Retired Sonos Staff

End of Software Support - Clarifications

Dec 8, 2022 11:29 AM UTC
4256 replies
270488 views
Translate All

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

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

Show previous replies

Ryan SAuthor

Retired Sonos Staff

So are we done getting updates till May?

@Danos1, assuming you mean software updates, there probably are a few more to come to all devices before the legacy changeover in May.

Translate

Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.

Stanley_4

Grand Maestro

Don’t forget Craig’s List and similar sites. St Vincent’s, Goodwill and yard / estate sales are goldmines too.

Somebody just picked up a play 5 and Play 3 for seven bucks each over on the (not an official Sonos site) Sonos reddit.

Translate

D

darranpeters

Lyricist II

About this collaboration with IKEA

“The result of this collaboration is a range of speakers that don’t read as speakers at all but as adaptable pieces of furniture for your home”

With this built in planned obsolescence business model, how is that going to work Swedish IKEA?

I’m not sure they will want their branded furniture to be associated with this model.

needless to say, I’m not sure IKEA want their brand to be associated with the environmental impact of this strategy

Translate

A

andyd1302

Enthusiast II

Does anyone think that some of the higher-up boneheads in the Sonos chain of command could learn a lot from @Ryan S 's example?

Commitment and loyalty to customer service and showing the customer the utmost respect, whilst simultaneously enhancing the brand's reputation by dealing with queries efficiently, politely and in as much detail as possible despite the scant information he's allowed to discuss.

This is the essence of what Sonos is/was, which some within the company seem to have forgotten in pursuit of the dollar.

I'm sure a lot of Sonos staff are extremely unhappy at the path the company has chosen and I hope an amicable solution can be found, but the ball continues to be firmly within the Sonos court.

Translate

J

jwinther

Lyricist III

About this collaboration with IKEA

“The result of this collaboration is a range of speakers that don’t read as speakers at all but as adaptable pieces of furniture for your home”

With this built in planned obsolescence business model, how is that going to work Swedish IKEA?

I’m not sure they will want their branded furniture to be associated with this model.

needless to say, I’m not sure IKEA want their brand to be associated with the environmental impact of this strategy

Who knows what they are thinking with regards to the environment, but IKEA is a company that provides a lot of things to be replaced often. Not much of what they sell is meant to, or even able to last for more than a couple of years.

Translate

“This is a chance now to come up with a system that doesn’t cause massive planetary damage in exchange for disposable stuff,” Proctor said. (https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3a8dpn/sonos-makes-it-clear-you-no-longer-own-the-things-you-buy)

A

andy_120

Enthusiast II

... For some of us who want to just purchase a few newer Connect or Connect Amps so we can get past this May shut-out/forced obsolesce/split system issue, There may be some economical options out there instead of the reduced functionality (and stupid expense) of the Amp and Port or the environmental disaster of the “trade-in” program. Of course Sonos isn’t clear about how much longer their so-called (Modern) units will be supported either...

@kassey22000, I know it’s buried several times in the pages of this thread and others, but we’ve committed to supporting our products with updates for at least five years after they’re no longer sold by us, after they’ve been discontinued. And as you all know, we have a track record of doing so for much longer than that. The 2015 Connect and Connect:Amps are only recently no longer sold, or in some cases still available at very limited stock levels. So you’re looking at at least five years worth of updates from when they were discontinued.

I'm sorry Ryan, but this was not what I was told when I brought into the sonos concept. It was sold as a hifi streaming system which could be added to make a truly remarkable system. But now products have an EOL policy, let me put it this way if I were to see a cake that cost £50 and I know that cake has a sell by date of a week. And there was another cake that costs £20 but has no use by date which one would you buy?? But again you have the £50 cake and the £20 cake both have no use by date, you buy the £50 cake as it a better quality but find out later it does have a use by date how would you feel about that.you would think I might as well got the £20 cake, this is exactly what sonos has done and frankly has killed the brand. Sonos may come up with this solution or that explanation of what will happen but non of the statementments returns us to the status que we had when we brought our systems. The sonos board ignore this fact at the company's peril but it's not to late to turn this around but I fear you won't.

Translate

R

Rob NYC1

Enthusiast II

Dial in to the Sonos earnings call on Feb 5. The owners (shareholders) will be listing and there is a Q&A with the CEO. Everyone please dial in and state your unhappiness or questions directly to him with his bosses listening. Please repost if you’d like - I think SONOS keeps deleting info.

Feb. 5 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time

calling from inside US (833) 236-2748, with conference ID 9666837.

calling from outside US (647) 689-4173, with the same conference ID.

Translate

S

Sparkyboots

Enthusiast I

Just looking at that memory chart someone posted earlier play 3s and play ones must be next and I own 2 of each of them but even more worryingly the gen2 play 5 cant be far behind and that’s what they’re asking us to trade up to from a gen 1.

I for one need much more clarity on what’s happening and future plans before I even contemplate looking at Sonos again, I think the only way to go in future with any system is as other have posted buying decent conventional systems hard wired and controlling them through something like an amazon input easily and cheaply replaced as needed whilst the meat of your system remains.

Translate

J

jacob_7

Prodigy I

@kassey22000

But now products have an EOL policy, let me put it this way if I were to see a cake that cost £50 and I know that cake has a sell by date of a week. And there was another cake that costs £20 but has no use by date which one would you buy?? But again you have the £50 cake and the £20 cake both have no use by date, you buy the £50 cake as it a better quality but find out later it does have a use by date how would you feel about that.you would think I might as well got the £20 cake, this is exactly what sonos has done and frankly has killed the brand.

2400 posts in and this is the best analogy yet.

Translate

S

snpanago

Lyricist III

https://www.zdnet.com/article/so-long-sonos-meet-the-open-source-audio-system-that-will-never-die/

Translate

Show more replies

Sign up

Login to the community