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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John B

What you are missing is that they never said that speakers were going to be ‘bricked’. They always said that updates would cease but the speakers would continue to function. This thread has set new standards in misunderstanding and misinformation among the user base, and not in a good way.

Question, John. After this policy takes effect, will my whole house audio system still be a whole house system? The value of Sonos has always been as a system, not the individual units. Don’t take my word for it, have a look at the marketing messages al over their website.

’Bricking’ is a euphemism. Originally it was reserved for doing permanent, irreversible damage to some technology (you know, like Sonos do if you accept their kind ‘trade up’ offer). These days plenty of things get referred to as being ‘bricked’ when the damage is bit that immediate or permanent.

Not in my world. ‘Bricked’ means ‘made as much use as a brick’. Anyway, I was addressing a particular poster who also referred to a ‘U-turn’, so that particular person clearly thought something major had changed, and it hadn’t.

Bricks are useful - I can build a house with them! Sonos speakers that won’t group into zones or whole house with other speakers, or perhaps won’t play certain services due to API changes, are less useful - because they are landfill. We’re not at that stage yet, of course, I realise that, and MOST others do… but would I buy a new Sonos product right now? Not a chance.

I respect and understand that view. But given that I would be very confident of at least 10 years service out of a speaker bought tomorrow - with the exception of Playbar or Playbase probably - I would unhesitatingly buy Sonos speakers at this time.

I realise of course that people’s situations differ.

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user_end_of_lifed

Enthusiast II

And the answer to ‘whole home’. Yes, if you stay in legacy mode. Don’t think we know yet exactly what it will look like if the system is ‘mixed’. I wasn’t addressing that point and what does my view matter anyway?

At which point your whole system is a dead system walking, isn’t it? After all, Sonos say that there is no capability in the existing system for further changes. So you have a 100% legacy system which will atrophy over time, or (what they’re probably hoping for) it will start to die, then you’ll decide to cut the older units loose so that the newer ones can receive fixes.

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John B

And the answer to ‘whole home’. Yes, if you stay in legacy mode. Don’t think we know yet exactly what it will look like if the system is ‘mixed’. I wasn’t addressing that point and what does my view matter anyway?

At which point your whole system is a dead system walking, isn’t it? After all, Sonos say that there is no capability in the existing system for further changes. So you have a 100% legacy system which will atrophy over time, or (what they’re probably hoping for) it will start to die, then you’ll decide to cut the older units loose so that the newer ones can receive fixes.

I think we’ll have to see. That is probably what is going to happen for some users, and we don’t really know whether that process will start in 6 months or be barely noticeable for years. For all the anger, I think people should wait and see. I don’t know if Sonos are ‘hoping’ for that. They may well be expecting it - I have no idea.

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rich5050uk

Contributor II

If Google can create a small dongle that can do video streams and multi-room audio for only £30; Why can’t Sonos create a dongle that plugs into the network socket of these “legacy” speakers to handle the processing and pass through a simple music stream……..The answer is they could, they just think they can make more money sending them to landfill.

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billiejoe87

Chromatic Producer I

What you are missing is that they never said that speakers were going to be ‘bricked’. They always said that updates would cease but the speakers would continue to function. This thread has set new standards in misunderstanding and misinformation among the user base, and not in a good way.

Question, John. After this policy takes effect, will my whole house audio system still be a whole house system? The value of Sonos has always been as a system, not the individual units. Don’t take my word for it, have a look at the marketing messages al over their website.

’Bricking’ is a euphemism. Originally it was reserved for doing permanent, irreversible damage to some technology (you know, like Sonos do if you accept their kind ‘trade up’ offer). These days plenty of things get referred to as being ‘bricked’ when the damage is bit that immediate or permanent.

Not in my world. ‘Bricked’ means ‘made as much use as a brick’. Anyway, I was addressing a particular poster who also referred to a ‘U-turn’, so that particular person clearly thought something major had changed, and it hadn’t.

Bricks are useful - I can build a house with them! Sonos speakers that won’t group into zones or whole house with other speakers, or perhaps won’t play certain services due to API changes, are less useful - because they are landfill. We’re not at that stage yet, of course, I realise that, and MOST others do… but would I buy a new Sonos product right now? Not a chance.

I respect that view. But given that I would be very confident of at least 10 years service out of a speaker bought tomorrow - with the exception of Playbar or Playbase probably - I would unhesitatingly buy Sonos speakers at this time.

Sonos is one of the only if not the only audio company that up until it’s latest products has never supported an open standard like Bluetooth. They have always told everyone the benefits of Sonosnet over Bluetooth. They never told anyone the risks of them virtually rendering your speakers useless if they stop supporting them. The newer speakers are somewhat better with Airplay 2 Support at least for apple devices.

