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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ash105

Trending Lyricist I

It would be interesting to see how many people have traded up compared to how many who cannot and are in this nightmare situation. My Sonos like many is my music system and the background to my world….4 legacy products that I cannot afford to update. #soundofsilence

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andy_120

Enthusiast II

This has been posted before, but I’m repoasting as it gives the best view yet. Watch for does the ikea speaker come flatpacked 😭

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John B

It would be interesting to see how many people have traded up compared to how many who cannot and are in this nightmare situation. My Sonos like many is my music system and the background to my world….4 legacy products that I cannot afford to update. #soundofsilence

I suggest you carry on using your system as currently beyond May. That should fix the silence.

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ash105

Trending Lyricist I

Obviously I will be doing that…..just waiting for the radio to stop, then the streaming music services…..so it will only be my own record collection which as most I have not bought new records for a long time

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laaron

Lyricist I

Dear Sonos,

You can count me as another of your totally disappointed customers. At one point you were the only choice for wireless multi-room music. But now you’re not! I have invested thousands of dollar and pounds in installing sonos equipment in 3 homes - 2 in the USA and 1 in England. Never before have I had a vendor approach its customer service in quite this way. Unless the approach is totally rethought I will NEVER buy another Sonos product and never ever recommend Sonos to anyone. You have made a serious error of business judgement and lost me and others to the future. Really? Hold me to ransom to upgrade at only a 30% discount? Never!

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andy_120

Enthusiast II

Well it’s been over a week now, so I am now resigned to the fact the sonos will not change its decision. What this holds for the future who knows but one fact is certain. Never will I buy another sonos product or any other product with the same concept, users are just at the mercy of the manufacturers. I’m not rushing out to go with Yamaha or Bluesound but will keep using sonos as long as I can, once I lose the ability to stream my music one of two things will happen I stop my streaming subscription or I get a 3 rd party device to stream and distribute to sonos. Roon looks promising but not sure if it supports Napster ?.

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andy_120

Enthusiast II

Sonos maybe trying to ride the storm but how many are peed off that don’t post here or those who can’t be bothered to post. So this thread is slowing now but sonos will probably think we are all getting used to this now. The only thing I’m getting used to is the possibility of losing my streaming I’m just as peed now as when this started.

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MikeOinToronto

Lyricist III

Another more philosophical thought came to mind last night now that my initial anger has turned more to apathy.

Many, if not most of your customers probably bought into the Sonos ecosystem because of our disdain for "planned obsolescence". Sonos appeared to be one of the few technology companies that didn't buy into this philosophy.

Even more disturbing than the fact that specific products have become obsolete was the statement that we will guarantee products for five years after last production. That is the very definition of planned obsolescence. It puts any future purchase on a countdown to obsolescence and I suspect that in itself will turn many off of future purchases.

I understand some would like to see a guaranteed time period but I personally would feel better with once again having faith that planned obsolescence was not at all part of the corporate culture again.

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John B

Another more philosophical thought came to mind last night now that my initial anger has turned more to apathy.

Many, if not most of your customers probably bought into the Sonos ecosystem because of our disdain for "planned obsolescence". Sonos appeared to be one of the few technology companies that didn't buy into this philosophy.

Even more disturbing than the fact that specific products have become obsolete was the statement that we will guarantee products for five years after last production. That is the very definition of planned obsolescence. It puts any future purchase on a countdown to obsolescence and I suspect that in itself will turn many off of future purchases.

I understand some would like to see a guaranteed time period but I personally would feel better with once again having faith that planned obsolescence was not at all part of the corporate culture again.

It isn't planned obsolescence st all. It is just saying we cannot be sure what might be necessary so here is a worst case scenario.

It's not even obsolescence.

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G

Goodbye Sonos

Enthusiast II

Another more philosophical thought came to mind last night now that my initial anger has turned more to apathy.

Many, if not most of your customers probably bought into the Sonos ecosystem because of our disdain for "planned obsolescence". Sonos appeared to be one of the few technology companies that didn't buy into this philosophy.

Even more disturbing than the fact that specific products have become obsolete was the statement that we will guarantee products for five years after last production. That is the very definition of planned obsolescence. It puts any future purchase on a countdown to obsolescence and I suspect that in itself will turn many off of future purchases.

I understand some would like to see a guaranteed time period but I personally would feel better with once again having faith that planned obsolescence was not at all part of the corporate culture again.

It isn't planned obsolescence st all. It is just saying we cannot be sure what might be necessary so here is a worst case scenario.

It's not even obsolescence.

Yes it is planned obsolescence; statements like Sonos’ are the very definition of it

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