Sonos Early Black Friday Sale Has 20% Off Home Theater Audio Bundles This Weekend Only

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Nothing Apple-like about about an ecosystem that only supports Alexa for voice commands and smart home commands.
This is my major issue with Sonos, not enough integration with the Apple Ecosystem outside of AirPlay.

Siri command capabilities and HP "smarts" (equivalent) are on all of the other Apple tech we Apple people own. I don't use Alexa (but could turn it on and use those smarts too if I wanted). I sometimes order Siri to play music in <room or rooms> with Sonos speakers... and it "just works."

Yes, the Mics on the Sonos speakers themselves are not hearing Siri commands... but I have enough Apple stuff laying around that can "hear" Siri commands that I could command Siri in every room in my house, in every closet in my house, out in the garage or yard and up in the attic... with probably a few more from the neighbors home too. If an Apple person owns Macs, iDevices, Watch or AppleTVs, they all have Siri command capability (and thus HP smarts) built into them. Command them and Sonos speakers readily function like HP speakers... MINUS the tight walled garden limitations, MINUS the "no AUX port", etc.

As to other integration like HP, Sonos works just as well with:

• Apple Music,
• Airplay,
• HomeKit.

I'm going to assume you just didn't quite know all this vs. purposely writing stuff to try to misinform or confuse other people. Whatever the case, now you know and/or anyone else can know. I can command Siri to play anything in Apple Music to any Sonos speakers I have. I'm simply doing that with the readily-accessible Siri on all of the other Apple tech I- and presumably you and anyone else reading this- own.

And if I want a true surround sound setup, or a subwoofer for deeper bass, etc, that's all already worked out and refined by Sonos and "just works" today... not hypothetically at some point in the future if Apple decides they ever want HPs to go there. And if I secretly like Spotify or Tidal or Pandora or all kinds of not-Apple music services too, I can enjoy them "native" through my Sonos speakers instead of hoping that someday they all cut deals with Apple to get approval to be HP native. Recently, it was announced that YouTube Music went native on HPs. Great. Now about 130 more to go. Here's a good list of hopefuls already native on Sonos.

None of this is an attack on Apple or HPs. One can simply get the bulk of HP benefits from Sonos... and a whole lot of desirable features that may or may not ever come to HPs. Anyone still in doubt can buy one speaker and try it for themselves. Best Buy has the 14 day return policy. If it doesn't play anything you want from Apple Music, receive anything you want to throw to it from Airplay, or allow Siri to stream any Apple Music or AM playlists to it, return it. It WILL "just work" as I've described it. I use mine like this just about every day.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

This is not true. Sonos does not work with HomeKit in any useful way. It shows up as a speaker in the home app but no Sonos speaker with a mic can control anything in HomeKit. Also the claim that Siri commands work is false. Sonos speakers only support Alexa (they dropped Google assistant support)

What I offered is true. Assign Sonos speakers to HomeKit "rooms" then "Hey Siri" any Apple device that can hear Siri commands- which is all of the principle ones- to play anything from Apple Music (including playlists) on them and it "just works." I readily command Siri to do this very thing often.

You are spitting hairs here by making it seem like the ONLY way to use speakers and/or Siri or Homekit is through microphones on the speakers. Any Apple person has access to command Siri in the rest of the products (too): Mac, iDevices, AppleTV, Watch. Set those up to listen for Siri commands just like HPs listen for Siri commands and Siri is at your disposal just as readily as using the Mics on HPs... BETTER in my opinion since it's likely that phone and/or watch are with you in parts of your home where you have no HP mics able to hear you.

If you constrain it all to only using HP Mics to "hear" Siri commands, then one can only buy HP for that. But long before HP was a thing, any Apple person could verbally command Siri with the rest of the lineup. That still works at least as well.

Here's the "how" in black & white with Sonos. I do exactly this kind of thing often to enjoy my AM music & playlists on my Sonos speakers. It works just fine.

 

[Mabsport]

Love my Sonos set up. Arc soundbar with 2 Sonos ones gen 2s as rears and its amazing for sound. Have my Apple TV running through it all and Dolby Atmos is fine and not experienced and pops.

 

[ikramerica]

Lost me at soundbar, id rather buy decent powered speakers and just go two channel at that point. Im an audio snob of course.

