New Sonos search interface

[dbuttric]

Have you taken a look at the new Sonos search interface?
The old interface works fine.
Is it possible to get the new search interface working?

Thanks!
David

[simojenki]

I didn't even know that there was a new one. I'll take a look

[Jypy]

Hi, did you have a chance to take a look at the new search ?
Thanks.

[simojenki]

No, sorry, too many things going on at the moment

[Jypy]

No worries, thanks for replying.

[l-mb]

I briefly looked at this now (as in, real briefly, I am very unfamiliar with typescript) since it's a somewhat annoying error message in the app.

However, I think I found a snag: https://docs.sonos.com/docs/add-search#all-search-category

Search requests will come from a central Sonos cloud service, not from the user’s clients.

I'm unsure how this could be implemented in a bonob/Navidrome setting on a private LAN.

[simojenki]

That's a problem, that breaks the self-hosted ethos of the entire thing.

It's also mildly concerning that Sonos have stuck their servers in the middle of a basic use case of search.

[ecker00]

Oh this is bad, I really hope the old search sticks around!

Long term we have to implement a part of bonob which is exposed to the internet and can accept these requests. Search is essential imo for it to be usable.

[simojenki]

There is nothing stopping bonob from exposing this api, it would likely require a much more complicated set up for users though;

• open firewall ports to the Sonos IPs and route traffic to bonob
• configure bonob using either public IPs or public DNS so that Sonos servers can locate it

[l-mb]

I have Navidrome itself behind a reverse proxy, so adding an additional host to that for bonob wouldn't be too difficult to setup and document. But I really don't want to open my music library up to Sonos themselves for indexing.

I'm really not sure what Sonos's idea in good faith for this could be - all media providers must, after all, already be accessible by the clients anyway otherwise they couldn't play the media, so the only obvious explanation here seems to be Sonos data mining?

I wonder if anyone has contacts at Sonos to reach out to about this detail of their API?

(Or at least if v1 search is going to stay around, which would be fine.)

[simojenki]

What happens with locally indexed files in this new search API? Or does it only work with external services?

[l-mb]

Since we all can just speculate on Sonos's side, I've decided to ask a few questions over on the Sonos forum, let's see how that goes: https://en.community.sonos.com/advanced-setups-229133/v2-sonos-search-api-for-a-local-content-service-6890521

[drohhyn]

I've tried to contact sonos roughly 2 weeks ago about this issue and even linked similar threads like @l-mb including the question "How long will the "Switch to Classic Search" workaround be available?"
Their only reaction yet?

We haven't heard from you in a while. We wanted to follow up and ensure that you received the help you needed.

[drohhyn]

I have updates. Some side notes about privacy policy (doesnt add anything to the case because from my perspective we currently search our own data with privacy BY DESIGN), but one important statement:

In the meantime, all music services remain compatible with Classic Search. Rest assured, Classic Search will remain available for users who prefer this option.

I've asked how long the classic search will be available again. For me, this solution would be enough. I do not want to have a solution where I have to provide unnecessary data to any cloud service, just for searching.

[simojenki]

If Sonos devices stop working without calling back to base then I'd remove them all and replace with something else. It would be a shame as the ecosystem is nice to use, however with the endless quest for more corporate growth perhaps enshitification is the natural end state for all these things.

[ecker00]

Agree with above sentiments, I suggest this issue is marked as closed. Using the Classic Search is the way to go,

[drohhyn]

Okay, obviously they lied. Just 2 months later the Android app does not provide the "classic search" anymore. In addition: bonob is no longer in my "music services" list.
I am more than angry.