Closing the previous threat won’t stop people commenting on this disgusting move by sonos!
What if Tesla stopped software support for there cars but instead of just stopping the updates they continued with them and by doing so they made the car unusable?
Well that’s what Sonos is doing - why not just stop further updates for older products and make a new updated app for new products, this giving people the choice of using what they currently have, or updating to a new whizz bang system?
bah, just throw the car in the garbage, here’s a coupon to buy another.
Well, this is still not even close to a satisfactory response - and closing a thread filled with dissent from your oldest, loyalest, most outspoken customers? Cowardly.
You've done us all so very wrong, and to do what? Save some money on coding to maintain services should a streaming service provider update theirs? Force us to upgrade perfectly functional equipment or face the eventual bricking of our systems?
I do not believe that a bit of clever code cannot defeat this planned obsolescence. You are even being given brilliant ideas from those willing to forgive this travesty, like a lower cost hardware gateway to manage these “memory deficiencies” that somehow affect the play 5 with the same (or was it more?) amount of memory as the play 1. Are you saving news of its demise until May?
This was a foolish decision and whoever thought it would save you money clearly did not have the foresight this betrayal of trust would have with us. If you decide to push forward, I like many others, will become brand antagonists, no longer willing to spread positive word of mouth for you, instead warning others of spending thousands of dollars only to be abandoned and then blackmailed into upgrading in a few years. This will definitely save you money, save you from making money.
Despicable. Greedy. Dishonest. Wasteful. Best to remove the page on your website claiming the opposite of what you've become.
This is the email I sent to your CEO, and I think everyone here should do the same.
To: Patrick.Spence@sonos.com
Dear Mr. Spence,
I am adding my name to the rapidly growing list of severely disappointed long-time SONOS supporters.
While I currently only have a Play 5 Gen 1 going extinct, I have now been given reason to believe that ALL of my equipment, including a Playbar, Sub, and numerous Play 1’s, will eventually be treated the same way. That, dear SONOS, is unacceptable.
The callous approach to this maneuver also does not bode well for the future of your ecosystem.
For starters, I will not be purchasing any more of your speakers. Why would I spend my hard earned money on something when you might just happen to be feeling cute and brick it at any given time? I don’t know. I wouldn't. And I won't.
I am actually glad you revealed yourself before I purchased the Move, Beam, and additional 1s I was currently considering. They are now off the table entirely. Was that worth trying to get me to upgrade a single speaker at a 30% discount? Make sure you tell your investors what you’ve caused.
I encourage you to take a good hard look at your customers’ response to this DECISION (not NECESSITY), and take any and all steps necessary to ensure you recover the fumble. Otherwise, old friend, we are through.
Today, you have betrayed your most loyal customers.
Sincerely disappointed,
Steve K.
Nice letter. They probably sold their Board on this brilliant move! Now figuring out how to save face.
Reached the BBC news here in the UK:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-51206604
In the Top 10 most popular read items too....
Let’s face it: we all knew Sonos was going to **** us over eventually. We just figured we’d be given more than 4 months warning when they did.
If I was a Sonos competitor, I would offer a 31% discount to trade in your legacy Sonos products for one of mine. 
This is a huge opportunity for a lot of other smaller competitors out there, and even the big boys to take over market share.
Like many here I have a few thousand in Sonos products throughout my home and was planning on buying another 5.1 setup (playbar, sub, and two Ones) in the next month. After this debacle I will not be buying one more speaker from you, how can we possibly trust that the play 1s won't be next to get the brick and then the playbar.
Time to start throwing my older Sonos up on the marketplace and research alternatives from Bose, Denon, and Yamaha.
Then i hit the 65,000 limit. Frustrating, but worked round by buying a new NAS and running Plex with Plex Pass on it. Job done. I take pride in my Metadata and i enjoy my current setup.
I never ever thought my ability to listen to my own music stored on my own server in my own home, on speakers i paid a small fortune for could come to and end by a manufacturer flicking a switch.
To be entirely fair (i’m in a nearly identical scenario)… if you leave your now-deprecated Sonos devices as-is and effectively freeze your home’s ecosystem in it’s current state (except for the operational updates Sonos has now promised going forward) you should be able to continue on without issue. Plex is certainly one of the more “inclusive” platforms out there.
And incidentally, you might abandon the Sonos controller much of the for day-to-day use if you’ve not already. For the past while I’ve been using the Plex controller to cast to my Sonos speakers. Grouping isn’t supported but I don’t change groups terribly often, and IMO the Plex interface is more friendly overall. Here’s to hoping an open-source alternative for Sonos speaker control will one-day fall out of all of this.
