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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debbie_113

Lyricist II

In total agreement.

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richdtremblay

Contributor I

Unbelievably true statement from Mark

(Sonos - “Just throw that $400 speaker in the landfill and buy another one from us. It’s a legacy now so it’s worthless”)

It's kind of absurd that Sonos, who brought us a device to hook up our old speakers, can't do the same for their own...

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Rich

DelGray

Lyricist I

Thank you for letting me know that my very expensive Sonos music system is now life limited. I recently move to a larger house and was planning to buy more Sonos equipment to extend the system, but I certainly won’t now.

I won’t be backed into a corner and made to ‘upgrade’ at your prices. There are some great sound systems on the market at far less cost which can provide the features and services I need through my pc phone or tablet.

You’ve lost my future purchases.

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hillclan

Lyricist I

Wow...what an absolute brain cramp from Sonos! The number one reason I started buying Sonos components (12 up to this point for myself and my family...not to mention referring you to countless friends and colleagues) was the scalability, quality and innovation. I venture a guess that the vast majority of your customers own more than one component, not purchased all at the same time. As the old saying goes, “the best customer is a repeat customer”! Now, today, you are telling your loyal customers who have stuck with you, scaled your product throughout their homes/businesses etc...”thanks for supporting us in the early years but you know what, now that we’re a big tech company trading on the NASDAQ...its about tomorrow’s customers, not you cannon fodder who bought our earlier products”! Unbelievable...and the 30% discount to upgrade, what an insulting joke! “Hey stupid customer...we’re making your original product obsolete but give us more money for new products today...and we’ll make them obsolete in the future too...all this for only 70% of the retail price!” What a deal! And I thought car dealers were bad!

Its worth noting that the blow back you have received from customers is but one part of this gong show you created. I note with a special warm feeling in my heart that your stock price has tumbled 11% since the beginning of January with most of that drop starting on January 21st! Slow golf clap for Patrick and the management team, a re-sounding success since taking the reigns in January 2017!

Here’s a little point form list you may want to follow Patty:

Apologize...not for “not doing it right” but for doing it at all
Fire the team member(s) who’s idea it was to do this
Fix it...simply fix it. You have smart techies there and if they can’t fix it, fire them and find some who can
Don’t make this mistake again
Offer a proper take-up program that really values your original customers support and trust in your un-proven technology, at the time we bought these first units

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user_end_of_lifed

Enthusiast II

This email (Update 2/22: A message from our CEO) changed my decision: my Sonos systems is no longer up for sale!

But on May 1st, if you don’t have a very efficient way to split my system so that all my Sonos speakers work together and you keep them updated with bug fixes and security patches, I’ll will get rid of them!

Based on the communication we’ve had so far I’m pretty sure the definition of splitting your system is that the legacy and the current will have absolutely no contact with each other.

The whole house audio facility will no longer exit.

That’s if you personally choose to split the system.. you might want to keep it whole legacy for the foreseeable future. You wil still get the fixes and security updates, just no additional new features or newer hardware. If you prefer to standstill you will lose nothing and still have the whole home audio multiroom experience.

Maybe. You’re placing a lot of store in a very vague assurance:

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.

Remember to read that in context - it’s coming from the same company short sighted or stupid enough to have created this situation in the first place and who published a financial statement saying ‘we’re going to screw our customers and they’re going to complain about it’.
I would bet good money that ‘as long as possible’ will turn out to be ‘as long as it takes for everyone to forget about this’.

Replying to myself to add:

Plus - lets not forget the entire claim that the old and new products can’t be grouped together stinks out loud. We already know that different products with different capabilities can do this (see: airplay, or the ability for a device with 3.5mm/optical in to share its signal to lesser devices), and out of all the protocols in play here this is the simplest one for Sonos to control. It’s simply not plausible that they can’t do this - the only explanation is they’ve decided not to (either as leverage to force upgrades or because it will take more work for them than they think we’re worth), and that makes all of their promises suspect.

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Bruce_29

Contributor I

I ‘invested’ in four Sonos products over a period of time. Two of them no longer work. To make matters worse, I have been informed the remaining two are now ‘legacy’. So much in me thinking that I should spend a lot of money on equipment! Not impressed. Won’t be taking up the 30% offer.

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debbie_113

Lyricist II

Perhaps we should be asking for our money back...

