We announced yesterday that some of our oldest Sonos products will be moving into a legacy mode in May of 2020. Our commitment is to support products with regular software updates for a minimum of five years after we stop selling them, and we have a track record of supporting products far longer.
Here is some public information we’ve shared, gathered into one place to respond to some of your questions in one easy thread, so that people can find the correct information easily.
Beginning in May, software updates and new features from Sonos will only be delivered to systems with only modern products.
After May, systems that include legacy products will continue to work as before - but they will no longer receive software updates or new features.
Sonos will work to maintain the existing experience and conduct bug fixes, but our efforts will ultimately be limited by the lack of memory and processing power of these legacy products.
We don’t expect any immediate impact to your experience, but access to services and overall functionality will eventually be disrupted, particularly as partners evolve their own services and features.
Customers with both legacy and modern products have time to decide what option is best for them. You can continue to use your whole system in legacy mode - in this case, it will stop receiving updates and new features.
You will also be able to separate your legacy products from your modern products, so that the modern products can still receive updates and new features, and legacy products can still be used separately. We’ll have more information on how to do this in May when you can take that action.
Another option available to all customers with legacy products is to take advantage of the Trade Up program, which allows you to upgrade older Sonos products to modern ones with a 30% discount. Trade Up will be open to customers at any time should they decide to upgrade.
We recognize this is new for Sonos owners, just as it is for Sonos. We are committed to help you by making options available to you to support the best decision for your home.
If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate with asking.
Update 2/22: A message from our CEO
We heard you. We did not get this right from the start. My apologies for that and I wanted to personally assure you of the path forward:
First, rest assured that come May, when we end new software updates for our legacy products, they will continue to work as they do today. We are not bricking them, we are not forcing them into obsolescence, and we are not taking anything away. Many of you have invested heavily in your Sonos systems, and we intend to honor that investment for as long as possible. While legacy Sonos products won’t get new software features, we pledge to keep them updated with bug fixes and security patches for as long as possible. If we run into something core to the experience that can’t be addressed, we’ll work to offer an alternative solution and let you know about any changes you’ll see in your experience.
Secondly, we heard you on the issue of legacy products and modern products not being able to coexist in your home. We are working on a way to split your system so that modern products work together and get the latest features, while legacy products work together and remain in their current state. We’re finalizing details on this plan and will share more in the coming weeks.
While we have a lot of great products and features in the pipeline, we want our customers to upgrade to our latest and greatest products when they’re excited by what the new products offer, not because they feel forced to do so. That’s the intent of the trade up program we launched for our loyal customers.
Thank you for being a Sonos customer. Thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback. I hope that you’ll forgive our misstep, and let us earn back your trust. Without you, Sonos wouldn’t exist and we’ll work harder than ever to earn your loyalty every single day.
If you have any further questions please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Patrick Spence CEO, Sonos
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Long term, I am thinking of keeping my Sonos speakers on Legacy, and using the Sonos controller just to group and ungroup speakers and control their volume.
For music streaming, I’ll set up Emby or Plex on a cheap Linux system (maybe a Raspberry Pi) and send the output to my Connect’s line in. Then all I need to do is group my Connect with the other rooms where I want music to play. We almost never stream two different services at the same time--in fact, I don’t think we ever have--so no problems there with a single source system.
It adds an extra UI step: go to Emby/Plex for the music selection, and Sonos Controller for volume and grouping, but the Sonos UI on mobile devices is so bad now that it feels like a lateral move, anyway.
Sonos
I have spent £1,250+ on Sonos products over the years. And have been largely happy with them. I opted to buy a high quality system that would last.
Your decision to withdraw software updates for my products highlights the contempt you have for me as a loyal customer. As a tech analyst I am very familiar with both the improvements in tech over the last decade and the cost implications of supporting older products. this decision has everything to do with reducing costs and trying to boost sales via replacement to meet quarterly numbers. In an age where we need to reduce consumption of materials, the idea that these products could be legacy after five years is offensive.
If you go ahead with this decision I will never purchase another product.
dan
It could have been I who wrote this… i have spent over 10000€ on speakers and amp since 2008 to three households. To that i will add at least another 10000€ that i had friends invested in sonos systems after me selling it to them. Now in a time when we should take care of Mother Nature, sonos force’s us to upgrade A fully functional system.
I am so disappointed and angry at Sonos today. I think we can read about this case in the literature in the future on how a company totally destroyed a strong brand over a night and went out of market.
Sweden 22:st of January
I notice @Ryan S seems to have gone home, either that or there is a serious brainstorming meeting going on at head office, on how to get out of this mess.
They should be looking for a way out of this mess. They chose the nuclear option yesterday announcing this. The only people left wandering around thinking about future Sonos purchases are people who don’t care about the investment because money is meaningless to them.
Every review on Best Buy & Amazon and all online retailers are about to be filled with people telling potential customers not to spend their hard earned money on this product. Every person who comes to a house filled with Sonos gear will be told by the owner not to invest in it unless they are okay with their recent purchases becoming obsolete.
