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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J

John B

I understand the anger at the original announcement (and I have a Bridge and a Connect that are affected by it), but I have to confess that I don’t understand the continuing anger now. Sonos have said that legacy products will continue to be supported for as long as possible, but that they won’t get new features due to the limitations of the hardware. This seems like a pretty reasonable stance to me.

They deserve criticism for misreading the lay of the land, but equally they deserve some credit for responding quickly with a reasonable compromise.

You need to brush up on your reading comprehension if you think there's been any sort of "compromise". My apologies, but all of the responses I've seen here, and received via multiple emails, have said the exact same thing. Sonos clearly does not value those of us who have been here since the beginning. They seem to be standing their ground on this betrayal of trust, as such, I will stand by my promise to never buy their products again and will go above and beyond to help my friends and family avoid making the same mistake I did. It was fun while it lasted, but I prefer to support companies with at least a little bit of integrity.

Well, I would have to agree that there has not been a compromise. It isn’t yet clear what a ‘split system’ will involve, but it may not be regarded as adequate by the posters angry at the whole thing.

I respect the right of others to feel as they do, but I happen to believe that ‘betrayel of trust’ and suggestions of a lack of integrity are completely unjustified. Let’s agree to differ on that.

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wazzamatazz

Lyricist II

I understand the anger at the original announcement (and I have a Bridge and a Connect that are affected by it), but I have to confess that I don’t understand the continuing anger now. Sonos have said that legacy products will continue to be supported for as long as possible, but that they won’t get new features due to the limitations of the hardware. This seems like a pretty reasonable stance to me.

They deserve criticism for misreading the lay of the land, but equally they deserve some credit for responding quickly with a reasonable compromise.

You need to brush up on your reading comprehension if you think there's been any sort of "compromise". My apologies, but all of the responses I've seen here, and received via multiple emails, have said the exact same thing. Sonos clearly does not value those of us who have been here since the beginning. They seem to be standing their ground on this betrayal of trust, as such, I will stand by my promise to never buy their products again and will go above and beyond to help my friends and family avoid making the same mistake I did. It was fun while it lasted, but I prefer to support companies with at least a little bit of integrity.

I’ll brush up on my reading comprehension if you brush up on your manners.

I’ve not been with Sonos since “the beginning”, but I’ve been using their products for 9 years and I don't feel undervalued or betrayed. I have products that are affected by the recent announcements. The letter from the CEO very specifically says that they’re working on a way to allow the older products to co-exist with the newer ones; I consider this to be a compromise. What would your preferred solution to the situation be?

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K

Kumar

I don’t understand the continuing anger now. Sonos have said that legacy products will continue to be supported for as long as possible, but that they won’t get new features due to the limitations of the hardware. This seems like a pretty reasonable stance to me.

The problem that still remains is that if one wants one’s modern products that will keep getting updates to remain part of a whole house music system that contains legacy products, that’s not going to happen. This is a problem because Sonos has differentiated itself as not just a speaker seller but one that sells a multi room home audio solution.

How much this justifies the continuing anger, is hard to say.

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A

attacama40

Headliner I

Let’s try to keep the language clean everyone. I removed a couple posts above that had an inappropriate word in an image.

Good morning Ryan, I for one am encouraged by your message yesterday despite some frustrated days and reading and considering alternatives.

However (and not to add to any already repeated anger) I would repeat my several times posted request (and I think I speak for many folks) that we need a ROADMAP by the end of this week to reassure previously loyal high paying customers.

We had the original email that lit the fire

We saw your best intentions to inform - they were appreciated

We saw your top man’s email to reassure

…..All Good BUT….

Now we need a solid WHAT IS IT and WHAT IT WILL NOT BE message by the end of this week.

That’s a good 7 day period since your CEO’s reassurance message and will put 90% of the fire out.

And I don’t mean a ‘WHAT IT IS CHRISTMAS LIST’ but a reassurance or STATEMENT OF INTENTION as to what precisely Sonos aims to do and by when.

For those of us not intent on burying Sonos and who want to carry on buying and enjoying, this will likely be enough to keep us listening and rational. In love with Sonos? That’s going to take a lot more wine, chocolates and roses … but you get the point.

Please drop this on your management teams desk this morning and defy them to say it’s not a reasonable way forward.

Not to bump my own words but ….. 24 HOURS TO GO TO EXPECT A CLEAR STATEMENT

Please escalate it Ryan, it’s the reasonable way forward for us. Been 6 days since the holding statement.

It’s interesting to discuss technical options (and it really is) but I don’t claim to have any of that ‘stuff’. That’s why I come to Sonos.

But I do know that a clear STATEMENT OF INTENTION will absolutely build on previous messages successfully. Good or bad as that may be.

Please raise it Ryan. I cannot believe for a second that your top brass is not asking for a summary each day. THIS IS WHAT THE PEOPLE WANT.

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K

Kumar

It is also true that many angry posts are not angry about the issue that remains, but some other imagined problem. Unfortunately, the very poor way in which Sonos has handled this entire imbroglio has lit a fire and as in forest fires, there is no knowing how that will spread, and is the spread justified.

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HelterSkelter

Enthusiast II

Just had this email from support -

Hello Michael,

I know the older products can't support audio sampled at 96 KHz with a 24 bit depth. That would be one thing that newer products with more processing power and a larger buffer could handle that the older products can't. I don't know if there are plans for newer products to support high res audio, but that is one example of something the older products can't do that the newer ones could.

I do know that there are new products that will support things the older products just can't. I really can't talk about what.

——————-

I find this all so frustrating.

I don’t know what 24-bit depth is, I didn’t ask for it, I wasn’t asked if I wanted it. don’t know if my ears could hear it, and it’s only an example of what newer kit ‘could’ do.

Once again Sonos, missing the point as far as I’m concerned 😕

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John B

This is just a support guy. Don't treat it as if he were a spokesman. HiRes is a terrible example for this particular individual to have chosen.

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andy_120

Enthusiast II

This is just a support guy. Don't treat it as if he were a spokesman. HiRes is a terrible example for this particular individual to have chosen.

I know Ryan is doing his best, but he is a spokesman for sonos, all employees will be spoksmen.

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K

Kumar

Just had this email from support -

Hello Michael,

I know the older products can't support audio sampled at 96 KHz with a 24 bit depth. That would be one thing that newer products with more processing power and a larger buffer could handle that the older products can't. I don't know if there are plans for newer products to support high res audio, but that is one example of something the older products can't do that the newer ones could.

I do know that there are new products that will support things the older products just can't. I really can't talk about what.

——————-

I find this all so frustrating.

I don’t know what 24-bit depth is, I didn’t ask for it, I wasn’t asked if I wanted it. don’t know if my ears could hear it, and it’s only an example of what newer kit ‘could’ do.

Once again Sonos, missing the point as far as I’m concerned

I find this to be a very interesting and even revealing quote. Why I think so is on:

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-software-228995/the-sonos-brexit-and-pragmatic-ways-past-it-6836056/index14.html#post16401355

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andy_120

Enthusiast II

I just watched the sonos video on there site, unbelievable that all the things that might happen with our systems is totally opposite to this video. This is false advertising.

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