End of Software Support - Clarifications

For 10 years I’ve been accumulating Sonos Audio equipment while expanding wireless audio throughout my home. I did this because Sonos advertised and marketed their Whole Home Audio System as a way to hear music/audio throughout your home without running speaker wires.  The products were marketed and sold in hi-end Stereo/Audio stores as well as the HiFi/audio departments of better electronics stores.  The sales staff were trained by Sonos to push the quality of the sound, the beauty of the speakers, and the flexibility of the whole home audio solution.  This BS about Sonos products being outmoded/throw away computer products is just that... BS!  It’s a pivot to get all of us to shift our view of Sonos as just another piece of electronics that is outdated by updates and eventually abandoned ever after a very short 4-5 years after purchase.  This is AUDIO gear!  It’s sold and marketed as AUDIO gear, it’s not sold in as a computer, a phone, a throw-away junked chunk of electronics.  It’s marketed as a way to distribute SOUND (sonos) throughout your home and/or office/business. 

Don’t let the clowns at Sonos or some of their shills online get you to believe it’s time to further degrade our planet while pilfering our purse because they don’t want to keep your expensive investment in AUDIO equipment going (like you can with Amps, Speakers, Turntables, Mixers, and on).   This is clearly just a ploy and it’s a cynical and heartless money grab.  Don’t buy it and don’t buy anything from a once great company that is this dishonest!

Back to listening to music! 

NEW SONOS PRODUCTS LAST FOR FIVE YEARS

That is the message to your customers. 

But wait, it is even worse:

IF YOU BUY A BRAND NEW PRODUCT TO EXTEND YOUR EXISTING SYSTEM, THE UPCOMING KILL-DATE MAY BE MUCH CLOSER, E.G. FIVE YEARS FROM DATE OF PURCHASE OF YOUR FIRST SONOS PRODUCT. 

If you are planning to buy a new SONOS product and e.g. have a 4 year old speaker, your resulting system MAY HAVE ONLY 1 YEAR LEFT before updates stop. WHO WOULD IN THEIR RIGHT MIND THEN BUY IT, if they know this? A lot of your customers have had exactly this experience, buying a new product in 2019 and adding it to an existing system which is becoming outdated in May 2020. 

You can respond with all the 30% bullshit you want, the above is the message. YOU HAVE LOST ALL YOUR TRUST WITH THIS MOVE. When people buy expensive quality products like SONOS instead of cheeper options it is because they typically argue with themselves that quality pays off, also considering the environment. The exact opposite is true with SONOS. It even seems to be your company policy when you discontinue sonos connect as it was “introduced” in 2011, but - magically - does not discontinue 100% identical sonos connect sold after 2015? Proof right there, you are not forced to do it this way due to “ageing tech”, the connect pre-2015 is only not supported since you have decided on a crappy policy.   

The major lack of understanding you show for this topic now in 2020 is simply astonishing, considering the focus on re-use and reduced waste. IT IS A DISGRACE. 

Fix this mess, CEO Patric Spence. It is not too late. Then you can sleep well instead of your current sweat over loosing all what your employees have helped to build over many years simply due to your horrible decision.   

If you don't fix it, you should know that most of us have lost any possible motivation to extend our SONOS systems since we FORESEE YOUR NEXT KILL-MAIL. 

True they have millions of customers but it’s usually only a small minority who go on discussion boards. Sonos say that 37% of their sales are to repeat customers. Can’t see that being maintained. 

Perhaps more significantly, although Sonos spend millions on advertising, I would guess that the revenue generated by word of mouth recommendations (the best sort of advertising) is worth even more.

I think the current modest drop in share price reflects the fact that most investors haven’t cottoned on yet to the unfolding disaster. Big drop in repeat customers, and word of mouth going negative.

Next quarter’s results should make interesting reading!

Amstrad

AOL

Blackberry 

Betamax

Alta Vista

Pebble

Napster

MySpace

Dream Cast

Tivo etc etc! 
In business, customer support is an ethos. It seems more and more difficult now to find a market leader who has an ethos that is compatible with the digital world of scrutiny and vocal freedom that they actually operate in.

Looks like I'll be another looking for an alternative.  Not a great move Sonos, how to alienate your customer in one quick step.

My main concern, and I apologize if it’s already been asked - how much longer until the sub and playbar are also killed off?  I believe they’ve been out since 2012, so can we expect them to disappear in 2022?

This is what unfortunately happens when a company no longer places customers first, as they are now legally required to put shareholders first.  I’ve spent thousands on Sonos equipment and recommended it to everyone I know.  I am regretting both at this point.

I would urge Sonos to figure out a way to keep the legacy devices alive.  If you’re working on playing flac or other HD audio that the older devices can’t handle, perhaps they can stream a lower bitrate?  There has to be a better solution than alienating essentially your entire customer base - those who have 10 year old products that work well today, and those who bought a 5.1 setup yesterday and now question if it will be supported in 2 years.

My wife’s reaction to this was a pragmatic ‘we’ve had great value from your Sonos purchases over the years, what’s the cost for upgrading and how soon shall we do it?’. To be fair we’re lucky enough that replacing in my case 3 components wouldn’t break the bank and she’s right I’ve had a lot of use from those purchases. 
 

As I’ve said elsewhere my worry isn’t really a Sonos policy of 5 years support from end of manufacture, its that this kills Sonos and noone gets any support. 

It’s not just the £2000 I spent on my own speakers, it’s the friends who bought the speakers on my recommendation. 

From now on I’ll buy separates and stream straight from my phone.  I’ll recommend that they do the same.

Everything I has already been said by others but I want to add a post to this because the numbers matter when a company runs analytics on consumer response.

Sonos, please consider this to be one more post clarifying that I will never buy another Sonos product again, your “trade up” program is a joke, and I’m deeply disappointed that the money I spent on what I thought was a quality product has clearly been wasted. In the era of a Climate Crisis, the environmental impact of deciding to turn perfectly good audio devices into a mountain of e-waste is unspeakably irresponsible.

Sonos, you have lost track of what people were buying your product for.  It was to hear good music accessed in a way that was convenient and centralized.  I can do that today and you’re telling me I won’t be able to do that tomorrow.  I don’t really care what new features you bring in because I don’t need them.  I need my system to do exactly what it has been doing since the day I paid for it.

Hello Everyone:

I just joined this community. Ironically, before reading all your comments, I sent the same grievances in and email to the president of Sonos 2 days ago asking for a response. Crickets.

Now that I’ve read the overwhelming response from y’all, I’m guessing he’s hiding under his desk.

Sonos:

The jury has spoken…. please fix this grievous error.