Contributor I

Answered

complaint about the End of Software Updates

62 replies
3263 views

I am absolutely incensed by the shear insensitivity and blatant Marketing effort under the guise of ‘End of Software Updates’ This is totally unjustified - the amount of software involved is minute compared to something like MS Windows and they manage to support £100 products for 10 years and TVs last just as long. My Connect:Amp is probably only a few years old and cost £400 and now you want me to upgrade for an insulting and derisory 30% off a hugely inflated price of £600!!!!!!!!!!!

I will NOT Upgrade and will now be actively looking for alternative products especially as it now obvious you are going to do this to all my other products in the expectation of dubiously getting even more money from loyal Sonos owners.

Until this moment I held your Company and products in high regard, now I am appalled by your behaviour and will NEVER buy any more. You greedy b*******s have shot yourselves in the proverbial foot.

I dare you to publish this.

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

Ryan SAnswer

Retired Sonos Staff

Thanks for sharing your feedback, everyone. We’re listening and answering what questions we can in the main thread. Let’s try to keep the discussion for this topic in one place.

We’re committed to supporting players for 5 years after we stop selling them and have a track record of supporting them for far longer than that. The Connect:Amps which are moving to legacy in May came out in 2010, and the newer version of them from 2015 is still considered a modern unit. These older devices just don’t have the needed hardware to keep up with the demands of the software coming later this year.

As to the Play:1 and Sub you mentioned, the Sub is still sold today and the Play:1 was only just recently no longer sold. These devices do have the needed hardware specs for what’s currently planned and don’t have any listed legacy flag for them right now.

It’s also worth noting that if you have legacy devices, they’ll keep on working as they currently do, just without updates. Eventually some features that are reliant on connected services will stop working and they won’tbe able to get new features.

Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.

Show previous replies

jgatie

The problem is no one trusts Sonos PR spinning their own announcement about ditching support for their original and best customers.

Shouldn’t one wait until they actually break their word before going off half cocked?

T

Theo2708

Lyricist I

The Brand is dead. Worst strategic mistake made by a growth tech. Every new purchase will now be BOSE. I can integrate through alexa. Just sadly am not able to pair brands. The CEO needs to do considerably more and i can only assume he and the board are just STUPID to not think this will affect loyalty and SALES. Anyone thinking of buying a new Sonos will be thinking ‘wait my product is redundant in 5 years and not future proof’

One can only hope that the cash hungry board, through their lack of care for loyal customers will be hit hard where it hurts in their dividends and share price. Because this is the only way these types will learn.

Sonos Board have you not heard of ‘competition, consulting customers, consumer choice’ ? wake up and smell the smart speaker market!

B

blkmg

Contributor I

The problem is no one trusts Sonos PR spinning their own announcement about ditching support for their original and best customers.

Shouldn’t one wait until they actually break their word before going off half cocked?

They already did!

In reality, they should sell the speakers with a subscription. For example, buy a speaker for $500 with a 3 year software subscription, and then you have to pay monthly or buy a new one to keep your subs going (the updates). This would have been much more honest than saying the speakers "are old" and can't support playing music, which is a lie - they can keep them going basically for as long as they want to.

But then, that would require guts to actually say it - and a lot more competence to implement it. Would I pay, most likely yes - since the expectations would be CLEAR.

Believe me, I never comment online, I find it absurd most of the time - but Sonos botched this. They built a customer base with certain expectations, and they are choosing a dishonest way to change (blame technology, instead of admitting they need more cash).

melvimbe

The Brand is dead. Worst strategic mistake made by a growth tech. Every new purchase will now be BOSE. I can integrate through alexa. Just sadly am not able to pair brands.

Bose is actually on it’s second line of smart speakers. They decided not to bother trying to integrate their legacy and modern products together, so they just ended the first line...no new functionality, and started a new one.

The CEO needs to do considerably more and i can only assume he and the board are just STUPID to not think this will affect loyalty and SALES.

Of course the CEO knew this would not go over well. It was even mentioned in the investors report.

Anyone thinking of buying a new Sonos will be thinking ‘wait my product is redundant in 5 years and not future proof’

It is a minumum of 5 years after the device has stopped production. There is some future proofing, as the legacy have gotten many features that were not available originally. And honestly, anyone buying a smart speaker, really any device that is software base, should consider the fact that it will not last forever.

One can only hope that the cash hungry board, through their lack of care for loyal customers will be hit hard where it hurts in their dividends and share price. Because this is the only way these types will learn.

I don’t think that will do customers any good.

Sonos Board have you not heard of ‘competition, consulting customers, consumer choice’ ? wake up and smell the smart speaker market!

Danny

melvimbe

In reality, they should sell the speakers with a subscription. For example, buy a speaker for $500 with a 3 year software subscription, and then you have to pay monthly or buy a new one to keep your subs going (the updates). This would have been much more honest than saying the speakers "are old" and can't support playing music, which is a lie - they can keep them going basically for as long as they want to.