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Fraud victim

Contributor I

Shouldn’t we be warning any potential Sonos new purchaser by means of Amazon reviews of the very bad idea it is to buy Sonos products? Not everyone will have heard of the Sonos customer care, and they need to be warned

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larsj

Enthusiast II

Sent via web form to Onkyo:

Dear Onkyo,

Recently I have considered selling my 2009 Pioneer AV receiver and purchasing one of the Onkyo models instead. Although I am happy with my old receiver, I was excited to learn that you support control of the Sonos multi-room music system. This would remove the long-existing annoyance of having no integrated volume control.

Unfortunately, the future of Sonos is now in doubt, at least in my household, owing to their inability to promise a seamless upgrade path to new devices.

I am therefore writing to ask if you support any other multi-room audio system such as Bluesound. Onkyo has always had good reviews and I would love to become a customer, but unfortunately I need options other than Sonos before I can make the upgrade so that the system is future-proof.

Many thanks,

Lars.

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Ken_Griffiths

My email to Sonos CEO, Patrick Spence, subject “Why I didn't upgrade my Sonos components”:

Dear Mr Spence,

I note your email to customers apologising for the botched communication regarding software updates.

It remains unclear to me whether I will be able to upgrade my Sonos network bit by bit over the coming years, or whether an all-in-one approach is needed for reasons of compatibility.

While I never expected updates to happen indefinitely, I always assumed that Sonos would be clever enough to maintain compatibility when the inevitable happens. Clever enough from both a commercial and engineering perspective.

Please bear in mind that everything in my AV stand in the living room was purchased at a different time, and every time I upgraded a component it worked with all the others. The same goes for my entire home network. I am not about to start doing wholesale updates, but if you force me to then I will eradicate Sonos in one single step.

But I also want to tell you why I haven't got around to upgrading any Sonos component so far, my last major component being a Connect:Amp in 2014.

Firstly, you took away some of the magic when you stopped supporting dedicated controllers. Sure, the mobile app is convenient most of the time, but it can never compete with a real controller that switches on when I pick it up. I note that Bluesound offers a simple remote now, which helps to provide convenient control without fumbling for the phone and app. I would get this for the bedroom without a second thought.

Secondly, it was clear that the core hardware wasn't being upgraded. Save for the increased internal memory, there's no significant advance in your new Port model over and above the ZP80 that I purchased in 2006.

As you maintain the premium price point I expect 2.4/5GHz wireless ac, Gigabit LAN (yes that's right, some people might daisy chain off a single Ethernet port and Bluesound has this) and now for the big one: high definition 5.1 audio 96Khz/24-bit and an HDMI output. In other words, I expect your £400 Port to have equivalent capability to my £50 Blu-ray player.

I don't think that's too much to ask.

Unfortunately I have lost my trust in Sonos so even with a 30% discount I will sit out the current range. Even if you gave me a 90% discount, I just wouldn't feel excited unboxing these and setting them up.

If in the future you bring out advanced kit (look at Bluesound for example, and try to beat their specs), maintain the 30% discount and promise me 10 years updates from the day of purchase, then I will reconsider. With luck, you'll put all this in place before any part of my Sonos system fails (for whatever reason, updates or otherwise).

Finally, a real apology would help. You need to realise that your customers are people with hopes and expectations, not some business partner where you can open negotiations with a miserly offer and then say "ah sorry, I'll raise it then" when it is roundly rejected. You need to show empathy and understanding and accept that you personally have made a mistake so deep that you need to completely change your perspective on the situation.

The clock is ticking.

Yours sincerely,

Lars

More than 10 years old:
ZP 80 - £350 - 2006 - obsolete but still in use
CR100 - £300 - 2006 - obsolete
ZP120 - £350 - 2009 - obsolete but still in use
ZP120 - £350 - 2009 - obsolete but still in use

Less than 10 years old:
CR200 - £300 - 2010 - obsolete
CR200 - £300 - 2012 - obsolete
Play:5 - £350 - 2014 - obsolete but still in use
Connect:Amp - £400 - 2014 - obsolete but still in use
Boost - £90 - 2019
Boost - £90 - 2019

Prices are approximate and do not take into account inflation or the lower value of GBP.

I suppose I could have added that if they want to support stuff for only 5 years, then it needs to be half the price.

£2,880 over 14 years ... So that’s around 2.34 pennies per hour on average (approx.), every day, for 14 years (starting 2006) of pure listening pleasure 24/7 and Sonos have made available their support facilities to you aswell during all those years. Seems you have done extremely well for your money-outlay in your case. I wouldn’t be grumbling too much if I had that much use from a good many things that I buy. Oh and there’s probably still lots of life left in at least seven of those devices that you have remaining.

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