End of Software Support - Clarifications

End of Software Support - Clarifications
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G
Userlevel 6
Badge +4

Not much new, but some interesting tidbits. Not sure if it was already posted here:

https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/01/29/heres-why-sonos-customers-were-angry-about-plans-t.aspx

I promised myself I was done looking at this thread and commenting but after checking out this link I think I just stumbled on something very interesting, after reading the initial story I scrolled down to an earlier story saw this:- 

“

Sonos sought to meet the challenge when it partnered with IKEA to have its speaker technology included in some of the Swedish furniture maker's products, like a lamp and wall shelf. Offering dual functionality, a sleek design, and an affordable price seems to be a good combination and demand has been reportedly robust.

It followed that bit of smart marketing with a rental program to allow cash-starved audiophiles rent a speaker package for a low monthly cost, but be guaranteed software updates and hardware upgrades when they became available. Although it's only currently being offered in the Netherlands, it seems likely this option could prove very popular, which would allow it to eventually be expanded into more countries.


Why cant I help thinking the content of the second paragraph could be linked to the Momentus May announcement!!!  I can see it now
 

Hey kids we’re  sorry we got it wrong and we love you all so very dearly were willing to offer you not 30%, not 40%, not even 50% trade in but, a whole year free rental of one of our Super New Sonos Speakers for Life.Thats right folks for a downpayent of only £/$399.95 we’ll give you a whole 12months free rental/lease and guarantee you hardware and software updates for life, that’s right folks, for life. All you’ll need to do is guarantee to sign up for a 24month contract and we’ll send you your shiny new speaker by return. (Normal rental/lease of £/$49.99 applies after 12 month free offer period)

 

Well its food for thought……...

 

 

I know it’s bad form to reply to myself but I wanted to share this link, I was taking the mick But a quick google search popped this up! Think I just saw the future……

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7547409/Sonos-letting-customers-rent-speakers-16-month-service-expand-worldwide.html

 

Wow Sonos is ALREADY renting speakers on a monthly contract!!! 

I wouldn’t personally ever rent durable goods.

Ryan - is this new future for Sonos? The article says its going to be a worldwide scheme - is that the case?

 

K

 Honestly, I have more hope that 3rd party workarounds will keep my Sonos devices working than Sonos coming through for their customers.

@snpanago : I agree with a slight but important difference. I think that one should be looking at third party workarounds, regardless of what one may think of Sonos coming through in future for legacy products. Sonos is a for profit company, and they will keep their promise to do this only as long as the keeping of this promise aligns with this fundamental fact about them. And in my view, there is nothing wrong with Sonos taking such a view, as long it is based on long term profit making objectives and not something that needs to be done to meet this quarter's guidance to Wall Street. This hope thing also reminds me of what was dunned into my head in my early days in corporate business management: Hope is not a strategy.

For more on third party workaround that are possible, see:

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-software-228995/the-sonos-brexit-and-pragmatic-ways-past-it-6836056 

W
Userlevel 2

@Winter S, if you purchased a Connect brand new that recently it shouldn’t be legacy. Any Connect still for sale from an official reseller should be 2015 version of the Connect which has some updated specs and is not a legacy product. In May, when the older version of the Connect becomes legacy, the 2015 Connect will continue on as a modern device. To check if you have a legacy device, you can go to your account page here: https://www.sonos.com/myaccount/system/households/devices/

I bought my (now legacy) Connect Amp in August 2019 on sale with a 6 year warranty from Richer Sounds in the UK. It was new, but an “ex-display” model, it even looked new. It was not advertised as ex-display (only as on sale), they told me this when I went to collect it. It didn’t cross my mind to ask how long it had been on display, obviously a very long time! I thought it was because Sonos had launched the new amp and they were discounting current stock of the previous amp. I didn’t need the new amp’s features so seemed a good deal.

D
Userlevel 7
Badge +5

This analogy sucks. In many ways. I know that.

Offcourse the analogy sucks, because you try to make “Things that break, due to wear” the same as “Things that work but is still being disabled”.

 

Imagine you put your car in for it’s 8 year service and when you get it back the rep. tells you that there were a security update they had to install for your car, because of some software fault that could affect the cars driveability.

Oh and that since all the car’s ECU’s must have the same firmware version, they have had to disable the climate control, because that could not be updated to the new firmware and thus had to be disabled for the rest of the car to work.

I bet you would be LIVID and DEMAND that they undid this.