Wow, ain´t this just the complete shooshow.
Thanks a bunch you greedy holes.
Could not have said it better!
Well I think someone from sonos should be telling Amazon about all these devices that they are still selling with free next day Delivery that they only have a shelf life until May of this year. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sonos-BRIDGE-Expand-Wireless-Hi-Fi/dp/B000YGIJ62/ref=sr_1_47?keywords=sonos&qid=1579722291&sr=8-47
I’ve been corresponding with a few local high-end audio retailers in the last couple of days about this decision and they are NOT happy with the way this was rolled-out worldwide as well as locally. Some have already had cancellations and angry customers. I purchased a whole-home audio system (18 devices) not some cheap piece of throw-away computer gear that’s only going to increase e-waste and fill up landfills (with still-working gear).
We’re done with Sonos was just looking at adding more rooms in but we will look at something else now
Then i hit the 65,000 limit. Frustrating, but worked round by buying a new NAS and running Plex with Plex Pass on it. Job done. I take pride in my Metadata and i enjoy my current setup.
I never ever thought my ability to listen to my own music stored on my own server in my own home, on speakers i paid a small fortune for could come to and end by a manufacturer flicking a switch.
To be entirely fair (i’m in a nearly identical scenario)… if you leave your now-deprecated Sonos devices as-is and effectively freeze your home’s ecosystem in it’s current state (except for the operational updates Sonos has now promised going forward) you should be able to continue on without issue. Plex is certainly one of the more “inclusive” platforms out there.
And incidentally, you might abandon the Sonos controller much of the for day-to-day use if you’ve not already. For the past while I’ve been using the Plex controller to cast to my Sonos speakers. Grouping isn’t supported but I don’t change groups terribly often, and IMO the Plex interface is more friendly overall. Here’s to hoping an open-source alternative for Sonos speaker control will one-day fall out of all of this.
Until their app updates to a version that requires your firmwares to be at a certain point. If you’re not using a jailbroken iphone, or an android and know how to install older APK files, you’re screwed.
Biggest UK own goal since Gerald Ratner and his prawn sandwich quote …..
THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE, INCREDIBLE AND THE WORST MARKETING ACTION I HAVE SEEN IN MORE THAN A DECADE!
It could even be funny if it were not as harmful to users, customers and "music lovers" as Sonos treated us until a few hours ago .....
Now we are a group of stupid captives that to listen to music again enjoing full capabilities , we will have to spend a lot of money once again.
Moreover, I believe that the so-called "recycled mode" is intended to prevent those Sonos devices arbitrarily branded from Obsoletes continue to operate. They want them to be totally crushed and destroyed, so nobody can sell used equipment and Sonos can sell more units.
Like others said, I also recommended Sonos to many friends. I even tried to be a Sonel Reseller in my country, and after selling a few units, I didn't continue with the business.
WHAT LUCK I HAD !!!
I would not like to be in the shoes of a sales channel today, and have to attend to a totally dissatisfied customer and end up losing the prestige with the clients that cost so much to maintain.
That said, I don't know what is going to happen, I even think that users should check if there is no legal protection, or some kind of demand we can make to protect our interests.
I mean, after the month of May, suppose I buy a new house and I want to reinstall my system, how would I "authorize" the installation of my system? And what if that day, for example, I want to add another component that I had saved unused in a closet and, therefore, has an earlier version of the firmware? Being uneven with the rest, and not being able to update to the latest version, what will Sonos tell us? that I can't use all my equipment together again ??? That is clearly arbitrary, abusive and I think, almost outlawed.
Please excuse my English. I hope we can obtain an equitable and fair solution for users
totally shocking way to treat your customers.
Keep posting those one star amazon reviews on their equipment if you agree that we have been wronged! This will have an immediate and significant impact on sales.
Responsibility
We plan on being in business a long time, which means we must be responsible, forward-thinking citizens. We’re committed to ethical and sustainable practices and strive to positively affect our community.
Sounds good - Pity sonos don’t follow their own policy!
our Sonos legacy products will continue to work fine with local sources, which is what they were originally intended for. Not much Sonos or any other vendor can do about the changing requirements of the online music providers, and their huge demands for local resources. Computer-based systems like Sonos are generally obsolete in 3-5 years. Sonos has supported their legacy hardware for FAR longer than any competitor I can think of...
Computer based systems? Sonos is selling speakers.
I have speakers from 70's which are still working just fine. I have also calculator from 80's which is computer based system and its still giving totally correct results. I really dont need Alexa to my calculator. And I dont need that to my Gen1 speakers!
