Please note that we’ve created a new thread with some clarifications to questions that have come up several times in this thread. Please see here to continue the discussion if you still have any questions. The information contained in this thread is outdated and may no longer be accurate.
We have some important news regarding our oldest Sonos devices shared on the Sonos Blog today. The text of that blog post is being included here for your convenience:
Starting in May 2020, some of our oldest products will no longer receive software updates or new features. We want to explain why and your options.
When we first set out almost 20 years ago to invent the technology to easily listen to any song in any room, most of the ways we listen to music today did not exist. In fact, the first Sonos products were introduced before the first iPhone was announced and when Myspace still ruled social media.
In order to invent multi-room music and smart speakers, we combined the worlds of high-fidelity audio and computing. Every Sonos product has a microprocessor, flash memory, and other hardware components typically found in computers and smartphones.
Since launching our first products, technology has advanced at an exponential rate; from streaming services and voice assistants to wireless networking and Bluetooth capabilities. Through all of this transformation, we have continued delivering new features via software updates. We’re extremely proud of the fact that we build products that last a long time, and that listeners continue to enjoy them. In fact, 92% of the products we’ve ever shipped are still in use today. That is unheard of in the world of consumer electronics. However, we’ve now come to a point where some of the oldest products have been stretched to their technical limits in terms of memory and processing power.
This coming May, these legacy products—our original Zone Players, Connect, and Connect:Amp (launched in 2006; includes versions sold until 2015), first-generation Play:5 (launched 2009), CR200 (launched 2009), and Bridge (launched 2007)—will no longer receive software updates or new features.
Today the Sonos experience relies on an interconnected ecosystem, giving you access to more than 100 streaming services, voice assistants, and control options like Apple AirPlay 2. Without new software updates, access to services and overall functionality of your sound system will eventually be disrupted, particularly as partners evolve their technology.
To help you through this transition, we’re providing two options:
Option 1: Continue using these legacy products, recognizing that your system will no longer receive software updates and new features.
Option 2: Trade up to a new Sonos product with a 30% credit for each legacy product you replace.
If you’re not sure if your products are affected, you can check in the System tab in your sonos.com-account
If you choose to participate in the trade up program, your legacy products will be put in Recycle Mode, a state that deletes personally identifiable information and prepares these products for e-recycling. Recycle Mode also protects unsuspecting people from buying legacy products that are approaching the end of their useful life and won’t provide the Sonos experience customers expect today. Recycle Mode will only apply to the legacy products listed above.
We ask that you take your legacy products to a nearby certified e-recycling facility. This is the most environmentally friendly way to recycle. That said, if there isn’t a facility in your area, we are happy to pay for you to ship your products back to Sonos for responsible recycling.
Ideally all our products would last forever, but for now we’re limited by the existing technology. Our responsibility here is threefold: build products that last a long time; continually look for ways to make our products more environmentally friendly through materials, packaging, and our supply chain and take responsibility for helping you through the transition once products near the end of their useful life.
We’ve always believed in freedom of choice, whether that means choosing a certain streaming service or way to control your listening experience. We hope the choices provided here—continuing to use these products without new software updates or trading up to our modern products—enable you to make the choice that’s right for you.
We are honored to have a place in your home and want to make sure that we help continue to bring the best experience we can, even when products reach the end of their useful life.
Ryan, is “Planned obsolescence, or built-in obsolescence” SONOS new business model? this announcement and the change to the “on this iPhone or iPad” feature and the impact on the play 1 seem to say yes. SONOS will run into issues with the European Commission it that is true.
I am completely shocked by this second, what is ultimately a discontinuation announcement by sonos. Of course i understand the announcement and requirement for technology advancements but After investing/ spending over £4500 on Sonos, and introducing many many people to Sonos, I am of course very disappointed and also embarrassed for acting as an ambassador for sonos to the many friends I have introduced to Sonos over the years.
Half my system will not work or I’ll have to run two systems that I am sure will not link as multi room format.... The whole essence of the sonos legacy!
Also beware that according to the press, although no announcement yet from sonos, it is speculated that My play bar and play 1s will follow on the same path next!
It may be Possibly time to reluctantly considering moving away from sonos and no longer promoting them.
The 30% upgrade discount on trading in legacy for new Sonos is an insult and seems like a way of Sonos cashing in on current customers whilst making money on parts returned. The current Second hand value Of legacy products is similar or more than 30% giving everybody an option to sell and move away from Sonos.
I really hope Sonos reconsider and look after their current loyal customer base such as myself (12 devices and over £4500) and reconsider the 30% trade in "offer". Surely it should be more like having to pay 30% to upgrade what is perfectly fine running systems to something of essentially equivalence.
I am worried this decision may be the demise of sonos and they are heading down the road we saw was the demise of the mobile phone market leader nokia went through, Something i am sure all ”current” sonos lovers do not want to happen!!
Any feedback from sonos on what the corporate decision on this insulting 30% trade in will be. For sonos to ask me to pay a further £1500 to replace my working devices to current, essentially equivalent devices i have already invested over £4500 on is unthinkable. Any feedback from sonos welcome..??
