked for were covered by unknowns which I assume gets round paying for the license to stream music from the big players.

So having used the spotify app on my phone and PC I took the plunge and setup a premium account on my sons - excited by the prospect of streaming playlists, liking tracks (that go in my starred section, which is a great way of not having to search for a fave track that I want to hear many times) sharing and connecting with my social community.

However remarkably it seems 'very light' of many features and I have to load playlists from my PC to access from my sons, there is no option to 'like or star' any tracks and I cannot browse facebook users etc - it just seems like an after thought and not at all as comprehensive or feature packed as the App.

Is it me, am I missing something or is it crap? Anyone.....

[Dubman72]

I have been a sons user for many years now and have historically used Napster streaming service since I set it up which I have always found easy to use and packed with features (sucn as recommendations and Napster playlists etc)

However I noticed over xmas that Napster obviously have some licensing issues as many artists I looked for were covered by unknowns which I assume gets round paying for the license to stream music from the big players.

So having used the spotify app on my phone and PC I took the plunge and setup a premium account on my sons - excited by the prospect of streaming playlists, liking tracks (that go in my starred section, which is a great way of not having to search for a fave track that I want to hear many times) sharing and connecting with my social community.

However remarkably it seems 'very light' of many features and I have to load playlists from my PC to access from my sons, there is no option to 'like or star' any tracks and I cannot browse facebook users etc - it just seems like an after thought and not at all as comprehensive or feature packed as the App.

Is it me, am I missing something or is it crap? Anyone.....

[Goodman]

I was visiting friends in Holland last week. They just got a new house and installed Sonos all over their place, they love it. Maybe it's a subjective thing?

[Dubman72]

Dont get me wrong, i have been a sonos user for many years and love it and have been used to the functions that Napter offer - but i fancied a change.

I also like the Spotify Iphone and Pc app and like the social, playlist and like functions as long as i want to listen with my phone or at my office - but the sonos app does less than half of what these do which i think is remiss considering my main application for straming music is at home via my sonos zones.

The sonos app should mirror the Iphone app in terms of functionality.... no?

at present i have to go into my iphone spotify app update my likes and playlists along with any other spotify app i wish to add and then wait for the sonos spotify to update - which is both long winded and annoying.

This does seem to be a common contentious issue on the forums - are spotify going to further develop the sonos application as i would had thought this would be a very lucrative 'route to market' for you as well as keeping your users engaged, customers and happy.

[Goodman]

I have to say I appreciate the constructive feedback. Let me ask around; see if I can find any info and if so, if I can share it with the community at large.

[Dubman72]

Would be a good idea as at present if there is no intended update i would consider sticking with Napster.

Thank you for getting back to me.

[Sherv]

I have to say that you are absolutely right. I was not sure whom to blame for this lack of functionality until I realized that it is actually Sonos that is flawed as a technology.

Let me put this into context. I used to have my speakers and sub woofer with an ipod ducking station and an AUX In to connect other devices to the same. When I bought my Sonos speaker, my intention was to REPLACE the current functionalities available to me with a wireless system.

So what did I get instead? A speaker that ONLY works with it’s own application, significantly limiting the functionalities that I had before. For example I cannot listen o BBC radio iplayer, You Tube etc etc. (The list goes on and on).

After accepting defeat I signed up to Spotify premium thinking that all my problems will be resolved. Guess what! as you pointed out rightly, there is no synergy between the Spotify application and Sonos. Spotify application has the discovery option that recommend new songs and many playlists. These are not available through the Sonos application.

Also I cannot sync my playlists between Sonos and Spotify easily. It is a nightmare! I want all my playlists and albums to sync between the two applications so that when I am in the car I have access to the same library! Is that really too much to ask?

Anyway I have been going on too much about this. My final say is that clearly Sonos wants to control how we stream music through their speakers. A good wireless solution would be one that uses the backbone wireless system in the home, thus allowing the end user to listen to anything through any application. I want to be able to stream my iTunes, You Tube videos, BBC Iplayer, and of course spotify (DIRECTLY from the Spotify application) through my wireless speakers. With Sonon I do not have any of these options.

Very disappointed in SONOS.  

[foran44]

I couldn't agree with this page more.

Having to switch between Artist-Album-Song etc with no correlation bewteen any of them is absolutely ridiculous. Before finally giving up on the Sonos speaker in my house I found myself looking through the actually spotify app for the name of songs/albums/artist before putting them into the sonos app as the slightest mistake would mean that no results would be shown.

Very confusing and frustrating on Sonos end.

The worst part is if that Sonos (and the many people that use it) almost seem oblivious to the fact their app is in the stoneage as far as usability goes. I went onto their forums today to see if anybody was complaining about it and any complaints were being completley washed out by what could only be fanatics that must be oblivious or don't wanna admit the app is bad.

A simple uprgrade in the functionality of the search would even make it bearable but in all honestly they should just let the spotify app play straight from the source to a sonos app as it's much easier to navigate.

[jimbalfour]

In my opinion, YES it is! I have lots of issues with it - but lets stick to one: the search function is TOTALLY broken. Here's something the SONOS team should try, load the SONOS plugin on the Windows Sonos controller, search for J S Bach's Mass in B Minor (have fun guys).

I'm a software developer and I find it difficult to believe that a big company like Spotify would let something so brain-dead out of the door - ever heard of beta testing?