I got two of these (Sonance in wall+Sonos Amp) for my new house because they were on super sale but only ended up installing one. I had to get a bigger back box to hold the Frame base unit and appleTV as well as the sonos amp, but it all works perfectly and the system sounds great and is unobtrusive in a dining room, with the frame turning into a picture when turned off.

Sonance MAG SSTVAUDIO Mag Series Sonos Powered 2.0 Channel Soundbar Alternative (Each) Paintable White SSTVAUDIO - Best Buy

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[darthbane2k]

What I offered is true. Assign Sonos speakers to HomeKit "rooms" then "Hey Siri" any Apple device that can hear Siri commands- which is all of the principle ones- to play anything from Apple Music (including playlists) on them and it "just works." I readily command Siri to do this very thing often.

You are spitting hairs here by making it seem like the ONLY way to use speakers and/or Siri or Homekit is through microphones on the speakers. Any Apple person has access to command Siri in the rest of the products (too): Mac, iDevices, AppleTV, Watch. Set those up to listen for Siri commands just like HPs listen for Siri commands and Siri is at your disposal just as readily as using the Mics on HPs... BETTER in my opinion since it's likely that phone and/or watch are with you in parts of your home where you have no HP mics able to hear you.

If you constrain it all to only using HP Mics to "hear" Siri commands, then one can only buy HP for that. But long before HP was a thing, any Apple person could verbally command Siri with the rest of the lineup. That still works at least as well.

Here's the "how" in black & white with Sonos. I do exactly this kind of thing often to enjoy my AM music & playlists on my Sonos speakers. It works just fine.

I hear you but this takes away a major convenience that HomePods offer. Commanding the speaker itself. Also having to state the name of the speaker is a pain. Eg play music in the kitchen. Eg exactly how Sonos works with Alexa. I want that but with Siri.

You say Sonos works just as well with HomeKit as HP but that’s just not true. Can I tell Sonos to control my heating, control my lighting? Set a HomeKit scene which also happens to include specific music? Can I command a Sonos speaker in my bedroom to switch on and off the TV like my homepod can? No I can’t. Well I can , if I go down the Alexa route which I do not want to do.

Fact of the matter is Sonos needs to up their integration with the Apple Ecosystem or rather Apple should just buy them. Homepods are a solution but Apple are just neglecting that platform and they are too unreliable.

Don’t get me wrong. I like Sonos speakers, they are in most cases really good quality. However integration with the Apple ecosystem is equally important to me and Sonos have neglected that area. If they sorted this out, I too would probably go all in on Sonos. I think the company need to take this seriously especially now as they’ve also dropped Google Assistant support. In terms of ‘smarts’ they support nothing but Amazon.
I also hate the Sonos app.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I hear you but this takes away a major convenience that HomePods offer. Commanding the speaker itself. Also having to state the name of the speaker is a pain. Eg play music in the kitchen. Eg exactly how Sonos works with Alexa. I want that but with Siri.

You say Sonos works just as well with HomeKit as HP but that’s just not true. Can I tell Sonos to control my heating, control my lighting? Set a HomeKit scene which also happens to include specific music? Can I command a Sonos speaker in my bedroom to switch on and off the TV like my homepod can? No I can’t. Well I can , if I go down the Alexa route which I do not want to do.

Fact of the matter is Sonos needs to up their integration with the Apple Ecosystem or rather Apple should just buy them. Homepods are a solution but Apple are just neglecting that platform and they are too unreliable.

Don’t get me wrong. I like Sonos speakers, they are in most cases really good quality. However integration with the Apple ecosystem is equally important to me and Sonos have neglected that area. If they sorted this out, I too would probably go all in on Sonos. I think the company need to take this seriously especially now as they’ve also dropped Google Assistant support. In terms of ‘smarts’ they support nothing but Amazon.
I also hate the Sonos app.

Paragraph 2: is HP Siri the only way to adjust lighting or heating, etc. for you? What if you order iPhone Siri, Watch Siri, Mac Siri to do the same? Again, you are letting on that ONLY HPs can use Siri to do HomeKit things when ANY Siri can hear such commands and do them… including Siri on those things from rooms in which you have no HPs.

