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Ryan S
Ryan S
Retired Sonos Staff
January 22, 2020

End of Software Support - Clarifications

End of Software Support - Clarifications

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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    4256 replies

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    morgan4x4
    Enthusiast II
    January 22, 2020

    Hello to Sonos and their community.

    I haven’t read every single comment on this thread, but it would seem that a lot of people are unhappy. My comment, for what it’s worth, is that I bear no animosity towards Sonos. It is inevitable that this will happen to every “smart” device at some point. Sonos, are just the first to do it. To name a few, we have had Bose, Yamaha, Denon, and B&O speakers over the last couple of years. We were in search of superior sound and only found it in Sonos. Where Bose is concerned, they do have a relatively good sound, but the software and services that are included in both their SoundTouch, and Smart devices, is incredibly limited. We had many negative experiences, with every device, until we bought Sonos. Yes, their “legacy” announcement was a shock, but it is not going to be the only company to do this. Sonos are just the first to do it. The hardware in their “legacy” devices, has simply reached its limit and can no longer be “confidently” updated. If Sonos are to remain ahead of their competitors, in a saturated market, then they have to make controversial and difficult decisions such as this.

    Perhaps you are right… but for me it requires a new investment of $5,500 to modernize 16 components in order to get full use out of the 10 more recent ones. 
     

    as a long term Sonos advocate don’t you think they would have a better solution for folks like myself rather than alienating us?

     

    Right now I am screaming from the rooftops about how this is a company profiteering off the backs of people that helped make them successful. 
     

     

      Witthaus
      Trending Lyricist I
      January 22, 2020

      Everyone needs to go to trust pilot.com, and every review site they can think of, and let Sonos know how they feel!

        Malty
        Lyricist I
        January 22, 2020

        I have spent about £2000 on Sonos products and I am disgusted that this is happening. I also wish that I had not recommended this company to friends and family . I will not be giving Sonos any more of my money or recommending them in the future . Not exactly an environmentally friendly company asking you to scrap your perfectly serviceable speakers so they can sell more product . Sonos management have a PR disaster on their hands and are alienating loyal existing customers.

          morgan4x4
          Enthusiast II
          January 22, 2020

          When I walk through my home and notice one of my Sonos devices, I get angry all over again. I have 18 devices. They’re in almost every room. Even my bathroom. Awesome.

          26 devices here in two homes. So angry. 

          basecampmr
          Lyricist I
          January 22, 2020

          SONOS, I think you might be getting the sense you’ve let down your loyal customers in a big way here.  Your products are EXCELLENT and justify the premium price through the sound quality and durability that they possess.  I (and many others) have been loyal to your products and personally I have lost count of the number of friends and associates that I have convinced to install SONOS products in their homes.  Good quality audio equipment isn’t like a smartphone… where you replace it after 5 years.  It lasts for a long time if you take care of it.

          This announcement concerns me a lot and has damaged my opinion to the extent that I would hesitate to invest in any further SONOS products based on the new ‘lifespan’ that you have implied.  The competitive landscape has changed from when you introduced your products.  There are alternatives that (while they may also have a support lifespan) are much less expensive, and can be more logically depreciated over a 5 year life cycle.

          While the older SONOS products may be limited in their processor capacity, please consider reversing your decision, and continue to support them.  It is understandable that some of the third party products may eventually not work on the old SONOS units.  We get that.  But please don’t declare your own products obsolete!  You risk losing a large and powerful virtual sales force, in the form of your loyal users!  Don’t forget to work that into your business case.

            Chris Stan
            Lyricist II
            January 22, 2020

            Echo everything said and have posted my feelings already. What I don’t understand is why they don’t build a legacy bridge that passes music to the legacy products. That device could have decent processing power and memory to say cater for 10 devices and be used to pass spotify/tidal/etc to the legacy devices. 

             

            Give a loyalty discount to purchase the device for people affected and you would keep everyone happy.

             

            I have a play 5 to support my turntable and a bit of Tidal but I am very wary of buying a Sub/Soundbar setup now due to the same thing could happen in future. 

              sc15
              Lyricist I
              January 22, 2020

              Urgent Warning to Sonos Shareholders:

              SELL - SELL - SELL!!

              Sonos just destroyed the brand.

              I will never buy Sonos again.

                morgan4x4
                Enthusiast II
                January 22, 2020

                Everyone needs to go to trust pilot.com, and every review site they can think of, and let Sonos know how they feel!

                I’m about ready to start a campaign to get every disgruntled Sonos customer to go to Amazon and rate every device 1 star.  It won’t take long to knock them into the 3 star range.  that will hit sales BIG TIME. 

                  Greek99
                  Contributor I
                  January 22, 2020

                  Disgraceful, you should offer at least 50% to your loyal customer base, 30% is a joke, brand ruined in a day, well done!

                    Jeremy Allison
                    Enthusiast I
                    January 22, 2020

                    “What we have here is a failure to communicate..”

                     

                    I’m affected by this to the tune of 3 Play:5’s and 3 Connect’s, so I’m not a disinterested bystander.

                     

                    Trying to take a step back and look at this - I think the fundamental mistake Sonos have made here is that they thought they were an electronics device company. But they are selling devices that allow people to connect to *music*. That makes things different to a phone or a TV, which are essentially seen as replacable and upgradable objects.

                     

                    Music is different. Music affects people on a deep emotional level. The best audio brand names get this. They sell an *experience*, not hardware.

                     

                    I think Sonos used to get this, but maybe the upper management have changed to people who thought they were in the electronics business. They are not, and they are about to discover this fact very painfully. I doubt the company will survive this. People are perceiving this, rightly or wrongly, as Sonos trying to take their music away (I know that is my gut reaction too).

                     

                    They should have hired ex-Apple execs. Apple would never have made this mistake. They understand what they sell and it’s not hardware.

                     

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