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Ryan S
Ryan S
Retired Sonos Staff
Jan 22, 2020 3:20 PM UTC

End of Software Support - Clarifications

  • Dec 8, 2022 11:29 AM UTC
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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

    Show previous replies
    RentalGuy
    Lyricist III
    Jan 25, 2020 2:36 AM UTC

    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

    Absolutely Disgusted.

    If you were a car manufacturer and did this to loyal customers, your brand would would be dead. Oh. You are a technology company with loyal customers (including myself) and you have basically said upgrade or you won’t be able to rely on “Legacy Products” working in the future. You should be reported to the authorities. Let’s hope the government step in and get us some protection from your “Racket”!

    Yeh.. they don’t get it at all. We all know audio gets obsolete… but my obsolete technologies don’t ruin my new ones!

    Translate
      Grogster
      Enthusiast I
      Jan 25, 2020 2:43 AM UTC

      I own 5 SONOS products.

       

      SONOS began its path of screwing original owners back when they rendered the early iPod series “obsolete for SONOS” even though Apple was still supporting it.  Then came the “kill off the SONOS hardware controller” nonsense.  It’s made its money rendering perfectly good hardware useless due to its own software.

       

      The take-away for any newer customers:  SONOS has never given a damn about the customer AFTER they’ve purchased.  It’s always been about getting that new customer and current owners to the curb.  This is no different.

       

       

      Translate
      Anonymous
      Jan 25, 2020 3:06 AM UTC

      In a very round about way, I saw this coming. I saw trouble coming a number of months ago when Sonos forced us to register our products in order to keep receiving updates. Have to admit I was not at all happy about this. There was no requirement to register our products when I made my purchase. So then I go out and buy two Play Fives and a Connect and all of a sudden my system is being held hostage, and rendered unusable, unless I registered the products with Sonos. I told my wife then that I would never buy another Sonos product. This just showed me that Sonos was no longer interested in meeting their customers needs, but rather expected the customer to meet their needs. So again, I had made up my mind at that time that I would not buy any more Sonos products.

       

      And now with this latest move by Sonos, I have decided to just abandon their products altogether. I have a Mac computer and have been waiting and waiting to upgrade to the new Catalina operating system. I’ve been waiting because Sonos is not yet compatible. So I have been unable to sync my phone or iPad to my computer because I can’t update my computer because Sonos won’t work if I do. Well, tomorrow I’m going to be updating my computer and I no longer care if Sonos doesn’t work, because I don’t intend on using Sonos anymore.

       

      For anyone looking for alternatives, I have discovered Airplay 2. If you have Mac products this is something you might want to look into. I think it’s going to be a great system. One of the real advantages is, I can use Airplay 2 to run my music library through my existing stereo, and if I want auxiliary speakers I can mix and match and get whatever make or brand of speaker I want, as long as those speakers support Airplay 2. So I’m not limited to just one speaker manufacturer (aka Sonos) but rather, I can use any speakers, in sync with each other, as long as they support Airplay 2. I haven’t got it all figured out yet, but I have played my music library through my existing stereo system and it works great. This is what I used to use my Sonos Connect for so I no longer have any need for the Connect.

       

      I used to use my Sonos Play 5 speakers as my auxiliary speakers and I did like the portability. But I’ve been looking around and there are lots of good, portable speakers out there that support Airplay 2 that will suit my needs. I just need to do a bit more shopping to get that part figured out.

       

      I also have to say I really feel for those who have invested tremendous sums of money in their Sonos systems. Fortunately I only have the two Play 5’s and the Connect. It’s not a small sum of money, but certainly far short of what some have spent. So again, for those who have invested more heavily, I really do feel for you. But having said that, for anyone who buys Sonos from this moment forward, I really don’t have much sympathy at all.

       

      I thought the poster with the handle “Fraud Victim” summed it up beautifully. They said:

       

      “Sorry for appearing simple but surely if yesterday’s modern products are now legacy, then today’s modern products will be legacy tomorrow. Who on earth would upgrade knowing that this will be a temporary fix?”

       

      Well said Fraud Victim. And no, not simple at all. Just good, plain common sense.