Any Apple person likely has plenty of Siri to command even if they own zero HPs. And if they have a house full of Sonos instead and put those Sonos speakers in HomeKit, all those other Siri-listening mics on Apple tech will allow voice commands to play Apple Music on them… no Alexa required. To clarify…

I own ZERO HPs. But I verbally command Siri throughout my home to do HomeKit things…including play Apple Music on Sonos speakers. It “just works.”

Every major device sold by Apple in the last approx. decade has Siri “smarts” in them. They can “hear” commands just like HPs to adjust lighting or heating, etc, HomeKit actions are NOT a HP exclusive.

Last paragraph: it very well could be “lazy” Sonos NOT making the time to work more deeply with proprietary Apple technology… OR it could be Apple Inc not allowing additional Siri flexibility on Sonos. What other third party hardware has rich use of Siri? None? Oh, I guess they are ALL lazy???

If Apple allowed the same openness of Siri access and use as Amazon and Google, I would guess LOTS of third party stuff that uses voice would include the Siri option…especially Sonos who seems to have abundant energy to make their speakers openly work with everything, connect with everything, etc. But let’s blame the “not-Apple” players because the Apple can never be at fault in any such matters.

All that offered, I think HPs sound great and acknowledge that Siri users can readily enjoy more Siri in rooms where they put HPs without leaning on Siri in their Watch or phone or AppleTV or Mac. However, since phone and/or watch is pretty much glued to Apple people anyway, they already have Siri smarts(?) in every nook & cranny inside AND outside their home… ready to turn on lighting & heating, unlock doors, play music on ANY HomeKit speakers, etc.

 

[darthbane2k]

Any Apple person likely has plenty of Siri to command even if they own zero HPs. And if they have a house full of Sonos instead and put those Sonos speakers in HomeKit, all those other Siri-listening mics on Apple tech will allow voice commands to play Apple Music on them… no Alexa required. To clarify…

I own ZERO HPs. But I verbally command Siri throughout my home to do HomeKit things…including play Apple Music on Sonos speakers. It “just works.”

Every major device sold by Apple in the last approx. decade has Siri “smarts” in them. They can “hear” commands just like HPs to adjust lighting or heating, etc, HomeKit actions are NOT a HP exclusive.

I didn't say HomeKit actions are HP exclusive. Im sorry but I much prefer just commanding Siri to do something on the fly then having to find my iPhone or iPad to do so. Thats a major convenience. Also HomePod knows what room im in , so if I say 'turn on the TV' or 'turn off the lights' it knows which to control. I dont have that level of specificity on my iPhone / iPad / watch unless I explicitly state the room.
Secondly what about just commanding Siri / HomePod to add a playing song to your library (if for example you're listening to radio or somebody else's playlist) - also a convenience.

Again I am not attacking Sonos speakers - they are mainly great at their main function. I am expressing frustration at the lack of ecosystem integration. For the level of financial commitment required of a Sonos system (I do own several Sonos speakers too by the way), I really dont want to compromise on user experience.

 

[darthbane2k]

Last paragraph: it very well could be “lazy” Sonos NOT making the time to work more deeply with proprietary Apple technology… OR it could be Apple Inc not allowing additional Siri flexibility on Sonos. What other third party hardware has rich use of Siri? None? Oh, I guess they are ALL lazy???

Again you're wrong.

Apple introduces Siri for third-party devices

Plus, new features for the Apple TV.

www.theverge.com

 

[Aggedor]

Hang on, I'm confused by this thread.

I have several Sonos speakers and set-ups, and none of them integrate with Apple stuff. Siri is not available, so I have to use Google Assistant (which then controls my smart home stuff like lights), and Apple Music is not supported (so I have to manually access Apple Music in the Sonos app to play anything).

Have I missed a setting somewhere that enables all of this Apple integration?

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Again you're wrong.

Apple introduces Siri for third-party devices

Plus, new features for the Apple TV.

www.theverge.com

So where is all this Siri third party stuff? Words are cheap. Recall what Steve Jobs himself offered about the open standardization of FaceTime. Where is all that over a decade later?

It's easy to say such things. How much does it cost third parties to integrate Siri vs. Alexa and Google? What cut does Apple demand to use Siri instead of the others? If it is as readily available as the others, why do so many things seem to still choose to use the others?

 

[darthbane2k]

Hang on, I'm confused by this thread.

