And yes of course, it was necessary to add a tap on a small touch target in order to show the sound level slider.

I guess they had to do this because… ??

I mean you need a very good reason to break a habit as strongly entrenched as "playback information is at the top of the screen".
I don't see how this improves the experience in any way, this is not a touch screen!

Alors qu’on pensait que Siri ne pouvait pas descendre plus bas. Eh ben si ! Deux fois j’ai eu cette réponse. Qui comprend !?