I just read this about your recent SEC filing:
https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/11/17559380/sonos-airplay-2-support-software-update-download
“We expect that in the near to intermediate term, this backward compatibility will no longer be practical or cost-effective, and we may decrease or discontinue service for our older products,” says Sonos in a recent SEC filing.
When will you let customers know about which products will be affected by this discontinuation plan? Clearly you know internally since you say in the near to immediate term this policy is going ahead. I presume for example the first gen Play 5 you no longer sell will be affected and the old Sonos Bridge.
The problem for those of us using speakers with online services such as Spotify probably means once API changes are made by the service provider, we'll almost certainly be shut out from using those services with our older Sonos speakers.
There's nothing particularly shocking about this. I'm curious what the plan is though and when we'll be told.
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The pressure builds - story in the Guardian now:
Sonos handled this extremely poorly. Most manufactures will continue to provide software updates for at least 5 years after they discontinue a product. I am a Sonos dealer and I received from Sonos my last Connect Amp shipment in January 2019. My last Connect was shipped to me in March 2019. I have customers with systems less than 1 year old that is now obsolete. They should have seen this coming and come out with a Connect Amp and Connect 2.0 years ago to avoid this issue.
Will you continue to be a Sonos dealer? If I was a customer of yours, I’d be frustrated at you as well as with Sonos. I was initially turned onto Sonos by my AV expert, and I’m guessing he’s now fielding many questions from frustrated clients.
Sonos handled this extremely poorly. Most manufactures will continue to provide software updates for at least 5 years after they discontinue a product. I am a Sonos dealer and I received from Sonos my last Connect Amp shipment in January 2019. My last Connect was shipped to me in March 2019. I have customers with systems less than 1 year old that is now obsolete. They should have seen this coming and come out with a Connect Amp and Connect 2.0 years ago to avoid this issue.
Will you continue to be a Sonos dealer? If I was a customer of yours, I’d be frustrated at you as well as with Sonos. I was initially turned onto Sonos by my AV expert, and I’m guessing he’s now fielding many questions from frustrated clients.
Your commitment is to support “modern” devices for at least 5 years after you got them??? Is that a joke? Do you think 5 years is sufficient when you’re spending this kind of money on a supposedly high-end product? This just keeps getting worse and worse with Sonos.
See this article in case you haven’t already. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jan/23/sonos-to-deny-software-updates-to-owners-of-older-equipment
I imagine the bad press for Sonos will continue on, and all product reviews will need to contain a Huge disclaimer/asterisk, “Your high-end product will be good for at least 5 years, but then your Sonos equipment might not be supported, might not work with your favorite streaming service, and it might have security vulnerabilities.” Thanks, but no thanks Sonos.
It's a speaker - whilst I don't expect it to get new facilities, I do expect it to carry on doing all that it was bought for indefinitely...
I expected that when I bought Windows XP! LOL
The basic task of a speaker is such that they last decades and quite hionestly work just as well as they ever did. Sonos is sold as a ‘speaker’.
It's a speaker - whilst I don't expect it to get new facilities, I do expect it to carry on doing all that it was bought for indefinitely...
I expected that when I bought Windows XP! LOL
The basic task of a speaker is such that they last decades and quite hionestly work just as well as they ever did. Sonos is sold as a ‘speaker’.
It is sold as a smart speaker, or more accurately a whole home audio system. It’s the smart, computer aspect of the devices that doesn’t stand the test of time the way a passive or active speaker would.
It's a speaker - whilst I don't expect it to get new facilities, I do expect it to carry on doing all that it was bought for indefinitely...
I expected that when I bought Windows XP! LOL
The basic task of a speaker is such that they last decades and quite hionestly work just as well as they ever did. Sonos is sold as a ‘speaker’.
It is sold as a smart speaker, or more accurately a whole home audio system. It’s the smart, computer aspect of the devices that doesn’t stand the test of time the way a passive or active speaker would.
None of mine are smart in the sense of voice control. My sub is not ‘smart’, the Play 1’s are not ‘smart’, the play 3s are not ‘smart’. I am sure Sonos had the plans in train for integrated vocie control etc but was not mentioned at all when I first bought the bulk of my kit.
Don’t think we had even heard of Alexa and certainly not in the context of Sonos.
It is sold as a smart speaker, or more accurately a whole home audio system. It’s the smart, computer aspect of the devices that doesn’t stand the test of time the way a passive or active speaker would.
None of mine are smart in the sense of voice control. My sub is not ‘smart’, the Play 1’s are not ‘smart’, the play 3s are not ‘smart’. I am sure Sonos had the plans in train for integrated vocie control etc but was not mentioned at all when I first bought the bulk of my kit.
