You seemed to have missed the point. Its not a tirade against simplifying your life, but rather against the intended use of Sonos.
1. Your wife (used metaphorically) is not able to use the system. What appears to be a very simple sequence of activities to you, completely stumps her and she gradually moves away from it. (I have a Harmony 900 remote, just in case you are wondering).
Happened to me with both wife and my father. My mother actually very quickly got the hang of the smartphone and began to use services like Spotify and Saavn as well as YouTube from day 1. But after a while, my dad actually prefers the smartphone and wireless casting approach to Worldspace, even has a ton of radio stations and streaming services added.
The wife did take longer. I believe it was because of Apple and not primarily the setup I had. The simplest solution was to get her an iPad, a Sony Dock that works with the iPad and also the likes of Sonos (which I'll come again to later).
2. You are getting ready for work; felt like listening to Bill Withers when you realize you just can't. You need to go to the living/listening/study room, switch everything on and load a CD or find a high quality mp3/FLAC. You just don't do it. You are getting ready for work after all!
That is precisely why I advocate everyone rip their content (FLAC or WAV) and get a NAS. If nothing you can listen on your phone or tablet even with their limited speakers, and in a couple of seconds pretty much anywhere.
I don't believe anyone pops in CDs anymore... maybe SACD on the Oppo for novelty or to show off your system to friends, but that's a rarity. Today everybody rips or streams. I'm one of the few folks who still buys CDs and has friends borrowing the latest releases like Adele.
3. This is a big one and I might be the only culprit. I DO NOT listen to music. Most of the times, I listen to audio quality . My sessions inadvertently turn out to be critical listening sessions. Should I re-position my sub; how about toeing in my L/R speakers just a tad bit; should I change speaker wires, its been two years, they would have gotten oxidized; or probably the source is not good. I am fed up of it guys. I have stopped enjoying music :sad:
This is a big one for most folks on forums. But end of the day you need to decide for yourself if you are a music lover or a gadget lover. I'm a music lover and can and do continue to enjoy music on even subpar equipment. Not everybody can and more power to them because music is better enjoyed on better equipment. But this brings us back to your 2nd point... how quickly can you get your music playing. Today that should be no longer than 2-5 seconds at most. Anything requiring more time is not worth the effort... but then again I've many friends who love the vinyl ritual. Just taking care of the stack, cleaning it, maintaining it, etc. takes so much time that they don't spend as much time actually listening to music. But then everyone would actually call the vinylheads the true music lovers and not the digitized folks who listen to anything and everything from the likes of mp3 to bad radio.
Now you know why SONOS comes as a rescue. Everywhere music, very easy to use, and locked down sound quality. Sometimes absence of choices is a good thing...huh.
This brings me to my main point or the main problem i.e. Sonos. Equate Sonos with simplicity or ease of use, but not with good music. There is a huge difference. If you want simplicity with good music then there are better options than Sonos. Bluesound is better for starters, heck even Chromecast Audio plugged into a boombox or HiFi components or separates will do a better job. Even my Sony dock walks all over the Sonos and everything I've heard from the likes of AudioEngine, Mackie, Vanatoo, and even HiVi Swans Speaker like M200MKII or M200MKIII will walk all over the Sonos - and also cost less. Something like the Vanatoo will even take digital inputs and not need a DAC. But the main point is they all walk all over the Sonos and offer the same level of simplicity and ease of use. You can say I'm against Sonos and not simplifying your digital life.
If you want simplicity and ease of use then get something like Swans Speakers or Vanatoo and throw in a couple of Chromecast Audios. Will pretty much kill anything and everything Sonos.