Retired Sonos Staff

End of Software Support - Clarifications

Dec 8, 2022 11:29 AM UTC
4256 replies
270176 views
Translate All

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

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

Show previous replies

M

martinmohan

Lyricist I

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

Agree with you Dan. I won’t buy Sonus again. This is shocking.

Translate

T

the_real_drsox_actually

Avid Contributor I

really melodrama!!! I brought into sonos that I could expand the system, nowhere did it say in the small print that a minimum EOL of 5 years would apply. My 10 year iPhone although no longer supported still works, my windows 7 computer still works. A year after may will my sonos work as now NO I think not

Yes, this is the real computer world model of systems. I have a 2012 Mac mini running an obsolete MacOS so that I can run Win7 in it. It plays fine with my 2019 MacBook. The key is in the interfaces.

As an aside, why can’t Sonos design an add-on box that sits behind the now-obsoleted components and provides a supported interface to newer services ? I’d pay for that if reasonable. Maybe the interconnection could be the Line-In or similar.

Translate

J

jmb5240

Lyricist II

Best line I read today: Sonos is an expensive speaker rental company.

People seem to compare this equipment to iPhones or computers that perform so many functions. Sonos equipment performs one thing: stream music over a network. Yes, our equipment should last as long as any higher end audio components. This is clearly a business model shift - rental company.

Translate

D

David_366

Enthusiast I

Every room in my house I walk into where I have a Sonos and I see it, it makes me so angry. I don’t want to use it or listen to it anymore. Legacy or modern it makes me angry I have bought into this flawed and fragile ecosystem where 1 legacy device can mess up the updates of my modern devices! Just make them interoperable!

Translate

M

mikesimm

Lyricist I

This is such a stupid move by Sonos. It’s sooo stupid to destroy the brand like this. These guys running the place can not be that ignorant, therefore, I’m thinking there is more to this story than is being told.

There is NO WAY corporate did not know this would destroy the brand. So why are they doing it? The truth will eventually come out.

The toothpaste is out of the tube, SONOS as a brand is now worthless. You can’t undo this breach of trust.

I wonder what the communications are to major shareholders… they must be livid as well.

Maybe a mail clerk put this out as a joke. lol

Translate

S

SamirX9

Lyricist I

I understand that in a hardware based business to stay relevant that upgrades are needed from a revenue stand point all the way to a support model. But offering a menial discount of 30% to paying customers that have invested time and money into your product and community is a slap to the face.

You want to hold on to your user base so they can speak to their friends and family on how much they enjoy their system- the majority of Sonos users I know were introduced this way to the ecosystem. Offer a bigger discount for products that you own and need to upgrade- 50% would make sense to make sure you hold on to your base while coming clean on the business side.

A misstep by Sonos but if they believe in the community of listeners they will listen to us here. GIVE A BIGGER DISCOUNT!

Translate

D

David_366

Enthusiast I

I wonder how much trade-up discount Ryan can get for his legacy devices?

Translate

A

amun

Interesting that with all the furore ongoing there’s no hint of crisis management PR getting involved. Leaves the impression that this reaction has been factored in and doesn’t require any additional handling.

It seems clear from the SEC filing that they were expecting considerable flak about this announcement, and have factored it in to their business plan. So I think that it’s just a case of them being fully prepared to lose a few legacy customers - who are no longer buying much anyway….

Translate

D

DaveSA

Lyricist I

I’m in full agreement with the non-hyperbolic statements … like many, I’ve spent many 000s equipping myself (and foolishly patting myself on the back for) buying various Sonos equipment, but this “solution” and handling is what’s appalling, moreso then the fact that tech advances and old gear can’t always support new advances.

Of course tech advances and not all devices can support new functionality. I’m 100% fine with that -- in fact, I much preferred my sonos interface in 2013 that perfectly let me play music across the house and directly from my apple devices/on my lock screen… features I’ve sadly lost.

Dear Sonos - simple solution - have two “controllers” - 1 basic that supports both old+new ecosystem (with a handful of the key streaming apps only such as Spotify). 2. have the “advanced” model with voice control, etc., etc. Can you imagine?

Oh, and perhaps give 50% off on products to people who are upgrading more than 3 or 4 products at once (i.e., your most loyal customers).

Oh well Sonos - you had a good thing going and you were the best at what you did for a long time … so was Blackberry. Oh well, I guess I shall just stick to Airplay 2 compatible gear and move on with my life.

Translate

T

TheNomad

Lyricist II

Like many others 4 of my 7 Sonos players are now “Legacy”, 2 Connects and 2 Play 5’s.

Can anyone else see the irony though?

Of the 2 Connects - 1 is connected to a 25+ year old Arcam amplifier and 40 year old Kef speakers, the other to a similar aged amplifier and 25 year old speakers. All of which work as good as new - who’d have thought the weakest link in the chain would be the newest?

Having been a Sonos evangelist and encouraged family, friends and work colleagues to buy it I’m now embarrassed and ashamed to have done so. They’ll never get another penny from me and if there is any justice this will turn out to be their Gerald Ratner moment!