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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BCM

The same worries follow through for everything you buy/use on a daily basis... your car, cell phone provider, electric company, Internet provider, your TV or fridge manufacturer, etc. Did you worry about any of that when you purchased? If a company goes bankrupt, there is a general a long line of proceedings held before it comes close to shutting down. You don't have to worry about that. Buy your gear.

jgatie

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.

Well, looks like you got me. You are right. You should not waste any money on Sonos on the oft chance that a company which is the market leader, had well over a billion dollars in sales last year, and has doubled its growth each year for the last 6 years will go bankrupt. Do not buy it, the risk is just not worth it. Instead, go buy a radio. But not one with tubes, because all the tube manufacturers are out of business.

T

The LHC

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.

Jgatie was talking about online streaming services, locally stored music does not require internet access to function. You can prove this by disconnecting your router from the internet and then playing some local files.

K

Kumar

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.

Quite. Service quality may even improve beyond what a standalone Sonos can provide today; if one can speculate, that should not be excluded.

The other point is that it will take a long time for NAS driven music play to degrade.

Finally, adopting a Connect/Connect Amp route reduces the investment risks, if one wants to see the buy as an investment.

A

amun

I think that it's unlikely that Sonos will go under but, as you say, you never know. If you just use connects and route them via conventional audio hardware, then the Sonos element becomes almost 'throw away' - and can be replaced by any other suitable streamer. You won't get all the benefits of the Sonos kit, but it does minimise the (tiny, IMHO) risk to your investment.

C

Chris_183

Enthusiast II

The OP has an excellent point but SONOS lack of an official reply is sad and maybe telling. With the CEO stepping down, competition growing and SONOS sales dropping, this is a very legitimate concern. It's a simple request. Will my streaming services continue to work until the units physically fail? If SONOS simply linked to the servers of the streaming companies directly then there would be no need for concern. But it seems they use intermediary servers for some streaming services.

To the OP - ignore the fan boys who don't want to face reality. I didn't buy a Squeezebox system because of sales issues and it saved me big time. I am currently selling my SONOS system on eBay and moved to MusicCast by Yamaha. Anyone want two Connect Amps, three Connects, a bridge a Play5 and Play 3 please go to eBay. My sales end in 7 days.

U

upstatemike

The problem with this discussion is that it worries about Sonos going bankrupt while assuming the various streaming services can be depended on to always be there. I expect the opposite is true and you should be more concerned that the streaming service you have come to rely on is much more likely to fail. Streaming services are not profitable at this point in time and besides having all of the same infrastructure concerns as the Sonos backend servers do they also have to contend with licensing issues and other volatile factors. With a streaming service you can lose access to your favorite music at any time due to expiring license agreements or service failures and if they go belly up all together how are you going to recover the hundreds of hours spent building playlists on their proprietary platform with no way to export that work to another provider? I think all things considered the risk of a Sonos bankruptcy is pretty low on the list of things that can screw with your music system.

Local music library with carefully constructed playlists - no shuffling!, Integration with Homeseer Automation, No touch screen devices, No streaming services, No Apple products ever

E

EricN

Lyricist III

My phone was 600. If I get 5 years out of it I'll be thrilled. My laptop was 1500. I think I'll get 5 years out of that but probably not much more. My Sonos install was 1600 (2x5's, 4x1's). I think I'll get 5 years out of it which is cool. If I had purchased a Play 5 G1 five years ago, I'd probably be replacing it with the G2 today. I think the company will be around for a while, but who knows. What I do know is that TODAY it is the best multi-room music system you can buy. Anything else you buy, you are hoping will improve and someday be as good as Sonos is right now. That would drive me crazy using that second-rate system everyday knowing it was a compromise purchased on a hope that it will get better.

ratty

This hysteria is totally misplaced. The new CEO commented that (a) the company was profitable, and (b) the number of 'new homes' with Sonos was up 20% year-on-year for the holiday period. They're the market leader in their space and, even if they were to falter, there'd be plenty of suitors.

SONOS sales dropping

They don't divulge sales figures so you simply cannot know, but based on the above +20% comment this has to be incorrect.

I am currently selling my SONOS system on eBay and moved to MusicCast by Yamaha.

So why exactly are you here? Is this yet another negative post on behalf of a competitor?

jgatie

So you are selling Sonos, the market leader, to buy a multi-room audio system from a company who is on their third version of a multi-room audio system after failing spectacularly with the last two?

Good purchasing strategy. Very logical. :?

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