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Is Sonos expiring all Zone and Controller products?

  • 6 March 2018
  • 9 replies
  • 427 views

Userlevel 2
I have been a member of the community for many years but had to re-register when I lost access to an email account. The registration page asks you to tick the Sonos products you have from a list, but does not include any Zone or controller products e.g. ZP100, ZP90, Zonebridge, CR100 etc.. Why is this? Is this an indication that Sonos is going to continue the trend it started with the CR100 and spike all of these products such that they no longer work?

I cannot think of any other explanation and it would certainly be in character to try to force earlier customers to purchase new hardware.
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Best answer by Ryan S 6 March 2018, 19:21

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9 replies

The pick list on the forum profile has always had an incomplete list of products. It's been that way for years.

I just looked at mine and it offered me checkboxes for ZP80 and ZP100.
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Hi,

The players listed under the "products I own" section are unrelated to any plans the company might have. It's just a list of the most common ones that people added to that field when it was a fill in the blank. I just went ahead and added the ZP100 and ZP80 as they should be listed. The 90 was renamed to the CONNECT, so it'd fall under that field. We don't have an entry for the controllers on there, either the CR100 or the CR200 (CONTROL), probably because they've been discontinued for so long. The DOCK, BRIDGE, and BOOST also aren't listed in there because they're less likely to be listed by someone.

If you'd like a hand getting your old account back, I can assist with that. You can send me a PM with the email it used to be under or the account name and I'll let you know what we can do.
I just went ahead and added the ZP100 and ZP80 as they should be listed.
Ah. That explains things. I could have sworn they weren't there a few minutes before.
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
I just went ahead and added the ZP100 and ZP80 as they should be listed.
Ah. That explains things. I could have sworn they weren't there a few minutes before.


Yeah, they weren't 🙂
Userlevel 2
Thanks for the offer of recovering the account but I cannot see it is worth the effort. I have not had reason to log in for some time as my Sonos setup was very stable and perfect for my needs. Withdrawing the CR100 has destabilised that however. I have Sonos installed in a vacation rental property - my guests love it and many have gone on to buy their own - but there is no way I can offer that now without a physical controller. I cannot ask all guests to install the app and I cannot supply a tablet or Touch as it would get stolen or modified. The app is not as intuitive in any event. The CR's were perfect. Now I have to ditch £'000s of Sonos equipment and replace it with something that offers the same tamper-proof experience.
Userlevel 7
Badge +21
There are ways to lock down other devices... For example, Apple iOS devices should have "Find my iPhone" enabled for general device security (if it gets wiped, it can't be reused until you log into it), and can use an Accessibility feature called Guided Access to prevent other apps from being used (a PIN is required to disable Guided Access and allow returning to the iOS Home Screen).

I'm sure Android has some kind of similar app limiting functionality, but that may vary among device manufacturers. Of course, Android devices can be configured to connect to SonosNet, just like a CR100 can, so you'd even get the connectivity of a CR100 if you use an Android device.
Userlevel 3
I think it's very short-sighted of Sonos to instigate a programme of destruction of their older equipment to try and force sales of newer stuff. It's also very bad practice to deprive customers of their previously expensively obtained items by going behind the scenes and their backs to render them useless. Not even Apple went that far when they slowed down their older iPhones, stopping short of bricking them in the way Sonos are proposing. Their offer of a £100 voucher goes nowhere near enough towards replacing my 5 CR100's and my already useless CR200 which died early with a dead touchscreen. If they added another nought it might have gone some way towards retaining my custom, but now - no way! I mean what next are they going to quietly kill off with stupid offers of inadequate compensation?
It's a good job car manufacturers have a much more responsible attitude to their products ...
I think it's very short-sighted of Sonos to instigate a programme of destruction of their older equipment to try and force sales of newer stuff.

FYI, there is another thread titled Save the CR100 that is a better place for complaints on this. Out of curiosity though, what new stuff do you think Sonos is trying to sell by disabling the CR100? Every other method of controlling the sonos system is through free software on hardware that Sonos doesn't sell.
I think it's very short-sighted of Sonos to instigate a programme of destruction of their older equipment to try and force sales of newer stuff.

How is retiring a dedicated controller in favor of a free app for iOS or Android a program to "try and (sic) force sales of newer stuff."? I could see if they replaced the CR100 with a newer dedicated controller, but as it is Sonos is making no sales on this move and is suffering a PR hit instead.

Maybe, just maybe, the reason for retiring support for the CR100 is Sonos can no longer support a 13 year old piece of equipment for a very limited number of users while simultaneously bringing in the new features the majority of users are clamoring for.