I have several Sonos speakers and set-ups, and none of them integrate with Apple stuff. Siri is not available, so I have to use Google Assistant (which then controls my smart home stuff like lights), and Apple Music is not supported (so I have to manually access Apple Music in the Sonos app to play anything).

Have I missed a setting somewhere that enables all of this Apple integration?

Sonos doesn't support anything Apple natively apart from Airplay - that's my point. The poster I was debating with claims the solution is to just use your iPhone / iPad / watch to do the Siri and HomeKit control. To me that isn't good enough. Sonos are even dropping Google integration from its new range of speakers. It's just going to be an Amazon speaker soon enough.

No Google Assistant on Era 100/300 - support for existing speakers | Sonos Community

So the Sonos Era 100 and 300 have been officially announced - without support for Google Assistant.The following article from The Verge (https://www.theverge.com/23627044/sonos-era-300-100-announced-price-features-hands-on) mentions this: ‘Sonos says this is due to changes that Google has...

en.community.sonos.com

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Hang on, I'm confused by this thread.

I have several Sonos speakers and set-ups, and none of them integrate with Apple stuff. Siri is not available, so I have to use Google Assistant (which then controls my smart home stuff like lights), and Apple Music is not supported (so I have to manually access Apple Music in the Sonos app to play anything).

Have I missed a setting somewhere that enables all of this Apple integration?

Yes. Here's how to use Siri to voice command Sonos speakers

As Darthbane2K says, Sonos mics are not hearing Siri commands directly... but all of your other Siri-capable devices like Watch, Phone, AppleTV, Mac, etc can hear Siri commands just as well. They all have Siri, able to be actively listening and ready to play any HomeKit-connected speakers... such as Sonos speakers.

As described in that linked example's Siri commands, I do exactly that with my Sonos speakers regularly. It works fine. Rather than read debates in an online forum, just try it yourself and you'll soon be hearing music coming from Sonos speakers following your own Siri commands. It certainly works.

To take the example to an extreme: I have classic "dumb" speakers too- fully brainless with no microphones (speaker part only)- connected to a Receiver and Siri commands can make music play on those too, because AppleTV in HomeKit connected to that Receiver can make "dumb" speakers play on command. Order (any) Siri (equipped device) to play music on those brainless speakers and it plays. "Siri Play Jazz playlist in Home Theater." Dumb speakers start playing the jazz playlist.

As to Apple Music, I have my favorite playlists set up in Apple Music and that's what I am mostly commanding Siri to play on Sonos (or dumb) Speakers: "Siri, play classic rock playlist in living room." My AM classic rock playlist starts playing in the living room.

Siri smarts(?) are Siri smarts(?). They are not exclusive to HPs. If you have an iPhone, you can command Siri in that phone... even if you own ZERO HPs. If you have Watch, Siri smarts are on your wrist. AppleTV? Mac? Old retired hardware with Siri could be "dusted off" and made one-purpose devices: Siri listening for commands in rooms far from speaker hardware. Got a drawer full of old phones/pads/iPod touch and want more Siri ears listening for orders? Pull them out, plug them in, connect them to your network and place them wherever you want Siri ears. Make your lighting/heating/music playing/etc orders through ANY of them.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

And Sonos are even dropping Google integration from its new range of speakers. It's just going to be an Amazon speaker soon enough.

No Google Assistant on Era 100/300 - support for existing speakers | Sonos Community

So the Sonos Era 100 and 300 have been officially announced - without support for Google Assistant.The following article from The Verge (https://www.theverge.com/23627044/sonos-era-300-100-announced-price-features-hands-on) mentions this: ‘Sonos says this is due to changes that Google has...

en.community.sonos.com

AFAIC, no big loss on Google drop. I'm an Apple guy. I like to use Siri to make my Sonos speakers play.

My guess is that they studied usage and saw that Alexa got most of the use vs. Google. They also have their own voice control option- "Hey Sonos"- but I choose to use Siri instead myself.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I didn't say HomeKit actions are HP exclusive. Im sorry but I much prefer just commanding Siri to do something on the fly then having to find my iPhone or iPad to do so. Thats a major convenience. Also HomePod knows what room im in , so if I say 'turn on the TV' or 'turn off the lights' it knows which to control. I dont have that level of specificity on my iPhone / iPad / watch unless I explicitly state the room.
Secondly what about just commanding Siri / HomePod to add a playing song to your library (if for example you're listening to radio or somebody else's playlist) - also a convenience.