The point is that they clearly have aspects to them that are different than a passive or active speaker that has the long life you were alluding too. The speakers that you mentioned (none of them Legacy by the way) all have tech in them to stream directly from the internet, communicate with other devices, etc, all things that were present when you bought your kit. That is why they have a shorter life span then a passive or active speaker.
smart speaker - an Internet-enabled speaker that is controlled by spoken commands and capable of streaming audio content, relaying information, and communicating with other devices.
That’s Google definition, which I think is rather poor since it does not need to do all of these things, just some of them. Since Google smart speakers are all voice controlled, I guess they saw fit to make it a requirement. Doesn’t matter though, as your Sonos speakers can be controlled by voice, whether you use that feature or not.
None of mine are smart in the sense of voice control. My sub is not ‘smart’, the Play 1’s are not ‘smart’, the play 3s are not ‘smart’. I am sure Sonos had the plans in train for integrated vocie control etc but was not mentioned at all when I first bought the bulk of my kit.
Don’t think we had even heard of Alexa and certainly not in the context of Sonos.
Do your speakers group together? Can you move music from one to another? Can you control them via a computer or mobile device? Do they receive updates from the internet? Are they built on top of a computer operating system, specifically Linux? Do they include a music services API that lets music services connect with and play over the speakers? Do they also have an control API to allow 3rd party devices and software to control the speakers?
If you answered ‘Yes’ to any of the above (Hint: The answer is ‘Yes’ to all of them), then they are smart speakers, not just speakers.
Sonos handled this extremely poorly. Most manufactures will continue to provide software updates for at least 5 years after they discontinue a product. I am a Sonos dealer and I received from Sonos my last Connect Amp shipment in January 2019. My last Connect was shipped to me in March 2019. I have customers with systems less than 1 year old that is now obsolete. They should have seen this coming and come out with a Connect Amp and Connect 2.0 years ago to avoid this issue.
Will you continue to be a Sonos dealer? If I was a customer of yours, I’d be frustrated at you as well as with Sonos. I was initially turned onto Sonos by my AV expert, and I’m guessing he’s now fielding many questions from frustrated clients.
Your commitment is to support “modern” devices for at least 5 years after you got them??? Is that a joke? Do you think 5 years is sufficient when you’re spending this kind of money on a supposedly high-end product? This just keeps getting worse and worse with Sonos.
See this article in case you haven’t already. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jan/23/sonos-to-deny-software-updates-to-owners-of-older-equipment
I imagine the bad press for Sonos will continue on, and all product reviews will need to contain a Huge disclaimer/asterisk, “Your high-end product will be good for at least 5 years, but then your Sonos equipment might not be supported, might not work with your favorite streaming service, and it might have security vulnerabilities.” Thanks, but no thanks Sonos.
As I posted before….
‘Not a speaker’ although marketed as such, certainly when I bought most of mine (and still called ‘speakers’ in advertising and on the website). When I bought mine I was not aware of the plans for making Sonos into a ‘smart’ speaker product. That would have put me off, as would the idea that I would not be able to continue using those I bought as purely speakers for multi-room audio. The Sonos sales blurb! Still!
Not always a multi-room wireless system either. Depends on the construction and layout of your house and also the competition from neighbouring wifi signals, not just your own. That is only becoming more of a problem as more connected devices are being marketed. I’d like to see the 32 device systems working and in what scenarios!
I advise anyone thinking of Sonos to exercise caution now. Before all the smart speaker thing and endless updates, some enforced, I was enthusiastically recommending Sonos. Anyone who only wants one or two speakers, in fairly close proximity without much competition for the wireless signals is probably okay. Going the whole hog multi-room thing though can be more problematical. And an expensive mistake if they are also going to stop working at some point. Sonos just doesn’t get that if people spend a lot of money on a quality audio system, their current enjoyment of it is impaired with a sword of damocles in the form of withdrawal of support hanging over them. If it’s going to be a throwaway product ditch the quality and make it cheaper. Decide what the market is for pete’s sake and stop trying to have it both ways. Or provide both!!
My decision hasn’t changed following the CEO’s email which contains a lot of get outs and was probably just as much a shareholder pacification exercise. I won’t be buying anymore until Sonos proves it’s committment to its existing customers and hardware that can work perfectly well to deliver good audio without all the flummery that is probably usign all the memory and processing power! Look where the ebook market it going. It’s quite possible voice control will go the same way.
None of mine are smart in the sense of voice control. My sub is not ‘smart’, the Play 1’s are not ‘smart’, the play 3s are not ‘smart’. I am sure Sonos had the plans in train for integrated vocie control etc but was not mentioned at all when I first bought the bulk of my kit.
Don’t think we had even heard of Alexa and certainly not in the context of Sonos.