      Translate
        Worcester
        Lyricist II
        Jan 25, 2020 3:27 AM UTC

        In a very round about way, I saw this coming. I saw trouble coming a number of months ago when Sonos forced us to register our products in order to keep receiving updates. Have to admit I was not at all happy about this. There was no requirement to register our products when I made my purchase. So then I go out and buy two Play Fives and a Connect and all of a sudden my system is being held hostage, and rendered unusable, unless I registered the products with Sonos. I told my wife then that I would never buy another Sonos product. This just showed me that Sonos was no longer interested in meeting their customers needs, but rather expected the customer to meet their needs. So again, I had made up my mind at that time that I would not buy any more Sonos products.

         

        And now with this latest move by Sonos, I have decided to just abandon their products altogether. I have a Mac computer and have been waiting and waiting to upgrade to the new Catalina operating system. I’ve been waiting because Sonos is not yet compatible. So I have been unable to sync my phone or iPad to my computer because I can’t update my computer because Sonos won’t work if I do. Well, tomorrow I’m going to be updating my computer and I no longer care if Sonos doesn’t work, because I don’t intend on using Sonos anymore.

         

        For anyone looking for alternatives, I have discovered Airplay 2. If you have Mac products this is something you might want to look into. I think it’s going to be a great system. One of the real advantages is, I can use Airplay 2 to run my music library through my existing stereo, and if I want auxiliary speakers I can mix and match and get whatever make or brand of speaker I want, as long as those speakers support Airplay 2. So I’m not limited to just one speaker manufacturer (aka Sonos) but rather, I can use any speakers, in sync with each other, as long as they support Airplay 2. I haven’t got it all figured out yet, but I have played my music library through my existing stereo system and it works great. This is what I used to use my Sonos Connect for so I no longer have any need for the Connect.

         

        I used to use my Sonos Play 5 speakers as my auxiliary speakers and I did like the portability. But I’ve been looking around and there are lots of good, portable speakers out there that support Airplay 2 that will suit my needs. I just need to do a bit more shopping to get that part figured out.

         

        I also have to say I really feel for those who have invested tremendous sums of money in their Sonos systems. Fortunately I only have the two Play 5’s and the Connect. It’s not a small sum of money, but certainly far short of what some have spent. So again, for those who have invested more heavily, I really do feel for you. But having said that, for anyone who buys Sonos from this moment forward, I really don’t have much sympathy at all.

         

        I thought the poster with the handle “Fraud Victim” summed it up beautifully. They said:

         

        “Sorry for appearing simple but surely if yesterday’s modern products are now legacy, then today’s modern products will be legacy tomorrow. Who on earth would upgrade knowing that this will be a temporary fix?”

         

        Well said Fraud Victim. And no, not simple at all. Just good, plain common sense.

        What makes you think using Apple Airplay2 will future-proof you? Any compatible device will be running software and what happens when Apple move to “Airplay3”?

         

        Until consumer law is changed to provide protection from the sort of behaviour we are seeing from Sonos we are all potentially held to ransom by the supplier of software defined products.

        Translate
          goblue
          Trending Lyricist I
          Jan 25, 2020 3:38 AM UTC

          When Sonos was launched Apple Airplay was a joke and Alexa didn’t exist. Now, Alexa’s smallest boxes are cheap, party mode works perfectly and there’s excellent powered speakers for less than a Play 5. I’m not buying any more Sonos products, and when the system fails will switch to a $20 Alexa box and powered speakers. 

          Translate
            bonervz
            Enthusiast II
            Jan 25, 2020 3:51 AM UTC

            In a very round about way, I saw this coming. I saw trouble coming a number of months ago when Sonos forced us to register our products in order to keep receiving updates. Have to admit I was not at all happy about this. There was no requirement to register our products when I made my purchase. So then I go out and buy two Play Fives and a Connect and all of a sudden my system is being held hostage, and rendered unusable, unless I registered the products with Sonos. I told my wife then that I would never buy another Sonos product. This just showed me that Sonos was no longer interested in meeting their customers needs, but rather expected the customer to meet their needs. So again, I had made up my mind at that time that I would not buy any more Sonos products.

             

            And now with this latest move by Sonos, I have decided to just abandon their products altogether. I have a Mac computer and have been waiting and waiting to upgrade to the new Catalina operating system. I’ve been waiting because Sonos is not yet compatible. So I have been unable to sync my phone or iPad to my computer because I can’t update my computer because Sonos won’t work if I do. Well, tomorrow I’m going to be updating my computer and I no longer care if Sonos doesn’t work, because I don’t intend on using Sonos anymore.