 

D
Userlevel 7
Badge +5

Not much new, but some interesting tidbits. Not sure if it was already posted here:

https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/01/29/heres-why-sonos-customers-were-angry-about-plans-t.aspx

 

Thanks for posting.  One thing, though, about this and other similar articles is that they really don’t do enough to acknowledge that Spence’s “mea culpa” was nothing of the sort and actually offered little to nothing new over and above the initial botched announcement.   Most of the articles focus on the supposed mea culpa but, exactly as Spence’s ghostwriters intended, don’t actually point out the lack of anything new…  It’s owners here who are calling out Spence’s BS, the media are too easily distracted by the bogus “apology”.  

    

 

 

 

Exactly Spence’s “apology” was more of a “I am sorry, let me rephrase what i just said in an even more vague and non-precise way so that you might think something has changed, when it has clearly not”.

 

Any time someone delivers a message that is fluffy, not precise and consice, it is almost always because they have some message they need to put out, but know that they have to try and cover up the truth behind what they are intending.

 

They knew the message would be unpopular, and tried to make the statement just weak enough that someone might interpret it more positively than it was intended.

 

Sadly most of the press people, don’t understand or want to understand, they just need the article done in a hurry, so when sonos says “We are sorry” they just assume that something has changed.

D
Userlevel 7
Badge +5

I bought my (now legacy) Connect Amp in August 2019 on sale with a 6 year warranty from Richer Sounds in the UK. It was new, but an “ex-display” model, it even looked new. It was not advertised as ex-display (only as on sale), they told me this when I went to collect it. It didn’t cross my mind to ask how long it had been on display, obviously a very long time! I thought it was because Sonos had launched the new amp and they were discounting current stock of the previous amp. I didn’t need the new amp’s features so seemed a good deal.

I would certainly be contacting Richer Sounds and asking for a refund anyway, they sold you a product that will not function as advertised inside the warranty period. They should atleast give you a “new” version of the amp and then they get the old one and can claim 30% off….(Probably not worth it for them though, as the price they pay for a new one is probably less than 70% of a unit at sonos retail price.)

chickentender

This analogy sucks. In many ways. I know that.

Offcourse the analogy sucks, because you try to make “Things that break, due to wear” the same as “Things that work but is still being disabled”.

 

Imagine you put your car in for it’s 8 year service and when you get it back the rep. tells you that there were a security update they had to install for your car, because of some software fault that could affect the cars driveability.

Oh and that since all the car’s ECU’s must have the same firmware version, they have had to disable the climate control, because that could not be updated to the new firmware and thus had to be disabled for the rest of the car to work.

I bet you would be LIVID and DEMAND that they undid this.

 

Honestly, that extension to the analogy sucks just as much. :) 
Yes, I’d be livid. But if my car was out of warranty it wouldn’t be in taken to the authorized service center in the first place, in keeping this hybrid analogy at least somewhat congruous, nor would a firmware change to ECUs affect the climate control if it were in warranty.
(This is fun and all. But I’m legitimately sorry I opened another analogy can o’ worms.)

D
Userlevel 7
Badge +5

Honestly, that extension to the analogy sucks just as much. :) 
Yes, I’d be livid. But if my car was out of warranty it wouldn’t be in taken to the authorized service center in the first place, in keeping this hybrid analogy at least somewhat congruous, nor would a firmware change to ECUs affect the climate control if it were in warranty.
(This is fun and all. But I’m legitimately sorry I opened another analogy can o’ worms.)

But in the case of Sonos, there is really no other option than to “take it to the authorized center”.

Also it might be a security recall, this does not only happen on new cars.

BMW has just recalled cars that were produced in the 2000’s.

If the owners did not attend, the insurance would not cover in the event of an accident. In my country a car with an active security recall can not be passed at the MOT testing either.

So yes, the analogy is valid if the update was part of a mandatory security update.

 

Had it been a tesla, it would not even have to go to the authorised dealer as they just do OTA updates to fix software bugs.

 

So if your tesla had a mandatory security update pushed, and it disabled the climate control in the same way i described, even if your tesla was 10 years old, you would just shrug your shoulder and say “Hey, it’s a 10 year old car, that’s what to be expected”

chickentender

@DK_Madsen … The analogies are getting further and further abreast. I prefaced mine by saying it wasn’t useful and I meant it. The questions above are rhetorical. I have to shrug my shoulders at them. 

Stay at them and this if you like (Sonos). I’ve said numerous times I’m not happy with the situation; no one really is. I’ve only determined there are better ways to focus my energy. If whatever comes down the Sonos pipe in May isn’t compelling, I’ll move on; that hasn’t changed. For now, I’m just back to listening to music.

