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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Sonos Customer NY

Lyricist I

January 23 2020

I do not usually voice my opinions in the public domain.

But… i feel betrayed!

After all these years supporting this company to receive an email as we did is an insult.

The long time users have carried this company via purchases and recommendations.

I will think long and hard before i purchase another Sonos product if every.

A 30% discount … what a joke. An up-charge in disguise.

Good luck competing out there … there are better products in the marketplace.

All the best with your lawsuit!

Good luck without us

Regards,

Disappointed

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GreatOracle

Lyricist I

I have just calculated that the eight legacy devices that I own would cost me £2864.40 to replace even after the ridiculously low 30% trade-in.

I am a pensioner now with a disabled wife and we can not afford to pay for replacement items.

Therefore I will go down the legacy route and hope that the system will operate as it is now, for many years to come, as I expected it would when I bought it!

I will never buy another Sonos item from now as I feel they can not be trusted to be future proofed!

I have recommended Sonos to numerous people in the past which has resulted in thousands of pounds of sales for Sonos. This stops as from now and I will be relating the tale of how they can just stop supporting equipment bought with hard earned cash.

My son has recently purchased a Sonos Soundbar which he really likes! He was planning to build a whole house system similar to mine in the future but has now scrapped this idea and will also never buy another Sonos product.

Like many others I feel cheated!

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fairmayne

Lyricist II

Forgive me if this has been discussed but is there any ETA on when you will dump Play:3 upgrades as I believe they are 9 years old and no longer available to purchase new? Play:1 even…….

If I bought Play:3’s new today from stores still carrying, how long will they be supported. The tech can’t be much better than Play:5/1?

I have also already heard the Playbar being referred to as ageing tech?

This would mean my 14 speaker system over 2 houses would be down to 5 items. I built it over 10 years but won’t upgrade when they stop. Love the gear but the expense is too great to upgrade all of it in the next two years. Australian prices are pretty out there. And……….there are cheaper options if all companies are going this way. The quality of product you sell is not worth the yearly outlay if this is the future. If in the next two years you stop supporting the above it will cost me around $5000 au to replace just the legacy.

I will look at cheaper 5 year items that are throw away albeit not my preference. My friends have always strived to make it to the Sonos level but will never invest in a possible 5 year until they are unsupported scenario.

I am a die hard Sonos fan that will continue to love but could never promote or replace.

I don’t need any future tech, but it is crazy that my current gear won’t upgrade if I’m running legacy.

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jrubintu

Contributor I

So has Sonos set themselves up where no matter what product you own it’ll require the customer to buy a new product because they’ll unilaterally stop updating the system you own? What a disaster and a terrible Precident.

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chickentender

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….

….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

I’m not as angry as I was, but I am resolved and the rose-glasses are lifted. Left in a legacy state, my Sonos network can still and will still function as a hi-fi wired one would (which is what it took the place of at the inception)… e.g. I’ll invest in a quality streaming box (certainly not the Port) and have it feed to my Sonos Connect; if I need to replace that single box down the road, fine. Even my smart-TV can fulfill this function currently if wired to the Connect and that works for me.

What this also means is I won't be expanding my Sonos network with any of the follow-on purchases Sonos has relied on from myself and others who’ve adopted the ecosystem. Since my actual streaming experience will be fulfilled by a device outside the environment, there’s now absolutely *zero* incentive to purchase new from Sonos. If I want to expand my legacy device network I will purchase another (deeply affordable in comparison) 2nd-hand legacy device on the used market. Honestly, the more I consider what’s happened, it’s legitimately a good turn of events for my wallet in the long run by sizeable margin. It’s not good for the Sonos balance sheet, but that’s the bed they’ve now made. The honeymoon is over, and I’m taking the kids as part of the settlement.

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TommieG

Lyricist III

>

Grr I cant remember exactly how I did this but basically I had a fire stick and ps4 connected to my tv and possibly the ps4 optical audio was connected to my soundbar which was connected to my router to create a mesh network which then sent the music to all my other grouped sonos speakers.

Ha, I hope that setup sounds ok but it sure reads awful. ; ) Kudus to your effort to make it work. Sonos, however, pitches an elegant and clean mesh network of its devices. The idea that keeping one Sonos device -- most importantly, a HIGH END SPEAKER -- in the mesh degrades everything just makes no sense other than - hey it’s EOL. Your problem, go buy another expensive speaker because we don’t want to support that speaker anymore. But thanks for paying $x for it.

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Smithta

Contributor I

Thank You... Thank You... Thank You… the change in direction is very welcome news.

