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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G

Goodbye Sonos

Enthusiast II

You simply code the ‘slave device’ to forward any requests it gets to a master for processing - the master can then stream the response back to the ‘slave’ for audio output.

Also you wouldn’t need a ‘master’ in every room. The concept of grouping speakers together for synchronised output in a group does not need to affect the physical topology of the networked system - remember within a wifi or ethernet network every connected device can ‘see’ every other device at all times.

Don’t confuse standalone devices with a multi room system, the way they work is fundamentally different, the former is not required to establish an networking where all participants call for being equally privileged to deliver what they are designed for.

Do you have a basically understanding of how Sonos works - can you distinguish between standalone, grouping and bonding in Sonos terms?

A slave is a subordinate by definition, and you can’t heave a slave to peer level, not even through ‘clever’ software engineering, when the participants are running on different firmware versions.

You are absolutely correct, those systems I worked on that worked as I described clearly didn’t exist and I must be a liar. How fortunate it must be know everything about everything - sure wish I knew as much as you do. What a fool I must be.

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B

Brad9

Trending Lyricist I

Another user finding this stance by Sonos entirely unacceptable. We have a Connect, two Play 3s, three Play 1’s, the Playbar and Sub- quite the overall investment.

I have zero expectation that older products would gain new functionality, however security and bug fixes are essential. In addition, old and new devices must be able to stream audio / group as today.

If entirely new features are introduced and are not added to older devices I am totally ok… just do not degrade our current investment.

While this current decision only impacts one of our devices- how this is handled I am sure will become the model going forward. If the result is to have to replace my entire investment to maintain core Sonos functionality I will be forced to admit we made a huge mistake investing in Sonos and will have to find a replacement strategy.

Sonos- please make the right decision. Whole home Audio is not intended to be a sort term investment. I thought the decision to prevent streaming from an iPhone library was bad… this one would truly be the last straw...

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G

goblue

Trending Lyricist I

Hello everyone,

I’ve been watching this issue and reading this thread with total fascination! It is quite astonishing for me to see some of the reactions posted here, towards an absolutely non-critical issue. It’s only a music system we’re talking about here and it isn’t going to go up in flames after May.

The way I always viewed Sonos as a company and the system is that it is a mid range, good quality system with very good service by their staff (even for old products). I’ve used the service on very few occasions when something wasn’t working and they were excellent.

I have devices dating back to approximately 2006 and I also have some new devices, including a MOVE.

I’m betting on the following:

My legacy items won’t have any new updates with features added after May this year. They will continue to work at least another 5 to 7 years (unless the electronics fail). This will be a very decent “shelf life” in the case of WiFi connected devices.
My newer devices will continue to get updates and work at least another 7 to 10 years. This will be a very decent “shelf life” in the case of WiFi connected devices.
Sonos will figure out a way to use one controller app to control both systems, but separately. The way I am thinking about it is that the app will have 2 sections: System A (legacy) with rooms A, B, C etc. and System B (new devices) with rooms D, E, F etc. You can then toggle in between system A and B before selecting your room / music on the App.

Why do I think this way? Because Sonos has shown over the last many years that they can maintain products with very old, outdated technology for a very long time.

Yes, it’s “only a music system” - but a relatively expensive one. Personally I don’t consider 7 to 10 years to be a decent shelf life for a premium price product.

Regarding point 3 - I have an device arrangement where a Connect:Amp is always used with some Play 1s. So, a “sectionalised” system will not do what I am used to (paid for).

I’m feeling quite pragmatic about this - I don’t expect Sonos to deliver a solution that will enable me to continue using my system as I want to. I’ll move on, but it won’t be with Sonos as I feel let down them. In some ways that’s a shame as until two weeks ago my experience as a customer had been great.

HighEndMusic I’m afraid your assumption that your legacy products will continue to function for 5 to 7 years is a little flawed. Ryan S has already confirmed in a much earlier post that they will do what they can but as soon as any of the streaming services update their software there is every chance it will not run on the legacy units. So it could be one week, one month or even a year but at some point nothing streamed will stop working at which point you are left with a product that will only play your local music library, and as Ryan S pointed out, that is only until the OS of your library system gets an update and then that too may cease to function. The speed with which updates to software happen now really does not lend itself to your 5 to 7 years, more like 5 to 7 months!