Comparing a Sonos product to a laptop or cell phone is ludicrous. If that’s the company plan, to tell people to spend thousands for a 2-5 year speaker they can use before replacement they’ll be out of business in 2 years.
They either need to do some kind of really aggressive swap with current legacy owners or come up with some kind of add on to legacy devices that would make them future proof. The retail market for Sonos just got destroyed in 24 hours. Who in their right mind is going to run out and buy a Play 1 for every room in their house now?
If you are unhappy with the news...
POST 1 STAR AMAZON REVIEWS ON ALL SONOS DEVICES!
this is justified given the very short lifespan and < 5 year obsolescence.
As an avid advocate and promoter of Sonos for the past few years, I feel betrayed by this position that Sonos has taken. I only recently acquired 2 Move speakers and was very excited to be able to make my system portable. I now regret waiting for Sonos as I could have proceeded with better tried and true portable speakers from your competition. The only reason I waited was to have compatibility with my “legacy” system.
Sonos has let me down big time and I will not be expanding or recommending others to pay the high premium for mediocre technology that cannot upgrade.
Very sad.
Hello to Sonos and their community.
I haven’t read every single comment on this thread, but it would seem that a lot of people are unhappy. My comment, for what it’s worth, is that I bear no animosity towards Sonos. It is inevitable that this will happen to every “smart” device at some point. Sonos, are just the first to do it. To name a few, we have had Bose, Yamaha, Denon, and B&O speakers over the last couple of years. We were in search of superior sound and only found it in Sonos. Where Bose is concerned, they do have a relatively good sound, but the software and services that are included in both their SoundTouch, and Smart devices, is incredibly limited. We had many negative experiences, with every device, until we bought Sonos. Yes, their “legacy” announcement was a shock, but it is not going to be the only company to do this. Sonos are just the first to do it. The hardware in their “legacy” devices, has simply reached its limit and can no longer be “confidently” updated. If Sonos are to remain ahead of their competitors, in a saturated market, then they have to make controversial and difficult decisions such as this.
I agree with this view too. This is the nature of the beast with integrated hardware/software solutions. Bose discontinued Soundtouch overnight. That’s always a risk. We are all invested in Sonos’s continuing operation by having their stuff. If this is part of what is necessary to keep innovating, then that’s the deal.
Interestingly, Sonos encourage you to email there CEO directly if you want to talk to them.
Maybe his email box is full from irate customers like myself.
I did ring, and left a voicemail for him…. as we cant email him anymore
No more Sonos for me sadly, they have lost my loyalty.
If you are saying the products don’t have enough memory and processor for you to continue to support them in doing what they have always done then you should have put more memory and more processing power into these products when you designed them then, this is a design fault, yes tech has moved on in these years, but it doesn’t require a stupid amount of memory or processing to do this, what processing and memory did you bother to put in these?this is your fault for trying to cut costs so much and you should be offering more than a mere 30% off when products like the Amp are stupidly expensive for what they are anyway, this is nothing more than a profit gaining exercise, but instead you’ve lost all your customers, smart move.
Sonos will start listening when customers vote with their feet.
This is a competitive space with some good alternatives:
Wow. Thanks for alerting me to your corporate commitment to your products. I just bought a new home and we were going to outfit it with Sonos equipment like our current home …. but I guess I will re-think that idea. Clayton Christensen is likely salivating to tell your corporate story next. From Great to Good to Are you kidding me….
No more Sonos for me.. I'm so disappointed with your new decision your company is taking.
I suspect this has been asked elsewhere, but with so many posts to read through, it’s easier to just ask again.
How long will the 30% off trade-in program last? If a person waited until May to see how well the software works that will separate legacy equipment from newer equipment, decided that he or she wasn’t satisfied with the experience, and thus wanted to upgrade, would the discount still be in effect?
Joke of the day:
Agree with the Shareholder sell comment, I just did, and not for a loss (Capital gains sucks to). Maybe the Legacy issue has something to do with the recent CEO/House Antitrust encounter. Maybe the Patent issue is only related to the non-Legacy products and they need to get rid of them for further Litigation. Ugh, now I’m so mad I turning to conspiracy theories to try and make sense of this!
Hello to Sonos and their community.
I haven’t read every single comment on this thread, but it would seem that a lot of people are unhappy. My comment, for what it’s worth, is that I bear no animosity towards Sonos. It is inevitable that this will happen to every “smart” device at some point. Sonos, are just the first to do it. To name a few, we have had Bose, Yamaha, Denon, and B&O speakers over the last couple of years. We were in search of superior sound and only found it in Sonos. Where Bose is concerned, they do have a relatively good sound, but the software and services that are included in both their SoundTouch, and Smart devices, is incredibly limited. We had many negative experiences, with every device, until we bought Sonos. Yes, their “legacy” announcement was a shock, but it is not going to be the only company to do this. Sonos are just the first to do it. The hardware in their “legacy” devices, has simply reached its limit and can no longer be “confidently” updated. If Sonos are to remain ahead of their competitors, in a saturated market, then they have to make controversial and difficult decisions such as this.
