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Ryan S
Ryan S
Retired Sonos Staff
Jan 22, 2020 3:20 PM UTC

End of Software Support - Clarifications

  • Dec 8, 2022 11:29 AM UTC
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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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    hongkien66
    hongkien66
    Avid Contributor I
    Jan 29, 2020 2:00 AM UTC

    The question that i like an answer to is if its worth investing in another play5 gen 2 or will that also get obsolet? Wanted to have 4 of them but thats alot of money if they decide to release a gen3 and stop selling the gen2 which gives my speakers only 5 years after they got canceled, but 256MB is alot better than 32, 

    guessing gen3 Will have 1024MB

     

    should i buy the little ones with 1024 and sacrifice the bass or have faith and go with gen2

    milliondollar question for me! Thanks in advance 

     

     

    I’m also in the same situation as you. I’m also planning to buy stereo pair of play 5 gen 2 but I’m just worried that gen 3 will be release soon. I think that 256mb could last around 7-8 years more.

    Translate
      Tontonlayson
      Lyricist I
      Jan 29, 2020 2:33 AM UTC

      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

      As promised you said to continue adding sonos products as you go along,well if i cant merge my recent ones if they became ond with the latest ones,then what for?Im planning to purchase sonos5 gen 2 but ill hold till everything clears...i expect you to make good of that commitment.

      Translate
        hongkien66
        hongkien66
        Avid Contributor I
        Jan 29, 2020 3:10 AM UTC

        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

        As promised you said to continue adding sonos products as you go along,well if i cant merge my recent ones if they became ond with the latest ones,then what for?Im planning to purchase sonos5 gen 2 but ill hold till everything clears...i expect you to make good of that commitment.

        Yea I do know that they will work normally after the EoL but if they won't able to group with each other that would defeat the whole purpose of sonos right? I bought the pair to replace the 1st gen. I have heard that they sound quite better than the 1st, airplay too. 

        Translate
          Bruno Santos
          Trending Lyricist I
          Jan 29, 2020 4:10 AM UTC


          Sonos is changing from a product selling company to a RENTAL audio device company.

          And you pay full price (premium price) without knowing the RENTAL period!!

           

          I have a Play5 manufactured in 2013 that right now will become “legacy”. It is less then 10 years. So, right now I have half of my system (2 connect:amp, Play5 and bridge) officially legacy (1600 us$ original price). The “core” of my whole house system and none of them have more of 10 years!! (2012 and 2013 products)

           

          The other half, play one, play3, playbar and beam are gonna last?? Probably play3 and playbar not long if Sonos change to this new “philosophy”.

           

          Sonos makes sense if it connects all in zones and makes difference compared to other manufacturers because you are able to create a system with multiple units grouped wirelessly and to play internet content, but the “downside” is that it costs a lot of money to create a system.

           

          With the new Sonos approach (in my point of view stupid), the customer instead of buying the best unit for a specific room, customers will be encouraged to select the newest one, like a RENTAL.

           

          Therefore, if it is the way Sonos will choose, the price range and price reductions over a year needs to be considered as in any cellphone sale.. otherwise, I believe that many customers will avoid the brand, including myself.

           

          Finally, Sonos did not explain yet what’s the plan (in details), but so far, the original idea was to split systems (legacy and modern), what will force, in a short term, to “brick” legacy units as soon as API are changed and the system stops to receive internet content and are not able to group with modern units.

           

          Translate
            Daniel88
            Avid Contributor I
            Jan 29, 2020 4:39 AM UTC

            The question that i like an answer to is if its worth investing in another play5 gen 2 or will that also get obsolet? Wanted to have 4 of them but thats alot of money if they decide to release a gen3 and stop selling the gen2 which gives my speakers only 5 years after they got canceled, but 256MB is alot better than 32, 

            guessing gen3 Will have 1024MB

             

            should i buy the little ones with 1024 and sacrifice the bass or have faith and go with gen2

            milliondollar question for me! Thanks in advance 

            I’m also in the same situation as you. I’m also planning to buy stereo pair of play 5 gen 2 but I’m just worried that gen 3 will be release soon. I think that 256mb could last around 7-8 years more.

            hopefully they will answer the question, i also think that the gen2 should last many years from now considering that the 32MB gen1 lasted for 10 years, and the gen2 has 256mb 

             

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            ausono
            Enthusiast I
            Jan 29, 2020 5:45 AM UTC

            At this stage I’m just glad Sonos haven’t sent me any more ransom demands in the last week.

