Retired Sonos Staff

End of Software Support - Clarifications

December 8, 2022 at 11:29 AM
4256 replies
269615 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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sean.dingley

Lyricist I

Not good closing a thread and opening a new one, just update the orignal!

Please can you explain why you misled people by saying only 10 weeks ago on Twitter that “We have no plans to suddenly make these devices obsolete. We're simply offering our users an eco-friendly way to upgrade their older players.”

WOW.. what a bunch of male cow manure!!

A

AndyKk

Lyricist I

You have got to be kidding!! I spent thousands on your products. First I wasn’t able to use music off my phone anymore. So I bought a desktop. Now my stuff will be obsolete, and not able to update the system??? What kind of a scam is this turning into. Who sells a product, then forces the customer to upgrade or else?? With the amount of money I sunk into Sonos, I will be forced to consult a lawyer to get a refund if this doesn’t change!

T

Troke

Lyricist III

I actually don’t buy the excuse that the hardware is under powered and cannot cope with playing modern music. Surely as long as you have one up to date device on your system that that can ‘babysit’ the older devices, that newer device is the one that deals with the streaming and then the older ones just do whatever they are told by that newer one? It seems that this is just a way of fleecing more money from customers.

I may be wrong, I do not understand the details of how Sonos works but we are only asking these speakers to play music, it can’t be that hard, they have been doing it quite happily for a good few years now.

The timing of this seems so foolish, just when the market becomes flooded with options for multi room speakers. If you spent big on hardware that is going to be made worthless, what motivation is there to ever buy another product from that company? So I replace all my affected speakers, what is to say that in 5 or 10 years they won’t do this again? I spoke so highly of Sonos when my friends were all buying the google ones and now I look like the fool, never again.

G

graemedickinson

Lyricist I

As a Sonos user for over 7 years and having spent a fair few £s on the system I find this disgusting to potentially have a system that doesn't work in the future, I have two legacy items but it worries me that the modern systems will be outdated in a few years time and they will also be considered legacy. Not good business sense from a brand and how to annoy your loyal customers in one foul swoop.

You should offer to upgrade these legacy speakers for a fraction of the price, 30% is not worth doing at least 70% for the inconvenience.

C

CNC

Lyricist I

I was just about to post on the original thread, I pressed “Send” and the system reports that the thread is closed? OK, then I’ll take my comments to a third-party like BBC News.

I think it’s fair to say, that the anger will continue on this new thread anyway,
I don’t think the idea of this thread being ‘answers to technical questions raised’ will cut it.

Good idea, re going to external media, as Sonos are clearly not listening so far.

I see that the story is now on the top of the BBC tech page.

Hardly surprising, as by Sonos’s own figures, 37% of their revenue comes from existing owners. Not any more though.

Not only is 37% of their revenue from existing owners, but I wonder what percentage is from new owners that are buying Sonos because of personal (friends) or professional (installers) recommendations who are existing owners?

Not only have they killed off purchases from existing owners, but also a lot of revenue from prospective owners who will now be advised not to touch Sonos with the proverbial bargepole.

Oh, then there are the potential owners who may not have been in contact with existing owners, but who will have googled Sonos and ended up on the BBC News website, the (UK) Standard website, the (UK) Independent, What Hifi, The Verge, The Register, Engadget, ZDNet, Wired, Pocket-Lint (these are just a few sites currently trending this issue).

Oh, and I guess for those that miss all of these stories, there are going to be others that go to the likes of the John Lewis website with a view to purchasing, and have a read of some of the latest reviews on there and wonder why the reviews have gone from 4-5 stars down to 1 stars.

By the way, I also agree with others commenting on the fact that it was extremely bad form for Sonos to lock the original thread and open a new one under the pretence of addressing some of the questions that have come up. Thinly veiled attempt to sweep under the carpet the fact that well over 1000 responses to the issue, 99%+ being unhappy have been posted in under 24 hours since the announcement. For what it’s worth, Sonos, this new thread seems to be heading in the same direction as the previous. Perhaps you could re-label this one as simply volume 2 of the initial one, and provide a back link for anyone interested? No? Thought not.

Ryan SAuthor

Retired Sonos Staff

This new thread didn’t clarify the most important points I had read in the previous thread. Answer these please...

Will future controller apps and pc based software continue to work with legacy systems? (with existing functionality)
Can Legacy and Modern speakers be grouped together?
Will legacy systems allow other legacy speakers to be added after May?
Will you allow hardware with various versions of Sonos OS to work side by side on a single Sonos network?
I mainly use a NAS with my Sonos and rarely use streaming services. Will I still be able to do this after May?

Sonos do not delete the other thread.

Mirrors my concerns although do also use streaming

@matthew.bacon and @attacama40 my previous post in this thread answers some of those questions, but you might have missed.

I believe this is the answer you’re looking for: You will be able get the app that works with a legacy system to use on new mobile devices, or if you accidentally delete it.
You would either have a legacy system with legacy devices and modern devices, or a modern system and a legacy system. If it’s all one legacy system, than yes, they’ll group together, but if it’s two separate systems, than they’re two, separate systems.
You will be able to add products to your legacy systems. We'll have more to share on the experience come May.
No, Sonos players are a system and won’t operate properly with different versions in one system.
Yes, if you mostly use the NAS drive, the only likely change with your system will be that you’ll stop getting updates. Everything else will continue to function exactly as it does today. Streaming services will work the same as well, but at some time in the future, service software changes might cause it to degrade or stop working.

Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.

Prorocker

Lyricist III

What’s frustrating to me is I had locked myself down to the last firmware that the CR100 worked on and I was happy as a clam, but eventually thought “I might be missing out on something” so I let the CR100’s go and know what? There was never any great features added” and now I will be locked to a firmware, I could still be using my CR100’s until a natural death occurred.

I mostly stream Amazon Prime Music from my Amazon Echo to the Sonos, I don’t see that changing.

I’m kicking myself for updating the firmware, I wish I could downgrade and then freeze, at least I’d still have my CR100’s.

Sonos, I will not support your products any longer.

I’ve learned a good lesson over the last few years with any internet connected technology, ones that rely on a cloud based server to get information. You are at the mercy of the company as too the longevity of your product, they go out of business, change their model, you lose.

There’s a huge list of companies that have come and gone, or planning the end. beware of IOT.

POGOPLUG

IRIS by Lowes

Vector Robot

Samsung Artik Cloud

https://staceyoniot.com/dead-iot-products-still-live-on-retail-shelves/

P

Paul000000

Lyricist III

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-51206604

Thanks for link.

I encourage people to share this and other links picking up the news to your local media.

SPREAD THE WORD!

The public will not see this thread and seeing as Sonos has closed down one, they may squish this one also.

J

Johnnydot

Enthusiast I

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.

A stand alone box of chips with an ethernet cable, like a raspberry pi, could have as much memory as NASA, a wifi chip, like IKEA sonos speakers, and ethernet in/out sockets to connect between router and 'legacy' equipment. This wee box could sort the memory/processing needs for 50 quid, or put a sonos badge on it and charge 200! !LOL LOL lol ha ha ha .

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Neilda

Enthusiast II

I have just bought a pair of Kef wireless speakers. Sonos have lost me as a customer - they’ve shown their hand and I’m out.

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