R
Userlevel 4
Badge +1

Here’s the offending paragraph in my opinion.  You keep saying in your response,  

“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.

Exactly how long do you suppose that might be?

While we want answers sometimes it is impossible for them to give a definitive answer as the answer is not known at this point in time.

For instance, they will provide updates provide the hardware will allow but as they are not aware of when or what change from an external company (streaming) will take place, they will not know what needs doing to resolve it. Therefore they will not know whether there is sufficient memory/storage left to make the changes required to keep it running. Hence, update it for as long as possible,

A

e.g. When I first invested in Sonos, there was no voice integration, there was no Airplay2 capability, there wasn’t even Pandora Premium integration within or without the Sonos controller - Pandora Premium didn’t even exist. Nor did Tidal in its current form. Nor did Amazon Music. Or PLEX in its current form…. the list goes on. 

 

 

Very true. I still lament the loss of function to the desktop controller to this day; it’s a sore spot for many. But my greater point was simply that much more has been added and little taken away from speaker capability itself; the core control function of the the speaker units is still accessible with devices that vast majority of everyone has at their disposal and also has more features itself therein. And, the desktop application does still exist in a very basic form, e.g. they didn’t remove OSX or Win support as it were.
Regarding locking it down, yes, as am I. Because it still functions as needed and as purchased, and should as well in legacy.

OK - but I didn’t ask for or want any of those facilities, whereas the functionality (large tablet android controller, desktop controller, lack of enhancement of even basic requirements for streaming my music, disabling support for older controllers) mean that - apart from trueplay - I have only seen a reduction in useful functionality - and Trueplay isn’t that useful to me.

I fully accept that my case may be unusual, but I doubt that it’s unique.

R
Userlevel 4
Badge +1

As it stands (for me) I made the decision to upgrade two items. One has been done now and the other a little later.

I was extremely P***ed initially… this has been downgraded to not very happy after time to reflect. At the end of the day, I had the gear since 2007 so 13 years use so far. I don’t / didn’t expect the same longevity as my Naim amps/B&W speakers etc. I accepted it more as tech at the time. Still not chuffed by the way this has turned out. 

  1. The connect (zp80) in the living room that was connected to a soundbar. The old soundbar was a bit temperamental so it needed changing… 2 birds one stone?!? Certainly… I now have the Sonos Beam.
  2. The ZP100 Amp I have feeding ceiling speakers in the bathroom. This is used but not massively but would miss it all the same. The Sonos 1 in the kitchen will not last for ever (going off the memory/storage chart). I will replace the ZP100 amp with the Sonos Move. This will give me an option to use it occasional in the Bathroom in addition to its main home in the kitchen. The Sonos 1 will be moved to the bedroom as I wouldn’t need it to group with other speakers
  3. Changing software to Roon. Roon at this point doesn’t given me everything I’d want. It’s  Missing Amazon Music HD (or Deezer) but the interface and ability to group legacy / modern hardware together is a good safeguard for Sonos equipped rooms. Also, it will allow grouping of Airplay 2 hardware from any manufacture. This will allow me to group other hardware in the house such as the Node 2i or Naim Streamers etc.

The new Sonos hardware has/will have the most memory and storage of all hardware so should be a long time before it ever reaches legacy status. But Roon gives me the security, extra options, to group all hardware together. It also has a really nice interface and features. Will rent it for one year and if I still like, I will buy a lifetime license next year.

For what it’s worth, I see little point selling everything to move to a different provider (frying pan - Fire). They will all have the same issue at some point, although Sonos hasn’t handled it well!

I think Airplay 2 and Roon are key features for my future system. I am no longer tied to any brand and once I have used my zp100 for it’s discount, I will look at all options for future speakers / streamers… I have my eye on B&W speakers so Sonos needs to up their game as I can easily migrate to them now!

 

P
Userlevel 2
Badge

I’d advise everyone who just received the user experience survey from Sonos to factor recent announcements into their response....

 

Obviously we can’t discuss if we received a survery or not but if we did and there was a net promotor score type question sonos would be getting zero from me.

M
Userlevel 5
Badge +8

Not much new, but some interesting tidbits. Not sure if it was already posted here:

https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/01/29/heres-why-sonos-customers-were-angry-about-plans-t.aspx

I promised myself I was done looking at this thread and commenting but after checking out this link I think I just stumbled on something very interesting, after reading the initial story I scrolled down to an earlier story saw this:- 

“

Sonos sought to meet the challenge when it partnered with IKEA to have its speaker technology included in some of the Swedish furniture maker's products, like a lamp and wall shelf. Offering dual functionality, a sleek design, and an affordable price seems to be a good combination and demand has been reportedly robust.