Just had a look on the Sonos website… I couldn't be bothered reading further after I saw the proclamation of TRUST, ACCOUNTABILITY and COLLABORATION. they all are sub headings under the page heading RESPONSIBILITY. If you want to find the page, click on the link called SUSTAINABILITY under their main menu…..
Who thinks any of their blurb is sincere?
Does any of it have substance… ?
Unbelievable isn’t it.
Such a shame.
Yes. Completely unbelievable.
Just had a look on the Sonos website… I couldn't be bothered reading further after I saw the proclamation of TRUST, ACCOUNTABILITY and COLLABORATION. they all are sub headings under the page heading RESPONSIBILITY. If you want to find the page, click on the link called SUSTAINABILITY under their main menu…..
Who thinks any of their blurb is sincere?
Does any of it have substance… ?
Unbelievable isn’t it.
Such a shame.
Yes. Completely unbelievable.
That’s what happens when you spend a fortune on web design. They could not care less about us. They got my $5,000 and now they are focusing on to a new generation of suckers to scam.
I believe Sonos thinks they can ride this through. They clearly have some major retailers on board and now the people who have supported Sonos over the years suddenly don’t matter anymore. HUGE mistake. You get away with that on the street, not on here.
I hope the blogs, forums, back links, news articles, word of mouth, reviews, recommendations and whatever else I haven't mentioned all that do their job.
Was going to invest in 2 more subs, a move for work and a couple more play 1s this year.
6 play 5s, 2 beams, 1 playbar and a sub now up for sale.
Goodnight.
Sonos was my one HUGE pleasure in life. You've taken it away from me in one rude email.
Ditch Sonos shares ( which are already crashing)
No they’re not. Here’s the one year graph. The market hasn’t digested this news yet, but I doubt they will crash, so stop being the bearer of fake news - it’s just not helpful.
thank god, I only have the connect:amp. goodbye, sonos!
Couldn’t be more disappointed in Sonos for making what I consider to be a terrible business decision. I have been a loyal Sonos customer for 5 years and have spent several thousand dollars on their equipment(which is now worthless) and recommended it to many friends. I hope there is enough dissent here for this decision to be reconsidered. If not, I do not plan to support this brand going forward and would urge friends not to as well. I look forward to others updates on competitor products for replacement.
Terrible move Sonos, if devices bought in 2015 won't be supported then consumers will think hard before investing in any new Sonos products. After Play 5 gen 1 what will be obsolete next? Sub, Playbar, Play 3?
I think SONOS need to spend some time examining another technical solution. There needs to be a way to support and update new products while maintaining a software interface to enable continued usage of legacy products that can’t utilize new features. Incentives to upgrade should be because of sticky new features, not the “gun to the head” approach of upgrade or it will fail.
This approach of upgrade or everything will eventually fail, sounds effective from a sales perspective, but I suspect it will ultimately damage the company significantly. Here’s what I’m struggling with - Why would I pay to upgrade my legacy products when the expensive upgraded products have an unknown lifespan? When you have just demonstrated that you will forcibly make my investment obsolete at the drop of a hat? Are you guaranteeing a lifespan for me if I do upgrade? I haven’t seen that, so a far better option seems to be to look elsewhere in what is now a more competitive space.
On the one hand digital products will have a shorter lifespan, but these are high end AUDIO products and the benchmark for this space is far longer than the 7 years I’ve had my equipment before it becomes unsupported and obsolete.
SONOS was around before the streaming revolution, so the expectation was certainly of a lifespan longer than 3-15 years.
I used to be a Director of a tech company and have navigated Y2K and the SNA-IP evolution, moving from mainframes to modular, distributed systems. I was personally responsible for a program of upgrade projects. We managed to support legacy systems within the new infrastructure. Migration to brand new equipment was slow and natural over several years. This is a far simpler space and I’m sure if there was a will, then there could be a solution that would give a far better, defined period of support for legacy systems.
Given the lack of an external factor driving a change in the basic underlying technology, I bet that memory and hardware capacity are still sufficient in legacy products to continue support and compatibility (Perhaps without new features that have a higher demand). I think there is just no WILL to continue to update and support legacy products.
Why would SONOS want to support those products, with no new revenue stream? It is far cheaper to remove support. The consequence though, is that you may damage your customer base your reputation and not see the projected financial benefit of new equipment purchases. This is a very risky move, especially in an era of social media outrage.
My advice to SONOS would be to continue supporting and updating legacy equipment, finding a technical solution to running newer and older equipment on the same network. Be honest about the hardware abilities of the legacy equipment, rather than the vague issues that have been floated to justify the current decision. Give a period of time longer than a measly 5 months, and show best effort to support as far as you can. Give your customers some must-have features to entice upgrading. Offer upgrade discounts as a carrot, without a stick on the other end. When you do HAVE to discontinue, communicate exactly why (not this nebulous reason that looks cynical and profit based) and you will likely maintain your customer base and ensure the future of your company.
