The future of Sonos?
1. I was traveling with an older Android phone (Android 4.4.4). I couldn't install the latest version of the app. I tried installing an older version, but it simply said I needed to upgrade. So, I couldn't play any music from the phone. I checked online and a number of people were complaining they used their older phones and tablets in the house as simply a Sonos remote, and they now had to upgrade all of those devices after support was dropped.
2. I installed the Windows app on my laptop to play music. This worked, but then I noticed the subwoofer wasn't plugged in (likely so people didn't annoy the neighbors). I thought I would briefly test it out to get an idea if Sonos would be a good future purchase for myself. Well, I plugged it in and I needed to do a setup process from the app. Well, apparently that can't be done from the Windows app, and I couldn't install the app on my phone, so the subwoofer just sat there as decoration.
3. My partner came home and she had a newer phone, so I had her install the Sonos app so we could setup the subwoofer. She installed it, I went to the app to configure the subwoofer, and it said it couldn't be done unless I updated the speakers to a newer software version. Well, this wasn't my apartment and the owner lived there when it wasn't rented, so I figured it wasn't my place to update their speakers.
In the end, I never got a chance to test out that subwoofer, and I lost interest in Sonos because I felt like for the investment, the rug could be pulled out from under me at any time. I hooked up some of my 15 year "dumb" Klipsch speakers in my new apartment instead. Didn't need a new mobile phone to set them up, didn't need software updates, just plugged them into the wall. It sure felt easy. I can't help but feel like we lost our way a bit in recent years.
But yeah, I'm a massive believer in keeping things un-integrated. Need a feature, but a component and plug it in
Reminds me of a similar frustration with OS X. In December 2017 I was trying to use bluetooth headphones with a MacBook that was still on Mavericks or Yosemite (10.9 or 10.10, latest version at the time 10.13), so yeah, a little behind the times.
But when I tried to connect, it said I had to upgrade the OS to use bluetooth with those headphones. What? I'd connected to my phone with it with no problems, and the protocols for the connection are like 10 years old, and almost certainly existed in that version of the OS.
"Sonos's “recycle mode” intentionally bricks devices so they can't be reused" Fuck this kind of masquerading profit hunger as environmental responsibility.
Just buy some wired, maybe simple Bluetooth speakers for cheaper (eg. Sennheiser, Audio-Technika or JBL) and enjoy their fine sound.
Nobody is forced to do this. You're more than welcome to sell/give/etc your speakers to someone else.
There's a reason why the saying is "reduce, reuse, recycle" in that order.
They also don't verify that you recycled it, practically it only makes sure that the otherwise working speaker is removed from the market so that Sonos isn't competing with itself. I'd imagine that a lot of these just end up in the garbage.
If this truly was an environmental initiative, Sonos would rather take a proof of receipt of you giving your previous speaker to an e-waste recycler or even giving away to some place like Goodwill where it'll get reused.
They could just make sure that you were nice and gave away your device for free and/or charity purposes, instead of bricking it forever.
So that must be at least, what, 3 of them?
I buy my own speakers and plug them into it. It also supports some Denon wireless speaker standard that lets it hook up to other Denon receivers and/or any speakers with the special adapters attached. But the crucial thing is that at the end of the day, all that fancy pants crap can stop working and you still have a bunch of bog standard speakers and receivers that can be hooked up any other way.
Now I’ll concede that maybe I’m ignorant or misinformed or a grumpy stubborn old man, but I’m not sure why anyone technically competent would buy a Sonos or Bose system with their crazy lock-in. It wasn’t so long ago that Sonos made you use Spotify through their awful reimplemented UI. It seems they have relented on that front and now allow use of Spotify Connect, but why would you want to be at someone else’s whim like that? Bose uses non-standard wiring and electrical specs to make sure that you can’t use their speakers with standard receivers. You either have to trash the speakers or keep buying Bose receivers when you want new features (4K, 8k, Atmos, HDR, etc.) Even when money is no object, I feel like a sucker when I buy artificially locked-in products like that. Maybe others don’t feel the same way?
For the not-so-tech-savvy, I concede that home audio gear is still a little difficult to set up. The common practice of making your own banana plugs is ridiculous and pre-made audio cables should be the norm instead. The receiver UIs leave a lot to be desired, even when they are ultimately good enough once configured. Shopping for speakers is like choosing fad diets: you have to sift through outrageous amounts of bullshit to find any useful advice.
I’d like to understand some more of the sociology and economics of why Denon and Yamaha and such can’t get their act together to produce something as user friendly as Sonos but that degrades nicely into standard A/V equipment when desired. If anyone with industry insight sees this comment, please fill me in.
I only ever use them with Airplay 2, and they are firewalled off from the Internet. I also don’t have the Sonos app installed on any of my devices, so it can’t brick my speakers and insist on my signing a new TOS to get an update I didn’t ask for to provide features I didn’t ask for.
I fell right out of love with Sonos the first time they pulled the “your devices will have limited functionality until you agree to our update TOS” stunt, especially because that TOS seemed to be all about agreeing to even more data collection.
Then they stated shipping speakers with microphones, and it was clear which direction they had chosen as a company. They aren’t a hardware company. They’re now a surveillance capitalism company that uses hardware to collect data.
Funnily enough, my Windows computer streams to the HomePod in real time, so now it's a pretty overpowered gaming speaker. But at least that's all it does; there's no bespoke Apple software that has to be installed and updated. And it's fairly dumb in terms of what you can manage with it (none of this stuff like yelling your shopping list at it.) Before I found that particular software, I was about ready to return the thing and switch to a Sonos... until I remembered what they were doing with legacy devices.
It would be nice to know if there's a way to build anything custom for it at some point though, since it's just a massive speaker with iOS inside it.
If you ask me, there should be regulations about providing a reasonable fallback when selling physical products that depend on some internet service to work. If the service is shut down, the device should be made functional without it (or with a custom thing you can host yourself).
Oh and also for alexa integration if you enable it?
I don’t believe the speakers I own have microphones (although there is probably some way to hack the speaker into detecting sound, after all... It has a coil, a magnet, and a diaphragm that moves...)
And I’m now extremely wary about buying devices with cameras and microphones, especially for my home.
https://www.wired.com/story/john-deere-farmers-right-to-repa...
Basically, small and medium sized family farms, (i.e. the hearty, resourceful folk who want to fix their own damn tractors, thank you very much (e.g. my father and grandfather)), are disappearing.[0] They are being replaced by large, corporate "factory" farms, who have little interest in doing repairs on tractors that go beyond basic maintenance. Rather than building a staff of what are becoming increasingly sophisticated (i.e. expensive) technicians, along with the necessary facilities that meet all safety regulations, etc., a simple "tractor service" is preferred.
So, the customer base of the "consumer friendly business model" may not be large enough to support such an endeavor. The times, they are a-changin'...
[0] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/09/american...
*edit: typos
So, to avoid this type surveillance, you would need to forego driving, which is completely your choice. However, this is not merely a "Tesla" problem.
Tesla or not, if the company from which you purchased your car goes away, you're gonna have a bad time.
Netscape died and yet we still have Firefox.
Editor have come and gone and Emacs is still here, and I'm sure it will be here in 10 years.
The difference is that with FOSS anyone in the world with the skills and the disposition can help maintain a thing. With closed systems you are always at the mercy of a single bean counter somewhere.
Yes, because Apple is a company known for their commitment to longevity and compatibility.
> tv/line in
Many of their devices don't have any line in ports.
Can a person configure the wifi settings for an Airplay-capable Sonos speaker without the Sonos app?
Most Sonos speakers do not have any inputs, sadly.
Surely you see the problem, right?