I can say first hand that we (Sonos Listeners) have been enthusiastic about Sonos since the very beginning. I know I can claim, as my own, no fewer than 3 direct referrals all of which have led to new enthusiasts, I am so sure that others feel the same about the product, the sound, and the experience. My son in law who is now just about my age when Sonos first came to market is one of them. He is 30-something and very enthusiastic about the product and has slowly yet steadily been building his system. His and my daughter's friends having been to both homes have all been introduced to the product and the experience, many of them are now new enthusiasts. When the email came through about the older models, I was one of the distressed. Speaking to my wife about it briefly, I decided since options were limited, to wait and see what was to come. I was hopeful, yet planning for the inevitable. I was so happy to see your email and on reading the message remarked to my wife, the product is great and the company is great as I read your message aloud. When I left business school and went to work in consumer products I became aware of an old adage that a fish rots from the head, a saying that has proven true more often than not in the business world we live in, not so with Sonos. I am a proud owner of a Sonos system, music is a very important part of our lives and we listen to our music almost daily. I am also proud, as proud as a customer can be about a consumer products company, of your leadership and wish you all the success. I know now and with some degree of certainty, I will enjoy my Sonos system for years to come, I also know just how important the right leadership is. Keep up the good work and continue to fight the good fight, I know it's not easy, leading a consumer product company is hard work, never is.

Thomas A. Smith Sonos Enthusiast and CPG consultant

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Taco5layer

Lyricist III

Thank You... Thank You... Thank You… the change in direction is very welcome news.

I can say first hand that we (Sonos Listeners) have been enthusiastic about Sonos since the very beginning. I know I can claim, as my own, no fewer than 3 direct referrals all of which have led to new enthusiasts, I am so sure that others feel the same about the product, the sound, and the experience. My son in law who is now just about my age when Sonos first came to market is one of them. He is 30-something and very enthusiastic about the product and has slowly yet steadily been building his system. His and my daughter's friends having been to both homes have all been introduced to the product and the experience, many of them are now new enthusiasts. When the email came through about the older models, I was one of the distressed. Speaking to my wife about it briefly, I decided since options were limited, to wait and see what was to come. I was hopeful, yet planning for the inevitable. I was so happy to see your email and on reading the message remarked to my wife, the product is great and the company is great as I read your message aloud. When I left business school and went to work in consumer products I became aware of an old adage that a fish rots from the head, a saying that has proven true more often than not in the business world we live in, not so with Sonos. I am a proud owner of a Sonos system, music is a very important part of our lives and we listen to our music almost daily. I am also proud, as proud as a customer can be about a consumer products company, of your leadership and wish you all the success. I know now and with some degree of certainty, I will enjoy my Sonos system for years to come, I also know just how important the right leadership is. Keep up the good work and continue to fight the good fight, I know it's not easy, leading a consumer product company is hard work, never is. Thomas A. Smith Sonos Enthusiast and CPG consultant

Unfortunately, the CEOs email says nothing different than what's already been established here, nor does it offer any new direction. It at least shows they're listening, however, they've not altered course as yet.

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ScottKC

Lyricist II

I was blown away by the announcement, but glad to see you back tracked somewhat on it. I can’t believe you obviously had meetings and meetings and meetings and planning and planning and planning to make this announcement and 24 hours later, it’s back the drawing board. What world do you guys live in? Obviously, not the world your loyal customers live in.

Before Christmas, you announced that you would be increasing the price of some SONOS products on Jan 9, of which you now offer 30% discount on those products. What is this Kohls? Price the products up, so you can give discounts?

I’m sad for you guys, because I think this is the kill switch for you. Even though you are back tracking on your original plan, the fact that you even had the plan in the first place is what will be your demise.

You will need too do something insanely awesome to win back your loyal base, and it will have to be done quickly. Like offer 80% off on a trade-in replacement to the products given upgrade match, or allow people to send in their older SONOS speakers and you will “upgrade them” to have more memory or whatever and send them back to us so they can support the latest software.

I still have a stereo from 50 years ago that works fine. This is what people are used too in the world of audio… not replacing their equipment every 5 years like with computers.

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G0csteve

Contributor I

Of course all of the “Legacy” products will become obsolete, just like the Dock, Controller 100, Controller 200 and the Bridge did. Its just a matter of time. I will not spend another penny on Sonos. I’m switching over to Bluesound and the BluOS. Check it out at Bluesound.Com. They even support Hi Resolution audio which Sonos does not. Sounds better anyway.

Perhaps this is what the forum here should be discussing here now that we know the evil empires goal....what platform will you switch to? Bluesound, DTS Play-fi, Naim MuSo?? Much research to do in short order!!

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