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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melvimbe

Because really smart people (including those at Sonos) have accomplished a lot more challenging things than this. Of course, it’s a matter of how much someone is willing to invest like anything else. And by “Boost-like device”, I mean one with creates a type of mesh network just like the Boost, but for the specific purpose of connecting old generation devices.

The ‘magic box’ solution has been mentioned a few times. I tend to think that it’s hard to say that such a box is physically possible without knowing exactly how the Sonos system works...in detail. What most are doing is making logical assumptions about how all this works, which may or may not be true. Regardless of that, you still have to consider that such a device would have a rather small market, since it would only be useful to people with legacy devices, and only a subset of those people would buy it. That would drive up the price of such a device just for Sonos to break even I imagine or take an acceptable loss. Sonos is already taking a loss in a way with the trade in program.

I tend to believe that Sonos has spent a lot more time on this probably that the rest of us have, and if there was such a solution that made sense, we’d be hearing about it. Yes, really smart people can accomplish great things, but it’s not just a limit of technical know how, but what can be done and still be a viable business.

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Danny

J

John B

Maybe someone has already thought of this, but here is what I think Sonos should do that I think most people could live with. They should design a Boost-like device that houses all of the advanced processing required for the new features that supposedly are beyond the capability of the old devices. That would be able to be grouped as a current generation device and allow for all of the advanced features. It would then connect to all of the deprecated old generation devices as sort of a sub network.

This would allow for old and new devices to be in the same group with advanced functionality. I’m no technician, but there has to be a way to do something like this if they really wanted to.

Why does there have to be? How much do you or I or anybody else posting on here really understand about how Sonos does all that it does? 1%? 2%?

In what sense would this be a ‘Boost-like device’? As in a something box-shaped with buttons on the outside and electronics inside it?

Because really smart people (including those at Sonos) have accomplished a lot more challenging things than this. Of course, it’s a matter of how much someone is willing to invest like anything else. And by “Boost-like device”, I mean one with creates a type of mesh network just like the Boost, but for the specific purpose of connecting old generation devices.

A device that could connect legacy devices like a Boost does would be.. a Boost. The networking isn’t the issue, that is just about how data gets shifted around. Every Sonos speaker / player has the Boost capability built into it. This isn’t even coming close to the issues (based on my 2% understanding of how Sonos works).

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G

Goodbye Sonos

Enthusiast II

Maybe someone has already thought of this, but here is what I think Sonos should do that I think most people could live with. They should design a Boost-like device that houses all of the advanced processing required for the new features that supposedly are beyond the capability of the old devices. That would be able to be grouped as a current generation device and allow for all of the advanced features. It would then connect to all of the deprecated old generation devices as sort of a sub network.

This would allow for old and new devices to be in the same group with advanced functionality. I’m no technician, but there has to be a way to do something like this if they really wanted to.

Why does there have to be? How much do you or I or anybody else posting on here really understand about how Sonos does all that it does? 1%? 2%?

In what sense would this be a ‘Boost-like device’? As in a something box-shaped with buttons on the outside and electronics inside it?

Because really smart people (including those at Sonos) have accomplished a lot more challenging things than this. Of course, it’s a matter of how much someone is willing to invest like anything else. And by “Boost-like device”, I mean one with creates a type of mesh network just like the Boost, but for the specific purpose of connecting old generation devices.

I think we all know deep down that such a solution would be possible.

Holding a rational position together with a can do attitude that yes things can be developed, designed and built if there is the desire and will to do so, is not a position some are willing to accept as valid, which is sad, and I’ve been called biased, one sided, told I have difficulty understanding “things are round here”, and surprisingly had my previous posts picked through and selectively quoted to try to prove it - all rather unproductive behaviour.

For some there will always be a reason why something is impossible, or perhaps they will suggest that you don’t know enough about the subject in question to offer a valid opinion (often at the same time proffering theirs), or suggesting that your views are biased or whatever because they conflict with theirs.

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J

John B

FWIW, the Boost doesn’t really ‘create a mesh network’. Every Sonos device contains within it the hardware and software to communicate with other Sonos devices over SonosNet, Sonos’ proprietary wireless mesh networking technology.

In order for the data also to flow to and from devices not on SonosNet - specifically controllers connected to WiFi - one Sonos device has to be wired to the network in order to ‘bridge’ the SonosNet and WiFi segments of the LAN.