Hence why they need to offer a Sonos box that can take new updates and then stream to the legacy units. I’m not going to buy new Sonos gear if they don’t implement a solution that in my mind is possible. If they don’t offer this, I will look at a migration program over the next few years and I won’t be the only one.

The above is the solution. The “box” attaches to both the legacy network and the update capable network. Call it “Bridge 2” and can support up to 4 streams. For group streams involving both legacy and new devices - this hosts the stream. Current devices can operate independently. Best part, sell this at a reasonable price ( less than $200 ) and no one will mind replacing it every 5-7 years. So we’ll see. There’s no technical reason they cant do this. Is it an ideal business plan, probably not but it’s better than bankruptcy. Sonos speakers are simply too expensive to go obsolete.

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R

rAndison

Enthusiast I

Hello everyone,

I’ve been watching this issue and reading this thread with total fascination! It is quite astonishing for me to see some of the reactions posted here, towards an absolutely non-critical issue. It’s only a music system we’re talking about here and it isn’t going to go up in flames after May.

The way I always viewed Sonos as a company and the system is that it is a mid range, good quality system with very good service by their staff (even for old products). I’ve used the service on very few occasions when something wasn’t working and they were excellent.

I have devices dating back to approximately 2006 and I also have some new devices, including a MOVE.

I’m betting on the following:

My legacy items won’t have any new updates with features added after May this year. They will continue to work at least another 5 to 7 years (unless the electronics fail). This will be a very decent “shelf life” in the case of WiFi connected devices.
My newer devices will continue to get updates and work at least another 7 to 10 years. This will be a very decent “shelf life” in the case of WiFi connected devices.
Sonos will figure out a way to use one controller app to control both systems, but separately. The way I am thinking about it is that the app will have 2 sections: System A (legacy) with rooms A, B, C etc. and System B (new devices) with rooms D, E, F etc. You can then toggle in between system A and B before selecting your room / music on the App.

Why do I think this way? Because Sonos has shown over the last many years that they can maintain products with very old, outdated technology for a very long time.

Yes, it’s “only a music system” - but a relatively expensive one. Personally I don’t consider 7 to 10 years to be a decent shelf life for a premium price product.

Regarding point 3 - I have an device arrangement where a Connect:Amp is always used with some Play 1s. So, a “sectionalised” system will not do what I am used to (paid for).

I’m feeling quite pragmatic about this - I don’t expect Sonos to deliver a solution that will enable me to continue using my system as I want to. I’ll move on, but it won’t be with Sonos as I feel let down them. In some ways that’s a shame as until two weeks ago my experience as a customer had been great.

I would describe Sonos as not a cheap option but not very expensive either. The £400 for the port music streamer is about on par when compared to Bluesound (which I also have and is slightly more) and cheap when compared to high end/quality audio equipment. I certainly would expect a min of 10 years use of such equipment, 5 is not on. They need to make sure that anyone who bought a legacy piece of hardware within the last 5 years due to old stock being held by retailers is compensated.

However, as far as expecting it to last 20 years… no. Like it or not the hardware contains tech... and it is tech and has to be viewed that way. Just think, 20 years ago we didn’t even have smart phones… they only really came in properly about 2007. So, in 13 years there has been massive change, just imagine what it will be like in 20 years time?!?! So no, I expect most hardware that contains tech will need replacing well before then.

However, there are hardware specialists that will go one step further. Naim jumps to mind… now they are expensive but you’re talking top end gear, top end service, top end quality with a top end price. They look after you for the life of the hardware and give you upgrade options for the hardware and service them. But Sonos isn’t competing with them, they are delivering a good quality product that is maintained for a long time for between ¼ to 1/8th of the price of a Naim Streamer and is in reach to the masses.

Now, of course there are cheaper options than Sonos as well. But, consider this. If they’re offering considerably cheaper products, how long do you think they will provide support for? The profit margin on the cheaper hardware is not sufficient to cover 5 years support let alone 10-20. The profit of each sale is not just for hardware but for the hours involved in maintaining, updating and providing fixes to firmware and software.

