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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MikkiB

Lyricist I

I, along with many other Sonos customers, have several Sonos components in two homes! I also purchased a Beam for my daughter as a sign of my satisfaction with your product. For me, my initial and most significant investment was mid 2013. I would expect support to continue without having to invest in a replacement platform. I think your note today reflects that as well as everyone’s desire to stick with your product. You have succeeded in developing a very good product and strong brand. Take care in your messaging - i want and expect my investment to last much longer than 7 years!

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HelterSkelter

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.

Nope, still not buying it, that the memory and cpu is bloated. It’s the code that’s bloated.

The memory and cpu were fine when you brought the equipment out, they played music then, we want them to play music now, nothing more.

If the difference is due to voice control, and way more streaming services than when things started …. then reduce the amount of streaming services and focus on the major ones. Or only load software onto the legacy devices for services that are in use on the users network, instead of overloading them with bloated options that aren’t used.

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Knights 27

Lyricist I

I have 7 Connects in a custom rack that is essentially the brain of my whole house audio system. I also have a few speakers that are in the garage, basement etc. So now I have this mixed legacy and modern system. The rack houses the connects which are larger than the Port and do not have on optical out put... So I'm losing functionality and have to spend more money to rework my rack. They are offering 30% trade in.. I just spent $2500 plus tax on this system and to offer a 30% trade in is simply insulting. Especially since it will cost another $2500 to replace!! I based a several thousand dollar system on a product that I trusted to last (I installed the rack in September of 2015 by the way) and here I am a little more than 4 years later facing a decision on how to deal with this. Thanks for screwing your faithful customers SONOS!! Perhaps time to look into Yamaha or Denon.

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swajames

Enthusiast I

So Spence can’t even *apologize* without screwing up….

His clarification email supposedly “owning” the issue clarifies nothing and it owns nothing - and offered nothing new.

He needs to be shown the door.

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Thumbpicker

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.

Nope, still not buying it, that the memory and cpu is bloated. It’s the code that’s bloated.

The memory and cpu were fine when you brought the equipment out, they played music then, we want them to play music now, nothing more.

If the difference is due to voice control, and way more streaming services than when things started …. then reduce the amount of streaming services and focus on the major ones. Or only load software onto the legacy devices for services that are in use on the users network, instead of overloading them with bloated options that aren’t used.

The difference isn’t voice control because they produce Sonos One’s without voice control and speakers from Ikea. Also Sonos Port.

All you have to say is something like:

If Device.Microphone = True then

Do this….
Else

Do that…

End if.

In other word have a fork in the code or create difference classes - whatever…

They are already doing it anyway...

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stevekd

Lyricist I

After reading all of the posted comments I personally will look around for an alternative sound system.

I currently own a sound bar with sub and surround speakers. Love it! I was planning to purchase another complete surround sound for my man cave. I expect to get years of performance from an expensive quality system but I can’t worry about the system being dead in the water at any time sonos decides to dump it.

Bye Sonos.

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HelterSkelter

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.

I am sure that it’s been a tough day Ryan, but just to say that if I cannot play the same music in all 6 rooms, where 2 rooms are “legacy” and 4 rooms are “modern”, i.e. party mode, then it’s game over.

Agree.

Dont split up our systems!

If you are going to split them up, there is NO incentive for us to stay with Sonos.

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TommieG

Lyricist III

I am soooo mad that I am considering ditching my whole Sonos installations.

Sonos you really need to take better care of your early loyal customers as they are the ones who keep buying more speakers to expand their systems. (like me)

Or not.

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User826735

Contributor I

I just got the mass email from the CEO. I appreciate that it seems that he is aware of the magnitude of the damage to our trust in the company, but I’m not quite sure that he understands our concerns. Until this week, I believed that I owned a product that would seamlessly play music in multiple rooms and multiple groupings. I also believed that I would own this product until the hardware became non-functional. I also believed that there was no limit to the amount of expansion I could do with these products, without negatively impacting their function. In addition, my understanding was that the customer experience of these products was paramount. This understanding is what makes the premium price worth it.

What this week has made clear is that this understanding is incorrect. Instead, what I own is a piece of hardware that can be made instantly less useful (or even non-functional) at the whim of sonos, and that if and when this occurs, sonos will view this as a profit-making opportunity. This is disconcerting, because this fundamentally changes the value-proposition of the hardware. My play5, bought in July 2015, is now a drag on my entire system if what I want is whole house music. Either I get rid of it and replace it at great expense, or I lock my entire system into whatever state it is in in May, or I create two separate systems (ie NOT A WHOLE HOUSE SYSTEM). This would be tolerable if the response of sonos was to bend over backwards to rectify the changes so that the customer perceived that sonos realizes how much of an imposition this is, but a 30% discount achieves the opposite effect. If sonos really wanted us to feel whole in this process, they would offer to replace the “legacy” products at or below cost - this would signify to us that they were more concerned about our experience than about making quick profits. More importantly, this would avoid setting the precedent that every one of our current sonos products (I have multiple play1s, a play bar, a sub, a play3 and so on) and any additional products we buy, will soon be rendered legacy as well, with no option but to replace at great expense. A 5 year life expectancy for a $500 speaker is simply not a good value. So, in my opinion, what you need to do to regain trust is to make explicit to your customers what you actually believe the business model is. Is it one where the customer pays a premium price for speakers that last as long as high fidelity products usually do (I have 30 yr old speakers that sound gorgeous), or is it one where we are essentially renting the capabilities of these products for a relatively short and unpredictable time that is dependent entirely on sonos. If it is the latter, that is fine and it is well within your rights to do, but it is unfair to the customer to pretend otherwise. If it is the former, then people with legacy products should be given replacement products at or below cost and sonos should do everything possible to assure us that such a thing will never happen again. Otherwise the price of sonos products is simply not worth it

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ndousmanis

Contributor I

patrick thank you for the boilerplate off the word processor form letter I wrote in response to your initial GO TO H__L letter asking which of my older products, if any, are still viable I have 5 older play5's, a connect and a boost and just recently (REGRETABLY) bought 2 alexa play 1's, a subwoofer and a play bar (they need to be registered - let me know how to do that please) so please answer my initial query on what older items if any are viable - they are registered and you have the serial numbers as I saw them in the GO TO HELL missive WHEN SOMEONE PAYS YOUR EXHORBATANT - NON DISCOUNTED PRICE - A MODICUM OF RESPECT IS EXPECTED I AM SO DONE WITH SONOS - TELL THAT TO THE GREEDY SUITS WAITING ON YOUR REPLY TO MY QUERY NEXT STOP IS AN OLD FASHIONED LETTER TO PATRICK IN HIS IVORY TOWER REMOVED FROM SLOBS LIKE ME BEST REGARDS NICK

Morristown, NJ 07960

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