            That first email was so extreme I thought they were going to start sending me severed pieces of my system in the mail.

            Translate
              DK_Madsen
              Enthusiast II
              Jan 29, 2020 7:58 AM UTC

               

              As I see it, we don’t need to change the chips, it would make sense to make the software less bloated.
              It’s all working as is, what possible extra functionality could be required moving forward other than ever more streaming services?

              I can’t think of anything that speakers could do, other than network, user control functions, stream, read from NAS, update a server with statistics, listen and act upon voice. All of which it already does.

              What else is there?

              I appreciate that if the memory needs to be loaded up with programs on how to handle every single streaming service (and whether you use Alexa or not) etc …. then have those things as options in the controlling app. If the user doesn’t want 50 streaming services, then just only upload the 1 or 2 that are in use to the network of sonos devices.

              I agree, the “Same software on all devices” strategy is really dumb.

               

              If the Play 5 struggles with ram and storage, it should be possible to fork out and take the firmware that is barely able to fit the play 5 and remove all of the functionality that it does not support anyway.

              Airplay 2

              Voice command / Microphone

              Functions only used on other speakers...Soundbar, sub, etc.

               

              I would bet they would be able to free up a bit of room.

               

              This would be the legacy software, every time they made changes to the legacy part of the software for all the “modern” devices, they would just need to do the exact same changes in the legacy software.

              It can not be the processor that is the problem, because it already does everything today, so why should it not be able to keep doing it...It’s not like anyone is expecting new processor hungry features on the legacy devices.

               

              I would also expect them to do their best to update the legacy software in case for example spotify changes something on their stream….Unless it is something that the processor can not handle, but i would suggest that Spotify would also be interested in keeping legacy support for fear of loosing costumers that would no longer be able to listen to their music otherwise.

              Translate
                user_end_of_lifed
                Enthusiast II
                Jan 29, 2020 8:09 AM UTC

                Having been a fairly regular contributor to this thread for the last week I agree that all that needs to be said has been said quite a few times now, so I’m ducking out unless Sonos release any new information that substantially changes things.

                My parting observation to Sonos would be, don’t mistake this ducking out by me (and the many others that will make the same call sooner or later) as evidence that your strategy is working. I’ve just got better things to do with my time than keep rechewing this fat.

                These threads will go dead, the tech press articles will die down but I’m still not going to buy any more Sonos kit. I’m still going to change my advice from ‘yes, it’s great’ to ‘it’s an expensive trap, avoid’.

                Maybe the stock isn’t going to crash overnight, but I’d be very surprised if Sonos is still the making the same kind of sales a year from now.

                Translate
                  Stuart_17
                  Enthusiast II
                  Jan 29, 2020 8:32 AM UTC

                  @user_end_of_lifed 

                  me too.  It has cost me way too much time over the past week.  I am going to leave this thread now and wait until May, when I suspect all hell will break loose again.

                  And in the meantime, will I be buying or recommending any Sonos products?  Absolutely not!

                  Translate
                    MIBUK
                    Enthusiast II
                    Jan 29, 2020 9:05 AM UTC

                    @user_end_of_lifed

                    me too.  It has cost me way too much time over the past week.  I am going to leave this thread now and wait until May, when I suspect all hell will break loose again.

                    And in the meantime, will I be buying or recommending any Sonos products?  Absolutely not!

                    You’ve hit the nail on the head. Delaying to May is in my mind, crazy. The current customer base won’t be buying or upgrading their units and they will be telling others to NOT buy Sonos. The reviews on the likes of Amazon won’t help either. The customers who do buy either don’t care or aren’t aware of the current situation. But they will in the future and history will repeat itself. Act in haste, repent at leisure, but in this case, they need to repent very quickly. It’s common sense in my world. Maybe when the reality hits the executives and shareholders, will they react quicker. I suspect we’ll discover more on Feb 5 when Partick Spence announces the company’s results. I hope so!

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                    Act in haste, repent at leisure.
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