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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C

Cisume

Enthusiast II

speed, resolution, or bandwidth. And as has been stated before, Sonos buyers typically have numerous devices to play audio throughout their homes; how many cellphones, laptops, etc. does one typically own?

Yes to hear comparisons to cellphones or laptops is quite silly. I would think that cellphones are in the vast majority purchased on a contract plan with monthly payments or a device payment plan or leased at least in the US. To equip your house throughout is mostly (could be wrong) done over time. I thought this was one SONOS selling point. Even on your oldest smartphone you still can still use the functions it came originally the older networks still function. Old computers are still able to communicate with the latest generation and there are many more examples.

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chickentender

Very well stated. However, isn’t it still appropriate that we judge things in hindsight in order to express our disappointments with the past and be sure that we and those around us aren’t doomed to repeat them in the future? As you said, technology unknowns at the time are somewhat to blame, but Sonos does bear responsibility for some foresight if they are to be considered forerunners in the field. When a product is designed, there has to be forays into the unknown, or else there would be no technological advancement , would there? So the company should be judged by their ability to understand what the possible consequences of their actions are, and how successful they are at predicting them. That’s what makes them stand or fall by the wayside. Sonos included.

Boeing for instance, made one helluva misjudgment on the affects that changes they made on their 737 max would have on flight performance. They can’t pass that off to hindsight just because at the time they couldn’t forsee the consequences of their design decisions. The key is to find these problems out before you sell the product to your customers. The reason I use this example is because I spent 35 years in the aircraft design business, I know what it’s like.

Certainly so. I don't deny this is a watershed moment for Sonos. They’re a canary deep down the coal mine right now.

Just wanted to share this link, (relating to bolded above) posted by @Cisume in another thread. The article now seem very prescient and topical when reading over it now. Clearly foresight was in place. Arguably not enough, but how is that measured, and frankly I’m now surprised it’s taken this long to arrive where we are with Sonos considering the initial design philosophy.
https://www.eetimes.com/under-the-hood-sonos-brings-multi-zone-digital-audio-to-life/#

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Ryan SAuthor

Retired Sonos Staff

Why are there 125 pages when yesterday there was over 170?

Perhaps you had the number of replies per page shortened to 10 per page instead of the standard 25 posts per page, there weren’t 170 pages yesterday. Currently, including all deleted posts that have been made this thread, we’re only at about 3130 total messages, which is just over 25 full pages of 25.

@Winter S, if you purchased a Connect brand new that recently it shouldn’t be legacy. Any Connect still for sale from an official reseller should be 2015 version of the Connect which has some updated specs and is not a legacy product. In May, when the older version of the Connect becomes legacy, the 2015 Connect will continue on as a modern device. To check if you have a legacy device, you can go to your account page here: https://www.sonos.com/myaccount/system/households/devices/

Ryan,

isn’t this part of the problem? Sonos never informed customers of changes to the internals of the products. Why would I think that a Connect bought in 2016, even assuming that Sonos has perfect inventory management, would be any different than one bought in 2014? or for that matter why would a store feel the need to clear out their older inventory before putting the new shipment on the floor?

The fact is that I suspect that Sonos has been happy to continue selling the “same” product for years as it reinforced much of the messaging that it continues to deliver to this day (Everything works together…, Start with one speaker...). Consumers are reassured about slowly expanding their network when they see the product bought 10 years ago is still being sold without knowing that maintaining the outer shell was actually a bait and switch….

We learned from that confusion and have since added versions to the units that received proper refreshes after then. For example, the Sonos One gen2 came out quicker than our standard refresh cycle, and since it was a computing upgrade, we added the Gen2 to make sure people would know. There’s nothing Gen1 can’t do right now that you’d notice, but we wanted people to be aware that there is a new version.

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Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.

B

btodd78

Lyricist II

Under the current plan why would anyone with a majority of legacy devices upgrade any equipment now? If I was a person that had my whole house currently set up of mostly legacy equipment all incentives to buy new is gone. I would actually be looking to sell any modern equipment and looking to replace or add more legacy on the cheap from all the people trying to unload. Run the legacy as long as it lasts, I expect a couple more years before major service losses, and then replace the whole setup with something new. Most likely not Sonos.

But if they could keep the legacy working (grouping) with the modern equipment, just froze at current firmware I might slowly over time replace individual pieces of equipment with modern stuff. Maybe some of the stuff that they come out with now that the limitation of the older equipment is gone would be worth it to me to upgrade. I would be able to do it a piece at a time picking what rooms I needed the new functions in first, and at a pace I could afford.