You can say all this is common knowledge but people have a right to believe audio equipment will keep working until the hardware dies as this is how it’s always been for audio equipment in the past. I can play music over bluetooth to a cheap receiver or soundbar from a decade ago and know I will be able to for as long as bluetooth is around regardless of new versions of bluetooth coming out.

Sonos has essentially sold everyone on the benefits of their own proprietary system and people paid good money for that system over Bluetooth alternatives. Now Sonos have decided to turn that system on it’s head and make it a huge disadvantage.

Imagine if for example when Intel & Co came up with USB and encouraged people away from the old serial and parallel ports, that suddenly by releasing USB 2 and later USB 3 they just decided to make everything incompatible with anyone using the previous USB version? No-one with USB 1 obviously expects higher speeds, but they do expect their devices to still be able to work at the speed they bought it for. This same analogy has been successful with Apple Airplay, Bluetooth, Blu Ray to DVD etc. Which is why Sonos refusing to do the same for their loyal customer’s is very hard to take.

People have a right to be pissed off.

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1 x Arc, 1 x Beam Gen 2, 1 x Amp, 2 x Sonos In Ceiling Speakers, 2 x Sub, 4 x Sonos Ones, 2 x Sonos Era 100, 5 x Symfonisk Lamp (Gen 2)

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8joycem

Lyricist III

I think I’m looking for 2 things from Sonos.

Decent offer, solution & support for those who have legacy kit
A statement on “modern” kit. Is it likely that at some point that my Play:1’s (for example) will become legacy? is all the current Sonos kit at risk of becoming legacy within then next 10 years? - or are we done now? or are the Play:1’s next?

When I look at the memory/storage of the Gen1 Play: 5, I can see that is significantly lower that then Gen2, so maybe you have a case? - although I would still argue, you should have designed the ability to upgrade & future proof all your kit from the start or provide a compelling offer for legacy users to upgrade.

Without an answer to #2, I definitely won’t be buying any more Sonos kit. And am in the process of upgrading my house, so I was on the lookout more Sonos. But that’s on hold until I get some clarity on future support.

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NO MORE SONOS

Trending Lyricist I

“Our business model is simple — we sell products which people pay for once, and we make them better over time with software updates.”

This shows you how full of **** this CEO is. The quote is from this year when he testified at a Congressional hearing about bigger companies having a monopoly.

He must have known about the announcement at the time. It's going to be really difficult for me to trust this company again with it's current leadership.

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#BoycottSonos

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john at poulton

Enthusiast I

This thread was created to provide ‘clarification’ yet little is forthcoming. Many questions are being posed, some directly, others less so and mentioned by contributors only within posts as part of subsidiary issues. I have posed several questions myself which people have presumably chosen to disregard as being of little relevance to their own personal circumstances.

The fact is very few of our concerns are being addressed and in the meantime many questions are being lost in the avalanche of posts amidst all the ‘rage’. Trouble at the moment is many of the questions are, of necessity, hypothetical, if Sonos does this will I be able to do that. I wonder if anyone at Sonos is identifying and collating these questions, I would hope so but if not maybe that is a job for the forum community itself. A table of questions that can be added to would maybe be useful.

What’s the old expression - “Act in haste, repent at leisure”. People need to think things through before rushing, we’ve already witnessed a lot of trade-up remorse as people realise that it probably wasn’t the ideal option for them to have taken.

For now Sonos should be renamed “SonoWhat”!

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amun

And the answer to ‘whole home’. Yes, if you stay in legacy mode. Don’t think we know yet exactly what it will look like if the system is ‘mixed’. I wasn’t addressing that point and what does my view matter anyway?

At which point your whole system is a dead system walking, isn’t it? After all, Sonos say that there is no capability in the existing system for further changes. So you have a 100% legacy system which will atrophy over time, or (what they’re probably hoping for) it will start to die, then you’ll decide to cut the older units loose so that the newer ones can receive fixes.

If Sonos are only maintaining one legacy build, then it’s more that it won’t be getting new facilities, rather than all changes. Up until now they’ve been running on a unified code base, which is what has, arguably, caused the problem. For a legacy release, there is nothing to stop them stripping out all the useless code that the old kit can’t support (e.g. voice), thereby releasing space for things that do matter - e.g. bug fixes and future changes to streaming services. Obviously, they may choose not to do this….

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MIBUK

Enthusiast II

From what i have seen, the electronics inside the IKEA Symfonisk is exactly the same as inside the Play 1, with the only difference being that the Symfonisk has 256Mbyte instead of 64Mbyte

The Symfonisk is essentially identical to a play 1 inside, apparently.