Do your speakers group together? Can you move music from one to another? Can you control them via a computer or mobile device? Do they receive updates from the internet? Are they built on top of a computer operating system, specifically Linux? Do they include a music services API that lets music services connect with and play over the speakers? Do they also have an control API to allow 3rd party devices and software to control the speakers?
If you answered ‘Yes’ to any of the above (Hint: The answer is ‘Yes’ to all of them), then they are smart speakers, not just speakers.
OK. So an expensive mistake then investing heavily in something ostensibly offering perceived build and audio quality for something that is essentially throwaway. Not very green either. Hey ho.
OK. So an expensive mistake then investing heavily in something ostensibly offering perceived build and audio quality for something that is essentially throwaway. Not very green either. Hey ho.
Not throwaway at all. Your Sonos is going to work on May 20th the exact same way it worked on May 19th. Where are you getting the idea that you need to throw it away?
As I posted before….
‘Not a speaker’ although marketed as such, certainly when I bought most of mine (and still called ‘speakers’ in advertising and on the website). When I bought mine I was not aware of the plans for making Sonos into a ‘smart’ speaker product. That would have put me off, as would the idea that I would not be able to continue using those I bought as purely speakers for multi-room audio. The Sonos sales blurb! Still!
You seem to be stuck on this idea that a speaker isn't smart unless it has voice control, that Sonos products were something other than smart, or that legacy products will still receive functional updates/upgrades if it were not for voice control?
You are correct that Sonos not always place the word ‘smart’, or ‘wireless’ in front of speaker when talking about thier products. They have also never referred to them as ‘dumb’, ‘passive’, or even ‘active’ either. I don’t know why any one assume that these speakers where just like any other speaker based on the functionality they have. I can see why someone where thinking that it would have a longer life then it does, and be disappointed at that, but the same life as a passive speaker? I’m not seeing that logic.
Not always a multi-room wireless system either. Depends on the construction and layout of your house and also the competition from neighbouring wifi signals, not just your own. That is only becoming more of a problem as more connected devices are being marketed. I’d like to see the 32 device systems working and in what scenarios!
Not sure what you’re point is here. Yes, some locations won’t work as well wirelessly due to interference and distances.
I advise anyone thinking of Sonos to exercise caution now.
Now? I would exercise caution, some thought, before purchasing anything.
Before all the smart speaker thing and endless updates, some enforced, I was enthusiastically recommending Sonos. Anyone who only wants one or two speakers, in fairly close proximity without much competition for the wireless signals is probably okay. Going the whole hog multi-room thing though can be more problematical. And an expensive mistake if they are also going to stop working at some point. Sonos just doesn’t get that if people spend a lot of money on a quality audio system, their current enjoyment of it is impaired with a sword of damocles in the form of withdrawal of support hanging over them. If it’s going to be a throwaway product ditch the quality and make it cheaper. Decide what the market is for pete’s sake and stop trying to have it both ways. Or provide both!!
Sonos stated that legacy items will continue to get support in the form of bug fixes where it’s physically possible give the hardware limitations. They will not receive regular updates that including functionality changes. It is not a throw away product I agree thought that customers should understand that the products will not last forever, not as long as a more analog setup of speakers and amps, and factor that in to their decision.
My decision hasn’t changed following the CEO’s email which contains a lot of get outs and was probably just as much a shareholder pacification exercise. I won’t be buying anymore until Sonos proves it’s committment to its existing customers and hardware that can work perfectly well to deliver good audio without all the flummery that is probably usign all the memory and processing power! Look where the ebook market it going. It’s quite possible voice control will go the same way.
Not really following what you’re saying here. Again, come May, Sonos legacy products are still supported with bug fixes within limitations of the hardware. I have no idea where the ebook market is going and therefore where you think voice control is going.
A very timely comparison… In less than 1 month, new policies re: disrupting integration support for legacy speakers and upgrade ‘device-bricking’ requirements, are severely eroding the SONOS brand reputation. Namely, #1 Ecosystem, #3 Loyalty, and #4 Commitment to Eco-Sustainability. An important lesson here…
Just heard all about this on the BBC R4’s Consumer Programme - You and Yours.
Shocking that they will actually ‘Brick’ working products. We need to be putting less into landfill not more!
Hello Sonos, WAKE UP!
The day you turn my six Sonos Ones, two Sonos Play 1’s and a Sonos Beam off, will be the day I switch to a new offering by another company! Simple as that. Customer brand loyalty lost!
30% discount on new products to try to attract customers to stay Sonos, is shockingly bad!
Just heard an update on You and Yours and one guys phoned in to say the only ‘upgrade’ Sonos were offering from his current soon to be obsolete speaker was that the new ones could play 3 times louder!
These are not mobile phones that get handled, dropped, connected to chargers everyday, and actually wear out! Where you could justify
needing new hardware.
