Retired Sonos Staff

End of Software Support - Clarifications

Dec 8, 2022 11:29 AM UTC
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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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Michael Mantkowski

Enthusiast I

Thank you, SONOS, for acknowledging our dismay and disappointment. While your email still says little, it is a start, at least. We hope you can exceed our expectations, as you once did, but I now watch with a wary optimism.

Copy of email received:

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 just 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.

Sincerely,
Patrick

Patrick Spence
CEO, Sonos

We need clarity, if a provider changes their API is this deemed a bug fix or a new feature. The letter doesn’t tell us anything new. Sonos without a major content provider such as Spotify is significantly less valuable. Is that a bug fix because it’s Spotify which carries more weight than say local radio? Only time will tell.

I don’t see how this new statement changes anything. It still looks like the best we are going to get is some type of split in two system that will not work together. If that is what we are talking about then that solves nothing. My Whole Home system is now a Half Home system if that.

I feel like they are putting up some smoke and mirrors by saying “we were heard about coexistence”. The core issue is not that they can be on the same network. Its that they work together like they do now.

Am I reading this wrong?

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macsplace

Lyricist I

Wow……. corrected letter from the CEO is timely. I have been researching what system to purchase to replace my SONOS.

First…… Fire the leadership in your marketing department who came up with that crap transition.

Second……. You’re smart people, figure out a way to make the technology and transition smooth and long term, so I will continue to add on to my system. Hint… split the system is a poor choice.

Lastly, I will give it until the end of the year to see how you do. Myself and thousands of other people will be putting all future Sonos purchases on hold. (That may put you out of business) Don’t screw it up.

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andy_120

Enthusiast II

We need clarity, if a provider changes their API is this deemed a bug fix or a new feature. The letter doesn’t tell us anything new. Sonos without a major content provider such as Spotify is significantly less valuable. Is that a bug fix because it’s Spotify which carries more weight than say local radio? Only time will tell.

@MrSwadge = Yeah… I read that too quickly with far too much optimism, and missed the lack of anything tangible being offered. I quickly edited my post, still not a satisfactory response.

@MrSwadge and @Taco5layer, this chunk speaks to that:

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.

These devices are already strained hardware wise, but if something core to the experience changes, we’ll do what we can for as long as possible.

So, to be clear, you are stating that Sonos will patch breaking changes by third-party providers to keep music services functional until there is a solid technical reason that it is no longer possible. e.g. buffer underrun where the processor cannot keep up with the stream. That scenario seems unlikely given that we’re talking about an audio stream at a given bitrate which is audibly the same to most humans if increased.

For as long as possible, we’ll be keeping them updated with bug fixes and security patches. These devices have already reached the limit of their memory and processing power, but as long as a fix is possible for a change, we’ll do the best we can to get it fixed.

Then tell us why the memory is stretched, it's because of the bloated updates that have been pushed onto us. Simple issue updates that don't cause these issues. Fairly simple really to resolve this.

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mp2020