It followed that bit of smart marketing with a rental program to allow cash-starved audiophiles rent a speaker package for a low monthly cost, but be guaranteed software updates and hardware upgrades when they became available. Although it's only currently being offered in the Netherlands, it seems likely this option could prove very popular, which would allow it to eventually be expanded into more countries.


Why cant I help thinking the content of the second paragraph could be linked to the Momentus May announcement!!!  I can see it now
 

Hey kids we’re  sorry we got it wrong and we love you all so very dearly were willing to offer you not 30%, not 40%, not even 50% trade in but, a whole year free rental of one of our Super New Sonos Speakers for Life.Thats right folks for a downpayent of only £/$399.95 we’ll give you a whole 12months free rental/lease and guarantee you hardware and software updates for life, that’s right folks, for life. All you’ll need to do is guarantee to sign up for a 24month contract and we’ll send you your shiny new speaker by return. (Normal rental/lease of £/$49.99 applies after 12 month free offer period)

 

Well its food for thought……...

 

 

I know it’s bad form to reply to myself but I wanted to share this link, I was taking the mick But a quick google search popped this up! Think I just saw the future……

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7547409/Sonos-letting-customers-rent-speakers-16-month-service-expand-worldwide.html

Someone mentioned in the coments to that article that it’s like going back to Radio Rentals in the UK and they disappeared a long time ago. Renting TVs, washing machines became pointless because the prices dropped. Sonos prices haven’t dropped, but their competitors are much less. It feels like desparation in order to drive more revenue, but ultimately, that ship passed decades ago. As they said in that article, after 30 months, you would’ve paid for them anyway. It doesn’t make business sense in my view. Sonos customers pay premium prices for longevity & until this month’s announcement, that was the mantra from the company also. Their mistake has led to uncertainty both in the legacy and new products. They’re now in a corner and I’m not sure they can get out  unless, they reverse their decision and change their firmware architecture with maybe a new SOnos box to allow the old units to survive for at least another 5 to 10 years.

Act in haste, repent at leisure.
chickentender

As it stands (for me) I made the decision to upgrade two items. One has been done now and the other a little later.

I was extremely P***ed initially… this has been downgraded to not very happy after time to reflect. At the end of the day, I had the gear since 2007 so 13 years use so far. I don’t / didn’t expect the same longevity as my Naim amps/B&W speakers etc. I accepted it more as tech at the time. Still not chuffed by the way this has turned out. 

  1. The connect (zp80) in the living room that was connected to a soundbar. The old soundbar was a bit temperamental so it needed changing… 2 birds one stone?!? Certainly… I now have the Sonos Beam.
  2. The ZP100 Amp I have feeding ceiling speakers in the bathroom. This is used but not massively but would miss it all the same. The Sonos 1 in the kitchen will not last for ever (going off the memory/storage chart). I will replace the ZP100 amp with the Sonos Move. This will give me an option to use it occasional in the Bathroom in addition to its main home in the kitchen. The Sonos 1 will be moved to the bedroom as I wouldn’t need it to group with other speakers
  3. Changing software to Roon. Roon at this point doesn’t given me everything I’d want. It’s  Missing Amazon Music HD (or Deezer) but the interface and ability to group legacy / modern hardware together is a good safeguard for Sonos equipped rooms. Also, it will allow grouping of Airplay 2 hardware from any manufacture. This will allow me to group other hardware in the house such as the Node 2i or Naim Streamers etc.

The new Sonos hardware has/will have the most memory and storage of all hardware so should be a long time before it ever reaches legacy status. But Roon gives me the security, extra options, to group all hardware together. It also has a really nice interface and features. Will rent it for one year and if I still like, I will buy a lifetime license next year.

For what it’s worth, I see little point selling everything to move to a different provider (frying pan - Fire). They will all have the same issue at some point, although Sonos hasn’t handled it well!

I think Airplay 2 and Roon are key features for my future system. I am no longer tied to any brand and once I have used my zp100 for it’s discount, I will look at all options for future speakers / streamers… I have my eye on B&W speakers so Sonos needs to up their game as I can easily migrate to them now!

