Jimmy F J,

I must have read the announcement differently. It said we had a choice. So in simple terms, I personally see things like this...

1. We get to May 2020 and our Sonos system, as it then stands, will not get any further updates. A line is drawn under the devices in the Setup. These will (in my case) be a mix of the older 'legacy' and the more recent 'modern' products.
2. It appears it will be possible to split the products/system into two, the announcement clearly says that, so let’s call that ‘legacy' and ‘modern’ Sonos Households and the legacy system will remain as is, but the separated-out modern system can still move forward with any new updates and features. So that sounds quite good to me, almost like I will be able to switch between the two platforms, old and new. That will present opportunity for me to fade-out the old and add to the new system over time. A smooth transition would be my aim in that chosen situation.
3. It was also announced that I will be able to move from a Sonos legacy/mixed system to a completely new modern system quite quickly, should I wish to do so and to do that, I can either sell my old legacy items onto others who are happy to perhaps stick with the older-featured software, or I can trade-in eligibile products and get a third off (or thereabouts) any of the new modern Sonos products and future-proof my ‘modern’ system, whilst responsibly recycling my old devices.

If that is indeed the case here, with this announcement, I don’t find that too bad at all and the ball is still very much firmly in my own court on what I may then choose to do, going forward.

I think we’re seeing a bit of a 'storm in a teacup' here and the announcement is actually not sounding that bad (to me, at least) although some folk here are (still) trying to make it sound far worse than it really is. I’ve seen companies like Apple Microsoft, Google and Denon do far worse to their customers in the past. Even the worse-case scenario here, appears to be that a customers Sonos system will just not receive another update post May 2020, but it will continue to work exactly as it did before that date.

There are still glaring gaps in Sonos plans for the end of life items. Eg

@Ryan S didn't seem to be able to answer a question  what would happen if an 'end of life' product in your system was temporarily turned off, and the remaining products were updated.

Would the 'end of life' product then be bricked and unable to communicate with your controller?

A damn important question that Sonos simply couldn't answer.

We can only speculate without further information, but let’s say the system, as it stands now, is what we have in May 2020 and it’s ‘black boxed’ on all Sonos products and all new features are added to that 'basic platform' and the new stuff either works with the 'black box' code  or alongside it, to enhance, or replace, some of its functionality… it would be quite easy for a device to switch between ‘legacy' and 'modern’ mode in such circumstances I think, depending on its surrounding setup.

Personally, I think we should wait for the precise detail, otherwise we will just be debating these things for the sake of argument, rather than achieving things 'constructively' through dialogue.

I agree with all of your points. Just wish Sonos had thought this through and provided better information a part of the announcement. We shall see.

Just disappointing as I love(d) my Sonos gear. And now wondering what other devices will be next to be 'end of life'....

It just appears to be the rather old products that will no longer be receiving any updates post May 2020, those with slower processors and less memory and old wireless adapters perhaps? I wouldn’t term any devices as being ‘bricked’ or ‘end of life’ here, given what was mentioned in the announcement, it’s more of a case that they are just being put out to “graze in a field”.

I think someone here in the community once mentioned that there’s 32mb memory on the real old Sonos devices,  but please don’t quote me on that, however I’m fairly sure that does not apply for example to the (still-modern) 'flagship’ Play:1 Sonos speaker, which I think was given four times that amount of memory, or thereabouts, (that’s from a tear-down I once saw on YouTube). So I personally remain fairly confident that great little speaker and the devices that followed it, will still be around and updating for some considerable time still to come. I personally don’t think we need to worry about those things at all at the moment. I’m thinking and hoping that the Play:1 (I have 9 of those) are not going to be put out to graze for a good many years.

people spent thousands of $$ on their system and after a few years sonos says “oh, by the way, you have to spend another 70% of that money so your system will work in the near future”??

This is an absolute disgrace and in my eyes more than fraudulent, since they were selling those products until very recently. 

I am out and hope many other people will do the same!!!!!

Disgusting attitude too loyal customers. Their equipment has been bought and added to over the years and for them to suddenly tell customers that they are going to make their equipment unusable is criminal. Can you imagine if a car manufacturer decided that when a car was 10 years old it should just stop working anymore!

important note, we are talking about people who bought the stuff up to 2-3 years ago!

the system will “probably” work fine for a while. However if f.e the streaming service you are using is making an update, it will stop working, anytime, any day

I wish it was only 70% more that we would have to spend. Try at least 110%. Don’t forget that the cost of the new zone players have gone up.