The two things that p***ed me off with Sonos is the short notice time and the lack of clarity as to what will happen. They’ve created uncertainty and fear with a very close deadline… not clever. I have to thank them though, it has been a wake up call making me look at how I build my music system, which will now contain hardware form more than one source built to work with common protocols.

Edit…

Just wanted to add. I’ll not be recycling my ZP80 even though it has 20 days of life. I’ll be keeping it as a bit of history along with my Slim devices Squeezebox streamer… they didn't last anywhere near as long as Sonos and aren’t cheaper either! Love the design of the original hardware!

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I

izziny

Lyricist III

At the risk of being repetitive, when you buy an expensive system, you expect that, if you prefer, you can keep that original configuration as long as you like in working condition. When I chose to upgrade it was because I wanted to, not because my old system life was being cut short by the manufacturer’s built in design obsolescence. Sonos offer of support for as “long as possible” doesn't cut it. It isn’t going to be any more comforting for anyone to know that their equipment might continue to operate for a long period when there is a very real possibility it’s functionality also might be lost in a few months. Functionality of the system at any equipment age should not be affected if the customer does not wish to progress to the next technological level.

Look, we all recognize technology does evolve over time. However, Sonos does bear responsibility for having 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. The areas that were most vulnerable to change should have been isolated into a single component that would be subject to change, and then, only if the customer so desired. When Sonos designed their products, they should have foreseen the customer problems that are now consuming their business.

So the company should be judged by it’s ability to understand what the possible consequences of their actions are, and how successful they were in dealing with them. That’s what makes them stand or fall by the wayside.

Any excuses are just that, excuses. This thread has produced many ideas, I assume some workable, some not. But don’t think for one minute the engineers at Sonos can’t up up with a workable solution. You guys don’t have to come up with one for them.

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User694694

Enthusiast II

At the risk of being repetitive, when you buy an expensive system, you expect that, if you prefer, you can keep that original configuration as long as you like in working condition. When I chose to upgrade it was because I wanted to, not because my old system life was being cut short by the manufacturer’s built in design obsolescence. Sonos offer of support for as “long as possible” doesn't cut it. It isn’t going to be any more comforting for anyone to know that their equipment might continue to operate for a long period when there is a very real possibility it’s functionality also might be lost in a few months. Functionality of the system at any equipment age should not be affected if the customer does not wish to progress to the next technological level.

Look, we all recognize technology does evolve over time. However, Sonos does bear responsibility for having 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. The areas that were most vulnerable to change should have been isolated into a single component that would be subject to change, and then, only if the customer so desired. When Sonos designed their products, they should have foreseen the customer problems that are now consuming their business.

So the company should be judged by it’s ability to understand what the possible consequences of their actions are, and how successful they were in dealing with them. That’s what makes them stand or fall by the wayside.

Any excuses are just that, excuses. This thread has produced many ideas, I assume some workable, some not. But don’t think for one minute the engineers at Sonos can’t up up with a workable solution. You guys don’t have to come up with one for them.

Thanks for mentioning Bluesound. I hadn’t heard of them. If my streaming music services become deprecated come May, I will be switching all my equipment over to Bluesound rather than “upgrading”. It looks like the price is a little higher for similar products, but it will likely be a lot less expensive in the long run considering the Sonos components are only guaranteed to be supported for 5 years.

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M

MIBUK

Enthusiast II

At the risk of being repetitive, when you buy an expensive system, you expect that, if you prefer, you can keep that original configuration as long as you like in working condition. When I chose to upgrade it was because I wanted to, not because my old system life was being cut short by the manufacturer’s built in design obsolescence. Sonos offer of support for as “long as possible” doesn't cut it. It isn’t going to be any more comforting for anyone to know that their equipment might continue to operate for a long period when there is a very real possibility it’s functionality also might be lost in a few months. Functionality of the system at any equipment age should not be affected if the customer does not wish to progress to the next technological level.

Look, we all recognize technology does evolve over time. However, Sonos does bear responsibility for having 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. The areas that were most vulnerable to change should have been isolated into a single component that would be subject to change, and then, only if the customer so desired. When Sonos designed their products, they should have foreseen the customer problems that are now consuming their business.