Yes, the Symfonisk is the same PCB but with added ram and rom

Should be an easy retrofit when the Play 1 is obsoleted in a couple of years….If they have not changed the PCB in the Symfonisk or stopped selling it.

If you think about a Symfonisk is more functional than a play 1.. when Sonos brick your Symfonisk in a few years you can at least continue to use it as a shelf.

You do know that they put a kill switch on the rear bracket don’t you? When Spence approves a particular software update, it falls off the wall… Though he may not be around to approve it.

But who wants the aesthetically challenged IKEA products?

This is the problem I am having in researching a alternative to SONOS. I like the way my products look. Most of what I am seeing and either just plain ugly or they are too much over the top for my taste. I like the simplicity of the design I have now. The Amazon Echos come closest in that department in my opinion. But they don’t have a equivalent to a “sonos connect” right?

To maybe answer your question RE: Sonos Connect Amazon equivalent - I’m looking at the Echo Link Amp and Echo Link at the moment among many other options (check them out on Amazon if you haven’t seen), and trying to figure out my going forward strategy - as I’m done with Sonos.

I am doing a backyard, California room renovation and was going to go with Moves for around pool and Amps and a Playbar, Sub for TV etc, but of course I’ve discarded that idea. Looking at the Bose 51 hard wired outdoor speakers now (instead of Moves), and trying to decide how to get rid of Sonos completely for the rest of the project . . .

. . . even thinking about a hardwired AV receiver now . . .

. . . it’s crazy like someone said above. Sonos was a default no question purchase before this fiasco for me. I wouldn’t even consider price or competitively shop - that’s how well the previous leaders built the Sonos brand! And I’ve gone from that to “never again” in 1 week - and I’m telling everyone I brought over to Sonos to get out of their ecosystem because they can change your functionality (or shut you down) on a whim (based upon what they see as to their financial benefit) - and they are testing those whims now.

I am convinced they may go out of business because of this brand destruction - and all my speakers will eventually die. In my 52 years of life I cannot think of any company that I have turned against so quickly . . . it’s amazing really . . . it would be hard to do worse in terms of destroying a brand if one really, really (did I say really) tried. I laugh and imagine the leaders at Sonos sitting around the boardroom table (like in a Dilbert cartoon) and saying - “hey, let’s destroy this company and our brand - who has the best idea about how we can do it?”

The sad thing is, the employees that built this (and us the customers) will be the ones that suffer. The leaders will profit when someone swoops in and buys them to pick-up the pieces after the stock drops to 5 . . .

I think the miscalculation that Sonos and Patrick made was that they did not understand the intelligence of their average user. People agreed to pay a Sonos premium because they understood the value in backwards compatibility, a whole house system (ie: we do not want segregated legacy and new systems), etc (ie: ROI). And also, to pay the premium, their customers naturally have to be somewhat successful in general and have substantial disposable income. People that fit that description are not dumb and can read through corporate BS when they see it.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R8NCXGTMM7E13?

Quite a few limitations re: Echo Link.

For my part, I’ve read post after post with sentiments akin to “why would anyone buy Sonos now?” that while not unfounded by any means, often miss the greater point… if the next thought is to look toward other companies with similar capabilities then, basically, the moral of this Sonos story is not being heard.

Everyone should take pause and quickly realize that this will be repeated, with every other manufacturer of “smart audio” as it were, and likely on far shorter product cycles than we’re witnessing with Sonos. Be very mindful if you begin looking for alternatives, slow down and consider what it is you’re doing and why. If speaker wire doesn’t factor into your replacement plans then take a step back. This is an industry problem, not just a Sonos problem.

But that’s the point. Now the illusion of Sonos has shattered, people are looking eslewhere, some for the first time. But this time, they’re looking at far cheaper alternatives with the knowledge that there is a limit of between 5 to 10 years. 500 on a Sonos amp that may become legacy in 5 to 10 years or 200 on a cheaper, good enough product. Multiply that by 5, 10 or 20 products and the savings start to mount up. Now that Sonos have dropped a bomb onto their brand, who knows if it will survive in the short to medium term. It will depend on that detailed unambiguous response. To not have an action plan in place before announcing legacy items, is for me a sackable offence and the CEO should take a long look in the mirror. Sonos purchases have probably dried up waiting for clarity. That alone will hit them hard. So as every week goes by without an answer that satifies its customers/ambassadors, the bigger the hit to their bottom line. CEOs get sacked for that.

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Act in haste, repent at leisure.

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