People don’t replace their sound systems the way they replace their iPhones!  I have my “legacy” Connect attached to a 30-year-old Pioneer receiver and two “vintage” Advent loudspeakers that have provided outstanding sound since 1982.  Now the newest part of the system is the lowest common denominator and soon to be a paperweight.

My legacy connect is only 3 years old purchased as new !!

I have Sonos products in various rooms but my main music room has a mix of legacy and modern products which is used as one system so I can't separate them into different systems !!

Sonos have forgotten they are in the audio market and think they are in the disposable tech market !!

It’s actually only certain products that were released a minimum of 5 years ago.

I am not talking about when they were RELEASED, I am talking about when they were SOLD to people. And that is until very recently.

Your 30 year old Pioneer doesn’t do streaming and multiroom audio either.  Not without other products attached to it anyway.  There is a clear difference.  

And your system is not a paperweight.  It will operate as it does now without any feature upgrades. Sonos has recently stated that they will even provide bug fixes.where it is all possible given the limitations of the hardware.

I’m not say you have no reason to be angry, just that your comparisons to non-software related products doesn’t really apply.

Dealers selling old stock as new should be reported to Sonos at a minimum.

Still Sonos should do a lot better job of providing information on the product’s data plate to avoid this.

They were sold much later because they remained in some retailer’s shelf or warehouse. It’s important to clarify because a lot of people who bought stuff 2-3 years ago did NOT get legacy products, but some did. 

Agreed, in hindsight, Sonos have done a gen 1/gen 2 type of distinction at the time.  I suspect that they have correct that practice since they Sonos One has a gen 1 and gen 2 without any current differences in capabilities or appearance.

Agreed. But also if it is 5 years ago…...does that make it any better??

fact is that they betrayed their customers big time. 

I did !!

I am a huge Sonos FanBoy. I have 14 Sonos units, 5 of which are now Legacy devices. I am seriously dissapointed and find the options presented to be pathetic. Your loyal customers are who you need to worry about, not Google. When you treat loyal customers like this, you comany WILL FAIL. 

I suppose a money grab from a few people now may help pay for your lawsuit against Google, but in the end it will be over and none of us will have a supported Sonos environment because Sonos will be belly up and bancrupt. 

It was good while it lasted, but the writing is on the wall.

I bought my Connect:Amp in March 2019. I knew it was not a recent device but I didn’t think Sonos would expire it with just 4 months of notice. But even if I had bought it 5 years ago, a 5 year replacement cycle is just intolerably short for thousands of dollars of audio equipment that, software aside, still works 100%. It’s nothing like a phone where technology is changing rapidly -- and Apple would still give you 5 years of support on a phone. It’s not like Sonos has been upgrading this equipment with wireless-N or other new technology.

Sonos introducing this as removing products “introduced between 2005 and 2011” just completely ignores the fact that some of these products were sold as new even by Sonos much, much more recently than that.

I’m waiting to see how this “separate your legacy products“ solution is going to work. Apparently no details to be released until May. So, no replacing the device at least until then. But, critically, we need to know whether legacy devices are going to be a security issue or just a functionality one. I don’t need new nonsense like Alexa on my Connect:Amp (or on any device for that matter), but I do need it to not be a vulnerability for my network. I do need it to be supported by an app that I can install on a phone, even a new phone, or on a new computer.

I’m also wondering about the trade up program. If I do replace the Connect:Amp, I’d rather trade up to a Port and use the difference in price between the Port and Amp to get an inexpensive non-smart 50w amp that will meet my needs (125w is overkill for what I’m doing) and which will never be obsoleted by software updates. But it’s not clear users can choose their own upgrade path, the site seems to specify which device will be replaced by which new device with no choice whatsoever.

I don't think it is that simple, there are people that have recently purchased items that fall in to the legacy category & there are those of us that entered this for the longer term & there are good engineered solutions. There are smart people at SONOS, time for them to come up with smart solutions not some ill thought out way to get existing customers to put their hands in their pockets. Come on SONOS we didn't all come down in the last shower. As I have already said at a replacement/upgrade coming in at over 70% of existing investment who wouldn't look at the other options. Yamaha WXA-50 is already looking good as a possible Connect AMP replacement. Maybe not quite as powerful as the new AMP but I have manages with less for the last 12 years. Oh & I have a Yamaha compact system that still works after 15 years & I still use it to play my cassette collection.