End of Software Support - Clarifications

End of Software Support - Clarifications
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K

Shame on you Sonos CEO.  Ultimate responsibility lies with you.  That message should have been a resignation letter.

W
Userlevel 4
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Well, if no one else will speak up fro Sonos I will.

My system has worked flawlessly ever since I purchased my first 1st gen Play-5 many years ago.

Never an issue, not even with the updates that fail ever so often on other systems.

I accept that the older products can not be updated forever and if there will be a solution in May where newer products can be updated while the older ones remain as-is that’s fine with me.

So, I’m still in!  


Are you in if you cant group/stream your legacy devices with the new ones? If they are two diff systems?


For me personally, it would've been acceptable if Sonos had:

(1) Committed to ongoing support of a Sonos Legacy ecosystem for those core and original customers who bought into multi-room audio. Sonos Legacy would include multi-room audio, music streaming integration, and a controller app. Long-term support for these core features was expected and marketed, and there's zero technical reason to lose a streaming service.  Any Sonos component incapable of handling the latest and greatest of Sonos Smart capability would revert to Sonos Legacy.

AND

(2) either (a) interoperability between Sonos the Sonos Legacy ecosystem and the new Sonos Smart ecosystem or (b) a reasonable trade-up discount that does NOT brick the Legacy device, because keeping the Legacy component in my home would at least provide some flexible options to make the split-system approach work for me.

Unfortunately, Sonos did none of these. At every level and decision point, Sonos made the anti-customer decision.

chickentender

I cannot believe Sonos still wants to pull the rug out.  I get stuff not getting updates anymore but saying that I won’t be able to use the speaker with “new stuff” is just plain wrong.  I have thousands invested into Sonos and i was looking into buying more.  This makes me hesitate?  What will happen in 5 years.  will I have to upgrade again?  This whole thing is wrong on Sonos part. 

What do you mean by “new stuff”?

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/4786?language=en&et_rid=75038405&utm_campaign=lifecycleeosu_announce_183496_1497698&utm_medium=email&utm_source=owners_legacy_110822355&utm_content=copy-t2-readarticle_US

 

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.

 

How long does this last until stuff just stops working and you don’t know why.  What features are not going to work together?  will i be able to still have whole house audio?  what happens if apple music makes a change to the API and it is no longer compatible with the “old” speakers. Lot’s of questions left unanswered in my opinion. 

 

 

Still not certain what you meant by “new stuff”. Do you mean new software features? Or new units added to the network? If you leave your system as legacy, you can still add any modern device Sonos now sells to a legacy network and it will run with that software version. It is the various streaming APIs that will stop working at some point…. The least likely to stop working are access to your own media library and access to speaker settings, zone grouping etc, because those functions are not tied to the API changes of other companies. As a simple wireless speaker network that accesses local network files, it’s reasonable to assume that a legacy system will work indefinitely until the hardware fails.


I hope this is correct, but I have yet to see it written by sonos that any new speaker I buy can be added to a legacy setup.  As whole home/multiroom audio is what I’m here for I guess I’m going with legacy mode and not buying anymore speakers.

Its correct. Remarks made by Ryan and other staff quickly are swallowed up by the churn of this thread. It’s been mentioned a number of time here and elsewhere. Quickest I could find were two posts made back on page-95 in this particular thread topic.
https://en.community.sonos.com/announcements-228985/end-of-software-support-clarifications-6835969/index95.html (about halfway down, and again ¾ the way down)
New speakers will still be able to join your legacy network, but if legacy you might be better served purchasing 2nd hand. This is the route I’m taking. 

S
Userlevel 4
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I bought mine Dec 14- 3 years after 2011 and likely closer to 4 since introduciton

 

Not a very custom focused answer - and horrible wording/grammer  

 

 

 

 

 

Those products were indeed introduced between 2005 and 2011. The date of introduction refers to the first date the products came into the market. 

The types of new features that the product would not be compatible with, it would not have supported now to begin with. The physical limitations of the hardware render it incapable of performing tasks they were not designed for. The products will still receive important bug fixes and full support from our technical support staff.

