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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T

tezzab

Lyricist I

NQR ,“Legacy” now, but that sets a precedent for the current “safe” products in the future.
Not taking that risk, Gumtree for my 4 PlayOnes. Off to add to my BS vault now.

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K

Kumar

It is time to remind everyone here that is angry - be grateful that all legacy products have line in, and say: All hail, Line In…

Doesn't help those aggrieved by having traded in their line in jacks though.

Ah Kumar I think you have missed the point a little. “Legacy” is going to creep along and at some point in the not too distinct future will include Play1’s and Play 3’s where line in ceases to be an option………..

No, I haven't missed it - my non legacy kit includes the next candidates for the cull - play 1, and since my Sub works with it, that too. But as long as the present legacy kit remains in the system, even when the streaming features on legacy kit dies, the line in can be used to send streams from wired sources to the 1+Sub. All other things that the line in equipped devices do, like NAS play, they will do till the hardware dies, hopefully many years from now. And the first bit of the preceding sentence is a Sonos pledge. Of course, that can now be also said to be up in the air…

Imagine what would have happened if the 1 was the first to get the axe.

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robinm0

Enthusiast I

...also is it MB or GB ?

It says at the bottom “All sizes in MB”

There is no way they’re putting a terabyte of on-board memory into new units.

Agreed. Nor are they. 1024MB = 1GB.

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Blackhawk

Lyricist I

Whichever way you look at this, it’s just not an acceptable situation. I’m not affected anywhere near as badly as other Sonos customers have been with this obsolescence announcement. However I’m still very angry that my Play 5 Sonos Gen 1 would no longer be supported when it was only bought in October 2017. I’ve also read Patrick Spence’s damage limitation email, which whilst it was encouraging in some areas, it doesn’t answer all the questions for me. If a product that is just over two years old is becoming obsolete how much life has the rest of my Sonos system? That is a big question for me. I was about to buy the Sonos Playbase - a £900 addition to my system, but this announcement has put a stop to this. I will not buy another Sonos product until Mr Spence and his team sort this debacle out.

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F

Finn1000

Enthusiast I

It is time to remind everyone here that is angry - be grateful that all legacy products have line in, and say: All hail, Line In…

Doesn't help those aggrieved by having traded in their line in jacks though.

So they should at £500 each.

what about those stuck with play 1 & 3 s

3’s not effected at moment, absolutely no guarantee what’s going to happen later.

Perhaps that’s the reason there is no jack port, because they were always planned to be disposable!

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Melinda_3

Contributor I

This is my first post, from someone who usually stays away from online forums, but I am so disappointed I need to vent.

I have been building my Sonos system for around 8 years, a new speaker every year or two (oldest Play:5, newest Move). We would rave about this to friends and family. For Sonos, this was perfect - on ongoing cash stream for ever, with word of mouth advertising thrown in.

What was great about it: centrally controllable sound all over the house. Sure the newer items feel nicer, but fancy features do not matter a jot.

In one swoop, this model has been destroyed and everyone is a loser. My system will be broken up into separate networks, which defeats the USP. It is anathema to me to send perfectly good kit to be recycled/landfill for expensive and unnecessary upgrade. If I buy a new piece of equipment it now adds to my problem rather than helps solve it.

Unless money and environmental concern are absolutely no object surely new equipment is now uninvestible.

What do I want? A cast-iron commitment to be able to continue with the functionality I currently have for my old units and latest functionality new units, all controlled/grouped from a single interface. Until Sonos convince me of above - and that they do not intend to snatch it away again - their offering has become toxic.

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Sparkyboots

Enthusiast I

sm75382

Anything caught your eye that you think could replace a playbar?

The bowers and Wilkins bar has certainly caught my eye, I was very close to buying one on Friday but I’m holding off any purchases aside from dumb components until i figure out what the future holds

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K

Kumar

what about those stuck with play 1 & 3 s

Should consider themselves warned and not happy that they have been left out of the cull; seeing the memory of just 64Mb in them, there is no place for them too in the Sonos Brave New World.

Those in the cull are actually the fortunate ones, they have line in jacks...but then there are those that succumbed to the Trade up stunt that used the 30% to get non line in products. But that is also not bad, those have 5 plus years left in them, perhaps even 10. Except for the financial hit they have incurred, but there is decent value received. Which would have been even better, if the recycled bricking nonsense had not been there as a condition for the discount.

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DK_Madsen

Enthusiast II

If you bring modern devices along with legacy devices into a legacy build it’ll still be possible to add all Sonos products currently available for sale to a legacy system. They’ll all update to the correct legacy build.

So i am going to stay at the legacy level, because of my Play 1 1.gen that i dont want to discard as it is working just fine.

Will it be possible for me to buy a second hand Play 5 1.gen to add to my system or can i only add legacy devices that i own this May.

And what about second hand modern devices, can they be downgraded, even though they have been in the previous owners system on the “modern level” or is it only new, store bought “modern” devices that can be added ?

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K

Kumar

@Melinda_3 Head over to the link if you want to discuss in a quieter place with like minded folks where at a minimum, your head will not hurt so much because how fast the thread is scrolling.

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-software-228995/the-sonos-brexit-and-a-pragmatic-way-past-it-6836056

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