What next Sonos, That's a $4k expense that I havent budgeted for…

I think its disgusting how this impacts the long term supports of the system.  Marketing for the products did not mention that support for the products would be withdrawn.

In one fell swoop, Sonos has turned its most loyal customers (the ones that have been supporting them since the beginning) into haters.

I would never buy any kind of audio gear that only has a five year lifespan, nor can I continue adding to my Sonos system now that you have lost my trust.

Game over Sonos!

The next comparable vendor that addresses our concerns will take us all as customers.

i will now actively look for alternatives for my many sonos devices and aim to replace my sonos system with something with less risk over time.

furious ex-customer

Nothing new to add to the already robust discussion, just wanted to add my voice to the choir of disenfranchised users.

I bought my Play:5 in 2015 and if I’d known that I would get just under 5 years of use from it, I wouldn’t have purchased it at all.

Like many others have already said, I was a vocal supporter of Sonos to friends and family.  I certainly won’t be recommending them any more and I won’t give this company another dollar now that they’ve shown what sort of relationship they intend to have with their customers. 

Linux already has one.

How come there is an announcement about Sonos connect not being supported but is still available to purchase in retail shops here in Australia? Isn't that a bit unethical? 

https://www.harveynorman.com.au/sonos-connect-wireless-streaming-adapter.html?CAWELAID=720013240000354670&gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=CjwKCAiA35rxBRAWEiwADqB374DcWe60lcU2732NL5AmiggiEgyZ1ixq6gNCDI_FS2feHag6xslJexoCtM4QAvD_BwE

Hey, at least you get it with an interest free loan!

Connect units manufactured 2011-2015 are end-of-life.  Units sold today continue to be supported (but who knows for how long).

Sonos team, I don’t know where to even begin. I have been a fan of Sonos since the beginning, putting your speakers everywhere in my house. Play 1, 3, 5, playbar, sub, surround, I can go on. I have many rooms in my house with in-wall speakers driven by Sonos Amps. I get this email telling me that later this year, equipment I spent thousands on will no longer be supported, AND and existing equipment in my Sonos ecosystem will also no longer receive updates as long as the older units are connected??  Serious??  I understand the need to continue updates and evolve the system, but for what I paid to get everything up and running and what I need to replace to remain in compliance is ludicrous. 
 

I have filled many carts with replacement gear from different manufacturers as a coping mechanism, but I am holding out hope that Sonos comes to its senses, and does something here to not alienate the many customers who paid a premium price to get into a system only to be backstabbed. Shame…….Shame……..Shame…....

Sonos you should be disgusted with yourselves. I have been an enthusiastic supporter and promoter of your technology since the first days you were in business I have an extensive system of 10 zones and now you’re telling me that seven of those zones are essentially dead. It wasn’t so long ago that I gave up my three CR 100 controllers.

I feel totally betrayed, not only have I spent thousands of dollars with you, but I have influenced countless people to buy your systems. One of the often cited traits was how good your support was both technical support and product update support.

Your hardware is good but this announcement is nothing short of a way to extort money from your loyal customers.

Unless you rescind this decision I will never spend another penny with you and I will use all my influencing power to dissuade people from doing business with what I now consider to be a corrupt company. Years ago they weren’t many choices. Now there are. Good luck!

There was an unannounced hardware revision end of 2015 so these aren't legacy for 5 years or so assuming they were built in 2016 or newer.

Not unless these units were manufactured 5 years ago.

Wow.  I found this email alarming today.  Over time, I’ve saved to add a speaker to each room of the house.  I’ve easily spent thousands on what I thought was an “investment”.  I just purchased my 2nd Playbar which was released in 2013, so I should expect to replace those in 2022.  And the 30% off trade up is laughable.  I need to replace Play 5 ($499) + Amp ($649), with 30% off, I need to spend another $800.  Why would I spend that money and then fear the email where I’m replacing my Play1’s, Play3’s and Playbars.  I really hope to see a better solution from Sonos.

I have 8 zones of Sonos.  Not at all happy about this.  If in the old days a hifi company said their receivers were going to stop being supported after 5 years, that company would die a certain death.  This is just unconscionable and horrible product support and customer service.  Why believe in this brand or spend any money on it.

