Well, I received an email from Sonos today, saying that my Play:5 speakers became obsolete. I purchased these speakers about 3 and a half years ago, spending several thousand dollars in my home system. 

Kindly, Sonos is offering me two solutions. The first is to purchase new products (and of course, discard the old ones). The other, to sit down and see my system slowly die.

I can’t say how disappointed I am about this. From today, my house is full of expensive trash. Maybe this was what I needed to change to another ecosystem. The only reason I didn’t considered before is because the big amount of money already invested, but since Sonos is changing the game, I think it’s time to say goodbye.

I really hope I’m not the only one making a decision in that way. I decided to support Sonos over those big brands because I liked the product and philosophy. Now they are letting thousands of customers down, I feel my loyalty instantly fade.

While I think there was broad acceptance that the ZP80, ZP100 and Bridge might end up being deprecated, I’m surprised how deep this action goes. Folks who bought devices as recently as 2015 are going to be justifiably annoyed if these devices can no longer be used (with necessary limitations) as part of an evolving Sonos system.

Maybe Sonos decided ‘not to waste a good crisis’, but the optics are genuinely awful.

It’s critical that mixed mode systems comprising ‘modern’ and ‘outdated’ Sonos hardware can be managed gracefully, from a single controller, etc. If Sonos messes this up, the message is ‘don’t buy Sonos, you might only get five years’ support.’ That would represent an existential crisis.

If Tidal/Soundcloud/Qobuz changes their interface codec/security/etc. and your Sonos firmware is frozen at the old version, it means Tidal/Soundcloud/Qobuz will cease working.  Nothing can be done about that.

This is so bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Never gonna buy your products again!!

So I have about 12 zones of Sonos and have immediately moved from their biggest supporter to their biggest opposer.  I was an early adopter and put Sonos in every room.  And they have now pulled the rug out from under me.  My investment is now worth nothing and will take about $10000 to “upgrade” so that I can get exactly what I already have.  And their eventual lack of functionality - I have seen before.  I will suddenly get a message from my Apple devices that my system is out of date and will not interface with the Sonos anymore.  I have seen this play out already on other “legacy” devices that just suddenly stopped working.  I invested in Sonos because I thought they were different than other IT companies -turns out I was wrong.  Not another dollar Sonos.  

I can't hide my dissapointment that such an expensive investment is pretty much marked as obsolete within 5 years unless I remove or replace 3 components albeit at 30% discount. It's not even like I can guarantee continued usage of the system 'as is', as there is clear indication that at some point a change made by a streaming service could render the system redundant.

As long as there is a solid way of ensuring that legacy products in a mixed system don’t get bricked inadvertently, I am actually quite happy to see the end of upgrades that have done very little for my use case that includes streaming services. I also doubt that any that got off the upgrade train in the past for various reasons have lost the use of their systems because of anything the streaming services have done.

I also have no plans for expansion, and given the many more choices there are now compared to 2011 when I bought into Sonos, when any Sonos hardware dies, its replacement need not now have to be Sonos. In fact, this event now means that it CANNOT be Sonos, and I don’t lose sleep over that either. Nor do I hold a grudge against Sonos for that; life goes on, with or without Sonos. Or more correctly, with and without.

So this does not bother me all that much, once I am satisfied that accidental bricking of legacy products can be avoided.

I know. 

Not great for those who bought a load of Connects last year though is it?

As a long time Sonos customer with many “legacy” components I’m concerned Sonos will decide to brick said hardware under the premise of software update future.  If I don’t want the new hardware and can live w/o new fancy software updates then leave my hardware alone.  Want me to upgrade / buy new hardware, think of a different sales tactic.

Thanks. Rant over.

Also Play5 Gen1.

Gen2 was announced September 2015.

5 year window for updates for late adopters, feel bad for these people.

@jeegnesh, I merged your post here to this main thread since we’ve got your answer posted in here already.

This is too technical for me, so will all my Sonos stuff stop working having spent £000’s on it ? Got it all about 8/9 years ago. play 1’s, play 5’s ? Will this lot be gathering dust soon as dead items? If so I’ll be pretty cheesed off. And no I don’t want to upgrade with 30% discount, I can’t afford it and spend more money to be on same situation in a few years time? 

Connects bought last year are unaffected.

Just received notification that my perfectly good gen 1 Sonos 5 (2 of them) will not be receiving update support etc.

I do not recollect any statement by your company that there would be time limited support for my very expensive purchase. Totally pissed off by your company especially as the 30% discount on new hardware is irrelevant. My speakers work perfectly, they provide exactly what I need, the quality is superb and you are suggesting that, over time, they will be worthless, not because they do not function properly but because your company will not provide the necessary support.

