non support of older sonos speakers

“We expect that in the near to intermediate term, this backward compatibility will no longer be practical or cost-effective, and we may decrease or discontinue service for our older products,” says Sonos in a recent SEC filing.

I doubt you will get a definitive answer from Sonos. I imagine the older products would be sundowned first. Sonos products in order of release are:

ZP100
ZP80
Bridge
ZP120/Connect:Amp
ZP90/Connect
Play:5 1st gen (aka S5)
Play:3
Playbar
Play:1
Play:5 2nd gen
Boost
Playbase
One
Beam

Certain capabilities of the very oldest products have already been compromised, presumably to free up space for newer, more important, functionality.

For example ZP100/ZP80 are no longer able to perform an incremental library index update themselves. If there are newer, more capable, devices in the system the controller will automatically use one of those to execute an incremental library scan. If there are no such devices present, ZP100/ZP80 will make a time-consuming full scan instead.

Obviously Airplay support can only be offered in the most recent devices (Playbase, One, Beam) due to its hardware platform requirements. The solution is to group older players with one of the Airplay targets.

I think we could see more of this 'load-sharing' going on within a heterogeneous Sonos system.

so all one would need to do is purchase a newer generation for updates and the existing equipment would still be functional within the system? I am sort of old school and do not use the Sonos with Alexa and or google, but just use my i phone and ipad to stream mostly amazon and pandora

so all one would need to do is purchase a newer generation for updates and the existing equipment would still be functional within the system? I am sort of old school and do not use the Sonos with Alexa and or google, but just use my i phone and ipad to stream mostly amazon and pandora

That's the way it is now. It is not out of the question that there will come a tipping point where the oldest devices just cannot keep up and they will be retired (as was done with the CR100). We are not there yet, and Sonos does its best to avoid it, but one cannot really expect 13+ year old electronics to stay viable forever.

[quote=jgatie]one cannot really expect 13+ year old electronics to stay viable

Why not? If someone knocked on my door and explained that Sony had decided I had gotten enough value out of my plasma TV and they were here to take it" I'd feel 'robbed'. That TV's picture is every bit as good as my OLED. For a company to decide that I no longer get to use a product is wrong. And, please don't start the the 'A Sonos speaker is too complex to maintain' spew. They've introduced the complexity out of desire to change the nature of the product. Nor is the "That's the way modern products work" a defense. Intentionally obsoleting products is wrong.

Mr. Flowerpot, you are obviously here trying to stir up an argument. I'll not be participating, so enjoy screaming at the wind.

Sonos is an integrated system that is constantly developing. Your TV is neither of those things. A worthless comparison. But then you know that.

I would like to know which gear I should dump now while it still has some value. Guessing the ZP80/ZP100's should go ASAP.

It's anyone's guess really. You could be pre-emptive and replace your zp's with comparable connects. However, Sonos could announced updated versions of the Connect tomorrow. It's a gamble either way.