Spotify and Sonos - the opposite of customer service

[andrewducker]

I have a Spotify account to stream music with.

I have a Sonos, to stream music to.

You'd think that, as they're both amongst the most popular of their kind, getting them to work together would be simple.

But no. If I open the Sonos app and browse my Spotify albums this is the top of the list:


Which is to say that the order is not alphabetical by album. And it's not alphabetical by artist. It seems, in fact, to be in "descending order of date you added the album." So an album I added today will be at the top of the list (kinda handy), but under that, there is absolutely no way to say "I fancy listening to Appetite for Destruction" and then finding it. At all.

"For goodness sake!" I think, and head off to see if this is being discussed on the forums.

Where I discover that Spotify say Oh, that app is controlled by Sonos and Sonos say Oh, that data is controlled by Spotify.

How hard can it be for someone at Sonos to get someone at Spotify on the phone and fix this? Well, hard enough that this seems to have been an issue for about two years!

Comments

[doug]

I have had it with Sonos. I was a hugely happy and enthusiastic customer for many years. Although there were lots of festures I've wanted that came late or not at all. But the big break is that now, if I were to buy a new Sonos thing, it can't interoperate with (all of) my existing Sonos system. So, given that I can't get an interoperable new thing I might as well get a different system. And turns out many of those have more features I want, have snappier and more modern control apps, and are cheaper.

[doug]

There was all the "accidentally bricking your device irretrievably" business too. I was not stung by that, at least.

[dewline]

That seems horrific, after its fashion.

[armiphlage]

But that's not an accident, that's a feature as far as Sonos is concerned.

[danieldwilliam]

I am increasingly unhappy about Sonos and increasingly unhappy about the interactino between Spotify and Sonos.

To the point where both are candidates for cancellation.

[andrewducker]

I think I'm probably jumping ship to Amazon Music.

But I'm still looking at options.

(Trickier to leave Sonos, as I can't just replace the three I have.)

[stormclouds]

I really despise the tendency of modern devices to list items in the order of last use. How am I supposed to remember how many folders I've added to or modified since then? Give us an option to alphabetise or I won't use your app. It why I gave up on Google Photos and switched to F-Stop. I even paid for that app it was so good. Google Photos have since added that option but it's too late.

I hope someone fixes your issue and that an option to display items in alphabetical order becomes the norm.

[andrewducker]

Thank you!

[calimac]

This sounds like a variant of a home-computer classic: Software vendors will tell you that you have a hardware problem. Hardware vendors will tell you it's a software problem.

[momentsmusicaux]

Gah what a total load of shit!

Seems like Sonos is designed with the idea that it's a relatively small amount of data you're displaying, rather than the firehose of Spotify.

What does Sonos do if you connect it to an iTunes library on a computer or iPod?

[luzclarita]

At least you're the cool dad that listens to contemporary music rather than stuff from your high school years only.

[andrewducker]

Hah, true! I hadn't thought of that, but I do like to keep finding new things.

I'm looking forward to seeing what they introduce me to.