And it's 100% wrong if Sonos is trying to hide this nightmare behind of Spotify.
Spotify is working great at all kinds of machines. Its not in Spotify intrest to have less customers with limiting potential customers.
Gen1 products are by FAR good enough for Spotify at the moment and in the future also.
The nightmare has been created by Sonos. Not anyone else. No one else to blame..
30% is not enough of a discount when customers have made very steep investments and would need to spend 1000s in some cases… Sonos should offer to repair/refurbish the legacy systems to work in a new framework… This is done all the time in many industries… Telling Sonos customers that “Computer-based systems like Sonos are generally obsolete in 3-5 years.” is absolutely a slap in the face… No one ever considered Sonos a commodity type product line computer and cell phones, until now. These systems are simple for the most part...they don’t need high power processors and a ton of memory…
Bluesound offering high discounts to disgruntled Sonos customers. Guess the discount. Yep 30%. I will check them out at the weekend.
Won’t be buying another Sonos product, will be buying from a competitor…..
Which one? Squeezebox? Bose (in their fourth iteration so far, with scant support for their legacy products)? Denon (another on at least their second gen, again with scant support)?
Your Sonos legacy products will continue to work fine with local sources, which is what they were originally intended for. Not much Sonos or any other vendor can do about the changing requirements of the online music providers, and their huge demands for local resources. Computer-based systems like Sonos are generally obsolete in 3-5 years. Sonos has supported their legacy hardware for FAR longer than any competitor I can think of...
You are a SONOS employee in disguise and I claim my $5.
Think your missing the point bud.
Lol, no, definitely not a Sonos employee - they’re all identified as such.
I doubt I’ll be buying any more Sonos products, either, but will continue using the legacy stuff until it dies. At this point, it probably makes more sense to buy cheap “smart” devices (Echo Input comes to mind) coupled with “dumb”, old-fashioned amps and speakers, or powered monitors. Not quite as slick as Sonos, more wires, but once the cheap “smart” component goes out of date, simply update it, while the amps and speakers will last for decades. I have MANY of these “dumb” devices, currently used with the Echo Input and Chromecast Audio (which is also obsolete, thanks, Google!).
Why would anyone be stupid enough to trade up for new Sonos speakers? If you think we’re losing product support for our “legacy” devices, you think there’s going to be product support for new devices from a company about to go out of business?
Apparently my Bridge will become obsolete in May. Does anyone know what is being offered to replace it as l can’t find it on the Sonos website?
Computer based systems? Sonos is selling speakers.
Yes, computer-based speakers. Every one has a Linux computer inside.
I am unbelievably disappointed in Sonos as a company. This is the worst possible decision that could have been made, and a giant FU to the customers.
I have been a loyal proponent of Sonos for years, and have amassed quite the collection of Sonos devices over the years, as it was so easy to just add another room to the system. I have nearly every room in my house covered with Sonos hardware, that has allowed me to enjoy music with a fantastic user experience.
One of the things I have always loved about Sonos is the longevity of the equipment. I could always justify the premium purchase cost by the track record of hardware longevity and support. I, and many others fully expect premium home audio equipment to be supported for longer than 5 years.
I can tell you that unless you reconsider and reverse this decision, I will no longer support Sonos via purchase of your products.
Then i hit the 65,000 limit. Frustrating, but worked round by buying a new NAS and running Plex with Plex Pass on it. Job done. I take pride in my Metadata and i enjoy my current setup.
I never ever thought my ability to listen to my own music stored on my own server in my own home, on speakers i paid a small fortune for could come to and end by a manufacturer flicking a switch.
To be entirely fair (i’m in a nearly identical scenario)… if you leave your now-deprecated Sonos devices as-is and effectively freeze your home’s ecosystem in it’s current state (except for the operational updates Sonos has now promised going forward) you should be able to continue on without issue. Plex is certainly one of the more “inclusive” platforms out there.
And incidentally, you might abandon the Sonos controller much of the for day-to-day use if you’ve not already. For the past while I’ve been using the Plex controller to cast to my Sonos speakers. Grouping isn’t supported but I don’t change groups terribly often, and IMO the Plex interface is more friendly overall. Here’s to hoping an open-source alternative for Sonos speaker control will one-day fall out of all of this.
Until their app updates to a version that requires your firmwares to be at a certain point. If you’re not using a jailbroken iphone, or an android and know how to install older APK files, you’re screwed.
The app shouldn't cause anyone trouble in the future.
As we move forward, we will provide ways to separate your legacy and modern products so that the modern products can still receive updates, and legacy products can still be used. We'll have more details in May.
