End of Software Updates for Legacy Products

Yes, investing further in Sonos seems like a very risky bussiness.

Since this is rather expensive hardware I’m very sceptical.

I am not a real tech savvy guy. I can make my way around most tech devices, but I’m not nearly as sophisticated as a lot of people I see posting on tech sites. I bought Sonos because it allowed me to stream my iTunes music library in a fairly simple manner. I don’t subscribe to any music streaming services. I don’t use Spotify or any of those type of services. I just wanted a simple system to be able to play the music I had in my iTunes library. Sonos was perfect. With the Sonos Connect I could play all my music through my stereo system. Perfect. Exactly what I was looking for. I then also purchased a couple of Sonos Play 5’s to give me a couple of extra speakers that I could move around the house. Worked great. And now of course this is all being rendered useless and I will no longer be able to use any of these.

Since I received the e-mail from Sonos telling me that I am being abandoned, I started looking for alternatives. Because not only am I not going to upgrade my Sonos products for a 30% discount, I will never, ever again purchase any Sonos products. Simply not going to happen. So I’ve been looking for something else to use. And guess what, I think I’ve found it. For my purposes, I think I’ll be able to use Apple Airplay 2. I didn’t know anything about it until this evening. I just realized that my stereo amp supports it, and so through my iPhone or iPad I can play all the music in my iTunes library. No more need for Sonos Connect to play my iTunes library through my stereo system. Apple has me covered.

I’ll probably also invest in a couple of quality BlueTooth speakers to give me some portability.

For me at least, this looks like it is going to be a good solution.

And to be honest, I haven’t been happy with Sonos for a while now. When I first purchased my Sonos products I kept getting the updates and I was a pretty loyal user. Then a while ago Sonos told me I needed to register online in order to get any further updates. I really didn’t want to give Sonos my information, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to use the system, so I finally broke down and registered with them. But I wasn’t happy about it. Again, I just wanted a simple system so I could play my music library. Fast forward to Mac announcing an upgrade to their operating system and guess what, if you make the upgrade it renders Sonos useless. I haven’t made the upgrade yet because of this. When I called Sonos Tech Support, they just tell me that they are working on it. So I can’t upgrade my computer because Sonos isn’t compatible with the upgrade. And because I can’t upgrade my computer, I can’t sync my iPhone or my iPad to my computer.  I also realized that Sonos isn’t playing any of my .m4a music. Again I called Sonos and again I’m told they are working on it. And now I’m told that most if not all of my Sonos components will very soon no longer be supported. So I really am done with Sonos.

I’m pretty sure that Airplay 2 will fill the need for what I’m looking for, but if after using it for a while I find it is somehow lacking, I’ll look for something else. But Sonos has lost me as a customer. I’m done.

And with all due respect to any future customers, this really is buyer beware. Because if Sonos does something like this once, there is every reason to suspect they could do it again.

And for anyone considering replacing their current Sonos system for 30% off a new system, why would you? How long will it be before the same thing happens again? Do you really want to throw good money after bad. There comes a time where you just need to walk away. Let’s face it, Sonos has tried to pull one over on us here. It’s up to all of us as to whether or not we will allow them to profit from this. I for one will not.

Goodbye Sonos. And to all of you trapped in this mess, I really and truly hope you can find an alternative that will work for you.

Will i not be able to group my Connect amp 

with my play 3 play 1 after may2020

My kneejerk reaction is also to abondon the sonos ecosystem, but I can see the company dilemma.

I imagine that many of us bought sonos equipmemt viewing it primarily as a clever wireless hardware solution and view the software evolution as simply a bonus. Those people are likely to feel really let down by this news as it seems that eventually devices will be bricked.

But others probably see the software aspect as the main selling point and as with other technological solutions once the hardware cannot support the software it must be time to move on.

The first camp and likely to be enthusiasts and early adoptors. They are probably more committed to the ecosystem than the second camp and will have built up more equipmemt over time. This decision will dessimate trust with this customer base and many will be angry enough to immediately look elsewhere. But sonos will know that they are now household name and this customer base may not be needed anymore for the success of the company to continue.

Sonos is basically hanging its loyal fanbase out to dry to priorise newer, mainstream, fickle customers. However this is a dangerous strategy imo. The loyalty of the customers is what has built this business and they should be very careful to consider the next move.

With just a 30% discount being offered they will still be making a large amount of profit on people trading in, which should not be the case. Perhaps the company should be breaking even on these transactions or even taking a small loss. If 60% could be offered Im sure that customers would stick by sonos but as things stand I doubt they will. 

Worth noting that with shopping around you can usually find some reductions so essentially a 30% reduction to replace sonos gear directly with sonos is in reality offering more like 10% when compared to prices available elsewhere.

I for one will be flogging my play 3s soon. I wouldn't rule out one or two more play ones but no way i would get too wedded to the ecosystrm after this news. Sonos should think long and hard how this will impact people who have spent thousands on sonos gear and whether those people will ever buy sonos kit again.

Dip your hand in your pocket sonos to keep the foundations of the business alive!

Sonos has shagged me a few times. 

CR100 pulled, ring fenced the system for a while but had to buy 3 iPads to replace the remotes. 

Now, because they were solely for Sonos use I went with Apples run out model that was on offer, problem with that was that a couple of years later Sonos said they were not supporting older IOS devices with their app because they were only developing for IOS8 or whatever the new IOS was and my iPads could not be updated. They said that the new Sonos software could not be controlled with the old ios build. 

That left me with £1200 worth of Sonos remotes I could no longer use. 

(Having said that, it was a lie, as a third party wrote a sonos control app within days, so it was really a case of “we can’t be arsed.”) 

At that point I started to slim down my Sonos system, got rid of the amps, most of the connects and just left 3 pieces in the system. 

They are all now not going to get updates. 

There is a point where you think “You really are just taking the piss out of me now, so I’m out!”

Bitterly disappointed by this announcement. TBH the Sonos system isn't that reliable IMHO and this just ensures that I won't continue down the Sonos path. 

Note the timing. They likely developed this plan before Christmas but waited until after the holiday buying season. Guess they didn’t want to loose sales to the unsuspecting customer. At this rate it doesn’t mater about updates as they probably will not be in business to provide them in 5 years.

Why pay premium prices and get cheap ass support?   5 years lifespan for such expensive products isn’t acceptable in my book.  Since I only use my system for streaming I’m pretty sure this means my connect will become useless eventually. In fact with this announcement all Sonos products can now list planned obsolescence as a feature.

To quote Milania Trump: ‘I don’t care!’

Here’s my system running a Sonos Beam (other 2 Play 1s are disconnected) - 

There are alternatives to just scrapping or flogging your devices ….

This is rubbish… Have you ANY idea what people have invested in your equipment? and you choose to abandon them simply because you MAY want to introduce new features in the future? We do not all want NEW features we are happy with our set ups thank you. Please confirm to the community that existing functionality will NOT BE WITHDRAWN? It is illegal in the UK to sell something that subsequently is non functional, and yet your “legacy products” remain on the High Street…

This reminds me of when you sold a remote SONOS Controller then abandoned it for an APP on devices I didn't then have and it turned into a bloody CLOCK. And you seriously expect users to trust you and buy more of your overpriced kit? look at the market you're no longer leaders….