             

            For anyone looking for alternatives, I have discovered Airplay 2. If you have Mac products this is something you might want to look into. I think it’s going to be a great system. One of the real advantages is, I can use Airplay 2 to run my music library through my existing stereo, and if I want auxiliary speakers I can mix and match and get whatever make or brand of speaker I want, as long as those speakers support Airplay 2. So I’m not limited to just one speaker manufacturer (aka Sonos) but rather, I can use any speakers, in sync with each other, as long as they support Airplay 2. I haven’t got it all figured out yet, but I have played my music library through my existing stereo system and it works great. This is what I used to use my Sonos Connect for so I no longer have any need for the Connect.

             

            I used to use my Sonos Play 5 speakers as my auxiliary speakers and I did like the portability. But I’ve been looking around and there are lots of good, portable speakers out there that support Airplay 2 that will suit my needs. I just need to do a bit more shopping to get that part figured out.

             

            I also have to say I really feel for those who have invested tremendous sums of money in their Sonos systems. Fortunately I only have the two Play 5’s and the Connect. It’s not a small sum of money, but certainly far short of what some have spent. So again, for those who have invested more heavily, I really do feel for you. But having said that, for anyone who buys Sonos from this moment forward, I really don’t have much sympathy at all.

             

            I thought the poster with the handle “Fraud Victim” summed it up beautifully. They said:

             

            “Sorry for appearing simple but surely if yesterday’s modern products are now legacy, then today’s modern products will be legacy tomorrow. Who on earth would upgrade knowing that this will be a temporary fix?”

             

            Well said Fraud Victim. And no, not simple at all. Just good, plain common sense.

            What makes you think using Apple Airplay2 will future-proof you? Any compatible device will be running software and what happens when Apple move to “Airplay3”?

             

            Until consumer law is changed to provide protection from the sort of behaviour we are seeing from Sonos we are all potentially held to ransom by the supplier of software defined products.

             

            I hate being forced to change my phone every 2 years

             

            Translate
            Sonos from leader to loser in 2020.
            OR from Pickering
            Contributor I
            Jan 25, 2020 3:52 AM UTC

            Cutting off your best and most loyal customers is a terrible business move.

            We have choices of other ecosystems, Bluesound, Apple, Google to name a few.

            I call BS that it is not possible to provide upgrades to an entire Sonos system if an old component is holding everything back.  Simple solution: create a network within a network.   New components update fine with new features, old components work as well as technically possible.   ROON SOFTWARE already basically does this.  ( For those unfamiliar Roon is able to integrate many different music players, including Sonos under one “network”) So Roon can do it, Sonos should be able to do it. 

             

            The 30% discount is far too little for the inconvenience of upgrading.  The deactivation and creation of garbage out of legacy equipment is in poor taste for those concerned about environmental footprint.

            Come up with something better, and fast.

            Translate
              bonervz
              Enthusiast II
              Jan 25, 2020 3:56 AM UTC

              See the new eamil from Mr. Spence?

               

              Translate
              Sonos from leader to loser in 2020.
              bonervz
              Enthusiast II
              Jan 25, 2020 4:04 AM UTC

              I own 5 SONOS products.

               

              SONOS began its path of screwing original owners back when they rendered the early iPod series “obsolete for SONOS” even though Apple was still supporting it.  Then came the “kill off the SONOS hardware controller” nonsense.  It’s made its money rendering perfectly good hardware useless due to its own software.

               

              The take-away for any newer customers:  SONOS has never given a damn about the customer AFTER they’ve purchased.  It’s always been about getting that new customer and current owners to the curb.  This is no different.

               

               

              They will this time. Did social media even exist then? Was this during dial-up. Social media these days has the power to do anything it wants. Just look at the news. Social media has the power to annihilate anything in it’s path. Brings the mob mentality to the cloud, power in numbers. 

               

               

              Translate
              Sonos from leader to loser in 2020.
              RDR63
              Contributor I
              Jan 25, 2020 4:14 AM UTC

              Planned obsolescence is what they are doing…. where do i return my Sonos system for a full refund

              Translate
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