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Nyssa
Contributor I
February 4, 2020
Answered

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

  • February 4, 2020
  • 37 replies
  • 1261 views

I have just received a new Sonos 5 which I ordered after I was led to believe that my existing “legacy” Sonos 5 woud no longer operate as from May this year. Will the legacy product continue to work following the Sonos change in policy or I have I been suckered into buying a new product unnecessarily?

My system is telling me that my device will “deactivate in 8 days”. What does that mean for ongoing use of the device??

Like many others, I have spent a lot of money on Sonos products over the years and I am extremely frustrated and disappointed by what has gone on here.

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    Best answer by Smilja

    @Nyssa, the Play:5 1st Gen has been put into recycling mode, in 8 days it will be deactivated, meaning it will no longer work.

     

    What to expect

    When you recycle an eligible Sonos product, you are choosing to permanently deactivate it. Once you confirm you’d like to recycle your product, the decision cannot be reversed. The deactivation happens 21 days after you choose to recycle the Sonos product. The 21-day countdown cannot be cancelled. You can also choose to deactivate the product immediately in the System section of the Settings tab.

    Once the Sonos product deactivates, it will securely erase itself of all of your personal information before going into Recycle Mode.

    To see how many days remain until your product deactivates, check the product’s name under the Rooms tab in the Sonos app.

    During the countdown and once the product has been deactivated, the product cannot be re-added to any system or used to set up a new Sonos system, even if the product has been reset to its factory settings.
     

    Recycling your Sonos product

    Once your Sonos product has been deactivated, you can safely recycle it by bringing it to your local e-waste recycling center.

    You can also send your deactivated Sonos product back to us and we’ll handle the recycling. You can find more information on this page.

     

    https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3573?language=en

    37 replies

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    Smilja
    Smilja
    February 4, 2020

    @Kumar, Nyssa received the replacement (a Play:5 2nd Gen) today. No need for taking actions.

     

    And yes, legacy units will continue to work as they do today. They just won’t get new features.

    »And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space, Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.« (›Windmills Of Your Mind‹ [1967]. Music by Michel Legrand ; English lyrics written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman)
    Kumar
    February 4, 2020

    Erm….isn’t that for @Nyssa to decide?!

    NyssaAuthor
    Contributor I
    February 4, 2020

    Yes I have received the Play 5 Gen 2, but have not unpacked it yet. Will do so once I settle down. 

    Looking back, I should have questioned the ethics of what Sonos was doing as others did before rushing into the trade up. I am sure I will be happy with the performance of the new product (I have two other Play 5 Gen 2s) but I am not happy with the way in which Sonos procured the sale. It’s no way to treat longstanding & loyal customers who have provided Sonos with fantastic word of mouth advertising. The brand has been badly damaged.

    BTW, in two houses I have 3 x Play 5, 1 x Playbase, 1 x Beam, 2 x Subs, and 3 x Ones. That’s about $6,000 worth of Sonos equipment, and a significant investment in the technology, which I have always admired.

    Enough said by me. Thanks to those who replied to my question. Happy listening  on whatever system you may choose to use!

    Nyssa

      Smilja
      Smilja
      February 4, 2020

      Was the move to legacy mode eventually unavoidable? It was.

      Have Sonos promoted this move in an awkward way? They did. I think no one is going to deny that.

      »And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space, Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.« (›Windmills Of Your Mind‹ [1967]. Music by Michel Legrand ; English lyrics written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman)
      melvimbe
      melvimbe
      February 4, 2020

      @Nyssa if you seriously want to try and reverse your trade up decision, I think your best move is to contact Sonos directly and plead your case.  It really doesn’t matter what the opinion of the community is on the subject.

      Danny
        NyssaAuthor
        Contributor I
        February 5, 2020

        Hello @Smilja,

        A couple of things you said call for comment:

        “When you recycle an eligible Sonos product, you are choosing to permanently deactivate it. Once you confirm you’d like to recycle your product, the decision cannot be reversed.”

        How convenient!  However, I doubt that it is correct if the truth be known. I expect that Sonos (but not the user) can halt the deactivation process if it wanted. Nor do I expect this is information Sonos  wants to share with us.

        “Was the move to legacy mode eventually unavoidable? It was. Have Sonos promoted this move in an awkward way? They did. I think no one is going to deny that.”

        Awkward? Not the word most people would use to describe the company’s behaviour.

        “And yes, legacy units will continue to work as they do today. They just won’t get new features.”

        That may be what Sonos now says but when I placed my “trade up” order the advice was that there would be no updates (which would include security patches) for either the legacy product or any other product in the same system.”

        As for pleading my case @melvimbe, thanks for your advice, but I’m minded to stick with the new Gen 2 which I’m sure is a better product. But I’ll be far more cautious in my dealing with Sonos in future and will at least consider purchasing another brand when I am ready for a major system upgrade. Until now I would not have given other products a moment’s thought.

        Best Regards

        Nyssa

         

          Kumar
          February 5, 2020

           

          “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.

          melvimbe
          melvimbe
          February 5, 2020

          As for pleading my case @melvimbe, thanks for your advice, but I’m minded to stick with the new Gen 2 which I’m sure is a better product. But I’ll be far more cautious in my dealing with Sonos in future and will at least consider purchasing another brand when I am ready for a major system upgrade. Until now I would not have given other products a moment’s thought.

           

          Just my personal opinion, but if  a company makes a announcement that isn’t going to be well received by a significant set of customers...wait a few days before taking action.  It’s not that uncommon for the message to be modified or clarified in the days following.  In this case, absolutely nothing was to be gained by rushing to a decision, as nothing was going to change till May.  If you had waited till the news sunk in and died down a bit, then you would have been able to make your decision with better information, and no, or at least less, regrets.

          Danny
            melvimbe
            melvimbe
            February 5, 2020

             

            “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.

             

            If you keep Legacy units in your system, then your entire system will continue to work as it does today.  You will not receive regular updates, no functionality changes.  Sonos has promised to provide bug fixes and security patches when needed and when possible given the hardware constraints of legacy products.

            Danny
              Kumar
              February 5, 2020

              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.

               

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