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Ryan S
Ryan S
Retired Sonos Staff
January 22, 2020

End of Software Support - Clarifications

End of Software Support - Clarifications

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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    4256 replies

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    paulb472
    Contributor I
    January 22, 2020

    I completely understand the limitations imposed by the tech on the development of new features; that’s fine, I’ll stick with what I have now and skip new stuff. But I don’t understand why what we have now can’t be maintained. I currently stream from Spotify, so should be able to continue to do so for the foreseeable. I really don't need voice assistant nonsense. 30% off to trade in a house full of perfectly fine kit - joke.

     

    Way to go totally destroying brand loyalty.

     

    Not sure what you mean by maintained.  Sonos is dropping support, which doesn’t mean that your legacy products will suddenly stop working. Spotify will continue to work until Spotify changes things on their side.  Sonos has stated they will provide assistance to customers with issues short of software updates...although it seems like they may do some minor updates now?  Not sure on that aspect.

     

    Well is sounds like we’re facing a situation where, for example, Spotify make an API change, in June, perhaps for reasons unrelated to Sonos, and we’ll no longer be able to stream on “legacy” gear. What a result that’ll be.

      lsudaddy
      Avid Contributor I
      January 22, 2020

      Speaking from experience and working in an environment where retiring legacy products happens all the time, you should have approached this one of two ways - or even ideally both:

      1. Had your engineering team create a bridge device, much like the Ring Chime, to bridge the gap on the obsolete speakers and amps and the new tech being created.  If you can create wifi speakers in sync, you can create a bridge that will act as the brain while the speakers are in essence dumb or thin clients.  Then all you would need to support is the bridge device which can be universal for all speakers that fall out of support.
      2. The 30% offer is a slap in the face to a retail price.  $650 for a new 2 channel amp is insane and to tell users to basically throw away their original $499 amp just to spend the same on a new one where the sound of the music is almost exactly the same is just unrealistic.  The offer should have been at least 50% or even more creative to “buy back” the old speaker and apply the credit to a new one.

      I spent thousands like all other consumers with no indication the money would be wasted 5 months from now and I can honestly say buying speakers going forward from Sonos won’t be my first thought, but more likely my second or third.

        andy_120
        Enthusiast II
        January 22, 2020

        Emailed ceo,no reply what a surprise

        contacted tech support on phone for a call back hey surprise no reply 

         

          Stuart_17
          Enthusiast II
          January 22, 2020

          Not cool with you closing the other thread Ryan….it only makes this mess stink more.

          In that thread there have been nearly 1400 negative comments in one day.  This thread will probably top that as Sonos owners digest the information.  You are headline news on the BBC in the UK and not for anything good I’m afraid.

          Your clarifications at the top of this thread do not go anyway to appease me.  Your comment about ‘separating legacy products from your modern products’ is not detailed enough for me.  You say more information is coming in May, but we need it well before that!

          And if that clarification doesn’t come soon, then I’m done with Sonos.
           

            padge
            Lyricist II
            January 22, 2020

            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.

            I am absolutely fuming regarding this!I purchased 2 play 5 speakers for nearly £1,000 only a few years ago and at the time of purchase was never informed whatsoever that this so called "prestigious "music system would be rendered useless in a couple of years!If this is what Sonos the company is about I shall never purchase any other product it produces!I will also post on every forum I possibly can about the dulisgusting way you have conducted business!A 30% reduction does not wash Im afraid after already spending my £1,000.Sonos should replace the items free of charge!or provide the required software updates for life!I intend to seek legal advice regarding this rip off and already noted forums of users complaining to media outlets including the BBC news etc!Do the right thing and try to save your reputation as a honest company and address these issues as soon as possible!

              cosmo35166
              Enthusiast I
              January 22, 2020

              So my 4 Play 5 Gen I’s are becoming software bricks (bought in 2017/2018).  Why aren’t the Play 1’s I bought in 2017 also becoming Bricks?  Adding 4 more Play 5’s even with the 30% discount is preposterous.  I’ve always sung praises for your Company (including on Seeking Alpha as a Shareholder) but this is a nightmare.  Get it together!