Sincerely,

Sean F.
Sonos | Customer Care | Contact Us
Ask questions, find answers, and share your thoughts on the Sonos Community.

 

'limitations in hardware' - thats your problem mate (sonos)

 

did you specify ram / storage at the time of purchase sonos? 

B
Userlevel 3
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Mr. Spence (CEO)

This thread has been quite an eye opener for me. As an early SONOS adopter I think I had intentionally forgot about the many, many years of getting SONOS to function the way it was advertised, way back when. I remember the often conflicting solutions from SONOS customer support and dealers for the dreaded music “Drop-Outs” too.  I guarantee the executives at SONOS have no idea of the time we early birds had to invest to understand:  The Network Matrix diagnostic tool, Spanning Tree Protocols (never heard of this till SONOS), or how to turn off Wi-If (long before you were allowed) so we could hard-wire and eliminate issues as our systems expanded.

As time went on, we were treated to Applications that became less, not more intuitive. Then SONOS dropped support for the Desktop software and removed obviously useful functionality (this one really frosted me). If not for the internet and the wonderful techies all over the world that posted information on how to address the many issues just getting things to work, I would have jumped ship a long time ago.  So, please understand, your announcement was icing on the cake for many of us.

But I digress. It is now time to step up and do the right thing. 

Announce that you will rescind the May target date until SONOS can integrate Legacy and New product to meet the minimum requirements everybody here wants (and the minimum upgrade standards SONOS needs). In future, seek your customers feedback before anything is cast in stone. Clearly the 30% Trade Up was an insult to most in this thread.

I would entertain the idea of treating my Out Of Warranty products (regardless of how old) and the Trade-Up Program in the same manner. I contact SONOS, and SONOS remotely disables my serial number and I recycle it. Then, email me a 50% Coupon to purchase the direct replacement model.

Special thanks to the gang at K&W Audio in Calgary, AB for SONOS products, support and courage dealing with me over the many years!

F
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To All Viewers….I just went on to the Web to check the SONOS stock price and read the following article

CHECK OUT THIS SONOS news page on the Stock Quote page

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sonos-speakers/sonos-customers-up-in-arms-over-move-to-stop-updates-for-older-speakers-idUSKBN1ZL1SH?il=0

S
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d. No one will pay the money for this equipment after reading all of the bad press and Negative Reviews.

 

Not true….as there are tons of people who read amazon reviews and for the most part there are tons of positive reviews there….so people who are new to sonos probably wouldn’t find out about this mess unless they actually looked

J
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@ Melvimbe

The CR200’s were eligible for recycle. I had d 4 xCR200’s and inadvertently recycled. We have a very large house and one cell phone so that method of control does not work.  Many of SONOS customers - even loyal ones - do not like controlling the system with their phones.

J
Userlevel 4
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@ Melvimbe

The CR200’s were eligible for recycle. I had d 4 xCR200’s and inadvertently recycled. We have a very large house and one cell phone so that method of control does not work.  Many of SONOS customers - even loyal ones - do not like controlling the system with their phones.

How did you "inadvertently" recycle them? 

 

J
Userlevel 2
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When I got the first SONOS message, like a good customer I was led to believe I had to recycle all legacy units so hit select all (if I remember correctly) and then deselected a single ZP100. The legacy units were recycled except then I realized the CR200’s were also on the list. The 30% discount for them is irrelevant because there is no upgrade product. The 30% applied to the other units I recycled because each had an upgrade path.  Given the current situation I will return the upgrades and was hoping to return to where I was before the whole mess and just live with no functionality updates. I’ve been a customer since 2006.

M
Userlevel 1
Dear Patrick,

It was with unprecedented regret that I received your message about Sonos's plans regarding the lack of support for "older" products of the brand.
For many years I have been a sincere fan of the Sonos philosophy and I have always been strongly recommending your products to all my friends.
Now I don't know what to tell them ... Anyway, I don't know what to think about it myself.
First of all, the products I have are still functional, secondly, the vision that they are "older", as you say, does not fill me with pride, thirdly what Greta Thunberg, for example, would say, knowing that quite good equipment is to be deactivate and go for recycling, even though it is still functional ...
Sorry, but in times when "Ice on Fire" these are not wise decisions from the point of view of global business ...
Shame on Sonos, shame on Patrick ...

