This notification is the last straw for me; I have no intention of splashing out nearly £300, taking account the 30% trade-in) on a Port to replace my Connect, a device I rarely use, so I will be looking at cheaper alternatives.

In the meantime though, as that will take some time, I want to know about the Bridge. I’ve been bombarded (slight exaggeration) with emails trying to encourage me to ditch my Bridge and get a Boost as the Bridge is apparently not capable of working effectively any more. I’ve resisted that, since it seems fine to me, but does this announcement mean it would be pointless getting a Boost anyway? As I have no intention of replacing my Connect with another Sonos device, I’ll be in that “no system updates at all” limbo. Why would I bother getting a Boost then?

Also, is the controller app for Android going to remain compatible with these zombie systems?

Exactly… ‘that element of doubt about their products, service that leaves you looking elsewhere first’

The ridiculous thing about all of this is that we don’t need the legacy speakers to “sustain future innovation”, we just need them to be speakers. Is the processing power and memory for playing sound suddenly increasing exponentially? I’d love to understand more but to me it is the responsibility of Sonos to develop the means for its legacy speakers to remain on the network as satellite devices that will still play the output that is linked to them. Even if this means essentially running the processing for a number of satellite speakers off of another modern speaker, surely there must be some way that the engineering team can find a way to let speakers just be linked speakers?

I echo other sentiments. The 30% discount is an insult to those that bought these devices only a few years ago, and I am disappointed enough in not only the lack of future-proofing of what we can boil down to being, at its basic form, a speaker but the clandestine way this plan was rolled out and how people were informed, that it’s put me from someone that was recommending Sonos to someone that is now going to have to tell family and friends to be wary of them.

I have 2 x Play 5 gen 1  and 1 x Play 5 gen 2 (the gen 2 was a replacement for a gen 1 that failed after a few years and I was offered a 30% discount on a gen 2). I was about to add one or two Sonos 1, but not going to now. The first Play 5 was purchased in 2013, and subsequently 2015 - I don’t feel that I have anything like my money’s worth out of them.

I was having a discussion about Sonos longevity with a colleague not long ago and we decided they were worth the premium price for the quality and longevity.  We also discussed the B&W zeppelin - a thing of beauty that I used to use until Apple changed the connector on iPod / iPhone and suddenly it was a lot less attractive (although, crucially would still function with a line-in).  We decided that there wouldn’t be the same problem with Sonos, because, you know, they could always UPDATE THE SOFTWARE!! Even Apple seem to manage to be backwards compatible for more than 5 years.

I just don’t see that Sonos has any appeal any more - I’m out, and I can’t see there will be a market for the higher end gear any more - too risky an investment.  They’ll need to target high volume of the cheaper components, but there are a lot of competitors in that market.

RIP Sonos

When you got bit you consider another dog … fleas or not.

Like I wrote earlier, I love my Sonos system but when when you got bit to the tune of a £3000 replacement hit, then I’m looking at the dog pound and see what other mut’s might be available.

If the current products get unwittingly updated, how will the updated controllers work with the legacy devices that are not updated? How will the latter work at all then?

Fully accept that older products must eventually be de-supported, this happens as software gets more functional. However, what amazes me here is the short 4 month notice. Having worked in IT for 25 years I never came across one hardware or software company that gave such short notice that a product was being classed as ‘legacy’. 
 

Really disappointed in the approach Sonos is taking here.

I can’t believe that Sonos will have removed all support by the end of 2020. I have spent 10 years putting together my collection of amps and speakers, helped with the Beta tests and recommended the system to so many people.

After 20 years of supporting Sonos, they have let myself and others down for the almighty dollar, welcome to Trump's world.

For what it’s worth, as a software developer, I can understand what’s going on, so I expect any manufacturer who’s using proprietary standards and protocols will have this issue at some point.

I have a sonos play 5 that is no longer going to be supported.  Why does this mean that the whole system will be affected?

I understand that the products have such a short life - yet are very expensive.  this should be high;ighted at time of purchase 

I have had my system since 2007 as well. I have two ZonePlayer 80s and two ZonePlayer 100s and a Connect Amp plus a Bridge, plus some other Non Legacy Items. To bring my system up to date with the discount of 30% on the trade ups I look to be spending well over 2k GBP.

Lets just hope they allow the legacy system to continue with the newer stuff or I am stuffed!

I have no need for fancy online streaming, just need to play the TV and my music on a local server wherever I want to in the house and garden.

I suppose the App on my phone will update itself out of reach of the legacy  items unless, as someone earlier said, that Sonos have an ironclad update system to prevent cockups.

I am not optimistic………………………..

I might need to look as some sort of opensource alternative using a Raspberry Pi!!!!

Do I feel better for the rant? Not really. Now we are just waiting for the axe to fall.

And a Happy New Year to you all…..

