Sonos contributing to electronic waste

People would be better off selling their older gear on eBay, assuming it’s functional. They’ll get more than the discount offered by Sonos, and someone else will get to enjoy the older device.

(The Port is so disappointing -- and expensive -- that there’s no chance I’d trade a Connect for it, even for a straight swap. While I like my Amp, my Connect:Amp looks better and is built from better materials. So, I’m keeping that too!)

Wouldn’t you need to make the same claim against any company that is selling audio equipment that could be considered an improvement over what consumer’s might currently have?    The fact that a piece of equipment is better than what you currently have, whether it’s because of features, price, or whatever, is going to tempt a person to get rid of their current speaker and upgrade to something more current.

Is your issue more around the fact that the Sonos program requires you to brick your speaker essentially, so that it can’t be resold or given to someone else for use?

All companies play their role and need to up their game when it comes to recycling, reducing waste, being efficient with energy etc. But Sonos' trade in promo highlights the issue extremely well. Forcing the old speakers to become waste. Most of the products are in mint condition as new, still working. 

That depends on what you’re selling and what you’re buying with discount.  If your selling an old ZP80 for example, I’m guessing $100 would be a great deal.  But if you wanted to apply the discount to a playbase for example, you’re getting a $210 discount.

Although the wording says 30% off any new Sonos product, I find it hard to believe that they would allow and make a profit from this scenario. The wording in the T&C is weird.

But anyway I'm more concerned with the by product

But for how long?  The amount of memory in the ZP80 and ZP100 is so small it is inevitable that at some point Sonos will no longer be able to maintain compatibility with the current system.  I don’t know if that point will come in 6 months, 2 years. 5 years or whenever, but come it will.  A ZP80 would need to be a virtual giveaway for me to purchase one.

I think the point is that Sonos are eesentiallu making currently functional electronics equipment a waste product.

If or when Sonos decide to stop supporting these products then offering the same thing then would be a lot more palatable - ethical even.

To make it even more unpalatable, I think this old equipment you can trade in includes the likes of this:

https://www.johnlewis.com/sonos-connect-wireless-music-system/p230973910

Yes, you can still buy it.

Last I looked, the program was completely voluntary, so the only person making the decision to make “currently functional electronics equipment a waste product” would be the user.

While there may (will) come a day when the older products are obsoleted, and if Sonos offers a discount for those, you have a point.  But we aren’t there yet. 

And of course, a discount on an upgraded product was exactly what was begged for by many in the “Save the CR100” thread.  Damned if you do . . . 

Thank you, I hadn’t realised that. Man that’s so corrupt and morally wrong. Throwing away working products at the same time as manufacturing the exact same product. 

Waiting for an official Sonos reply...

Correct, it is voluntary. But retailers themselves don’t care about the state of the planet and only care about their personal profits. Sonos should take the responsibility of making sure that if there is going to be waste that it’s recycled correctly (or even better reused by people)