Marcin, Sonos user
T
Userlevel 3
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Sage commentary about recent events and the path forward by a guy I respect Leo LaPorte, The Tech Guy.  Watch video at timeline: 56:30 thru 1:05:30

https://twit.tv/shows/the-tech-guy/episodes/1663?autostart=false

Speaks for itself.

D
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Sage commentary about recent events and the path forward by a guy I respect Leo LaPorte, The Tech Guy.  Watch video at timeline: 56:30 thru 1:05:30

https://twit.tv/shows/the-tech-guy/episodes/1663?autostart=false

Speaks for itself.

Yeah that sums it up right there. More people need to see this, including SONOS. 

K
Userlevel 6
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It has been only 6 days since we all got ‘the email’. …..feels a lot longer doesn’t it???

Since then there has been a lot of activity from previously loyal customers on this forum and a fair bit of damning activity from Wall Street.

But very little comment or action from Sonos!

i am bewildered by the silence…...there are even a couple of great threads that actually suggest to Sonos how they can fix this  

Something just doesn’t feel right…..

 


I’m thinking the same thing.  Has anyone else had trouble with Support getting back to cases or being able to reach support at Sonos directly (in the US not their contracted off-shore group)?  I was working with with a very responsive lead tech just last week to solve a 4-week old issue and suddenly crickets and no replies. 

Maybe they are in a huddle (hope so) but something does feel odd.  I’ve always had great service/support from the CA team, hope they are all ok. 

 

Ryan S
Userlevel 7
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I’m thinking the same thing.  Has anyone else had trouble with Support getting back to cases or being able to reach support at Sonos directly (in the US not their contracted off-shore group)?  I was working with with a very responsive lead tech just last week to solve a 4-week old issue and suddenly crickets and no replies. 

The team is very busy answering questions and helping people. A lot of questions came up last week and they’re working through them currently. They’ll be in touch as soon as they can.

Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
T
Userlevel 3
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Yep, circle the wagons, update CVs. Strikes me competitors ought carpe diem.

Stick with Legacy here until dust settles.

Has anyone used or explored the Kilpsch wireless system?

X
Userlevel 2
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I've been with Sonos a very long time. I just bought two new Ones for my kids rooms. I have 6 zones in a small 1700sqft house. And now 80% of my perfectly working system is obsolete. 

30% is an absolute joke. It's literally employee discount for any vendor that sells your product.

I'd be willing to pay 30% to send you my perfectly working system for a new product.

You say hardware limitations.. Why not allow us to choose what services we NEED in our system to reduce the size required? I for one use radio, Pandora, Amazon music only. I could care less about the 50 other services you might provide. Have your software build out a custom "kernel" tailored to what the user needs.

 

Really disappointed in you guys.

I too have gotten many customers to buy in to your product and instead of paying all that money again, they want new solution. 

 

C
Userlevel 3

I've been with Sonos a very long time. I just bought two new Ones for my kids rooms. I have 6 zones in a small 1700sqft house. And now 80% of my perfectly working system is obsolete. 

30% is an absolute joke. It's literally employee discount for any vendor that sells your product.

I'd be willing to pay 30% to send you my perfectly working system for a new product.

You say hardware limitations.. Why not allow us to choose what services we NEED in our system to reduce the size required? I for one use radio, Pandora, Amazon music only. I could care less about the 50 other services you might provide. Have your software build out a custom "kernel" tailored to what the user needs.

 

Really disappointed in you guys.

I too have gotten many customers to buy in to your product and instead of paying all that money again, they want new solution. 

 


Actually, I worked with a Sonos employee (he was a good client) a while ago and we grew close.  Employee and family discount at Sonos was 50% he told me, he offered to buy a couple of speakers for me under the employee program (this was before they required registration), but things may have changed since then . . .

. . . I didn’t want to take advantage of the relationship, so never did it.  Kinda surprised I didn’t now that I look back.