Though just saw this on Twitter, this is nuts

And this one worse, 2018 WTF 

I don’t even know what to say about the awful way Sonos is treating customers by announcing the very expensive equipment I bought a couple of years ago is now no longer going to work the way it was designed, sold to me, and has worked perfectly well. I love my system and now you’re gonna break it? It wasn’t enough with the game changer last year that I couldn’t play my own music but had to dole out more $$ for music I don’t need through a streaming service.  Now, they want me to recycle and  buy even more equipment at a 30% discount. From the other posts, it looks like Sonos has enjoyed a very loyal customer base that they are willing to break and throw away. I’m not tech savvy enough to understand why they can’t accommodate the existing equipment, but I do understand that tech changes.  They should be ashamed by offering only a 30% discount.  This stuff is too pricey to just replace.  I’m stuck now but will never forget what they have done and hope to find a new technology from a company doesn’t break its own stuff every few years and have the audacity to ask for more.  Come on guys, there was a better way to do this.  Buyer beware.

I’m not sure how you add the Sonos promised 5 years of support to 2020 and get 2022. That is of course only if Sonos was to stop selling Playbars today, since that is when the support clock starts ticking.

I’d have been overjoyed to see 5 years of support on my last Denon AVR, one update at a few months old then nothing. No responses to bug reports, no updates.

Oh, and no 30% off to trade for newer Denon gear.

Also, of course, assumes Sonos follows through on their promise. I'm skeptical.

Personally I would return that playbar but that's just me. 

I have 9 legacy products. One of which is a Play 5 (Gen 1) and one is a CR200 controller. I rarely use the Play 5 and it is rarely plugged in. If I don’t trade that in, will that prevent the rest of my system from receiving future upgrades? Or could I keep that and only plug it in rarely? 

And as there is no hardware trade in for the CR200, can I keep that to continue with whatever functionality it has in May, or again, would that prevent the rest of my system upgrading? 

I want to understand this before I commit to trading in my Amps and Connects. 

Thanks,

Craig

I am not happy with this announcement. I have been an original user. I supported the company and it’s products from the beginning. It was the original users that enabled Sonos to grow and thrive into the company they are now. 
 

However, I find Sonos support policies too restrictive. I expect audio equipment to work for a long time. I have setup whole home audio in my house and my cottage with Sonos equipment. I get that recent software updates may not support legacy hardware. However, streaming music does not require large bandwidth or memory. Moreover, Sonos recently removed iPhone users ability to play music from local devices and now we maybe restricted from streaming music services like Spotify. I can still stream from my local network music library and I hope that this capability is preserved. However, Sonos support policies makes my confidence very low. 

There are alternatives in the market, compared to 10 years ago when I went all in on Sonos. But if Sonos wipes out the capability of my entire whole home audio in one swoop, I will be forced to assess my treatment at their hands and make a switch to other companies products. Sonos has a beef with Google and Amazon, but they are forcing their own users to have a beef with them. 
 

Sonos, please take note. Preserve the functionality of lyour legacy devices. Continue legacy software upgrades within the hardware constraints they may pose. Don’t disable older products. Compete on the functionality of your new capabilities. Allow me to make a choice to upgrade. Do not force me!!!

Sonos, please reconsider this decision.  You are alienating all the customers who have bought your products over the years.  We tend to buy more and more of your speakers over time and add to the collection.  If you make our sound system obsolete purposefully to sell more speakers you will lose your core audience.  Right now, I cannot recommend any of my friends buy your products because of this announcement. 

Sonos owners are rightfully pissed right now (including myself), but trashing a company that’s doing such a remarkable job at ruining its own business model is probably a waste of time.

I would like to know about a good alternative to Sonos? My simple request is to play a CD collection from a NAS, stream radio stations from the web, perform multi-room synchronized playback and a control app for PC/Android.

NeedSleep, Registration date is not the date Sonos sold the device, it is the date the current owner registered it.

Sonos was able to tell me the manufacturing date of a device from the serial number but I don’t see it internally or on the Sonos site.

Thanks very much Sonos for the update on the end of life support for your products. I was thinking about buying another Play:5 but thanks to your update I won’t make that mistake. 

Sonos products are expensive. I can justify that when they last for many years but a guarantee of 5 years is not nearly enough.

I also can’t understand the rationale for why this is the case. You just stream music over the internet. If my Play:5 can do this now it should be capable of doing it 5 years from now. I can only assume you are trying to extract more money from your customers.

So what is everyone going to go to now? What would you go to for Connect: Amp?