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Ryan S
Ryan S
Retired Sonos Staff
January 21, 2020

End of Software Updates for Legacy Products

Related content:Software
End of Software Updates for Legacy Products

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 The information contained in this thread is outdated and may no longer be accurate.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. 

 

More information.

 

Please let us know if you have any questions.

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      1377 replies

      Show previous replies
      beynym
      World-Class Superstar
      January 21, 2020

      In the mail I received Sonos proposes me to replace my old Connect as it will be going ‘out of service’ in May 2020. I can get the Port with a 30% discount. Seems reasonable. Question: if I ‘Trade UP’ my Connect for a Port, will that eliminate the 65,000 barrier?

      No. At least not at the time of writing.

      Can I get a confirmation from a Sonos employee, please?

      I can confirm that there hasn’t been any announcement regarding the local library limitation of 65,000 tracks. The limiting factor has always been the memory on older devices, so having more memory available is great for future development, but the software team will need to determine what best to prioritize with the new lowest memory threshold. If there’s any news on increasing the storage for local libraries, we’ll be sure to share it.

      Thank you, Ryan S.

      Translate
      Anders_Lund
      Lyricist I
      January 21, 2020

      This is insane. When will the rest of my 4000USD Sonos system need to be changed? My Soundbar, Sub, 2xPlay3, and Play1? I need to know what kind of de facto subscription model I am opting in for if I decide to accept this shitty and shady business model of yours?

      If there is even a slim chance that similar steps will be taken, I am off this platform as soon as I can sell my system, to move to a business that cares at least a little bit.

      And yes, I realize “it’s complicated”. I don’t care. It’s a practical problem. Solve it. Mankind went to the moon 50 years ago - if you want to, you will find a solution. 

       

      Translate
        Brad_38
        Lyricist III
        January 21, 2020

        if you really cared about the environment and your customers you would fix your software to be backward compatible……. let us make our own choices…..

         

        Translate
          Kumar
          January 21, 2020

          Our commitment is to support products with software updates for a minimum of five years after we stop selling them, and we have a track record of supporting for longer. The Sub is still being sold today.

          I do not understand; the Connect Amp and the Connect were still being sold till some months ago? And if the product has a specific name, it does not matter what year it was made in - a Connect is a Connect is a Connect. Ditto for Connect Amp.

          With the Bridge, it is clear, with the Boost being the replacement. That said, did you stop selling the Bridge from 2015?

          I imagine faster chips and more memory have been added over time, and more recent hardware versions are still OK.  We don’t know how long for, of course.

          My point is that Sonos isn't justified in pulling support for a product being sold last year, on the grounds that the one of the same name I have was made before 2015. 

          One reason for Sonos price points working for them is the way the products retained value in the used markets. There the price of a connect amp was based on the model name and the fact that it is being sold by Sonos today; and is thus assured of the same support, no matter when it was made. If the product made and sold after 2015 is to now be on a different footing for support, it should have carried a different name from 2015.

          On the basis of this argument, Sonos may have weak legal grounds for pulling support of connect amps and connects based on date of manufacture.

           

          Translate
            Peck
            Avid Contributor I
            January 21, 2020

            As soon as anyone has a link to a news article on this, could you post it here?  I need to put this up on my Facebook news feed.


            Already announced it at meetings at work - turned out there were a couple of people thinking about buying their first Sonos products!  They won’t be now....

            Translate
              ASWilson
              Lyricist III
              January 21, 2020

              Wow! $2G spent for five years of utility. My previous speakers are nearly 40 years old and still sound good in the garage.  I’ve been a Sonos evangelist since 2015. But if this is how you treat your customers I will never spend another penny on your products.  I strongly urge you to rethink your strategy and provide a software update that makes my audio investment viable for the long term or a much deeper discount than you have offered. Otherwise I’ll be looking to join the class action suit against you and actively urging all my friends to #boycottSonos.

              Translate
                mattsanf
                Lyricist I
                January 21, 2020

                I have 7 “legacy” products.  This is insane.  Cynically feels like a company in financial trouble that needs short term cash flow…

                What poor customer engagement

                 

                Translate
                  luigiah
                  Lyricist I
                  January 21, 2020

                  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. 

                   

                  More information.

                   

                  Please let us know if you have any questions.

                  I have a stereo unit from the early 90s that works perfectly well to this day.  I appreciate that business models change and there is now an apparent need to build in obsolescence so as to drive repeat custom.  Holding my nose, I could almost buy the story around technology advances, but what irritates is the need for all “legacy” components to be replaced as systems work to the oldest element.  A more customer focused approach would be to create a software solution to hive off older components so they still work whilst newer components benefit from software updates.  Sonos is a great concept but costly and many in the community will find it hard to replace systems every five years.  Yes, one option is just to keep the old system, until it is truly disposed-of (it will happen, eventually) but adding new components will make less sense going forwards.  And in this age of sustainability and climate change, “ethical recycling” is an oxymoron - products should be built to last rather than us plundering the planet to build new products  So sorry Sonos is going down this route.  

                  Translate
                    pwt
                    pwt
                    Virtuoso
                    January 21, 2020

                    In the mail I received Sonos proposes me to replace my old Connect as it will be going ‘out of service’ in May 2020. I can get the Port with a 30% discount. Seems reasonable. Question: if I ‘Trade UP’ my Connect for a Port, will that eliminate the 65,000 barrier?

                    No. At least not at the time of writing.

                    Can I get a confirmation from a Sonos employee, please?

                    I can confirm that there hasn’t been any announcement regarding the local library limitation of 65,000 tracks. The limiting factor has always been the memory on older devices, so having more memory available is great for future development, but the software team will need to determine what best to prioritize with the new lowest memory threshold. If there’s any news on increasing the storage for local libraries, we’ll be sure to share it.

                    Thank you, Ryan S.

                    @beynym I guess I don’t deserve a thank-you for answering your question (correctly) :relaxed:

                    Translate
                    4 x P:5 | Sub | 4 x P:1 | 3 x Connect | 2 x Boost | Connect:Amp | 2 x One | Amp | Move | Port | Era 300
                    Loveclose
                    Trending Lyricist I
                    January 21, 2020

                    Shocking! I probably would ‘upgrade’ my connect to a Port, but the Port has fewer ports, I.e. no Optical out port. I know I could get a converter, but no, messy, plus another bloody wall wart!


                    Goodbye SONOS, hello Bluesound I think.


                    Spot on, and I dont’ think the Port is as well built either.

                    The one thing that impressed me (and still does) with the Connect amp was the quality of the components used and the solid build quality.  Not sure the updated Port comes near on either count.

                    Translate
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