Contributor I

Sonos goes bankrupt! What then?

Forum|Forum|10 years ago
June 20, 2016
37 replies
8444 views

I'm looking at the possibility of setting up a Sonos surround system upstairs and downstairs as well as Play:5's for music in different areas of the house. This is a lot of money. My concern these days with technology is that it seems to have a shelf life of max 5 years and then it is considered throw away. You used to be able to buy a expensive set of speakers that would keep their quality sound for 20 years. To prove this, all you have to do is go to any high end stereo store that sells old high end systems. Amazing sound!

I'm in the financial industry and I've learned over the years that even the good companies don't always last. Their products though should still be usable. What I would like to know, if Sonos, for whatever reason, goes bankrupt. What is the implication for my system? I know that there would no longer be any updates for the software, but would the system still function as it did at the moment that Sonos no longer existed?

I tried searching this on these forums and I was quite surprised to not find an answer to this.

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Stuart_W

World-Class Superstar

You know what? Life's too short to worry about what ifs!

You might get run over by a bus or hit by a meteorite on the way home, doesn't stop you going out.

Buy your Sonos system and don't worry about it.

OR, give me the money in the safe and secure knowledge I'll spend most of it on Booze, drugs and women - what's left over I'll waste!

Arc + Sub (Gen 1) + 2 x Play 1/ Stereo Play 3s/ Era 100 Stereo in Kitchen, One Stereo in Bedroom, Play 1 stereo pair in Study, Play 1in Bathroom, Sonos Move 2

jgatie

First, Sonos does not consider itself to be a manufacturer of "throwaway" products. Their very first units, the ZP100 and ZP80 are still fully compatible and functional with current Sonos units, and they are over 10 years old. They go out of their way to maintain this compatibility, even to point of what some see as a detriment to future functionality.

Second, you can expect the units to continue working as today if Sonos suddenly goes bankrupt, however eventually the infrastructure will change and compatibility with services will start to dwindle due to new technologies and standards. But that goes for any and all internet technology.

S

SAVAuthor

Contributor I

Internet. I think that is the key word here. This is why in five years the majority of the components will be outdated. That's why I mentioned throw away technology. I was NOT slagging Sonos in any way. It's just the field they play in.

I was mostly concerned about the system automatically stopping if the company went bankrupt. I've had clients lose their pension at age 60 when their top 500 company went bankrupt. This is a legitimate question.

J

John B

I was mostly concerned about the system automatically stopping if the company went bankrupt. This is a legitimate question.

But, I would have thought, a technological impossibility??

jgatie

I was mostly concerned about the system automatically stopping if the company went bankrupt. I've had clients lose their pension at age 60 when their top 500 company went bankrupt. This is a legitimate question.

I's a legitimate question, but the answer is obvious; sooner or later the system won't fully function. If you are worried about it happening, then modern technology is not for you.

H

HighEndMusic

Prodigy I

On a more serious note - if Sonos goes bankrupt, your local music library / everything on your iDevices / Androids will still be playing. Problems will be lack of links with 3rd party streaming services. I do think, however, you could enter internet radio stations direct ip addresses and listen to those.

MikeV

The likelihood is that if Sonos were to declare bankruptcy, someone would probably buy Sonos' assets, infrastructure, intellectual property, and whatnot, then continue to provide service for at least a known period of time as a condition of the sale. Depending on who were to purchase it, they might end up integrating Sonos products or technology into another product line, and thus they would continue providing service.

The S in IOT stands for Security.

S

SAVAuthor

Contributor I

The likelihood is that if Sonos were to declare bankruptcy, someone would probably buy Sonos' assets, infrastructure, intellectual property, and whatnot, then continue to provide service for at least a known period of time as a condition of the sale. Depending on who were to purchase it, they might end up integrating Sonos products or technology into another product line, and thus they would continue providing service.

This is the most likely result if the unthinkable happens!

On the what IF scenario, here's a question for you. The Sonos system is run via an app. If you use the app to run the TV or play music off of your computer or phone is Sonos's servers in the middle of that process? Does their servers go through some type of verification stage to allow the app to run? No verification, no running app?

jgatie

This is the most likely result if the unthinkable happens!

On the what IF scenario, here's a question for you. The Sonos system is run via an app. If you use the app to run the TV or play music off of your computer or phone is Sonos's servers in the middle of that process? Does their servers go through some type of verification stage to allow the app to run? No verification, no running app?

Sonos uses Amazon Web Services for its streaming architecture and routing/server infrastructure. I don't see Amazon going out of business too soon. ;)

https://aws.amazon.com/solutions/case-studies/sonos/

S

SAVAuthor

Contributor I

Sonos uses Amazon Web Services for its streaming architecture and routing/server infrastructure. I don't see Amazon going out of business too soon. ;)

https://aws.amazon.com/solutions/case-studies/sonos/

I would definitely agree. This service though is based on Sonos continuing to pay Amazon. How long would Amazon continue without being paid? Not very long.

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