How can this be legal?

If and when they do fail I personally promise that I will NOT replace them with any type of Sonos product.

You have let your most important customers down. The early adopters gave your company the chance to flourish but right now I hope this policy of imposing obsolescence destroys it. 

This is NUTS!  You want me to replace 16 devices?  You are only offering a 30% discount?  See how I am affected.  I am livid!  I obviously have been a HUGE supporter and now you do this?

If they are a recent hardware revision you should be ok though right?

Good for you. However, there are lots of people who have evolving Sonos systems in which they’re adding devices. 

6 legacy products and only 2 “modern” products (I was an early adopter and have built my system over many years)

A replacement bill of over about £2000 after the discount.  

I just dont have the funds to do that to keep software updates.  

Very disappointed and I can’t help but suspect that functionality of legacy systems will be reduced from it current state which does everything I need.

My understanding from the email is that if you have a single “legacy” item, no other items will be updated.

I don’t know what’s happened to Sonos but there seems to have been a recent shift to try and wring customers for all they’re worth.  I’m not impressed at all.  I’ve got a significant investment in Sonos products, I’ve put many others on to them and now I feel I’m being kicked in the balls, again and again.

SONOS, YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING!!

The highest quality audio equipment in my house continues to be my 35 year old Denon/Infinity based system in the largest room in our house.  Are you telling me that I’ll no longer be able to couple that with SONOS seamlessly both as audio playback and an audio source (via vinyl). 

With this announcement and the failure of a Play 5 last month (flashing white light of death), I have completely lost faith in SONOS and will never buy another piece of SONOS equipment again (despite my wife and I just discussing buying four new pieces of SONOS equipment last week).  You MUST figure out how to maintain my investment for the long term (like my 35 year old legacy audio), or you will be relegated to the scrap heap of failed technology.

A very angry user.

Hi,

I purchased my first set of Sonos speakers in 2015.  I now have 11 speakers in total and just got notification that one of the speakers is a Sonos 5 that was issued prior to 2011??

Is anyone else bullshit with Sonos for requiring us to purchase an upgrade after only five years?  

Will the speakers continue to work without software updates and if so, what are the risks?

All insights appreciated --

Thank you.

So I have over £3,000.00 invested in a system that will no longer be supported after May? This is a ridiculous way to treat customers!

When I bought your products there was no mention of them becoming redundant at any point and I feel this is a breach of contract on your part. As a professional musician I have been recommending Sonos products to other musicians for several years but I shall be posting a warning to all potential Sonos customers about this on social media. I shall also pop in and see Giles Martin (George Martin’s son and Sonos rep) at Abbey Road to get his perspective.

30% trade in is ludicrous, it should be at least 75% trade in. As customers we should not be penalised for a decision that has been foisted upon us.

Chris Blackwell.

For many, it is not simply having ‘a’ legacy product, it’s that we own multiple products - many thousands of pounds/dollars invested in Sonos networks.  My system sounds great and works great - I don’t feel minded to buy a whole new system that simply replicates what I have already - however, I do feel anxious that my Sonos network may cease to function in the drive for incremental revenue.  Can’t say I’m too impressed.  Apple got their fingers burnt by creating built in obsolescence and Sonos were criticised recently by offering to ‘brick’ perfectly functioning products as part of their upgrade marketing.

I have to agree that while logically it seems inevitable that products of this nature are going to go obsolete, sonos doesn't have a better approach to allowing legacy products to continue to work. Coupled with this, the "trade up" program to me is insulting. I just bought a new Beam in December for 20% off and now to replace an otherwise functional play 5 because of forced obsolescence, I only get 30% off? On top of that we are supposed to buy into this for ostensibly the promise of "new features" which Sonos characteristically refuses to provide. Most of all however, I think that this is just not the company I thought it was from a values perspective. It was only because I thought Sonos was different that I could get behind Patrick Spence's testimony to Congress. Now I say let google, amazon and Apple run roughshod over Sonos. They deserve it. 

When they started phasing out the old controllers I knew it was a slippery slope and they would come for my S5. The Trade Ups (a.k.a. creating unnecessary landfill) were obviously the carrot and now comes the stick. This is £100’s of WORKING hardware that Sonos is throwing in the bin.

In my opinion Sonos started to go down hill when they floated on the market. Since then they have been cutting costs, pushing big discounts and caring less - only interested in shifting more boxes. Sad to see really.