Let’s be honest, without an honest approach where it looks like SONOS have done their best, there is going to be a lot of negativity that will hurt sales, consumer confidence and could be a potential millstone around the neck of what was once an admirable and groundbreaking small company.
Technically old products will not be “bricked”; you can use them, hopefully… But the last update or two basic things like adding to or updating my music library (mostly streamed from my NAS after finally ripping all my CDs) has been disabled util everything as updated so I have little hope my current devices will be really useful in June.
Of course, if you add a new device for its new features, it won’t work until you remove or update all of your old devices.
The forced bricking of trade-in units is ridiculous. I suppose they are sustaining their bonuses… And being told I need to replace all my old devices by end of May is a slap in the face. Especially with the big price jumps so even at 70% of retail that’s a LOT of money.
[A great email]
I’ve sent something similar to the same people, and attached your text for good measure along with my own comments.
What other brands do you all recommend? I’m done with Sonos and have learned my lesson with “smart speakers”.
I’m thinking a high quality “dumb” all-in-one speaker or split amp and speaker system and a cheap “smart” adapter that works well with apple.
And go!!
Yup… Came here to voice my displeasure with this also. I will not be buying a single thing from them again. While my system isn’t the largest, I have spent good money on this and well now, I am now looking at another solution and will be putting my items up for sale. This is horrible and a sad day for us Sonos owners.
The class action is coming!!!
I haven’t read the whole thread, but assume this may have already been posted?
Obviously not suggesting any link to the current announcement.
Sonos - you really are shooting yourselves in the foot with this announcement and lack of legacy support. Suggesting that I can have a discount to spend well over £1000 on Sonos kit to keep it working as it does now (some of which is running through excellent hifi kit which is still manufacturer supported despite it being well over 30 years old) - really? You’ve got to be kidding guys.
What other brands do you all recommend? I’m done with Sonos and have learned my lesson with “smart speakers”.
I’m thinking a high quality “dumb” all-in-one speaker or split amp and speaker system and a cheap “smart” adapter that works well with apple.
And go!!
Bluesound.com
I haven’t read the whole thread, but assume this may have already been posted?
Obviously not suggesting any link to the current announcement.
Sonos - you really are shooting yourselves in the foot with this announcement and lack of legacy support. Suggesting that I can have a discount to spend well over £1000 on Sonos kit to keep it working as it does now (some of which is running through excellent hifi kit which is still manufacturer supported despite it being well over 30 years old) - really? You’ve got to be kidding guys.
Sadly I don’t think they are...
How long before ALL Connects are defined as Legacy? Or the earlier Play:1’s?
Sonos have always downplayed the internal changes whenever someone noticed a slight change on an existing model. Seems those changes were more significant than they are letting on?
My trust in Sonos is simply gone - this is an extraordinarily sad day for what was once such a reliable and (comparatively) trustworthy brand.
I haven’t read the whole thread, but assume this may have already been posted?
Obviously not suggesting any link to the current announcement.
Sonos - you really are shooting yourselves in the foot with this announcement and lack of legacy support. Suggesting that I can have a discount to spend well over £1000 on Sonos kit to keep it working as it does now (some of which is running through excellent hifi kit which is still manufacturer supported despite it being well over 30 years old) - really? You’ve got to be kidding guys.
The link looks pretty clear cut.
What other brands do you all recommend? I’m done with Sonos and have learned my lesson with “smart speakers”.
I’m thinking a high quality “dumb” all-in-one speaker or split amp and speaker system and a cheap “smart” adapter that works well with apple.
And go!!
Check out Bluesound products.
Just wanted SONOS know how I felt (I pretty sure they don’t care). I own only 1 Play:5 gen1 but that is $500. I just purchased 2 more Play:1 for Christmas. When will my other speakers be thrown to the legacy ply. I have recommended SONOS for years, loved there product. But If SONOS continues on this path of not supporting older equipment I will have to leave and cut my loses.
I understand if I have a mixed system of legacy and modern, after the May update it will no longer receive updates and future features will not be supported. After the May update can I still add new products to my legacy/mixed system, like a Move? Would the Move software roll back to my May software?
If I have a legacy system after the May update can I add more legacy devices without issue?
If I have a mixed system after the May update can I split it into two separate systems, legacy and modern, or do I need to do that before the May update?
If I have a mixed system after the May update, can I remove a modern device and add it to a modern system without issue.
If I have separate modern and legacy systems in my home I assume they will use separate versions of the app. Will there be any conflict running two different app versions on the same mobile device?
Just logged into my acccount and went to “System:”. There is a banner at the top that reads:
“You have 31 legacy products that do not receive regular software updates and new features as of May 2020”
As I understand it I would have to upgrade every single one of them and if I don’t then nothing in the system can be updated? How realistic is it to expect that I’m going to upgrade 31 Sonos products before May?
How nice that Sonos can create built in obsolescence! Not selling enough stuff…………lock it out of the loop and make customers buy new. I find it hard to believe in todays technological climate gen 1 equipment cannot be updated separately from new units. I will have to think long and hard before buying any other Sonos product because I will expect another money grab in another few years and have to start all over again.What nonsense!