I have now four perfectly good speakers going to the junk of tech. It's completely incorrrct what they are doing as a company. They could easily think out of the box and do a system update to at least   allow us to use them as normal wireless  stereo speaker with the  new Sonos port. Please don't tell me that this will require infinite amount of memory as the port could do all the processing. Start giving and thinking more and give better alternatives than the ones proposed ie having junk tech. We all understand there migh be constrains that is stopping you to innovate but by giving the customer options for reusing the equipment with a adhock piece of hardware that I'm sure we all will buy it  instead of putting good working speakers in to the landfill 

Sonos... Think in your loyal customers, the planet and not just on making money 

Anyone looked at this? http://strobe.audio - oops - ignore that; didn’t read the “it’s early days” bit properly!

However it sounds like an Open Source software solution that can run on cheap hardware, like the Raspberry Pi, would be a better way to go.

Agree with you. I just bought thr booster less than 6 month ago on their advise and now for what I can't use any of the speakers... I want my money back

As an early adopter and huge fan of Sonos I feel incredibly let down by them, especially as several of my friends have bought systems based on my recommendations. Of course Bluesound might pull the same stunt in the future but the point is that Sonos has done it NOW and tarnished their reputation. I simply don’t trust them any more.

Seriously not impressed. I’ve received your email telling me my perfectly good, non-recyclable, plastic, Play-5 (Gen 1 ) Sonos speaker will no longer be supported. Seriuosly pissed off because being impressed by the quality of the sound from the Play-5, I (now with hindsight, foolishly) went and purchased the Sonos Beam, which will also be hobbled by your intentional obsolescence of my perfectly functional, Play-5.

I am angry and upset by your intentional attempt at forcing more money out of me by scrapping my existing product - that I own and paid you for! 

I considered using your ‘recycling’ scheme but doubt whether it doesn’t just end up in a bin if I send it to you to deal with.

I also do not know whether I want to upgrade knowing that you will no doubt render my Sonos Beam useless in three to four years time.

You have damaged my loyalty to you and this will be taken into account the next time I am in the market for audio products.

I am an Electronics Engineer and seriously wonder how often streaming a music file over a local area network changes from one year to the next. All of the user interface is in a mobile phone app or tablet so I do not accept the reasons that you have given as to why my Sonos Play-5 is no useless.

Thanks for nothing.

I bought a Play 5 (Gen 1) and Bridge combo when I retired as a very extravagant present for myself. I had a large and growing collection of CDs that I had added to my iTunes library and had been looking for a system to allow me to play my music wirelessly throughout my home. At the same time I bought a Mac Mini to replace my ageing Windows PC and an iPod to use primarily as the Sonos Controller. I am not rich and I made these purchases only after a lot of hesitation and serious soul searching.

I was absolutely delighted with my then basic Sonos system, declaring it to be one of the best things I had ever bought for myself, and like many others I have promoted Sonos to friends and associates. A couple of years later I added 2 more Play 5s (again Gen 1) and later still 2 Play 1s which then completed my system with a speaker now in each room. By now my music collection had risen to over 50,000 tracks.

The iPod was the first casualty when an update rendered it obsolete as a Sonos controller. I bought an iPad to replace it - first Sonos disappointment involving further expenditure.

I use my system to play my own music, set alarms and to listen to Radio using TuneIn and have little interest in music streaming services. If I’m honest I find the Play 1s to be virtually as good as the Play 5s in terms of the sound quality but the best thing about the 5s is the line-in function and headphone socket, features that have never been incorporated into the less expensive speakers which I find very useful.

A few months ago, without a great deal of warning, Sonos announced that the “play from this iPad” function would no longer work with speakers that do not support Airplay - another Sonos disappointment as I occasionally used that when visiting my daughter to play music on my iPad through her Play 1.

As recently as a couple of weeks ago, again after a lot of deliberation, I bought a Beam in the hope that it would improve the sound from my Samsung Smart TV. It’s OK but I wouldn’t say it’s brilliant. Of necessity it sits in front of the TV where it blocks the remote receiver on my TV meaning that I have to stand over the TV to use the remote, and Alexa can’t even access my music library - another unexpected Sonos disappointment. It came with a free 6 month Spotify Premium trial subscription which I am familiarising myself with but from experience so far I doubt I’ll continue to subscribe.

Yesterday’s e mail from Sonos has now basically informed me that the bulk of my system will no longer be supported from May 2020 and that if I continue to use it in combination with my Play 1s and Beam they too will be unable to receive updates meaning that over time the entire system will lose some functionality.

The offer to get a 30% discount off replacement products is absolutely derisory besides which even if I could afford 3 Play 5s at 70% of list price, the current model doesn’t have the ‘line in’ function that I find so useful. The Play 1s, not currently defined as legacy products, are now discontinued so no doubt before too long another Sonos e mail will announce that they too are about to become obsolete.

I simply cannot afford to replace my entire Sonos system so my knee-jerk reaction is to list the Beam on Ebay whilst it’s still new enough to achieve a sale price equal to what I paid for it and to then allow my system to run without updates until it fails and, in the meantime research what alternatives are available for someone, like me, who simply wants to listen to my CD collection.

I will however wait until May to see what the as yet unannounced work-around to run legacy speakers on a separate Sonos system involves.

My faith in Sonos right now is shattered. Whilst I understand that nothing lasts forever I don’t think it unreasonable to expect very, very expensive equipment, that can still work as it was initially intended to, should no longer be updatable purely because the developers want their customers to alter their listening habits. So Sonos please tell me why I should even consider buying more of your products or recommend them to others.

