End of software updates?!

The design of this solution is meant to be modular in the sense that you build your product library on the platform provided. To interconnect all components as one and say arbitrarily that one of your components is older therefore your entire solution will not longer receive updates tells a story about how the direction of this company has changed. We have seen a continual shift from supporting the Sonos Communities investment in the Sonos solutions to a never ending list of news updates stating that your products are too old or the technologies have changed too much for Sonos to keep up. Really? Invest some of your energy and our money in providing firmware updates that will keep ‘legacy’ products on the same platform as our current products while limiting functionality on those legacy items to keep them in range of their capabilities and not limit all components of the solution. Don’t offer a worthless 30% discount on newer more expensive replacements, I am questioning whether I want to invest anything going forward. Sonos is literally asking us, the consumer, to pay for there poor design after convincing us to invest in their platform and in many cases helping them improve the design. I am not interested in stating personally what this does to my solutions at two different locations, I am more interested in making the point that Sonos should take notice that this decision really makes the consumer re-evaluate where we want to invest our dollars in audio solutions and technologies going forward. The end of life announcement is not the community based approach I bought into over the past years with Sonos and is very disappointing and concerning. 

Blackmail?

My system worked well for years. Then started degrading. I was told I needed to change my BRIDGE for a BOOST. It worked well. My system is now good again.

Now I’ve been told I will need to upgrade the whole lot in May.

Have Sonos deliberately downgraded? Will they continue doing so?

Are they aware that to replace my system (even with a 30% discount) it will cost me my pension from two and a half months.

That’s not going to happen.

Wow, this is super frustrating.  I have 7 - seven! - devices, which were NOT cheap.  

Replacing them is going to be a very expensive proposition, and based the casual attitude at Sonos, I will not be doing that with Sonos equipment.

As a software engineer, I know it’s hard to support older products.  But you do it!  It’s part of being a consumer hardware company.  My TV is older than my Sonos devices, and it’s supported.  Hell, my TiVo is older than my Sonos, and it’s a LOT more complex than speakers.

VERY disappointed.

What are folks replacing with, instead?  I have three AMPs and four various speakers.

I think my anger and vitriol didn’t quite come through, at being told to replace many thousands of dollars of equipment….I’m not looking for a SONOS replacement.

And yes, they are three Connect:Amps, three Play 5: GEN 1, and one Connect.

I too have had this email today. I am absolutely shocked at their cavalier attitude to their customers. I’ll certainly be making a noise about this on social media and suggest others do the same. It’s nothing more than ripping people off.

I am furious and will NOT be replacing with another Sonos. Shocking!

I only own a Play5 (Gen 1) but am still gutted to have received this update and can only imagine how others who have spent thousands on Sonos systems feel too..

I’m very reluctant now to go out and purchase any other Sonos systems - what happens when the next big thing comes along and all of those updates to our Sonos systems mean that we have to go and upgrade our systems again!

Some of us can’t afford to replace even one speaker with a 30% discount either.

Sorry Sonos but you’ve lost another customer here….

I find it hard to believe that the people that are being penalized are the ones that were with Sonos from Day   1. Outside of the playbar my entire system will be obsolete You are trying to boost sales in a very poor way. I’m very surprised to hear this and can assure you I will not be spending thousands more just to keep up. 

Like others here… I’ve been using Sonos for over 18 years. 10+ components (that still work), some of which were purchased less than 3 years ago are being end of lived?? Seriously? I’ve spent between $10-15k with a company and they do this to me? I’ve referred so many people in Sonos direction, demo’d the system at my home for others to use and now this!! I’m incredibly fed up. Unless Sonos changes their direction, I will be looking for a different solution. Please change your tone on this, Sonos, or recognize that you will lose the customers that built your company.

Ditto, 10 of my 13 devices need to be replaced.  has anyone noticed the replacement Port is priced at $449.  At 30% off, it’s still more than I paid for my Connects.  A discount off a jacked up price, Hummph!

For over $3,000 I can stay current.  Or I can just let the system atrophy.  Or, I can replace the devices with something else.  They failed to put enough memory (costs pennies) into the devices?  No one had the vision to see that would be a problem?

This isn’t just disappointing.  It’s much worse than that.  It’s a complete change in direction for a company and the way they treat their customers.  Instead of wanting to buy more nodes, we are being held hostage.

BTW, why have sales been increasing 10% annually for years, but the company’s net income has been shrinking?  Insiders (in the last 12 months) have sold 9 million shares, and only bought 500 thousand shares.  The stock is down since it’s IPO.  Should anyone invest more in this company?

Is anybody from Sonos going to reply on this thread?

$15k in to Sonos here. Feel betrayed. 

There should be a class action suit, this is ridiculous

I own many Sonos products. Many of those units are basically worthless now. I felt the units were expensive for what they are, but the app was very user friendly which made it worth it.

Sonos, you have rolled the dice with mine and many other peoples investment in your brand.

Yes, there will be a few people who upgrade. But I predict this will be outweighed by existing users leaving the brand and also warning other people about the pitfalls of the product.

Salesmen: “Yeh, Sonos is a great product, but occasionally they stop supporting the systems”.

Customer: “And it costs how much? I think I’ll pass.”

Sonos, how did you think this decision was going to work out? Free marketing? All the existing users would just throw down a bunch more cash for you?? I think not. 

Good luck Sonos, you may have screwed me once, but it won’t happen a second time.

It’s been a slice.