                Kumar
                January 22, 2020

                 

                1. I believe this is the answer you’re looking for: You will be able get the app that works with a legacy system to use on new mobile devices, or if you accidentally delete it.
                2. You would either have a legacy system with legacy devices and modern devices, or a modern system and a legacy system. If it’s all one legacy system, than yes, they’ll group together, but if it’s two separate systems, than they’re two, separate systems.
                3. You will be able to add products to your legacy systems. We'll have more to share on the experience come May. 
                4. No, Sonos players are a system and won’t operate properly with different versions in one system.
                5. Yes, if you mostly use the NAS drive, the only likely change with your system will be that you’ll stop getting updates. Everything else will continue to function exactly as it does today. Streaming services will work the same as well, but at some time in the future, service software changes might cause it to degrade or stop working. 

                @Ryan S : Something like this needs to be front and centre, and remain easily accessible to prevent at least some of the angry posts, by not getting buried somewhere in another long thread.

                I find item 5 to be interesting and perhaps needing some more clarifications in the suggested sticky type of post - for folks that may think of going ahead for now with a legacy system with legacy and modern devices, in one interoperable system, that will still get bug fixes as you have said somewhere. But no upgrades, that is clear. You have also been quite clear in saying in 5 above that such a legacy system will not face any issues in future playing music from the local NAS - including if the NAS was to be changed? And while I understand the caveat about streaming services, can you tell us how many service software changes related to these have happened starting beginning of 2018 till end of 2019 and from how many services, as some guide on what to expect in the future?

                Further, suppose someone has a legacy system with legacy and modern products kept running from May onwards on legacy software version, and who decides say in 2022 to move to a fully modern system. At that time will the 30% offer still be available to replace the legacy products with modern products? And can that someone then migrate his entire modern system in one hop to the version running for modern systems in 2022?

                Speaking for myself, I think all of the above will help make a better decision on what to do in May.

                  user_end_of_lifed
                  Enthusiast II
                  January 22, 2020

                   

                  Well is sounds like we’re facing a situation where, for example, Spotify make an API change, in June, perhaps for reasons unrelated to Sonos, and we’ll no longer be able to stream on “legacy” gear. What a result that’ll be.

                  No, it’s worse than that. If you dare to OWN legacy gear then none of your system will be able to accept the update, so you won’t be able to stream on ANY OF IT.

                    lukemcadams
                    Lyricist II
                    January 22, 2020

                     

                     

                     

                     

                     

                     

                     

                     

                    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.

                     

                    You missed out a vital point, does this mean the legacy and modern will be interoperable? Or completely seperate? I am fine with my legacy speakers not getting updates, but I want my modern speakers to get updates and new features. I then EXEPCT to be still able to group music between legacy and modern.

                    This is the main issue on the table!  I have 26 SONOS devices, 16 of which are “legacy”. If you tell me I have to separate them out, then you gave failed in your mission, and why I purchased $10k of equipment from you… to have Whole House Audio.  

                    @David_366 and @morgan4x4

                     

                     

                    With all due respect Ryan, and we know you are trying your hardest ….


                     

                    A stand alone box of chips with an ethernet cable, like a raspberry pi, could have as much memory as NASA, a wifi chip, like IKEA sonos speakers, and ethernet in/out sockets to connect between router and 'legacy' equipment. This wee box could sort the memory/processing needs for 50 quid, or put a sonos badge on it and charge 200! !LOL LOL lol ha ha ha .

                    TBH - I’d be fine with your suggestion of a standalone ‘box of chips’ which would convert my ‘legacy’ Play 5 into a usable device - even, say, a cheap Bluetooth adapter so the perfectly good (excellent sounding) speaker didn’t end up on some rubbish dump - let’s be honest, they won’t be fully recycled in the fullest sense of the word.  Bricking it makes little sense (ask SONOS shareholders who are doing exactly that right now, I’d imagine!)

                      padge
                      Lyricist II
                      January 22, 2020

                      I am absolutely fuming regarding this!I purchased 2 play 5 speakers for nearly £1,000 only a few years ago and at the time of purchase was never informed whatsoever that this so called "prestigious "music system would be rendered useless in a couple of years!If this is what Sonos the company is about I shall never purchase any other product it produces!I will also post on every forum I possibly can about the dulisgusting way you have conducted business!A 30% reduction does not wash Im afraid after already spending my £1,000.Sonos should replace the items free of charge!or provide the required software updates for life!I intend to seek legal advice regarding this rip off and already noted forums of users complaining to media outlets including the BBC news etc!Do the right thing and try to save your reputation as a honest company and address these issues as soon as possible!

                      David Page

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