I agree with this view too. This is the nature of the beast with integrated hardware/software solutions. Bose discontinued Soundtouch overnight. That’s always a risk. We are all invested in Sonos’s continuing operation by having their stuff. If this is part of what is necessary to keep innovating, then that’s the deal.
Sure if that is the view you want to take...I agree...HOWEVER, moving forward I will not invest in high priced company who touts themselves as ‘eco friendly’ and ‘delivering something better than the rest’…...
I received an email from SONOS yesterday which states that I have six legacy products. I just logged into my account and the news got even better. Turns out I have nine legacy products.
“You have 9 legacy products that do not receive regular software updates and new features as of May 2020.”
Everyone needs to go to trust pilot.com, and every review site they can think of, and let Sonos know how they feel!
Just been there. Still had to give the b<&^/#s one star, though.
This is shocking, it feels like “upgrade and pay us or else...”. Unless they change direction I will never buy another Sonos product again. I have 6 speakers currently and have spent thousands of pounds.
Kind of reminds me of the old protection racket (P. Spence in Joe Peschi’s voice) “Say that’s some nice looking audio gear you’ve got there, shame if anything were to happen to it… I’ve got some new gear for %30 off over here that will keep you safe.”
No matter how many times Sonos management tries to use the excuse that this is just old computer gear that is headed for the landfill (complete with cement shoes in the form of “recycle mode”), it was marketed as sophisticated home audio gear that reduced the need for speaker wires throughout your home. Audio gear is what I purchased this for, not doing my taxes on Excel!.
Interestingly, Sonos encourage you to email there CEO directly if you want to talk to them.
Maybe his email box is full from irate customers like myself.
I did ring, and left a voicemail for him…. as we cant email him anymore
For me, the email link still works...wrote to him as well but as expected no reply.
Hello to Sonos and their community.
I haven’t read every single comment on this thread, but it would seem that a lot of people are unhappy. My comment, for what it’s worth, is that I bear no animosity towards Sonos. It is inevitable that this will happen to every “smart” device at some point. Sonos, are just the first to do it. To name a few, we have had Bose, Yamaha, Denon, and B&O speakers over the last couple of years. We were in search of superior sound and only found it in Sonos. Where Bose is concerned, they do have a relatively good sound, but the software and services that are included in both their SoundTouch, and Smart devices, is incredibly limited. We had many negative experiences, with every device, until we bought Sonos. Yes, their “legacy” announcement was a shock, but it is not going to be the only company to do this. Sonos are just the first to do it. The hardware in their “legacy” devices, has simply reached its limit and can no longer be “confidently” updated. If Sonos are to remain ahead of their competitors, in a saturated market, then they have to make controversial and difficult decisions such as this.
I would like to say that Ihave not bought a Sonos “smart” speaker. I have avoided the Sonos one for the exact reason that I figured that it would be a device with a shorter lifespan as a result of the “smart” integration. None of my 30 components (including 2 Play 5 (Gen1), 1 connect Amp, 2 Connect, 2 Play 3 (Gen 1), 3 play 1, 2 playbars, and 2 subs) are “smart”. Yes they are internet connected but that is a very different thing in my mind. I can buy a stand alone amazon Echo or Google nest mini if I want smart control of my Sonos speakers which I did to limit the number of “disposable” items.
I purchased Sonos because it allowed me to have an integrated experience and didn’t require that I run wires around my house. I use them for a limited number of services (streaming personal library, Spotify, and TuneIn) and don’t need more than maintenance of the current services. I don’t believe that this is too much to ask. I don’t expect Sonos to keep upgrading my current components if there are technical limitations but I also don’t expect them to simply say that they will no longer support older equipment because the new equipment will have additional functionality.
I think it’s a misscaracterization to say that the legacy equipment can no longer be “confidently” updated. There is no evidence that the equipment could not continue to receive updates should there be small updates to the APIs of the services assuming, what they may not be able to do is “confidently” upgrade legacy components, which I for one can accept. What they appear to be saying is that the legacy components will simply be set adrift to die a slow death as providers tweak their APIs.
So I have THREE Play 5 units but only two are eligible for trade in. Why? My Sonos Connect is not eligible but my Connect Amp is! What kind of support is that?!!!
Sonos is following in Boeing’s foot steps !!
I suspect this has been asked elsewhere, but with so many posts to read through, it’s easier to just ask again.
How long will the 30% off trade-in program last? If a person waited until May to see how well the software works that will separate legacy equipment from newer equipment, decided that he or she wasn’t satisfied with the experience, and thus wanted to upgrade, would the discount still be in effect?
@Brickbat70, it’s an ongoing offer, Trade Up will still be available in May.