J
Userlevel 5
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Hi all you loyal Sonos customers that feel betrayed 

I was speaking to a Bose dealer today.  Obviously They know all about the Sonos blunder.  After a long discussion I’m seriously contemplating jumping ship.  They have great deals on seemingly a great product. Much better than the 30% trade in from Patrick.  I’m going to check it out in person.  But from what I’m hearing SONOS needs to worry since they have just seriously upset the 37% revenue stream (conservatively) from loyal customers, not to mention a large chunk of Thier free sales team and advocates  

A
Userlevel 5
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but if legacy you might be better served purchasing 2nd hand. This is the route I’m taking. 

 

How do you know the second hand speaker you are purchasing hasn’t already been bricked by having been used in a “trade up” by the original owner?

You can’t even test it before handing over cash to someone, because they might have done the “trade up” and the delayed bricking just hasn’t kicked in yet.

 

L
Userlevel 3
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Anyone seen the original Muppet Movie lately? 

Well, my kid and I did with three Play 5 1st gens and the Sub, the front Play5 1st gen line in from TV, with Sub and rear Play5 1st gen R/L stereo tuned via set up app.

 

BRICKING!!! BRICKING!!! BRICKING!!!

ANIMAL!!! ANIMAL!!! ANIMAL!!!

 

Someday we’ll find it, the Rainbow Connection.  The lovers, the dreamers, and me.

X
Userlevel 2
Badge

I've been with Sonos a very long time. I just bought two new Ones for my kids rooms. I have 6 zones in a small 1700sqft house. And now 80% of my perfectly working system is obsolete. 

30% is an absolute joke. It's literally employee discount for any vendor that sells your product.

I'd be willing to pay 30% to send you my perfectly working system for a new product.

You say hardware limitations.. Why not allow us to choose what services we NEED in our system to reduce the size required? I for one use radio, Pandora, Amazon music only. I could care less about the 50 other services you might provide. Have your software build out a custom "kernel" tailored to what the user needs.

 

Really disappointed in you guys.

I too have gotten many customers to buy in to your product and instead of paying all that money again, they want new solution. 

 


Actually, I worked with a Sonos employee (he was a good client) a while ago and we grew close.  Employee and family discount at Sonos was 50% he told me, he offered to buy a couple of speakers for me under the employee program (this was before they required registration), but things may have changed since then . . .

. . . I didn’t want to take advantage of the relationship, so never did it.  Kinda surprised I didn’t now that I look back.

That's really nice. I meant vendor though, not actual Sonos employee but a reseller. 

chickentender

but if legacy you might be better served purchasing 2nd hand. This is the route I’m taking. 

 

How do you know the second hand speaker you are purchasing hasn’t already been bricked by having been used in a “trade up” by the original owner?

You can’t even test it before handing over cash to someone, because they might have done the “trade up” and the delayed bricking just hasn’t kicked in yet.

 

@ausono  - You check first. I’m not talking about Ebay, but rather local listings (there are heaps in my area, the number growing). Tell the seller you must see the unit connected to a controller (you can then look in the speaker settings to see if the countdown is initiated. Or if it’s been factory-reset you can try to connect to it with your controller app; it its been recycled it will tell you it’s not able to be joined to any network

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3573?language=en_US

A
Userlevel 5
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you can then look in the speaker settings to see if the countdown is initiated. Or if it’s been factory-reset you can try to connect to it with your controller app; it its been recycled it will tell you it’s not able to be joined to any network.


I haven’t dared to touch anything that says “trade up” for fear of bricking my own units, so I wasn’t aware that there was a way to tell that the countdown was running.

Knowing that they have the countdown running like that and available via the settings, I find it very odd that they say it is irreversible even while the countdown is still active.

I suppose you could also still use ebay/paypal buyer protections if a seller ripped you off.

C

What am I missing? I thought Sonos did a U-turn last Thursday and said legacy products would NOT be bricked in the foreseeable future?

One thing to consider… while the Sonos stock is obviously declining, (it still has a bit to go before the $10 low of last August), we don’t want Sonos to fail because if they go out of business then all of our products will be automatically bricked :-( 

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