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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User126361

Contributor I

The genie is out of the bottle. It is going to be impossible to put it back in without applying a machete to the people who thought this was a good idea. Look to Hong Kong to see what an announcement of this nature will create in the market. And Hong Kong leaders have the might of China backing them. No one can reasonably help them. Sonos is all alone.

Sonos is a mouse in a field of elephants. Elephants like Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft. Despite not having a trunk or sufficient mass, Sonos thinks it is an elephant and can trample its customers. This view is grossly myopic and an inversion of the facts.

What Sonos does well (but not perfectly) is distribute sound amongst its speakers. No additional memory is required and all devices do that currently. Many users are not looking for more, but rather than trying to be all things to all technologies, Sonos would be best advised to create an environment where they can integrate new and developing standards. Sound is not going to change and has a low data requirement. It is accepted that new technologies may require additional resources.

If say DTS is a requirement, I’m sure anyone wanting this would be prepared to pay for an interface. Not all TVs support DTS, but many do and the experience is compromised by Sonos’s obstinance. The same is true of Dolby Atomos, but there are even fewer sets capable of transmitting this protocol. Oddly despite all the protestation and fight-back on Bluetooth, there is now a product. It can be done. Endless complaints about the complexity of the revised operator interface also fall on deaf ears. We are (were) here for you. Listening to your customers is in your interest. If your developers are incapable or unwilling to develop functional solutions, find new ones who will. This isn’t rocket science just coding.

Taking on the behemoths like Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple is folly. Don’t stop dreaming or developing, but you’ll never supplant them. Work with them and anyone else with newer ideas. You’ve already solved sound distribution. Become the bridge between other systems and the path is clear. The universal interface.

Listen to your supporters and customers.

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bgoldy

Lyricist II

I’ll just add my voice - that this behavior from a company is unacceptable. I’ve invested nearly $5k into Sonos products, have 3 Sonos Connect:Amp’s that power in-ceiling speakers that work EXACTLY as i need them too. Why would I spend ~$2k to upgrade them to get something I don’t need?

My expectation of sound hardware is that it will last nearly forever. I have speakers and amps that are 30+ years old and work amazing.

I’m a huge fan of Sonos and I’ve literally spent $1500 on Sonos gear in the last 90 days and I’m seriously regretting all of it.

What a horrible decision - even a split system is unacceptable - it all needs to work together.

This is just lazy engineering. :(

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hedrict

Lyricist II

So after sending this, I shockingly received this reply from Patrick. I believe they have heard us. I will try to calm down and take a couple of weeks to see what happens.

From: Patrick Spence <patrick.spence@sonos.com>

To:xxxxxx

Jan 24 at 11:50 PM

Mr. Hedrick,

Thanks for being an early adopter. My apologies for the mistake here, and I am not proud. I'm sorry that didn't come across in my email.

I understand & respect your decision. Thank you for having been a customer & sorry for letting you down.

Sincerely,

Patrick

I’m not clear on what’s made you feel better about the situation in that message (though I agree it’s surprising that you got a personal reply at all)? All he’s said is sorry (again) and that he can see why you didn’t buy more units. Nothing that suggests a change of course, or even that they’re trying to find one.

It almost literally says ‘it sucks to be you’...

I don’t feel better and i’m pissed over it. I do however feel like we’ve been heard and they understand the scale of pissing off their entire customer base. All we can do now is wait and see what (if anything) happens as a result. Beyond that, continuing to stress over it will not yield me anything.

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Silverthorn

Prodigy II

Perhaps when Sonos stop selling a product they need to pull all the supply out of their supply chain?

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"I saw the Stooges and the MC5"

C

Canadaguy

Lyricist I

Nothing new I can add outside of thoroughly disgusted with how Sonos is treating its customers. Poor communication strategy - it’s clear none of us expected to be reinvesting only a few years after we bought this equipment. And to many of the other points, how do we know we won’t be in this position again soon?

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user2009

Lyricist III

^ This looks like a great way to go back to conventional components and still have networking!! Any thoughts?

I too am done with expensive “smart” anythings in my home.

3 Connect Amps

4 Play 5s

2 Connects

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User126361

Contributor I

So after sending this, I shockingly received this reply from Patrick. I believe they have heard us. I will try to calm down and take a couple of weeks to see what happens.

From: Patrick Spence <patrick.spence@sonos.com>

To:xxxxxx

Jan 24 at 11:50 PM

Mr. Hedrick,

Thanks for being an early adopter. My apologies for the mistake here, and I am not proud. I'm sorry that didn't come across in my email.

I understand & respect your decision. Thank you for having been a customer & sorry for letting you down.

Sincerely,

Patrick

I’m not clear on what’s made you feel better about the situation in that message (though I agree it’s surprising that you got a personal reply at all)? All he’s said is sorry (again) and that he can see why you didn’t buy more units. Nothing that suggests a change of course, or even that they’re trying to find one.

It almost literally says ‘it sucks to be you’...

I don’t feel better and i’m pissed over it. I do however feel like we’ve been heard and they understand the scale of pissing off their entire customer base. All we can do now is wait and see what (if anything) happens as a result. Beyond that, continuing to stress over it will not yield me anything.

What you’ve been told is we understand you’re not happy with our decision and we’ll accept losing a customer. They expected this and feel they’ll make up for your loss with new customers.

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Nikisixx21

Enthusiast I

Perhaps when Sonos stop selling a product they need to pull all the supply out of their supply chain?

This would have been the morale thing to do. Instead they sold physically identical products with the same name and the same price - only internally some were destined to become paperweights in only a few short years.

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J

jjs30

Lyricist II

And now what?

Bose SoundTouch or Denon HEOS?

Please help me decide.

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hackerdan

Lyricist I

I cannot believe Sonos still wants to pull the rug out. I get stuff not getting updates anymore but saying that I won’t be able to use the speaker with “new stuff” is just plain wrong. I have thousands invested into Sonos and i was looking into buying more. This makes me hesitate? What will happen in 5 years. will I have to upgrade again? This whole thing is wrong on Sonos part.

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