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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Show previous replies

chickentender

Can somebody please clarify for me, is it still the case that even with the Sonos commitment to support legacy products this will still mean split system's so no more multi zone to include new and legacy products except if you opt out of updates ?

Correct. Interoperability between all components, “modern” and “legacy” will only be possible if the entire network is legacy. To me personally, I’m beginning to see quite a few benefits to this arrangement. I’m not wild about the frequent controller changes and have no need of further (or any) voice integration or API functionality beyond what’s offered. A comparatively glacial update cycle would be welcome in my house considering it already works the way I desire.

If a commitment exists to provide future stability and security updates only, I really have no problem being “left behind” as it were. (Well, I wish it were still old and new all-inclusive obviously, but the sky isn’t falling.)

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patbla

Enthusiast II

Can somebody please clarify for me, is it still the case that even with the Sonos commitment to support legacy products this will still mean split system's so no more multi zone to include new and legacy products except if you opt out of updates ?

Correct. Interoperability between all components, “modern” and “legacy” will only be possible if the entire network is legacy. To me personally, I’m beginning to see quite a few benefits to this arrangement. I’m not wild about the frequent controller changes and have no need of further (or any) voice integration or API functionality beyond what’s offered. A comparatively glacial update cycle would be welcome in my house considering it already works the way I desire.

I would tend to agree if it were not for the fear I have that they will not continue to support the legacy controller for very long. Will the legacy controller be updated to continue to work with the next version of Android or iOS? what about the version after that? They already neutered the computer controller which could have had a much longer life.

Will we end up being forced to update Sonos equipment because we purchase a new phone? Just more questions that need to be answered between now and May.

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Fobskid

Enthusiast I

Retailers Move To Dump Sonos … from Channel news Australia

Specialist audio retailers who made Sonos famous when they first launched are now looking for new networked sound partners with Bowers & Wilkins already getting calls from current Sonos partners.

Overnight Sonos continues to feel stock price and social media pressure their announcement that the company would no longer support several models released between 2006 and 2009 which is when Sonos had the market to themselves and were according to one key Melbourne dealer “booming”.

“This is a Company who spruiked integration of a Sonos speaker into a network and despite their being nothing wrong with the Sonos speaker we sold to a customer they now want to try and force that same customer to buy another 16bit Sonos speaker when the market has moved to 24bit HD speakers” they said.

According to Philip Newton the CEO of Bowers and Wilkins his Company who unlike Sonos do manufacture and sell 24bit networked audio speakers demand for their speakers is growing.

He said that the Company has already got several dealers looking at moving to Bowers & Wilkins to replace Sonos speakers.

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Fobskid

Enthusiast I

According to several dealers that ChannelNews has spoken to is that Sonos is trying to get dealers to force an upgrade on a customer “When an upgrade is not needed as the current Sonos speaker is working perfectly”.

Pete Pedersen VP, Global Marketing & Communications at Sonos who is believed to be behind the program to force consumers to upgrade to a new Sonos speaker due to the Company struggling to compete up against superior speakers from both Google and Amazon has not explained what he will do when consumers vent their anger with Sonos by buying another brand of speaker.

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ewolkoff

Enthusiast II

And now what?

Bose SoundTouch or Denon HEOS?

Please help me decide.

Both have the exact same risks right along with them. If you’re going to fracture your system, just make sure it’s more modular going forward. Or just sit tight, listen to music and see what happens. There’s little need to swap everything out unless you just think it’s fun and have the money. Nothing is going to explode.

Exactly, except the SoundTouch has already been discontinued. Soooo...not that one. Bose came out with a new line that is not compatible with SoundTouch and their ST customers were livid. So there ya go.

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train_nerd

Trending Lyricist I

Looks like putting multiple zones to work on our receiver(s) is the way to go with other speakers. Wire is pretty cheap. Rest of house I don’t know yet, but this seems such a profoundly broken way to proceed, particularly those of us who have large music libraries on a NAS (you also need to exit SMB1). We have been big users of the kit. Thousands $$$$ invested. Shame on us for hoping for the best.

The one that really got me was that Play5 cannot be preserved by using the Line-In input. Those are decent speakers. Talk about showing your best customers the door, this is VERY effective. Oopphh. If alternatives are not already eating you alive, how long do you think it will be that competition finds a way around patents and introduces an “Amp” for their sound ecosystem.

I share all the other post questions about interoperability of legacy and new generation products. What’s the deal, here?

Recommend listen to TheTechGuy episode 25Jan2020. Swears never to buy Sonos again predicting imminent Sonos demise. Pray tell the magnitude of cashing out with Golden Parachutes.

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bcrowley20

Contributor I

Hardware goes obsolete, I understand. But, if you want to give me an incentive to stay with Sonos, at least offer me a like trade-up. If I wanted a Move, I would have bought a Move. I bought Play:5’s, three of them. With your current course and speed, I probably won’t purchase your products again (I also have two Connect:Amp’s, a Playbar and a Sub) because I’m not sure I can trust you anymore.

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Anonymous

My wife was out to a show tonight with a friend who with her husband is in the process of building a new house. This woman mentioned that they are thinking of investing in a Sonos system. My wife mentioned some of the things that are currently going on and suggested they may want to speak with me before they make a final decision.

Sorry Sonos, but you’ll no longer get any recommendations from me. Just the opposite in fact. This is just one potential customer they will be losing. But I’ll bet you can multiply my example over and over and over again. What I would have at one time happily recommended I am no longer able to do and I will in fact actively discourage people from buying. I’m not trying to be mean or vindictive. I just think the Sonos brand is not living up to what it originally promised and I believe they have lost their way as a Company.

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BSAB44

Avid Contributor I

I have a house full of Sonos and now get an email stating my 2 x play5 are obsolete. I paid £1200 for those and I am not happy. Both are used via line in so why can’t I keep doing that and not limit my newer devices. I’m regretting going down the Sonos route they were not exactly cheap. Very poor loyalty to customers.

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Paul St

Lyricist III

Well unless this mess is sorted out so I can use all my devices together I’m off.

just been looking at Denon Heos, seriously undercuts Sonos even with the 30% trade in, the top Heos 7 is £329 on Amazon, supports hi res audio and does everything Sonos does. So when my functionality is compromised I will start replacing Sonos, 2 gen1 5s in my kitchen will be first to go.

Thanks for making my decision an easy one Sonos, I will not be running 2 systems, so I can keep newer devises updated.

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