Patrick Spence I spent 6000 e on a sonos system in 2007 ..now u inform us that the system becomes obsolete in May ... I am 63 years this year and I'm still going strong .... I'm glad your not  in charge of  end of life decisions.... or I wouldn't see my 64th .

This is nothing but blatant corporate greed... I will investigate other systems   despite being a loyal customer and there's no one to fit them anyway .

This might be the way to go, although it looks like it needs a fair amount of work still.

At worst, one will need to retain an outdated controller or use a third party mechanism. However, Sonos is hinting that a single controller will be able to operate both legacy and non-legacy systems, arranged as separate systems. (This kind of information is something they should have absolutely nailed down prior to making this announcement.)

Respectfully, back to my original question: do you have anything to support your assertion that the players themselves are bricked? I don’t think that’s the case.

The players aren’t going to be bricked straight away. The issue comes if a streaming service makes a breaking change to their streaming service API (e.g. a security change). That then means that the legacy products are no longer able to stream the streaming service. You may still be able to stream other streaming services, but gradually the functionality of the speaker will cease.

Oh deary me.

Moved into my house in 2015 and was impressed by the Sonos System. Bought a Play 5, then a Play 3, then a Connect, then a Play 1. Was just about to look into a Playbar and and possible Amp for TV.

Received the email. My Play 5 is no longer being supported from May? Run with it and the rest of my devices are no longer updated or a pathetic 30% discount on new kit? 
 

Look Sonos, my speaker system plays music and  in 10 years time i want it to just play music. I’m not interested in voice control and other features other than playing music.
 

I get that you want to provide bells and whistle and new features - which is great, but why can’t you do that on new devices which people can purchase if they wish. To turn off support for products which do a pefrecty good job just because the latest featureset cannot be applied is appalling.

If i wanted new features, then i may purchase new hardware if they were of interest - but currently i don’t and i won’t. My current products work fine as they are, and do the job i paid for them.

Please please consider keeping these systems operational alongside other “modern” sonos devices just for playing music and nothing else.

After the 65,000 limit was encountered - i had to setup a Plex server in the house to stream my music from. That’s all i want to do with my Sonos speakers. I don’t even host or catalogue my music on the Sonos anymore due to the limit.
 

Once the Play 5 is unsupported, i’m guessing the rest of my kit will quickly follow behind - seeing it was all purchased around the same time.
 

So, on the basis that you have the ability to just switch off updates to your (expensive) hardware and the unknown of whether they will still be able to stream music next year - I cannot and will not invest any more money into my Sonos infrastructure until this is clarified.

This a bad bad move for Sonos. Please reconsider - as i will now be looking at other possibilities for multi-room music if i have to start again replacing “legacy” hardware not even 5 years old in my house yet.

One last thing. You boast about your fantastic substainabilty:
https://blog.sonos.com/en-gb/sonos-sustainability/

Yet if i “tradeup”, your brick my device into nothing more than an expensive doorstop that we have to dispose of. That’s nice.

So Sonos. Please please think carefully about your strategy moving forward - before you anger everyone.

Otherwise i like any will just spend my trade up money elsewhere. I’m not buying into time limited hardware - where the manufacturer decides how long of a life time i get out the product i pay for.

What an absolute farce.

Sonos, let it be known that you have absolutely killed your future. You have destroyed the one thing that allowed you to sell these overpriced paperweights for so long, loyalty.

I hope people dump their junk at your door for years to come.

I know that. I’m wondering why @Kumar thinks otherwise.

As of right now, my 2015 Connect seems to have scraped through the cull. Phew.

But now my not-inconsiderable collection of hardware has a pre-determined death-day. Thousands of pounds worth. This is truly unacceptable. I mean for goodness sake you’re streaming audio not 8K HDR video footage. Nothing I have seen in the updates merits increased performance requirements - nor is anyone asking for any. Are audio bit-streams getting higher? If so fine, why not cap bit-stream quality for systems with older devices. Do we want Google Assistant in our speakers? Sure, why not. But most would say no thank you if we knew the price we’d pay for a novelty feature.

You position yourself, promote yourself, pride yourself as audio hardware specialists. Not computer builders. You’re playing in the sound enthusiasts garden, where hardware simply does not get their cords cut. It endures for decades with good treatment

The unapologetic press-release is insincere and hollow. Your available options are unacceptable to the people who invested and believed in your company. I think I would be better off unloading my entire system now whilst it’s still ‘Modern’? Maybe. I don’t want to. But maybe.

I read elsewhere a suggestion that you could try engineering a device that acts like a bridge between old hardware and new. To do the heavy lifting and communicating that older kit can’t do. Like a BOOST but for CPU and memory. Or perhaps it downgrades the requirements to those affected devices. I could have (begrudgingly) bought into that.

I sincerely hope that this and all the other messages of concern and frustration, the stock price fall, the negative press that’s been unleashed in the past 24 hours, all of it, will make your great leaders reflect on how they treat their customers and if they really tried everything to support them.

Thank you