Mute button or pause button

[Freddan101]

I think this and most of the other topics in this forum comes down to that the user wants to have the option to customize his/her system in as much detail as possible.

In this case one person might want the system to pause all zones when the button is pressed. Another wants to mute just one zone. Short press, long press etc.

I think Sonos most start concentrating on the customization part for the user. It's not easy to both a very adjustable system and at the same time keep the interface clean and easy to use. But that's what we paying the extra bucks for... right...?!

[Buegie]

Originally Posted by Freddan101

I think this and most of the other topics in this forum comes down to that the user wants to have the option to customize his/her system in as much detail as possible.

I would agree that this is what the User wants. Not sure that anyone would disagree with this. The issues come about in implementing these "options".

Originally Posted by Freddan101

In this case one person might want the system to pause all zones when the button is pressed. Another wants to mute just one zone. Short press, long press etc.

Again, we all understand this. Agreeing on what is first on the Priority List and what gets pushed down the list (or never makes it to the list) is another thing.

Originally Posted by Freddan101

I think Sonos most start concentrating on the customization part for the user. It's not easy to both a very adjustable system and at the same time keep the interface clean and easy to use. But that's what we paying the extra bucks for... right...?!

There are no "extra bucks" being paid. Either you value Sonos in its present form and buy it, or you do not. It's unrealistic to have future expectations of significant &/or free upgrades. More than likely, one will be left unfulfilled in their desires....

Any new Feature Request would be evaluated for feasibility and prioritized. As always with this process, someone (or many) may not be pleased with the decision. Because of this, I find it completely understandable that Sonos will not divulge their future enhancement plans. Others disagree.

Let's take your "user configurable options" request for the Mute Button as an example.

It may be a hardware change that can only be forward implementable, rendering all previous Sonos ZonePlayers outmoded or incompatible. A bitter pill for those that have 4, 6, or ten+ Zones in operation already.

Most likely it could be a software derived feature. While conceptually easy to understand, we really do not know how much additional codelines are required and whether the older ZonePlayers (or even the current models) have enough internal memory to accept the additional coding.

I suspect that the newer ZonePlayers have enough room for larger update files, but the older models may nay not. This may render anyone with older ZPs with a unhappy choice.

Or it may entail having a mixed Sonos system that must operate at the "least common denominator". It may require that Sonos have multiple software/firmware downloads pushed out to their users. Not something any company wants to manage if at all possible.

We all want enhanced and additional features. Most of them are conceptually pleasing and easy to understand. Implementing them is another thing all together. Some of us have a slight inkling of the complexity involved in programming changes and are willing to cut Sonos some slack. Some are not.

Generally, if (insert request here) was easy to implement, it would have been done by now. Sonos has been quite responsive to customer requests. See: http://forums.sonos.com/showthread.php?t=29154 for the most current list of enhancements.

If replicating a Sonos system was an easy reach, we would have seen multiple robust competitors arrive by now (as in the smartphone arena). That we haven't, speaks to some bigger barriers-to-entry (technical, financial, legal, etc.) that hint to the complexity of the product.

Best of Luck

[Tomahawk51]

UPDATE: glad I was merged with this thread, and glad the sentiment exists. I guess (+1) might have sufficed

I have a multi sonos zone, multi floor, home. I often fire up 1 floor of my house and find myself in a room wanting to extend the audio - but I don't have a controller handy.

What if I (we) could tap the MUTE button 2 or 3 times to add a given unit to another zone (or collection of zones) already playing content? It would be excellent, of course.

If there is more than 1 zone playing, then double/triple clicking would cycle through the zones. It would/could only apply to sources actually transmitting a source.

It could furthermore be exposed in an "advanced features" preference to keep newbs from getting confused (though I think risk is low with 3x click). It might also be a framework for other people to configure the triple click to do something different than what I want (e.g. loudness on/off).

[Buegie]

Originally Posted by Tomahawk51

I have a multi sonos zone, multi floor, home. I often fire up 1 floor of my house and find myself in a room wanting to extend the audio - but I don't have a controller handy.

Best to buy or 'obtain' more controllers while you wait for your desired update (a possibly long..ish wait at that).

Used iPod Touch's/iPods/older iPhones and cheap Android phones that can download the Sonos App all can be used as controllers.

We got a few iPhone3G units free from folks we knew who were upgrading. I have heard of an 'on-sale' $30 Android phone that can run the Sonos App.

Just have enough to leave one in every room where there is a Sonos 'box'.

Or at least have a smartphone on your person while moving around the house (if practical).

The above options are faster than waiting for an update that may never arrive or if it does, not satisfy your specific needs....

YMMV

Best of Luck

[amun]

A lot of the time, I simply play a large set on CDs on repeat (e.g. complete Mozart set, etc). To start and stop the music I have to locate and start up a controller, wait for it to find a network etc just to start/pause playing.

The mute button on a sonos (e.g. ZP90) is probably detected by software, so could be programmed to be a pause button instead. The preferred function could then be selected via the controller software.

End result - walk in, switch on the amp and press a button on the Sonos - instant music.

[niso01]

I miss one thing on the Sonos PLAY:5 which I had on my Squeezebox Radio, the "Stop" button.
I would like to be able to configure the "Mute" button to be a "Pause/Stop" button instead (software). Is that possible? It would be even better if it could be possible to have a "Play/Pause" button.

[njhm]

Rather than the mute button on Sonos devices just cutting the sound off, and leaving the source streaming, I would prefer the button to pause/re start the stream so that, for example, a radio station could be re started at a push of the button. This would only require a software change to play/pause as the button would still effectively mute the sound anyway.

[gaz]

Though that change would suit you, it wouldn't suit everyone. For instance, I often group two zones (different rooms) together. As I share my home with my family, they'd be pretty fed up if they couldn't mute a room they are in to maybe take a phone call etc. If they stopped the stream to do that then I'd not find that too convenient if I was happily listening in the other zone.

Sonos have gone for simplicity in on-device controls, so that limits what can be done. What suits one person won't necessarily suit another.

[Dr Tchok]

I thinks this may have been suggested before. Apologies njhm, but I'm with Gaz on this...

T

[ritkit]

It would be nice to control what the buttons do when an alarm is going off. I am fairly lazy to wake up and so I just instantly mute my Play:5. What I would like to do is disable the buttons so I have to turn on my phone, unlock it, select the sonos app then select pause. That would surely wake me up.

However I was also thinking adding the function to make the buttons a "snooze" button would be a good additional feature. Make sure the snooze time can be changed.