Future Features flip flop
Answered
Hardware wise, BlueSound has very much nailed it as Best in Class/Category if there were Awards the race is won.
Their sales would likely vastly increase if the UI became much, much better.
Feature Requests list a great number of actual user ideas for a better interface and new modes, pages and pages.
Many are met with platitudes and state they’ve been passed on.
One user stated the NAD CEO’s improvement plan, but that was 5 months ago.
Pretty certain many who’ve contributed would like to see some progress list of what dev work has been prioritised in order of importance, and maybe even a timeline as well. Shouldn’t be a commercial in confidence issue as all competitors are a few streets ahead, but it might be a sign to install some confidence in the not inconsiderable investment users have made in BlueSound products and their considered input to the thread.
If not, why continue with a Topic that seemingly goes into the Cloud without a return path.
I’ve multiple BlueSound products, after having tried 2 other brands, and the hardware is definitely the best, and post this in the hope that the SW UI component improves to equal or better the competition.
from the Header
Suggest ideas. Vote for the best. See what's planned.
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Official comment
Good day, as the product owner for BluOS and the apps I can tell you that we have an extensive roadmap for updates to the apps. The updates are both visual and backend and reflect the changes to the overall market. We have engaged our designers to create an overall better experience. This also takes time and must be in parallel with BluOS as the core of the information sent to the apps comes from BluOS or triggers from BluOS. The roadmap goes out for a couple years in terms of current plans. Some of the legacy things that need badly to get updated (shuffle, in-service playlist mgmt, general communication, timers, presets) are all part of the updates planned. As most organizations we will not post a roadmap or a date. Many things happen and as such dates shift, bugs take time to find and fix and it's better to say it's now ready than publish a list that shifts around every quarter. Our team reads everything we can find from a qualitative customer feedback perspective and we are grateful to receive thoughts and ideas, so happy to see things like vote for the best and so forth, so please keep that coming, and also include as wide an audience as possible for the discussion.
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totally agree I was disappointed to find that this was a user comment and not the manufacturers roadmap
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i live in hope for some Bluesound comment, but will hang in until especially as the CEO has noted interest.
At this stage it’s 2 out of 3, unless I overlooked the 3 when trawling all comments from the beginning.
“Suggest ideas. Vote for the best. See what's planned”Agustin’s post re CEO.
https://support1.bluesound.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/1500000313341/comments/1500000632322
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Hi Andrew H
Pleased that you have a roadmap, not so pleased that you can't divulge!
I read this post specifically looking for some information about a firmware update for the new Node which enables output via USB. Having just purchased the Node mainly as a controller for my Mytek DAC and on the basis that this facility would be available in the very near future I was particularly interested to know exactly when this was coming. If it is likely to be 2 years as you say in the above (roadmap goes out for a couple years in terms of current plans), then I think I'll be looking to return the Node to Amazon.
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I’m pleased that Andrew H. has responded and enlightened on the future of BluOS, where improvements are planned, incorporating some user requests. Some dismay in that the Roadmap is slated for a period of years, by which time alternatives may be further advanced in UI.
I posted to push the agenda that the best hardware needs improved UI, as buyers may purchase on perceived ease of use rather than the “back end” physical product that is superior to the others I have bought, used, then sold in order to achieve better quality audio, finally found in Bluesound. 4 Flex 2i Vault 2i Soundbar 2i, a considerable investment.As Andrew H’s official comment lays it out, and not knowing the intricacies of the Community Board, it would be useful if it were “pinned” at the head of this section, otherwise it will be consigned to the ravages of time and succeeding posts.
it could take the place of part of the sub header “ See what’s planned “ which appears redundant.
“ As most organizations we will not post a roadmap or a date “0 -
Andrew, you appear to be somewhat new to software development. I get that, Lenbrook is obobviously a hardware company.
I've been doing it for decades, and I can assure you that most veteran software development shops AND hardware manufacturers publish roadmaps. I've seen them; even Microsoft shares theirs.
Engagement and Communication is what it is about. It's axiomatic that if you keep customers in the loop, they will be much more content. Even if their pet feature is not going to make the next release (and God knows when that will be), just knowing that it is on the roadmap will keep them engaged.
We all understand that feature sets and release dates are fluid, but as you can see from many people's comments, playing your cards so close to your chest creates fear, resentment, and distrust.
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The USB DAC support for the new Node will be completed after we get Atmos support finished and released.
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The roadmap is something that always grows and shifts, and will never stop as we add/change it all the time as new features and new ideas come forth.
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AH
Thanks for that but still none the wiser on timescale. When do you expect Atmos support to be finished? Are we talking weeks, months, or years?
Cheers.
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Hi Andrew H
Pleased that you have a roadmap, not so pleased that you can't divulge!
I read this post specifically looking for some information about a firmware update for the new Node which enables output via USB. Having just purchased the Node mainly as a controller for my Mytek DAC and on the basis that this facility would be available in the very near future I was particularly interested to know exactly when this was coming. If it is likely to be 2 years as you say in the above (roadmap goes out for a couple years in terms of current plans), then I think I'll be looking to return the Node to Amazon.
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Please give us a clue when USB out will be implemented for the Node.
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likely before the end of the calendar year
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Thank you sir.
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yeah... as a Product Owner I hear you - the roadmap is for a couple of years. In-hand and Next work is pretty detailed. 18-24 months out things get quite sketchy... once we've done this we can do that sorta thinking. In between, (6-18 months) there's a whole bunch of competing priorities, the prioritisation of which will shift depending on *reasons* ... asks from users, marketing & competitors, hardware capabilities and the hardware roadmap. It's a balancing act in which you can't please everybody.
... as an owner, of course I want the things I want, in preference to anything else ;-)
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We are on the same page lol. Our balance is also to add hardware and software dependencies as well. The pure software roadmap is also dependent on the world parts issues as our developers are spending huge time accounting for accommodations in parts. This is transparent to customers, as we make all parts work, but the time and energy spent ....
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I am getting the feeling that when - if ever - BluOS release 4 comes out, there will be no support for Node, Node 2, Node2i. We'll have to buy new hardware!
However, my Node 2 will have returned to the elements from which it was made by then...
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