Again I am not attacking Sonos speakers - they are mainly great at their main function. I am expressing frustration at the lack of ecosystem integration. For the level of financial commitment required of a Sonos system (I do own several Sonos speakers too by the way), I really dont want to compromise on user experience.

Is finding your phone tedious? It's not- say- on you? No Watch attached to your wrist? No Apple tech able to hear Siri requests in the same room where you place a speaker? I can call out to Siri at a distance on Siri devices just as one can command Siri at a distance on HPs. An iPhone can "hear" commands just as readily as a speaker.

It sounds like you put some distance between yourself and all other Siri ears when in HP rooms. If so, HPs are ideal for you. However, I would guess that Apple people generally have their phone on them or nearby... and/or Watch too. And those Siri ears are just as active and ready to do whatever one wants Siri to do.

 

[darthbane2k]

So where is all this Siri third party stuff? Words are cheap. Recall what Steve Jobs himself offered about the open standardization of FaceTime. Where is all that over a decade later?

It's easy to say such things. How much does it cost third parties to integrate Siri vs. Alexa and Google? What cut does Apple demand to use Siri instead of the others? If it is as readily available as the others, why do so many things seem to still choose to use the others?

What do you mean words are cheap? A feature is a feature. Sonos decided against implementing it because of their business model.

 

[darthbane2k]

Is finding your phone tedious? It's not- say- on you? No Watch attached to your wrist? No Apple tech able to hear Siri requests in the same room where you place a speaker? I can call out to Siri at a distance on Siri devices just as one can command Siri at a distance on HPs. An iPhone can "hear" commands just as readily as a speaker.

It sounds like you put some distance between yourself and all other Siri ears when in HP rooms. If so, HPs are ideal for you. However, I would guess that Apple people generally have their phone on them or nearby... and/or Watch too. And those Siri ears are just as active and ready to do whatever one wants Siri to do.

Have you never had guests at your house who just to listen to music on the fly? Or never had your hands full cooking and just want to command your speaker to play something in the background without fiddling with your phone?

 

[darthbane2k]

Siri smarts(?) are Siri smarts(?). They are not exclusive to HPs. If you have an iPhone, you can command Siri in that phone... even if you own ZERO HPs. If you have Watch, Siri smarts are on your wrist. AppleTV? Mac? Old retired hardware with Siri could be "dusted off" and made one-purpose devices: Siri listening for commands in rooms far from speaker hardware. Got a drawer full of old phones/pads/iPod touch and want more Siri ears listening for orders? Pull them out, plug them in, connect them to your network and place them wherever you want Siri ears. Make your lighting/heating/music playing/etc orders through ANY of them.

Again this is too much of a compromise. Agreed that some are less bothered than others about it, but me personally - I enjoy tight integration between devices in the Apple ecosystem.

I guarantee that if Sonos speakers supported Siri commands and could talk to HomeKit devices , you’d enjoy your setup a whole lot more.

Again I can say ‘turn on the TV’ and my bedroom homepod knows where it is and what specific tv I am talking about. My iPhone needs to be told explicitly and that is just cumbersome.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

What do you mean words are cheap? A feature is a feature. Sonos decided against implementing it because of their business model.

Any proof for that claim? Sonos wouldn't be harmed by making their speakers work with more stuff. So are you speculating or can you point to any proof?

I'll speculate: Siri is available to implement in third party stuff but Apple wants a nice big cut of revenue and/or a nice big fee. So most companies choose the cost savings of implementing the more popular voice assistants and/or creating their own too.

It's the same- in general- with many HomeKit-capable things: support HomeKit and the price is about 30%-40% higher, support the other variations and save the 30%+. I wonder where that 30%+ goes?

My paragraph #2 is speculation because I don't know that for sure. But Sonos being FAR more open than HPs makes me more easily assume that if Siri cost no more than Alexa/Google/DIY, Siri would be native too.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Again this is too much of a compromise. Agreed that some are less bothered than others about it, but me personally - I enjoy tight integration between devices in the Apple ecosystem.

