Original Sound by Default

Thank you Brandon for continuing to advocate for this.  We really appreciate your efforts.   I'm sure some of the folks on this thread would gladly volunteer as Beta testers. Just put out a request!

Hi All, 

The team is compiling some video instructions that may be ready next week. I will point everyone to that thread once it is complete. Other than that. The Feature Request that I put in to allow an Admin of the account declare through account settings the default state of the OG Sound is gaining traction, and the team has another added functionality that they are developing in parallel as well to assist with OG Sound. That documentation will be published as it gets closer to release. 

Thanks, 

Brandon 

Locking Original Sound ON, works, this is the solution I have used. But you cannot switch it off, ever.  

Zoom should not have created this problem for itself but removing the feature they had already built in. 

It's not like it was a brand new program, this feature was in Zoom right up to Version 5.11, which you can't even go back to as Zoom have disabled the use of older versions. 

@bpmusic , @YaBoiB , @doremiteacher 

Thanks for all the engagement on this topic so far.  
I'm a paid Zoom pro user for around 4 years now.  I teach a variety of students, including college students, adults, and children.  Many of my students are young children.  Often ages 5-7, or sometimes even younger than 5.

Lots of these students use mobile devices like iPads, iPhones, and Android phones to take their lessons.  Their parents are often unable to help provide tech support.  

The biggest problem is the inaccessibility of the mobile app settings DURING a meeting.  Before turning Original Sound on in a Zoom meeting, students must enable it from within the settings on the Zoom mobile app.   They cannot do that, because now they are in a Zoom meeting with their teacher, and the important setting they need to access has become inaccessible.

There is a way to get out of the meeting and into the Zoom mobile app settings while a meeting is already going, but it's not easy to get to.  It requires multiple button-pushes, including a click-and-drag, all which are poorly labeled.   First, the student touches the screen to make buttons appear.  Next, the student clicks the white arrow in the upper left of their screen.  It doesn't look like a clear arrow shape.  Next, the meeting window is now minimized and BLOCKING the button that will get pushed.  The student clicks and drags the meeting window out of the way.   They find the word "MORE" with three dots.  Then the word "Meetings" under the header "Settings."  Last, there's a toggle switch labeled, "Use Original Audio."   (Not 'Sound,' but 'Audio.')

Once all those steps are complete, then the student must return to the meeting screen by clicking on the minimized window and enlarging it, and drag their finger across the bottom of the screen to scroll to the "three dots" for "MORE" and then click on "Enable Original Sound."

If their parent isn't signed in to their Zoom account, and they joined the meeting as a signed-out guest, then it's even HARDER to find the settings once a meeting has started.  It took me several minutes before I figured out the hidden way to do it.  

Now, imagine a 5-year-old child has to follow these instructions verbally, and they aren't a good reader.  They also have to do this routine *EVERY WEEK* and their parents are paying for every minute wasted on these ridiculous steps.  There's no help from an adult on their end.  They just have to follow my verbal instructions and practice getting good at these wasteful clicks and drags.

The inconvenience of the TEACHER having to click "Original Sound: ON" at every meeting is insignificant.  

The developers spending time working on ways to help the teacher save one mouse click is completely stupid!

What's badly needed is a way to eliminate all the multiple steps that the **STUDENT** takes to access and enable Original Sound.

It should be made easy to access from within the meeting in as few clicks as possible, and with very clear labels.  No scrolling, dragging, navigating back and forth among multiple layers of menus, and having the label for the feature change from one menu to another!  ("SOUND" vs. "AUDIO")

I also don't want to hear what the "consensus" says from the "user base." 

I'm not interested in what the useability is like for corporate business office users.  They don't need to access any of these features.  Music Teachers do.

On the mobile app version of the software, just make the "Original Audio" toggle a one-step toggle button nested under the "More" button from within the meeting.  Don't add an extra step of enabling it from the inaccessible mobile app settings.  Don't make the user sign in to their account in order to access the feature.  It needs to be accessible even to users who are signed out and just joining a meeting from their mobile.

Think of making it as easy as possible for the 5-year-old children who are getting music lessons from teachers paid by the minute.  Think of the parents of those children relying on the teacher to use that time for music education rather than tech troubleshooting.  And think of the music teachers themselves who are paid professional subscribers of the Zoom platform.  

If the teachers are unhappy with the product, they will find another product to use, and go pay for it instead.

The reason I prefer Zoom is that I like the audio-sharing features.  That's what keeps me paying for it every month, rather than ending my subscription and paying for a competing service.

hi @YaBoiB , thank you for all the attention you've given this thread.
as a music teacher who does group classes w/ 10+ attendees, this is a huge pain point for me.

It is inevitable that 50% of my attendees forget to turn on original sound...

They struggle to find the setting each meeting... they turn it on in settings, but then fail to get the second toggle switch to actually turn it on.

We waste 3-5 minutes per person on this, and it's usually 5+ people, meaning I'm wasting up to 25minutes per 90min class on original sound issues.

I really hope the features your team are working on will help with this! I'm teaching 2x/week minimum, which means that I spend almost a hour per week in original sound exasperation. 

It seems like for the use cases others have described, if the meeting host can set it to be an "original sound required" meeting, that would solve the problem.

Still NO ACTION at all from Zoom. 

Over a year now with thousands of people complaining about the change to Original Sound. 

And STILL a daily problem to all these people. 

In that period Zoom have issued 5 'Major' updates and dozens of minor updates.  Now on version 5.12.2 and the problem was reported on version 5.11.0 

It is OBVIOUS that the powers that be within ZOOM don't care at all about users, they are only throwing cheap fix gimmicks into Zoom to try and get even more sales. 

These gimmicks are no use to anyone, maybe people who are not actually trying to get a job of work done. 

Time to kick Zoom into touch and go over to the opposition, maybe they will look after the paying customers a bit better. 

https://signup.webex.com/sign-up

https://neat.no/

Good Afternoon all, 

 It has been a while since I updated this thread, so I decided to do so today. The Zoom team is working on two options, and I am still determining what that will look like, but the teams have told me that once public documentation is ready, they will send it to me so that I can share it with you. We (Zoom) are still working on these solutions, so for now, I only have a little to share other than to tell you all that I have not forgotten about this thread, nor will I. Once I have more information, I promise you will be the first on my list to reach out to on this page/thread. 

I hope that everyone had a great Halloween last night. 

Kind regards,

Brandon

@YaBoiB 

Hi Brandon,

Thanks for the update.  It had been a while and I was wondering if anything was happening to improve this feature.  It continues to remain a problem for my students, especially the youngest.

I sincerely hope that whatever solution comes next will prioritize ease of use.  It's vital that any feature a student would have to access, must be easily accessed with the absolute minimum clicks on any menus or settings.  And it must be simple to access during the meeting, without having to change to a different menu screen.  The feature must be equally easy to use on all device types, including web browser, Mac, Windows, chromebooks, iOS, and Android.  

Any hint of an estimated time frame to expect the feature improvements would be greatly appreciated.  Are we thinking it will be a matter of weeks?  Months?  -- Keep in mind that we've already been patiently waiting **YEARS** for this feature to be improved.  It came out as a brand new feature in 2020, I believe.  Since then, all improvements to the feature just made it harder to use, not easier.

Patiently waiting,

@Music_Teach_JK