 

Your environment sounds like a larger scale reflection of my own and your thinking is right along with mine as well, pretty much across the board. Though personally I can’t stomach the bricking of my legacy’d stuff - If I do decide to purge it (I’m not quite leaning that direction but more toward making legacy work as I don’t find it to be all that terrifying or even that inconvenient) I’ll offer it up in a 2nd hand listing for as cheap as it’ll go - that should easily net 30% savings if not more, and someone else will make use of it.
I’m not really chuffed about using two controllers and have one airplay2 speaker in the mix which certainly solves some future problems. Options are good. Wondering if I’ll add another Bluesound down the road, or just tack on some 2nd-hand additional Sonos. I guess the application and thinking at the time (post May announcements) will push one way or another. Options are good.

J
Userlevel 5
Badge +1

I bought my (now legacy) Connect Amp in August 2019 on sale with a 6 year warranty from Richer Sounds in the UK. It was new, but an “ex-display” model, it even looked new. It was not advertised as ex-display (only as on sale), they told me this when I went to collect it. It didn’t cross my mind to ask how long it had been on display, obviously a very long time! I thought it was because Sonos had launched the new amp and they were discounting current stock of the previous amp. I didn’t need the new amp’s features so seemed a good deal.

I would certainly be contacting Richer Sounds and asking for a refund anyway, they sold you a product that will not function as advertised inside the warranty period. They should atleast give you a “new” version of the amp and then they get the old one and can claim 30% off….(Probably not worth it for them though, as the price they pay for a new one is probably less than 70% of a unit at sonos retail price.)

I am seeing more and more of this complaint that SONOS customers are purchasing already new-legacy devices…  This brings up a very key Question…  Why do all these retailers have such high inventory of old products?  Are the increasing revenues over the past 3 years truly real? Or inflated to keep Stockholders happy?  I know Pharma company used to force retailers like CVS, RiteAid, etc to take on stock so they could meet revenue targets… until they got caught and paid undisclosed fines…  I hope this is not the case with SONOS…  If so this is just the tip of the iceberg 

S
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

Possible solution / workaround for some.
 

Wireless Bluetooth Receiver with 3.5mm audio jack into line in on back of Play 5 Gen 1. Group speakers using Sonos app. Bluetooth any music stream from any phone.

I
Userlevel 3
Badge

Here’s the offending paragraph in my opinion.  You keep saying in your response,  

“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.

Exactly how long do you suppose that might be?

While we want answers sometimes it is impossible for them to give a definitive answer as the answer is not known at this point in time.

For instance, they will provide updates provide the hardware will allow but as they are not aware of when or what change from an external company (streaming) will take place, they will not know what needs doing to resolve it. Therefore they will not know whether there is sufficient memory/storage left to make the changes required to keep it running. Hence, update it for as long as possible,

The question was meant to be rhetorical...of course I wasn’t looking for a definitive answer for it.  The point was that it wasn’t going to be any more comforting for anyone to know that their equipment might continue to operate for a long period when there is a very real possibility it’s functionality also might be lost in a few months.

I
Userlevel 3
Badge

This analogy sucks. In many ways. I know that.

Offcourse the analogy sucks, because you try to make “Things that break, due to wear” the same as “Things that work but is still being disabled”.

 

Imagine you put your car in for it’s 8 year service and when you get it back the rep. tells you that there were a security update they had to install for your car, because of some software fault that could affect the cars driveability.

Oh and that since all the car’s ECU’s must have the same firmware version, they have had to disable the climate control, because that could not be updated to the new firmware and thus had to be disabled for the rest of the car to work.

I bet you would be LIVID and DEMAND that they undid this.

 

Honestly, that extension to the analogy sucks just as much. :) 
Yes, I’d be livid. But if my car was out of warranty it wouldn’t be in taken to the authorized service center in the first place, in keeping this hybrid analogy at least somewhat congruous, nor would a firmware change to ECUs affect the climate control if it were in warranty.
(This is fun and all. But I’m legitimately sorry I opened another analogy can o’ worms.)

I think the analogy is a very good one.  When an analogy is made,  there is always some leeway as to the points you make. If you change the action as postulated,  your not referring to the same point being made.   In this case,  the assumption is  that the car is taken to the authorized service center,  not anywhere else.  And you must assume for this car,  the climate control is affected by the ECU firmware.  With that as a given,  point made.

C

This is an awful decision from Sonos and will only force more loyal Sonos users to switch to alternate brands. I have Sonos play:1 and play:3 speakers and since Sonos dropped support for older Android tablets (I used a Samsung tablet to play music for the first couple of years), and now they don’t support playing music directly stored on IPads the system has become an expensive radio!
Even the radio functionality is poor with the system dropping out and it has never worked well over my WiFi extenders - another long standing problem that was never sorted out.

