Am I the only one concerned by increasing number of complaints and Sonos forcing hardware upgrades ?

Pretty much.

Your conclusion that Sonos has lost it’s way would only be true if your devices really would not be supported anymore. Since they still are, you seem te be a bit early.

I know, all these new features too. Just too overwhelming🤣

 the thing is the home speaker market has suddenly got a bit crowded. We have the likes of Sonos, Denon, Bose etc not being joined by the big boys. Google, Amazon and Apple can throw big money at this and develop new features. Sonos and others have to remain competitive and can’t afford to sit still. To have kept every speaker product still working is quite an achievement.
 
I don’t think they’ve lost their way just forging a new path.  

Who are you going to dump them for?  Denon, who got sued by Sonos for patent infringement and lost?  Bluesound, who are more expensive and also getting sued?  Bose, who killed their entire lineup after 5 short years and brought out an entirely new line that is incompatible with the old?  Compare Bose’s approach with Sonos’ efforts to keep 15 year old products still viable and working and you will see that the grass is not always greener.

I  guess I just don’t see too much value in worrying about something that hasn’t happened yet, nor do we know that it definitely will happen.   I see the logic of complaining in advance as a way of maybe preventing it from happening...but Sonos has the numbers and knows the impact better than we do.     I tend to think I’ll have a hardware failure before  anything happens.

OK...It’s time to stop the panic/fear of Sonos products becoming obsolete overnight and let Sonos speak. IMO ALL questions will be answered regarding product life cycles and Sonos commitment to its loyal customers in the information below. Read on…

Responsibility_Sonos 2018 Sustainability Report_Product Design_93% of all Sonos products ever sold are still in operation_Click the link to read more

https://www.sonos.com/en-us/sustainability

Trade Up_FAQ_5 Year Commitment_Click the link to read more.

https://www.sonos.com/en-us/tradeup

The statement above IMO indicates that if you purchase a Sonos product any day of the week, month or year; and it’s the last day for manufacture and won’t be sold again, it will not go dark for at least 5 years forward.

Maybe this information/links should be formatted into a “sticky” by one of our illustrious Community Managers.  I’m just saying...

Cheers!

Thanks all for your comments. Clearly Sonos owners are very loyal and passionate ! 

I too have been an advocate of their products just sense there may be a few changes besides product updates.

My recommendations to non Sonos owners will now have a small caveat. Meanwhile I will keep enjoying the tunes as long as they last.

Just sayin’ …

Hey Kabb

Looks like you were right, despite all the people above naysaying your point.  I agree with you.  I bought my Play 5  five years ago and it works brilliantly - great sound.  Nothing wrong with it.  But now it seems it will become obsolete.  What products next? Call me old fashioned but I just don't think its good enough to have to reinvest every five years in such expensive gear.  Apart from the enviromental damage it effectively means that its effectively a subscription model for the hardware if you need to replace it so regularly

I completely agree. I’ve been a loyal customer for years and now all 5 rooms of Sonos equipment is obsolete as I do not have and do not want to stream my own music through a third party. I have my own music library on a home hard drive, iMac, iPad and iPhone and now all I can play through sonos is the radio. Sonos customers service do not give a damn and have been quoting me terms and conditions to get out of providing any sensible solution. Rubbish service, rubbish company and now it seems - rubbish product.

Check the number of posts of the Sonos positives.  They will never let anything disrupt their support of Sonos.