Retired Sonos Staff

End of Software Support - Clarifications

December 8, 2022 at 11:29 AM
4256 replies
269611 views

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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A

attacama40

Headliner I

How is the solution to tell people for every $1,000 of Sonos Legacy equipment, an additional $700 will keep you good for an undetermined period of time? Who came up with that plan? Our investment in legacy products built your company.

There are folks who have spent $10,000 on Sonos Equipment in here that you’re telling to go spend $7,000 now to keep using their equipment? How is this considered acceptable? Who is going to recommend your products? Again, I bought my Connect in 2017. I had no idea to check the manufactured date. Now I need a Port at 70% of the retail cost? I’ll have spent over $700 on a Connect and Port in 2 years. That’s ludicrous.

Also mirrors my reality

M

mboydftw

Lyricist III

Calling in artillery on yourself, Sonos? Welcome to someone’s business school case study of dumb management decisions. It takes years to earn customer enthusiasm for a product, and one email to turn that completely into the opposite direction.

Truly amazing.

I have 14 products over 2 homes. My primary home has 5 out of 6 products that are affected. None are affected in the vacation home. I was thinking about buying a Move that I could take between primary and vacation house. What happens when I drop in a product that has updates into a system has legacy equipment.

What happens if I want or need to replace a product in my legacy system? Do products that ship later in the year cause a problem in a system laced with legacy equipment?

If I decide to roll the dice and not upgrade my gear, and in a year or two I need to replace a piece of hardware, will the discount still be around? How long will it be offered?

I can’t add anything that has been said already, so count me among those who are extremely upset with this news. Replacing 3 connects, 1 zone amp, and one play 5 is a check I don’t want to write. BluSound please offer a carrot to Sonos users.

U

User933635

Prominent Collaborator I

They just bought a Paris Based AI startup and want to run voice recognition and processing locally on the device and hence this is why the old devices don’t have the capabilities.

I don’t need this!

I agree and think this is probably part of their long-term strategy, see: https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2019/12/03/sonos-shutting-down-local-voice-option-snips/ Hope that was $37M well spent. There’s also a link on that site to some further details about the the sonos user account, or see https://jpmens.net/2018/09/11/upset-at-sonos/ , (which reminds me about the furor around the GoPro user account). However, not wanting to go off-topic I notice this storm hasn’t impacted the bottom line but sonos are going to need big pockets for this one, https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/sonos-says-google-amazon-stole-its-speaker-technology-2020-01-15 Sorry, story was first covered in the New York Times but I don’t have access to that.

H

HelterSkelter

Enthusiast II

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.

You missed out a vital point, does this mean the legacy and modern will be interoperable? Or completely seperate? I am fine with my legacy speakers not getting updates, but I want my modern speakers to get updates and new features. I then EXEPCT to be still able to group music between legacy and modern.

This is the main issue on the table! I have 26 SONOS devices, 16 of which are “legacy”. If you tell me I have to separate them out, then you gave failed in your mission, and why I purchased $10k of equipment from you… to have Whole House Audio.

@David_366 and @morgan4x4, these legacy devices are stretched to the limits of their hardware already. Where possible, we will work to maintain the existing experience and conduct bug fixes on the legacy devices where the computing hardware will allow.

With all due respect Ryan, and we know you are trying your hardest ….

But it’s time now for Patrick to stand up, and put out a definitive announcement on here, as to what is going to happen.

In that announcement, there are two basic options, one of which will be retracting the crazy ill thought out idea of legacy, and then suggest a plan to keep all of the legacy equipment fully operational (with no loss of current functionality), and hence a chance of keep customers.

The other option, will be to continue with the legacy plans, wave goodbye to the existing 37% of repeat customers (as there is no way they will buy any more equipment), and totally destroy future sales to new customers, as they will rapidly be aware of the bad press, Its’ already on the BBC here in the UK.

Easy.

Sjoop1985

While I am disappointed, I am not entirely surprised. Not surprised by this message from Sonos, as there was bound to come a point where it was no longer technically feasible to keep all hardware on the same software version, but also not surprised by the amount of responses and anger this has generated.

I refuse to rant about Sonos owing me money, as I am well aware that these products are just as subject to aging as smartphones, tablets and other computers, and I also know that my products will not stop functioning after May 2020. What does disappoint me, like it does many others, is the fact that having a few “legacy” devices, will eventually impact the usability of my entire system. Additionally, there is a worry that this will in time happen to all of my devices, which in turn raises the question if I'm willing to essentially replace my entire setup over the years for the sake of updates.

I would love to have a constructive discussion, or maybe even to speculate, as we like to do on here, about the future functionality of the system and how Sonos will (or should) implement this split between legacy and modern devices. I would also be interested in hearing peoples thoughts about the backlash this is generating: will this be the first time Sonos reverses or alters a decision based on user/public feedback?

At first I was looking through these threads for responses from the regulars on these communities - you know who you are, the people that used to be at the top of the “Leaderboard” of likes before this chaos ensued - who have been known to me as posting messages that are level-headed, calm and constructive analyses and opinions. Unfortunately any objective discussion has, for the time being, been drowned out by - in some cases perfectly valid - anger, disappointment, rants and complaints, mainly by one-time registrars.

While it is in part a good thing, showing Sonos how their decisions affect their userbase, it drowns out many posts that are just looking for or providing information, and any sensible discussion on how to move forward. Not sure if I should try to open a separate thread, just to have it flooded by resentment.

Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans (John Lennon) --- Living room: Arc, Sub, 2x One - Kitchen: One - Bedroom: Play 3 - Office: Beam - Bathroom: Play 1

D

djaustin

Lyricist II

Will you be offering trade-in against Naim products. It seems I’ve now bought my last Sonos.

Is the legacy coding cost more than the value lost in the share proce by this announcement?

J

Johnnydot

Enthusiast I

Anyone who is unhappy with this news has the option to email the CEO at patrick.spence@sonos.com , I have already done so

I did too yesterday and replied to your post but it(the reply) disappeared like the functions of sonos equipment does. Mr Spence trotted put corporate bullshit and contradictory 'explanations'. Something is dodgy at the heart of sonos and not just their NASDAQ share price manipulstion so they can profit without customers. This biyback and bricking scam came just months after they (sonos) went all NASDAQ. Not dodgy at all.

S

spunkworks

Lyricist III

Trading up would be fine for me, but 30% is a joke, at 75% I would consider trading up. You lost a loyal customer that promoted your products to family and friends for over 10 years. This is a really bad move and I doubt your “damage control” is going to work.

J

jwinther

Lyricist III

.

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.

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.

If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate with asking.

Hi Ryan,

Good with some clarifications. Could you provide some assurance as well?

What I am looking for is a guarantee that these older products will be fully functional for at least some time, say 2 years, from now.

Plus a guarantee that there will be an attractive trade-in option all the way during that time, making it possible for anyone with legacy products to plan for a reasonable way along whatever upgrade route that will fit them.

“This is a chance now to come up with a system that doesn’t cause massive planetary damage in exchange for disposable stuff,” Proctor said. (https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3a8dpn/sonos-makes-it-clear-you-no-longer-own-the-things-you-buy)

C

cosmo35166

Enthusiast I

Well, we could all become shareholders and do a Proxy fight at the next meeting in February. BTW, I just withheld my vote for the 3 board members. Too bad I couldn’t vote on your compensation like other Companies.

DIRECTOR

Thomas Conrad
Julius Genachowski
Michelangelo Volpi

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