I guarantee that if Sonos speakers supported Siri commands and could talk to HomeKit devices , you’d enjoy your setup a whole lot more.

Again I can say ‘turn on the TV’ and my bedroom homepod knows where it is and what specific tv I am talking about. My iPhone needs to be told explicitly and that is just cumbersome.

"Turn on bedroom TV" is more cumbersome than "Turn on the TV"? Oh I see, one more syllable. Yes, exhausting. Now I understand.

 

[JamesHolden]

AFAIC, no big loss on Google drop. I'm an Apple guy. I like to use Siri to make my Sonos speakers play.

My guess is that they studied usage and saw that Alexa got most of the use vs. Google. They also have their own voice control option- "Hey Sonos"- but I choose to use Siri instead myself.

Google and Sonos have been in a legal battle and I imagine that’s why Sonos dropped support.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/litig...25-mln-verdict-sonos-patent-fight-2023-10-09/

 

[JamesHolden]

Have you never had guests at your house who just to listen to music on the fly? Or never had your hands full cooking and just want to command your speaker to play something in the background without fiddling with your phone?

First world problems. I’m glad Siri hasn’t infected my Sonos system. Siri is just plain awful. I can grab my phone, find the music I want and have it playing in less time than it takes to go through multiple attempts at getting Siri to do something. I think lack of Siri support is actually a Sonos selling point.

 

[darthbane2k]

First world problems. I’m glad Siri hasn’t infected my Sonos system. Siri is just plain awful. I can grab my phone, find the music I want and have it playing in less time than it takes to go through multiple attempts at getting Siri to do something. I think lack of Siri support is actually a Sonos selling point.

First world problems is an understatement lol!

But yeah fair enough, if you don’t care about HomeKit why would you miss Siri? But Sonos consider Alexa support a selling point so…

In terms of grabbing your phone , yeah you can do that I’m presuming you’re not referring to the Sonos app though and are referring to airplay from Apple Music or Spotify connect? because that Sonos app is an abomination in terms of software design.

 

[darthbane2k]

"Turn on bedroom TV" is more cumbersome than "Turn on the TV"? Oh I see, one more syllable. Yes, exhausting. Now I understand.

Yes one more syllable makes all rhe difference.
you seriously going to attempt to argue that a speaker knowing what room it is in and what other accessories are in that room is a bad thing?
If Sonos supported this you’d be singing its praises.

The reason all of you take this so personally is because of the huge financial investment you’ve likely made to the Sonos ecosystem.
However better integration with the Apple ecosystem would make Sonos a better platform / product for everyone. None of what I suggest would be a disadvantage.

 

[darthbane2k]

Any proof for that claim? Sonos wouldn't be harmed by making their speakers work with more stuff. So are you speculating or can you point to any proof?

Sonos urges regulation of big tech, criticizes Apple’s plans to open Siri to third-parties using HomePod - 9to5Mac

The latest big tech antitrust hearing is being held by US lawmakers today and Sonos is the main party testifying....

9to5mac.com

Proof enough for you?

 

[JamesHolden]

First world problems is an understatement lol!

😜

But yeah fair enough, if you don’t care about HomeKit why would you miss Siri? But Sonos consider Alexa support a selling point so…

I don't care about HomeKit. The idea of a "smart home" sounds nice, but in reality I don't think any of these system are a great user experience. By the time I bark commands and hope they are understood the first time, I can just get up and tap the light switch. I just built a house and my electrician tried very hard to sell me on Josh AI. He took me over to a house that had it installed and I got to play around with it. It's an infinitely better system for home automation than HomeKit, Alexa, etc...and I still found it cumbersome.

As for Sonos, I added Sonos to my Home setup (I have one smart home item, a door lock!) and I found the user experience terrible because, as usual, Siri did not understand half the things I told her to do. I use Siri for setting timers. She's excellent at that! But everything else...not so good.

So, yeah, I see no compelling reason to jump on the home automation train.

In terms of grabbing your phone , yeah you can do that I’m presuming you’re not referring to the Sonos app though and are referring to airplay from Apple Music or Spotify connect? because that Sonos app is an abomination in terms of software design.

I don't agree. The Sonos app isn't amazing, but it's very functional and does a good job of supporting hundreds of different services. It's certainly no worse than navigating Apple's horrendous Music app.