So the company should be judged by it’s ability to understand what the possible consequences of their actions are, and how successful they were in dealing with them. That’s what makes them stand or fall by the wayside.

Any excuses are just that, excuses. This thread has produced many ideas, I assume some workable, some not. But don’t think for one minute the engineers at Sonos can’t up up with a workable solution. You guys don’t have to come up with one for them.

Thanks for mentioning Bluesound. I hadn’t heard of them. If my streaming music services become deprecated come May, I will be switching all my equipment over to Bluesound rather than “upgrading”. It looks like the price is a little higher for similar products, but it will likely be a lot less expensive in the long run considering the Sonos components are only guaranteed to be supported for 5 years.

What commitment if any, has Bluesound made for maintaining their products? You might be jumping out the pot into the frying pan :)

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Act in haste, repent at leisure.

R

rAndison

Enthusiast I

At the risk of being repetitive, when you buy an expensive system, you expect that, if you prefer, you can keep that original configuration as long as you like in working condition. When I chose to upgrade it was because I wanted to, not because my old system life was being cut short by the manufacturer’s built in design obsolescence. Sonos offer of support for as “long as possible” doesn't cut it. It isn’t going to be any more comforting for anyone to know that their equipment might continue to operate for a long period when there is a very real possibility it’s functionality also might be lost in a few months. Functionality of the system at any equipment age should not be affected if the customer does not wish to progress to the next technological level.

Look, we all recognize technology does evolve over time. However, Sonos does bear responsibility for having 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. The areas that were most vulnerable to change should have been isolated into a single component that would be subject to change, and then, only if the customer so desired. When Sonos designed their products, they should have foreseen the customer problems that are now consuming their business.

So the company should be judged by it’s ability to understand what the possible consequences of their actions are, and how successful they were in dealing with them. That’s what makes them stand or fall by the wayside.

Any excuses are just that, excuses. This thread has produced many ideas, I assume some workable, some not. But don’t think for one minute the engineers at Sonos can’t up up with a workable solution. You guys don’t have to come up with one for them.

Thanks for mentioning Bluesound. I hadn’t heard of them. If my streaming music services become deprecated come May, I will be switching all my equipment over to Bluesound rather than “upgrading”. It looks like the price is a little higher for similar products, but it will likely be a lot less expensive in the long run considering the Sonos components are only guaranteed to be supported for 5 years.

I have Bluesound as well as Sonos. Really good gear but I would’d expect any different. They said on their forum that they didn’t have any “Sunset” plans for their first Node that was released in 2012 at the moment but, that is 8 years after the release of the first connects (zp80) that has just been changed to legacy.

If you are to learn anything from this, look for ways of spreading the risk rather than jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Think Airplay 2 and it’s ability to allow speakers / amps from different manufactures to link together and possibly controlling them via Roon. I’d be concerned that you’d sell all your Sonos for Bluesound and in 8 -10 years time you could be in the same boat again.

That said, I do love my Node 2i and has great sound quality.

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M

MIBUK

Enthusiast II

Hello everyone,

I’ve been watching this issue and reading this thread with total fascination! It is quite astonishing for me to see some of the reactions posted here, towards an absolutely non-critical issue. It’s only a music system we’re talking about here and it isn’t going to go up in flames after May.

The way I always viewed Sonos as a company and the system is that it is a mid range, good quality system with very good service by their staff (even for old products). I’ve used the service on very few occasions when something wasn’t working and they were excellent.

I have devices dating back to approximately 2006 and I also have some new devices, including a MOVE.

I’m betting on the following:

My legacy items won’t have any new updates with features added after May this year. They will continue to work at least another 5 to 7 years (unless the electronics fail). This will be a very decent “shelf life” in the case of WiFi connected devices.
My newer devices will continue to get updates and work at least another 7 to 10 years. This will be a very decent “shelf life” in the case of WiFi connected devices.
Sonos will figure out a way to use one controller app to control both systems, but separately. The way I am thinking about it is that the app will have 2 sections: System A (legacy) with rooms A, B, C etc. and System B (new devices) with rooms D, E, F etc. You can then toggle in between system A and B before selecting your room / music on the App.