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M

mrwarped

Lyricist III

Not much new, but some interesting tidbits. Not sure if it was already posted here:

https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/01/29/heres-why-sonos-customers-were-angry-about-plans-t.aspx

I promised myself I was done looking at this thread and commenting but after checking out this link I think I just stumbled on something very interesting, after reading the initial story I scrolled down to an earlier story saw this:-

“

Sonos sought to meet the challenge when it partnered with IKEA to have its speaker technology included in some of the Swedish furniture maker's products, like a lamp and wall shelf. Offering dual functionality, a sleek design, and an affordable price seems to be a good combination and demand has been reportedly robust.

It followed that bit of smart marketing with a rental program to allow cash-starved audiophiles rent a speaker package for a low monthly cost, but be guaranteed software updates and hardware upgrades when they became available. Although it's only currently being offered in the Netherlands, it seems likely this option could prove very popular, which would allow it to eventually be expanded into more countries.

Why cant I help thinking the content of the second paragraph could be linked to the Momentus May announcement!!! I can see it now

Hey kids we’re sorry we got it wrong and we love you all so very dearly were willing to offer you not 30%, not 40%, not even 50% trade in but, a whole year free rental of one of our Super New Sonos Speakers for Life.Thats right folks for a downpayent of only £/$399.95 we’ll give you a whole 12months free rental/lease and guarantee you hardware and software updates for life, that’s right folks, for life. All you’ll need to do is guarantee to sign up for a 24month contract and we’ll send you your shiny new speaker by return. (Normal rental/lease of £/$49.99 applies after 12 month free offer period)

Well its food for thought……...

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chickentender

speed, resolution, or bandwidth. And as has been stated before, Sonos buyers typically have numerous devices to play audio throughout their homes; how many cellphones, laptops, etc. does one typically own?

Yes to hear comparisons to cellphones or laptops is quite silly. I would think that cellphones are in the vast majority purchased on a contract plan with monthly payments or a device payment plan or leased at least in the US. To equip your house throughout is mostly (could be wrong) done over time. I thought this was one SONOS selling point. Even on your oldest smartphone you still can still use the functions it came originally the older networks still function. Old computers are still able to communicate with the latest generation and there are many more examples.

To be fair and accurate, functionality within Sonos has always been a moving target, which was always addressed and part of the appeal of the system…. in some ways now detriment to it in many cases, but not the detriment it could be.

e.g. When I first invested in Sonos, there was no voice integration, there was no Airplay2 capability, there wasn’t even Pandora Premium integration within or without the Sonos controller - Pandora Premium didn’t even exist. Nor did Tidal in its current form. Nor did Amazon Music. Or PLEX in its current form…. the list goes on.

If I leave my system as legacy TODAY, all those improvements/integrations are mine to keep (along with the initial core functions of zone-grouping and personal library playback) for as long as those integrations remain unchanged by the parties that control them… and none of those mentioned were functions that my system came and functioned with originally.

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M

MIBUK

Enthusiast II

Not much new, but some interesting tidbits. Not sure if it was already posted here:

https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/01/29/heres-why-sonos-customers-were-angry-about-plans-t.aspx

I promised myself I was done looking at this thread and commenting but after checking out this link I think I just stumbled on something very interesting, after reading the initial story I scrolled down to an earlier story saw this:-

“

Sonos sought to meet the challenge when it partnered with IKEA to have its speaker technology included in some of the Swedish furniture maker's products, like a lamp and wall shelf. Offering dual functionality, a sleek design, and an affordable price seems to be a good combination and demand has been reportedly robust.

It followed that bit of smart marketing with a rental program to allow cash-starved audiophiles rent a speaker package for a low monthly cost, but be guaranteed software updates and hardware upgrades when they became available. Although it's only currently being offered in the Netherlands, it seems likely this option could prove very popular, which would allow it to eventually be expanded into more countries.

Why cant I help thinking the content of the second paragraph could be linked to the Momentus May announcement!!! I can see it now

Hey kids we’re sorry we got it wrong and we love you all so very dearly were willing to offer you not 30%, not 40%, not even 50% trade in but, a whole year free rental of one of our Super New Sonos Speakers for Life.Thats right folks for a downpayent of only £/$399.95 we’ll give you a whole 12months free rental/lease and guarantee you hardware and software updates for life, that’s right folks, for life. All you’ll need to do is guarantee to sign up for a 24month contract and we’ll send you your shiny new speaker by return. (Normal rental/lease of £/$49.99 applies after 12 month free offer period)

Well its food for thought……...

Not sure I would see the value in that considering how much I could buy a competitors product. Imagine you subscribe to 10 units over 10 years. Full cost at 4000 up front. 40-50 a month as a subscription. Trade in after 10 years. Maybe, maybe not. Sounds too low for Sonos and another monthly cost on top of all the other subscription services. I guess competitors would copy it, but at a lower price point. Sonos value for me was the longevity, hence I was prepared to pay premium prices for that safety. Not anymore, unless they surprise us.

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Act in haste, repent at leisure.

