You don’t often see Sonos smart wi-fi speakers on sale, but this Sonos PLAY:1 speaker is currently selling for $180, down 10 percent from its usual $200 price tag.

Unlike a Bluetooth speaker that streams tunes from your phone, this smart wi-fi speaker (Sonos PLAY:1 Smart Speaker) connects to your home Wi-Fi network and streams music directly. You can use streaming digital music services like Apple Music, Amazon Prime Music Unlimited, Spotify and Pandora.

Setup is a snap for this smart wi-fi speaker, and once the PLAY:1 is connected to your wireless network, you can control it from anywhere using an iOS or Android app. You can also add a second speaker for a stereo pair, or add more speakers in other rooms. You can even create different music “zones” within your house. Sounds good to me.

Check out the Sonos PLAY:1 Smart Speaker on Amazon!

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As part of their endless tinkering with the Music app for iPhone and iPad, the big brains at Apple made a particularly confounding decision: they hid the Shuffle and Repeat buttons from the iPhone’s main music playback screen.

Ah, there they are.

Just to be clear, there is still a visible “Shuffle All” button on, say, an album or artist track listing. But if you start playing a song and you make the mistake of opening the main music player, you’ll see playback buttons, a progress bar, a download button and an “AirPlay” button (which lets you stream tunes to an Apple TV), but no Shuffle or Repeat buttons.

Where did the Apple Music Shuffle and Repeat controls go, then?

Well, turns out you must swipe up to reveal the Shuffle and Repeat buttons, as well as a list of upcoming “Up Next” tracks.

Yep, pretty annoying—and I’ll bet the Shuffle and Repeat controls will be hiding somewhere else once the next major iOS update rolls around.

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Sure, you can still create your own playlists and spin up streaming “radio” stations based on any artists or songs you choose. However, you can no longer pick which buttons you want to see at the bottom of the screen—you know, buttons for Artists, Songs, Genres, and the like.

Instead, here are the tabs you get: My Music, Playlists, Radio (for Apple’s free streaming radio stations), and Connect. These let music fans “connect with their favorite artists” through a new, Twitter-like social network. The buttons are slightly different for those who sign up for the new, all-you-can-stream Apple Music subscription service, which starts at $10 a month.

There is, in fact, a way to get rid of the Connect button, but it’s hidden in the Restrictions section of the iOS Settings menu.

Now, I can settle for My Music, Playlists, and Radio, but Connect? Hmm. When I tap the Connect button on my iPhone, all I get is a photo of a bare-chested Flea with his arm in a sling. Uh, no thanks. (Apologies to any Red Hot Chili Peppers fans out there.)

So, guess I’ll just hide the Connect button, right? Not so fast. Tap and hold the Connect button, and nothing happens, and there’s no obvious way to hide the button on swap in a replacement.

Good news, though: there is, in fact, a way to get rid of the Connect button, but it’s well hidden.

Here’s what you do:

• Tap Settings, General, Restrictions (think parental controls), then tap Enable Restrictions.
• If you didn’t have Restrictions enabled already, you’ll be prompted to create a four-digit passcode. Go ahead and do so, but don’t forget your new PIN.
• Scroll down to the Apple Music Connect setting and flip off its switch.

Head back to the Apple Music app, and whoosh! Buh-buy, Connect button.

Bonus tip

When you tap the My Music button in the new Apple Music app, you’ll see a big alphabetical list of all artists in your collection. Fine, but what if you want to see a list of albums, songs, genres, or something else?

Just tap the Artists heading; doing so will open a drop-down menu, with options ranging from albums to composers and music compilations.

It seems obvious once you know the trick, but it took me a good five minutes of frustrated tapping to figure it out. (Oh, how I miss the easy-as-pie interface on the original iPod.)

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