These are mid end speakers that sit on a shelf and get dusted once in while!
Oh, and of course users accept they will not do all the things new models will do - How silly to suggest such a thing Sonos!
I won’t be recommending Sonos to anyone anymore!
Apparently, the program is misinformed, as Sonos has announced that the “legacy” devices will continue to work as they do today, and just not receive any new features, which is a far cry from “bricking” devices.
And none of the devices you listed in your post are considered “legacy”, all that you own will continue to receive all updates for the foreseeable future.
You’re free to recommend or not as you see fit, but please do so with accurate facts, rather than rumors.
Yes, I know my devices, the ones I quoted, will not be in question yet, but is it just a matter of time?
“I said the day they turn them off...”
If the program is misinformed, Sonos clearly have a lot of work to do to put this straight…
i wonder what ‘idiot’ bean counter at Sonos dreamt up such a scheme or the poor way of putting it out there so it could cause the misinformation wave / how it would be interpreted by so many? Nice brand damage job!
Caveat emptor, but even retrospectively we can kick and they can listen or suffer lower sales as a consequence.
Yes, I know my devices, the ones I quoted, will not be in question yet, but is it just a matter of time?
“I said the day they turn them off...”
I don’t know where the misinformation is coming from, but “they” are not turning anything off at all. Legacy devices will continue to work just as they do today after May and for the foreseeable future. There could be things like protocol/security changes at music services that may cause those services to deteriorate. However those types of changes are very rare, and quite possibly a fix could be fit into the legacy memory and storage, then issued as a bug/security update.
The only time a device is “turned off” is when you voluntarily choose to recycle it for the 30% discount. This is your choice, Sonos is not bricking anything against your will. As to them going into landfills, you are asked to recycle them yourself, or you can send it to Sonos free of charge and they will do the recycling.
If the program is misinformed, Sonos clearly have a lot of work to do to put this straight…
I think that the messages about the ‘legacy’ approach and the bricking of units when ‘trading up’ got confused, probably because one option suggested in the email/posts to avoid a ‘legacy’ system was to ‘trade up’.
I’m certainly not trying to defend Sonos, but this type of misinformation just upsets people for no reason.
AGREE!
No problem with new services not being available, like control from apps like Spotify, voice control like Alexa, or the newly released airplay. But being able to continue streaming and using local media the way I do now, i hope will be kept. I have 20 speakers and it starts to feel like Sonos could care less about people using there system, just the new market.
I downloaded v9 this morning, and chuckled while reading the new features, none of which I will be using. Hmmmm, no new windows program, hmmm nothing cool for my android devices and gui, no new app features like maybe a new virtual grouping option, no cool new home theatre options, no neat amp additions, no cool local media software. So I sit hear watching new hardware and software come out the last few years, but nothing that would make me buy more, and believe me, I'm looking for reasons.
I think you bring up some excellent points. Clearly Sonos is trying to appeal to a wide audience and it becomes rather difficult to appeal to everyone. Like you, I have no real interest in airplay 2, but I am interested in the Beam and voice control. I don't care about local media, but agree on virtual grouping. There are plenty of customers on here that do care about airplay 2, and are only going to ever buy one or two units and don't care much about multiroom functionality. There are all sorts of us on here. Sonos is kind of in a catch-22 in then it's difficult to please all their customers with their variety of needs and wishes, both old and new customers.
Yeah but I spend $500 on a speaker 5 yrs ago now it doesn’t work with my newer speakers AND it used to? WTH? So don’t give me new features. Keep my old ones intact!
Yes, I know my devices, the ones I quoted, will not be in question yet, but is it just a matter of time?
“I said the day they turn them off...”
I don’t know where the misinformation is coming from, but “they” are not turning anything off at all. Legacy devices will continue to work just as they do today after May and for the foreseeable future. There could be things like protocol/security changes at music services that may cause those services to deteriorate. However those types of changes are very rare, and quite possibly a fix could be fit into the legacy memory and storage, then issued as a bug/security update.
The only time a device is “turned off” is when you voluntarily choose to recycle it for the 30% discount. This is your choice, Sonos is not bricking anything against your will. As to them going into landfills, you are asked to recycle them yourself, or you can send it to Sonos free of charge and they will do the recycling.
THEY WILL NOT CONNECT TO EACH OTHER ANYMORE! My $500.00 speaker I bought 5 yrs ago won’t link to my other 3 speakers! $500 for something that sits on a shelf and is used an hour a day on a system that has the volume of my old 1980s JVC receiver (admittedly better fidelity)
Speakers that are on the same software should work together. Are all your speakers on S1 (since you own a PLay:5 Gen1 that is the only software they all will work on)?
Everything listed in your profile can play together in an S1 system.
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