This was a great product but has slowly lost its appeal as the streaming device to own.

D
Userlevel 7
Badge +5

I am seeing more and more of this complaint that SONOS customers are purchasing already new-legacy devices…  This brings up a very key Question…  Why do all these retailers have such high inventory of old products?  Are the increasing revenues over the past 3 years truly real? Or inflated to keep Stockholders happy?  I know Pharma company used to force retailers like CVS, RiteAid, etc to take on stock so they could meet revenue targets… until they got caught and paid undisclosed fines…  I hope this is not the case with SONOS…  If so this is just the tip of the iceberg 

Yeah it would be somewhat of a bombshell if some reseller could show that a device they sold, that was legacy, was delivered from sonos a lot of time after they claimed to only sell new stock.


This is what they get for updating the products without changing name to clearly indicate what is “new” and what is “old”.

J

I am seeing more and more of this complaint that SONOS customers are purchasing already new-legacy devices…  This brings up a very key Question…  Why do all these retailers have such high inventory of old products?  Are the increasing revenues over the past 3 years truly real? Or inflated to keep Stockholders happy?  I know Pharma company used to force retailers like CVS, RiteAid, etc to take on stock so they could meet revenue targets… until they got caught and paid undisclosed fines…  I hope this is not the case with SONOS…  If so this is just the tip of the iceberg 

Yeah it would be somewhat of a bombshell if some reseller could show that a device they sold, that was legacy, was delivered from sonos a lot of time after they claimed to only sell new stock.


This is what they get for updating the products without changing name to clearly indicate what is “new” and what is “old”.

I think it's all a plot to destabilise the US economy.  Probably the Russians. Or the Chinese. Or both acting together. 

M
Userlevel 2

There appears to be a school of thought that we should have seen this coming. Why? I’m not aware of Sonos themselves highlighting the fact that their product would cease to be a “Whole Home Sound System” at some point. I don't think it unreasonable that as a purchaser of a SYSTEM I could expect that the system components should continue to work together. Although I’m more than a little disappointed at what is going to happen - and lets face it, its going to - the main learning point for me is that I was probably too trusting of this supplier. That’s likely to be the biggest issue for Sonos as a company - some (possibly many) of their long established customers no longer TRUST the company. I’ve had Sonos products in my home for years (and many of them are about to be designated legacy). I’ve been a strong advocate for the system - but not any longer. I think its unlikely I’ll ever buy another Sonos component again or recommend anyone does so. The only good thing to come out of this, I’m now looking at all my potential ‘smart home’ purchases in a new light!

“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me”

melvimbe

There appears to be a school of thought that we should have seen this coming. Why?

 

  I don’t think people should have seen this coming, but I think people with some knowledge of software could have easily seen this, or some version of this, coming.

 

 

I’m not aware of Sonos themselves highlighting the fact that their product would cease to be a “Whole Home Sound System” at some point. I don't think it unreasonable that as a purchaser of a SYSTEM I could expect that the system components should continue to work together. Although I’m more than a little disappointed at what is going to happen - and lets face it, its going to - the main learning point for me is that I was probably too trusting of this supplier.

 

 

I think that lesson should be that anything with software/firmware in it is going to have a shorter life than something that doesn’t.  You’re correct that when that software/firmware is tightly integrated in a system, it could easily shorten the life of your whole system.  In some cases, like Bose, the whole product line could be shutdown.

 

That’s likely to be the biggest issue for Sonos as a company - some (possibly many) of their long established customers no longer TRUST the company. I’ve had Sonos products in my home for years (and many of them are about to be designated legacy). I’ve been a strong advocate for the system - but not any longer. I think its unlikely I’ll ever buy another Sonos component again or recommend anyone does so. The only good thing to come out of this, I’m now looking at all my potential ‘smart home’ purchases in a new light!

 

 

And I think that’s a perfectly valid and logical approach.  Just my opinion, but i don’t think it’s wise to look at this as just a Sonos issue, but an overall smart speaker, smart home, IoT issue.  And obviously, less of a concern for the less expensive and less complex devices and systems.

 

“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me”

 

Danny
I

If I wanted to sell my Legacy components, which I probably could have done with a 40-50% off retail price and I am sure I could have done that easily.  Well Thanks Sonos you just took that option away from me.  Doubt anyone would buy Legacy products now.  

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