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I have traded up my "legacy" Sonos 5 believeing that it would soon be inoperable. What now?

  • 4 February 2020
  • 37 replies
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37 replies

melvimbe

Thanks for taking the time to post that.

I didn't know this is the second time they are dumping hardware. I feel sick having bought an amp recently. I was reading in other threads about the CEO lying about how products get better over time, ugh wish I could return it to limit my exposure.

 

Sonos products have gotten better over time. Speakers/amps has gotten enhancements through updates after it was originally released, except the Sonos One SL and Port, because they are newly released.  The controllers may be an exception to this, as I’m not sure.  Never owned one myself.  I understand that you and others took that statement to be that features would be available under any condition, and that older units would be supported for life, but that is not what was said.

 

I will say, as I have said before, that the recent announcements were a bit of a surprise, not that I didn’t see something like this happening, just that I didn’t see it happening like this.  I also think the message could have been communicated much better.  I also understand that this potential creates financial expenses that a lot of people didn’t see coming , even thought they can continue to use the system without updates.  I also think that people are only starting to see that smart speaker tech will not last forever the way that traditional AV devices do.  Other smart speakers have lost support besides Sonos (Bose is the example that comes to mind) and I expect we will see other more popular devices lose support in the years to come.

 

I agree with John though that the Sonos Amp is a a reliable purchase that will I would guess will have another 10 years of life before it loses support.  It’s guaranteed to have at least 5 years at the unlikely minimum.  But obviously, if you aren’t comfortable, than you should sell and find something you are comfortable with.  I would recommend that you avoid smart speaker tech, or at least the more premium speakers, in the future.

Danny
jgatie

Speaking of Bose, would the OP rather Sonos had acted like Bose?  Because when Bose’s SoundTouch products could no longer accommodate future features (namely Alexa), they discontinued the entire lineup and replaced it with a new line that is incompatible with the old.  So if you bought a SoundTouch the day before the announcement, it was obsolete the next day.  People who bought the very first SoundTouch model on the day it was released barely got 5 years of use out of it.

And people complain about getting 5 to 13 years from last day of sale?  

K

 

“And yes, legacy units will continue to work as they do today.

 

Erm, there-in lies the rub. Legacy units will, but your system won’t, unless you choose to hobble the legs of your modern units by tying them to the legs of the legacy units.

Did you buy a collection of units or did you buy a system of such units - an important distinction.

K

But then you are losing what you paid for when you bought the modern units by giving up on software updates and new features for them in future, which, per Spence, are included in the price you paid for them. Sonos isn't offering any refund of that money collected, are they? Of course, one could again say that Spence did not mean what he said.

Before this legacy event occurred, Sonos said this to promote the trade up:

“Please note that because Sonos is a system, all products operate on the same software. If modern products remain connected to legacy products after May, they also will not receive software updates and new features.”

Implicit in the above is the message that you will then not be able to receive full value for what you paid for when you bought the modern products you have today. Or, if you want to receive that value paid for, better trade up. Or live with a split system.

 

K

I just realise that I have erred here in reporting what Sonos said in promoting the trade up by relying on what the OP reported. The reference to May in that report cannot be from the launch of the Trade up, because this May thing is just two weeks old.

So I stand corrected in what I have said above via the quoted, copy/pasted from an OP post. Therefore the conclusion about the Trade up promotion I wrote also isn't correct - Sonos may not have told all the truth back in October, but there does not seem to have been any active misleading that happened then.

But the rest of my post stands - by saying now that you will get what you bought, a system, will need modern products to remain part of a legacy system, leaves Sonos with undelivered value on modern products for the price collected for these, that logically merits a refund to such users that will leave modern products in a legacy system.

K

This undelivered value is not my invention, by the way; it is the logical conclusion from the Spence statement that when a customer buys a Sonos product today, he also pays in advance for what Sonos will deliver to him tomorrow in terms of more/better features. 

Can I now expect some refund on my four play 1 units and a Sub that will remain in a legacy system after May?

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

I’m still b-hurt over my dead CR-100 collection… Who do I call?

O
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

I’m still b-hurt over my dead CR-100 collection… Who do I call?

Woah I didn't know this is the second time they've done this to old hardware. I would be angry too.

K

Here is what Sonos said when promoting the trade up:

“Please note that because Sonos is a system, all products operate on the same software. If modern products remain connected to legacy products after May, they also will not receive software updates and new features.”

 

 

Very interesting and this shows how Sonos has resorted to sophistry to wriggle out the corner it painted itself into. How? As under:

In contrast to the quoted above, the CEO, on Jan 23 2020 said this in writing:

“First, rest assured that come May, when we end new software updates for our legacy products, they will continue to work as they do today.”

The bolded is by him.

The sophistry is in Sonos saying that Sonos is a system on the one hand( in the trade up promo meant to persuade you to buy new Sonos products) and that Sonos is a collection of products on the other( in the Jan 23 CEO letter, in an attempt to extract Sonos from the mess it found itself in on Jan 21).

Is sophistry legal? That usual depends on lawyer capability.

Is sophistry unethical? I do not need to answer this one, it seems quite clear to me.

Sonos has ended up shooting itself in the foot in trying to be too clever. The resultant user firestorm is evidence of that.

Unfortunately it hard to see what recourse individual users have except to vote with their wallets and boycott Sonos. 

J

I don’t think your conclusion was justified by what was said, but anyway….

I am afraid the process can’t be stopped now.

FWIW the sound quality of the gen 2 Play:5 is far better than the gen 1 IMO (and pretty much all the reviewers’ opinions, I recall).  So maybe the best thing now is to move on and enjoy the better experience.  Easy for me to say, I know.

J

@Kumar.  I am sorry that you have come to the view you have, which I cannot share.  I am affected much less than some users and I cannot be sure how I would have responded if I had more legacy units.  But I shall continue to buy Sonos if they continue to meet my music needs and I believe a ‘boycott’ to be unjustified.  Individuals can and must, of course, decide whether Sonos is still right for them. 

K

@John B : Consumer boycotts are always voluntary.

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