Sonos: Modes no longer available with recent UI update

[mhertlein]

The latest Sonos app on my iPhone doesn't seem to allow choosing different modes (Deep Cuts) through Pandora.  I can do it in Pandora via my Pandora app or the website but that doesn't then apply to the Pandora through Sonos setup.  

The other problem about getting variety by using Thumbs Up/Down doesn't work.  The Thumbs Down does prevent music from being played but the Thumbs Up just means that individual song gets played more often, which totally defeats the purpose.  I've been trying this for years and it has always been the same thing.  I don't understand how when I add a band to my created station only about 6 songs from that band get played even though they may have 100 songs on their collective albums.  Why not default to playing everything from a band rather than the 6 songs your programmer thinks should be played.  Id rather skip or thumbs down if there are too many some than. hear the same songs over and over and over and over.  Especially since Sonos doesn't allow the changing of modes through Pandora anymore.

[TannerPandora]

Hi @mhertlein 

To confirm, you're on the Sonos app with the new UI?

Did the options to pick a Mode on your Stations through the Sonos app disappear or when you choose a Mode, it's none responsive to the station?

Can you still cast from the Pandora app and use Modes on your Sonos?

Thanks for the help.

[mhertlein]

I can choose Deep Cuts from my Pandora app or from the website but within the new Sonos app with the new UI the choice to change modes within Pandora no longer exists.  It has disappeared completely.

Even if they did exist it doesn't explain why when I add a band to a station I've created that only a handful of songs even get played.  As well the Thumbs Up thing only increases the number of times I hear that specific song and nothing else from that band.  I've since gone in and removed all my Thumbs Up.  The Thumbs Downs I've kept because those do what a normal person would expect that they do.  Casting is not an option in my setup as non of my Sonos speakers are current enough to support that.  I can, however, cast from Pandora to my Apple TV or home theater receiver.

I run Pandora about 15 hours a day so I'm pretty in tune with how much stuff gets replayed. Another quirk is how you can hear 10,000 Maniacs followed by a Natalie Merchant song and that the algorithm isn't smart enough to recognize the problem with that when I have 10-20 other bands assigned to that station. For some reason it loves playing a large variety of Van Morrison but literally no other band gets more than about 6 songs.

Moderator Edit: Merged posts

[TannerPandora]

Thanks for the confirmation, @mhertlein. I've let our engineering team know about your experience with Modes missing on Sonos so that they can look into this further.

I've also passed along your feedback to our Stations team around the repetitive experience you've reported when listening to your stations. While I don't have any troubleshooting steps to provide that I believe would resolve this immediately, I do believe that your efforts to edit your thumbs will help improve your experience. Additionally, Stations tend to work best with no more than 5 seeds. If you're able to edit your seed list I'd also recommend that.

Thanks for your patience in the meantime.

[mhertlein]

Funny thing is is that after my last post the next day my Pandora through Sonos was doing EXACTLY what I hoped it would always do and that is to play deep cuts that I never hear from my seed bands.  It was almost like you made the switch to my account and it became everything I wanted it to be.  Unfortunately it lasted for about a day and is now back doing what it always does.

I'm also not sure how giving a Thumbs Up to a song (which has consistently failed me in the past) will improve my experience.  If the bands I've used to seed a station are only getting 5-6 songs played why do I have to thumbs up songs by them since I've already told Pandora I like these specific bands.  I'll say it again, doing Thumbs Up has made my experience worse by playing those specific songs too often.  This is also the first I'm hearing about having too many seed bands.  One of the functions available is to 'Add Variety' by choosing other songs or bands.