How to determine the end-of-life (EOL) for each Sonos product?

I think @Ryan S from Sonos answers your question at the start of this thread…

https://en.community.sonos.com/announcements-228985/end-of-software-support-clarifications-6835969

If that is what you were seeking here? 

Hope that assists.👍

Thanks Ken, but not really, Sounds like Sonos will “support their products until they can’t”. That’s a bit of a weak answer. Imagine Windows telling people they would support their operating system until one morning they decide they just can’​​​​​​​t. They would have trouble selling another copy of their software. 

Sonos need to consider this more carefully, i.e. what upgrade path they put into their products in terms of hardware. Replaceable CPUs or RAM and larger memory (for storing code - we’re not talking about large apps here). They also need to work on a way to provide this to existing customers, so they have a respectable life-cycle on their expensive products. Sadly, it appears this thinking did not occur at an earlier stage. My question on EOL projections was to see if perhaps measures had been taken in 2015 onwards, or if we can expect to see equipment continually drift into that “legacy” group.  

Ok, thanks - so Sonos products have a 5 year life-span. Good to know. 

And just to drive the point home, Windows 10, released in 2015, works fine on my laptop made in 2011 that I have been using everyday since I bought it in May 2011! That is 9 years and going strong. Sonos can’t make it out of the gate

Not if you buy them when they are first released, and some of the newly designated legacy units haven't been sold for over a decade.  So "5 year life span" is a little disingenuous (which I assume you were shooting for).

But some of them have. But I accept your point - you *may* have a 5yr life span on the products is more accurate. Hopefully, you will have more.

Of course, Sonos also don’t seem to know if or when a product can become “legacy”, so I guess in some use-cases, we may be shooting in the wind on the 5yr aspiration 🤞🏻 

Well, since we are being pedantic:  If you purchase at the end if it’s manufacturing period, you *will* have a 5 year period of regular updates.  After that, it will still function, but with no updates.  If you purchase sooner, the lifespan is more like 8-10 years.  

Hopefully they will adopt a system where they publish product begin, product last sold date and end date of software support. 

It would also be good to know  of any hardware revisions that might impact support longevity and general specs of the devices as it relates to their internal computer. There is a big difference in memory in currently sold units, with the most expensive speaker mind bogglingly having the lowest amount of ram.

But that’s the rub isn’t it. What’s the end of the manufacturing period? Will Sonos let us know? I have some Play:1 units that have been discontinued but when was their manufacturing end date? How are the Play:1 units along that 5yr window?

This was my original point - reference again Windows 10 example, where a consumer has a clear idea of the level of support they are going to recieve or when it will now end. 

I guess Sonos customers can hope they aren’t buying at the end of the manufacturing period

I feel many will try to unload their soon to be unsupported Sonos products, cut their losses and walk away from this company. As may I..

I haveonly owned Sonos products for a little over a couple years. Seeing the end is near on $1200 I spent. Was getting ready to buy one of their surround systems until the latest support announcement... 

Really hate this throw away society we are living in....

Oh yeah I totally agree with your points. I think in time they will have to be up front about this or who is going to want to roll the dice?

The play one is a good example. They are still being sold in retail channels today. Sonos has discontinued them since the one SL came out. How much longer will they have software support for?

The Play:1 situation sounds complicated. As its not been replaced I don’t even know if the Play:3 ceased manufacturing. 

Another good example here is the Connect, from what I’m reading it’s only pre 2015 that are  legacy but seems like the hardware revision wasn’t widely publicised, model names description remain the same etc. This component was only publicly replaced last year. People may have unwittingly bought a legacy product in the last five years - either new or second hand - without knowing they were buying an old model. 

All SONOS are legacy now in my view as you cannot trust SONOS. Who knows when my next $500 investment will end up as a $500 unsupported POS. So to answer the question and stay on topic for fear of being deleted (SONOS do not like criticism), the end-of-life (EOL) for ALL SONOS products was two days ago. Cheers.

Between this failed bricking of old devices experiment and the belief that bricking devices is ECO-Friendly, I am done with SONOS!!! Bring on BOSE.,

Amen. Not sure why any of us invested in Sonos when the life of a Sonos speaker turns out to be 1/4 as long as any other speaker product. 

The play 1 was discontinued in 2017, but still to this day i am able to buy a brand new play 1 from a national electronics seller.

No one knows when the last Play 1 rolled of the production line, maybe they had HUGE stock of Play 1’s when they discontinued it and this stock is still being sold.

Who knows if the killdate will be 5 years from the last Play 1 was sold in the retail link or it is 5 years from last produced box.

If i was a retailer and Sonos contacted me with an offer to buy up Play 1 stock and they did not tell me that less than 5 years from i purchased it, it would be made obsolete even though sonos has always said it was a “lifetime” support company, i would be livid, because i would know that some of the grief that people would direct at Sonos for doing this, would rub of on me for selling people these devices.

I’m not sure where you got that date, the Play 1 was available here, new from a Sonos authorized seller as recently as December. AFEES is still selling it.

https://www.shopmyexchange.com/browse/electronics/_/N-4294831683+103533

Everybody should sign the petition here:

http://chng.it/jrkJMZDnpg

Stanley_4 wrote:

DK_Madsen wrote:

The play 1 was discontinued in 2017,

I’m not sure where you got that date, the Play 1 was available here, new from a Sonos authorized seller as recently as December. AFEES is still selling it.

https://www.shopmyexchange.com/browse/electronics/_/N-4294831683+103533

 

Still for sale on Amazon.co.uk too, amongst a load of other UK retailers.

I assumed that when they brought out the Play one, they stopped making the play 1.

I agree that the Play 1 is still for sale, but i have also found atleast 1 dealer in my country that has a Play 5 gen 1 for sale “new” right now.

The Play1 had a silent hardware refresh in 2017. These are still widely sold.The newer hardware is version 1.20.x, you can check in your about my system page in the app.

This hardware refresh is the same as what is in the Ikea speakers (Ikea got airplay 2 but these play 1 owners didn't unfortunately). I would guess the pre 1.20 play1 will be legacy when they push the Play3 too (64 mb Ram iirc)

More information here:

I have 4 Play 1’s

2 with hardware 1.20.1.6-2

2 with hardware 1.8.3.7-2

Are you saying that they dont have the same ram/flash amount ?

This just makes it even worse, that i have 4 “identical” speakers and they might brick 2 and not the other 2.

While I agree that SONOS needs to communicate EOL dates; I think that it’s awful for any company to turn a consumer product that typically had a very long useful life (I have speakers from the 1970s that work fine) and turn it into trash as little as 5 years after its manufactured.

This is an inexcusable money grab by SONOS that not only negatively impacts the wallets of its customers; but, its giving a middle-finger to the environment.   

Just curious, how much RAM and what CPU are in those speakers from the 70’s? What OS are they running?