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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K

Kumar

On the most fundamental level this is an issue of product misrepresentation. Sonos is a speaker brand, not a computer brand. SONOS does not publish processor and RAM specs on its product packaging. SONOS speakers were marketed as components of an integrated audio system which was "future proof" and expandable over time (just like wired speakers). This is why many people who invested in a house full of SONOS speakers were blindsided by its new 'disposable speaker' corporate philosophy.

Well said. The typical customer is not like the resident gurus that say they saw this coming.

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chickentender

On the most fundamental level this is an issue of product misrepresentation. Sonos is a speaker brand, not a computer brand. SONOS does not publish processor and RAM specs on its product packaging. SONOS speakers were marketed as components of an integrated audio system which was "future proof" and expandable over time (just like wired speakers). This is why many people who invested in a house full of SONOS speakers were blindsided by its new 'disposable speaker' corporate philosophy.

Well said. The typical customer is not like the resident gurus that say they saw this coming.

Indeed.
Putting aside who should or should not have seen what coming, and noting that the very last bit “disposable speaker corporate philosophy” is a touch hyperbolic, @audiophile99 has just very succinctly and aptly distilled the problem… In a nutshell, that’s precisely it.

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KingPin

Enthusiast II

They should start labeling their products with a “best before [date])” if they are going to keep this strategy going. It’s not an investment, it is a perishable good now.

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macallan18

Enthusiast I

I think that's a bit of a straw man scenario. I would guess that every new device now will have more of everything (including memory) just like in the rest of home automation. Once Sonos gets past this "speed bump" it will be full steam ahead for a yearly " more and better" product cycle like we get with everything else. Fact is they are competing with Google and Amazon who do this exact thing.

I don’t think we’ll start seeing memory specs posted for smart speakers going forward. I don’t think people have a really good feel of how much is necessary for smart speakers, they way they have a sense of it for other devices. Besides, it’s not just the memory that eventually becomes inferior to more modern devices as time goes on.

As far a yearly product cycle, that’s highly unlikely IMO. Sonos does not have the capability to produce an entire new product line at that sort of pace they way Google and Amazon do. Even if they did, they could not produce a significantly different feature set every year. Honestly, Amazon and Google aren’t really improving there products that much from year to year to warrant it, but their markets are large enough, and products cheap enough, that just being new will bring in a little extra sales to make the new product work developing.

I don’t think the amount of ram or CPU power has anything to do with this. Sonos wants to see a world where all of us buy and replace our speakers every 3-5 years.

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MRar

Lyricist I

I think that's a bit of a straw man scenario. I would guess that every new device now will have more of everything (including memory) just like in the rest of home automation. Once Sonos gets past this "speed bump" it will be full steam ahead for a yearly " more and better" product cycle like we get with everything else. Fact is they are competing with Google and Amazon who do this exact thing.

Disagree slightly with the last statement.

They “think” they are competing with Google and Amazon. 30-100$ speakers vs 200-700$ speakers is two different markets.

I think this is what has sent them chasing and not maintaining this differentiation. They have the mid range whole home market currently but will lose to Amazon and Google on the low end. They should be focusing on their current/slipping market position.

Interesting that Sonos is in a lawsuit with Google over how Google is going after the low end with Sonos technology (but not Sonos permission.) https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Sonos-sues-Google-over-speakers-14957491.php

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F

Finn1000

Enthusiast I

I think that's a bit of a straw man scenario. I would guess that every new device now will have more of everything (including memory) just like in the rest of home automation. Once Sonos gets past this "speed bump" it will be full steam ahead for a yearly " more and better" product cycle like we get with everything else. Fact is they are competing with Google and Amazon who do this exact thing.

I don’t think we’ll start seeing memory specs posted for smart speakers going forward. I don’t think people have a really good feel of how much is necessary for smart speakers, they way they have a sense of it for other devices. Besides, it’s not just the memory that eventually becomes inferior to more modern devices as time goes on.

As far a yearly product cycle, that’s highly unlikely IMO. Sonos does not have the capability to produce an entire new product line at that sort of pace they way Google and Amazon do. Even if they did, they could not produce a significantly different feature set every year. Honestly, Amazon and Google aren’t really improving there products that much from year to year to warrant it, but their markets are large enough, and products cheap enough, that just being new will bring in a little extra sales to make the new product work developing.

I don’t think the amount of ram or CPU power has anything to do with this. Sonos wants to see a world where all of us buy and replace our speakers every 3-5 years.

£100 every 3 - 5 years would stick in my throat.

But we’re talking speakers of £500 each, Sonos can definitely take a run & jump!

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Robb Lutton

Contributor I

What I don’t understand is that the Sonos connect they say that they stopped selling in 2015 was sold to me by Best Buy in November of 2017. I have a hard time thinking that Best Buy has a two year supply of Sonos gear in stock.

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W

WSu

Enthusiast II

What I don’t understand is that the Sonos connect they say that they stopped selling in 2015 was sold to me by Best Buy in November of 2017. I have a hard time thinking that Best Buy has a two year supply of Sonos gear in stock.

I bought my Connect in May 2016 and got a modern one - there seems to be an awful lot of “luck of the draw” when it comes to 3rd party (but official) suppliers - if I’d chosen someone else, I may have gotten a legacy one. I think it makes this whole thing even worse - that random chance on an unknown variable may, or may not, outdate your purchase.

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Guy_19

Enthusiast II

What I don’t understand is that the Sonos connect they say that they stopped selling in 2015 was sold to me by Best Buy in November of 2017. I have a hard time thinking that Best Buy has a two year supply of Sonos gear in stock.

I bought my Connect in May 2016 and got a modern one - there seems to be an awful lot of “luck of the draw” when it comes to 3rd party (but official) suppliers - if I’d chosen someone else, I may have gotten a legacy one. I think it makes this whole thing even worse - that random chance on an unknown variable may, or may not, outdate your purchase.

And that is why people with an original Connect should be given the opportunity to buy a Port at a substantial discount or a modern Connect at an even more substantial discount. (Substantial equals a number much greater than 30%).

I only bought one of my Connects last May, admittedly only “used” on eBay, rather than something purported to be new. I hadn’t a clue that I should have been seeking out one with a Play/Pause button and not a Mute button...

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7 rooms: One SL Stereo Pair, One SL x 2, Move, Play:5 Gen2 & Port into Arcam AVR with AE floorstanders, Port into Denon microsystem.

M

mwiseman

Enthusiast II

What I don’t understand is that the Sonos connect they say that they stopped selling in 2015 was sold to me by Best Buy in November of 2017. I have a hard time thinking that Best Buy has a two year supply of Sonos gear in stock.

Sonos is still selling the Connect on Amazon:

Sonos Connect on Amazon

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