M

mrwarped

Lyricist III

Not much new, but some interesting tidbits. Not sure if it was already posted here:

https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/01/29/heres-why-sonos-customers-were-angry-about-plans-t.aspx

I promised myself I was done looking at this thread and commenting but after checking out this link I think I just stumbled on something very interesting, after reading the initial story I scrolled down to an earlier story saw this:-

“

Sonos sought to meet the challenge when it partnered with IKEA to have its speaker technology included in some of the Swedish furniture maker's products, like a lamp and wall shelf. Offering dual functionality, a sleek design, and an affordable price seems to be a good combination and demand has been reportedly robust.

It followed that bit of smart marketing with a rental program to allow cash-starved audiophiles rent a speaker package for a low monthly cost, but be guaranteed software updates and hardware upgrades when they became available. Although it's only currently being offered in the Netherlands, it seems likely this option could prove very popular, which would allow it to eventually be expanded into more countries.

Why cant I help thinking the content of the second paragraph could be linked to the Momentus May announcement!!! I can see it now

Hey kids we’re sorry we got it wrong and we love you all so very dearly were willing to offer you not 30%, not 40%, not even 50% trade in but, a whole year free rental of one of our Super New Sonos Speakers for Life.Thats right folks for a downpayent of only £/$399.95 we’ll give you a whole 12months free rental/lease and guarantee you hardware and software updates for life, that’s right folks, for life. All you’ll need to do is guarantee to sign up for a 24month contract and we’ll send you your shiny new speaker by return. (Normal rental/lease of £/$49.99 applies after 12 month free offer period)

Well its food for thought……...

I know it’s bad form to reply to myself but I wanted to share this link, I was taking the mick But a quick google search popped this up! Think I just saw the future……

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7547409/Sonos-letting-customers-rent-speakers-16-month-service-expand-worldwide.html

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C

Cisume

Enthusiast II

speed, resolution, or bandwidth. And as has been stated before, Sonos buyers typically have numerous devices to play audio throughout their homes; how many cellphones, laptops, etc. does one typically own?

Yes to hear comparisons to cellphones or laptops is quite silly. I would think that cellphones are in the vast majority purchased on a contract plan with monthly payments or a device payment plan or leased at least in the US. To equip your house throughout is mostly (could be wrong) done over time. I thought this was one SONOS selling point. Even on your oldest smartphone you still can still use the functions it came originally the older networks still function. Old computers are still able to communicate with the latest generation and there are many more examples.

To be fair and accurate, functionality within Sonos has always been a moving target, which was always addressed and part of the appeal of the system…. in some ways now detriment to it in many cases, but not the detriment it could be.

e.g. When I first invested in Sonos, there was no voice integration, there was no Airplay2 capability, there wasn’t even Pandora Premium integration within or without the Sonos controller - Pandora Premium didn’t even exist. Nor did Tidal in its current form. Nor did Amazon Music. Or PLEX in its current form…. the list goes on.

If I leave my system as legacy TODAY, all those improvements/integrations are mine to keep (along with the initial core functions of zone-grouping and personal library playback) for as long as those integrations remain unchanged by the parties that control them… and none of those mentioned were functions that my system came and functioned with originally.

Yes they added functionality but removed some as well. Somebody in an earlier post listed all those which disappeared. Like the System management that was removed from the desktop app ( would like to know the reason why ) and you need a mobile app now for it. If you want to add a device you need the latest mobile OS version because on the older ones this function is now disabled. if you have newer systems they are usually backward compatible to the predecessor(s). I’m going to lock my installation at the version of no return.

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I

Intense70026

Lyricist I

This is sad news even with the updated noted from the New CEO. I am not certain that this isn't some ways a cash grab with this measly upgrade offer (by the way not really a 30% discount since Costco offers many of Sonos speakers below retail). Pressure of now being a publicly traded company? How on earth could I go out and spend over $2000.00 dollars (even with the trade in discount) to upgrade my perfectly fine 6 Sonos “Legacy” components that I have purchased throughout the last 7 years. It makes ZERO sense (except to the Sonos board and share holders).

Ok so now the CEO reassures us that they will figure it out BUT states “we pledge to keep them updated with bug fixes and security patches for as long as possible”. As long as possible? Well there LIES THE PROBLEM; if I don’t upgrade I risk having my Legacy components potentially being compromised. It should be a social responsible duty for companies to protect their customers and the consumers. Since Sonos Speakers are connected to my WiFi and could be hacked without the on-going software updates, my decision (purely financial) could end up costing me a lot more later. Extremely frustrating! It’s going to be interesting how this all plays out but so far it doesn't sit well at all. I really need to be reassured that all products will play nice with each other (‘cause that why I bought in to the whole Sonos system to begin with) and that every Sonos component will be safe from being compromised (i.e. software updates).

~Casey

6 Legacy Components

5 Modern Components

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