As it stands now, you have a minimum of 5 years without a subscription. I’m not seeing how paying full price for a speaker (assuming you’re talking about the play:5) with a subscription on top of that would be more appealing to customers. If there was just a rental/subscription fee without having to buy the speaker, that would be different. As it stands right now, if a speaker was no longer supportted after 5 years (60 months), the $500 speaker is costing about $8.33 a month...most likely cheaper. And that really only covers the period where you are receiving regular updates, since you will receive bug fixes and such with current functionality after that period, as it stands right now.

But then, that would require guts to actually say it - and a lot more competence to implement it. Would I pay, most likely yes - since the expectations would be CLEAR.

I would not have. Besides the fact that your plan costs more, even if it worked out to be even I would rather own then rent, so that I could then sell the unit if I no longer needed it. Sonos has the trade in program if I prefer. My overall costs are less than what you’re proposing.

Believe me, I never comment online, I find it absurd most of the time - but Sonos botched this. They built a customer base with certain expectations, and they are choosing a dishonest way to change (blame technology, instead of admitting they need more cash).

I agree that they botched this. It could have been presented in a much more positive manner, and I think Sonos should have let customers know this was coming a lot sooner. But hindsight is 20/20. I don’t believe Sonos is lying about the limits of the hardware in legacy products.

Danny

N

No longer a supporter

Lyricist II

Advancements in streaming technology as it pertains to Sonos technology are incremental, and certainly will not make a device obsolete in 5 to 10 years. I can see right through what sonos is trying to do: sell more product to its loyal users. Except what I read is that many, including myself, have lost confidence in Sonos. In 2019 it was losing support to play the tens of thousands of songs I own on my apple phone. Now in 2020 it’s anything older than 5 years. Hear me now SONOS: I currently own a soundbar, a Play1, 6 Connects, 2 Connect Amps, and I was planning a whole new wave of additional purchases. But I’m not buying one more piece of Sonos equipment. Ever. How can I if I can’t trust you at all?

Everyone who reads this go check out Bluesound. New, young, fresh company… Looks great on paper. Does everything Sonos does and much more. Plays the music I own, from my phone. Might be time to sell off my stuff and upgrade to a different company.

AP

J

John B

Sonos successfully sued Denon for patent infringement. Currently suing Bluesound. Thst is how it does everything Sonos does! Watch that space.

Also I think I read that Bluesound had dropped playing from an iPhone too. Maybe I am mistaken.

Edit no I wasn't mistaken

https://support1.bluesound.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360017557514-WARNING-no-longer-able-to-directly-play-from-iTunes-library

jgatie

Advancements in streaming technology as it pertains to Sonos technology are incremental, and certainly will not make a device obsolete in 5 to 10 years. I can see right through what sonos is trying to do: sell more product to its loyal users. Except what I read is that many, including myself, have lost confidence in Sonos. In 2019 it was losing support to play the tens of thousands of songs I own on my apple phone. Now in 2020 it’s anything older than 5 years. Hear me now SONOS: I currently own a soundbar, a Play1, 6 Connects, 2 Connect Amps, and I was planning a whole new wave of additional purchases. But I’m not buying one more piece of Sonos equipment. Ever. How can I if I can’t trust you at all?

Everyone who reads this go check out Bluesound. New, young, fresh company… Looks great on paper. Does everything Sonos does and much more. Plays the music I own, from my phone. Might be time to sell off my stuff and upgrade to a different company.

AP

Funny, Bluesound can’t play from your phone either. And unlike Sonos they dropped it without even taking a year to try to fix it. Like to reconsider your choice?

J

Jeffrey_G

Sonos and Denon settled out of court and HEOS continues to be sold.

Besides Bluesound, Sonos is also suing Google and has publicly stated that they will sue Amazon after Google.

The lawsuits aren't surprising since Google and Amazon are reportedly out selling Sonos big time.

There are a lot of reasons to not buy Bluesound but being sued by Sonos wouldn't factor too high for me, ymmv. (But TBH I would never buy Bluesound)

N

No longer a supporter

Lyricist II

Advancements in streaming technology as it pertains to Sonos technology are incremental, and certainly will not make a device obsolete in 5 to 10 years. I can see right through what sonos is trying to do: sell more product to its loyal users. Except what I read is that many, including myself, have lost confidence in Sonos. In 2019 it was losing support to play the tens of thousands of songs I own on my apple phone. Now in 2020 it’s anything older than 5 years. Hear me now SONOS: I currently own a soundbar, a Play1, 6 Connects, 2 Connect Amps, and I was planning a whole new wave of additional purchases. But I’m not buying one more piece of Sonos equipment. Ever. How can I if I can’t trust you at all?

Everyone who reads this go check out Bluesound. New, young, fresh company… Looks great on paper. Does everything Sonos does and much more. Plays the music I own, from my phone. Might be time to sell off my stuff and upgrade to a different company.

AP

Funny, Bluesound can’t play from your phone either. And unlike Sonos they dropped it without even taking a year to try to fix it. Like to reconsider your choice?

My comments about Bluesound were an afterthought. Did you want to comment about the main point of this thread? Like how I’ve spent several thousands of dollars, and now Sonos doesn’t want to support the product despite there being very little innovation in the past 10 years?

Show more replies

Sign up

Login to the community