The only reason for the existence of the Boost (and its predecessor, the more aptly-named Bridge) is to allow the wired connection to be made when there is no need for a speaker where the router is located. So the notion that the Boost is a specialised device that creates a mesh network is entirely false. The Sonos devices collectively form the SonosNet mesh, triggered by any one of them having a wired connection to the router.

And also, FWIW, this illustrates the tightly integrated, co-operative nature of the way Sonos functions.

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G

Goodbye Sonos

Enthusiast II

FWIW, the Boost doesn’t really ‘create a mesh network’. Every Sonos device contains within it the hardware and software to communicate with other Sonos devices over SonosNet, Sonos’ proprietary wireless mesh networking technology.

In order for the data also to flow to and from devices not on SonosNet - specifically controllers connected to WiFi - one Sonos device has to be wired to the network in order to ‘bridge’ the SonosNet and WiFi segments of the LAN.

The only reason for the existence of the Boost (and its predecessor, the more aptly-named Bridge) is to allow the wired connection to be made when there is no need for a speaker where the router is located. So the notion that the Boost is a specialised device that creates a mesh network is entirely false. The Sonos devices collectively form the SonosNet mesh, triggered by any one of them having a wired connection to the router.

Yes you’re right this person used to the wrong terminology \ words, but I think we also know what they were getting at and trying to explain from their post.

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J

John B

None of us knows for sure what is and isn’t possible. Which is why my objection is to people saying it MUST be possible. Particularly when they go on to demonstrate that they understand even less about how Sonos works than I do.

To me it seems entirely plausible that the only practical way for the interactions between Sonos devices to take place is for them to be capable in themselves of doing so - or at least that this is so tightly woven into Sonos’ design that that is required. Note I say ‘plausible’ not ‘certain’. I also find it implausible that Sonos haven’t thought about whether there is any other solution, and they are infinitely better placed to make that judgement than any of us.

So I find the idea of some sort of magic box hugely IMPLAUSIBLE. Throw enough money and time at a problem and you can solve almost anything. That doesn’t make it a sensible thing to attempt and I suspect many on here are hugely underestimating what would be required. I do not claim to know that for certain.

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melvimbe

I think we all know deep down that such a solution would be possible.

Holding a rational position together with a can do attitude that yes things can be developed, designed and built if there is the desire and will to do so, is not a position some are willing to accept as valid, which is sad, and I’ve been called biased, one sided, told I have difficulty understanding “things are round here”, and surprisingly had my previous posts picked through and selectively quoted to try to prove it - all rather unproductive behaviour.

Why do you see this as a material of desire and will to create develop this box, rather than an practical analysis of effort the develop, test, and manufacture for such a box to small and ever decreasing market?

For some there will always be a reason why something is impossible, or perhaps they will suggest that you don’t know enough about the subject in question to offer a valid opinion (often at the same time proffering theirs), or suggesting that your views are biased or whatever because they conflict with theirs.

I’m not saying that opinions aren’t valid, I just think that any suggestion that Sonos make device X or Y has to take into consideration the cost to produce the device and the size of the target market...essentially what it does for the company.

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Danny

G

Goodbye Sonos

Enthusiast II

I think we all know deep down that such a solution would be possible.

Holding a rational position together with a can do attitude that yes things can be developed, designed and built if there is the desire and will to do so, is not a position some are willing to accept as valid, which is sad, and I’ve been called biased, one sided, told I have difficulty understanding “things are round here”, and surprisingly had my previous posts picked through and selectively quoted to try to prove it - all rather unproductive behaviour.

Why do you see this as a material of desire and will to create develop this box, rather than an practical analysis of effort the develop, test, and manufacture for such a box to small and ever decreasing market?

I haven’t dismissed this, no where have I said these things don’t matter - they do

For some there will always be a reason why something is impossible, or perhaps they will suggest that you don’t know enough about the subject in question to offer a valid opinion (often at the same time proffering theirs), or suggesting that your views are biased or whatever because they conflict with theirs.

I’m not saying that opinions aren’t valid, I just think that any suggestion that Sonos make device X or Y has to take into consideration the cost to produce the device and the size of the target market...essentially what it does for the company.

Again this is not something I have said doesn’t matter - it does

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Smilja

Such a device would have to bridge the gap between different firmware versions. Even if such a device was technologically feasible, it would miss the deadline May 2020 anyway.

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»And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space, Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.« (›Windmills Of Your Mind‹ [1967]. Music by Michel Legrand ; English lyrics written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman)

melvimbe

I haven’t dismissed this, no where have I said these things don’t matter - they do

You’re right, you didn’t dismiss it. You just never address it. Do you think it makes sense for Sonos to create such a device. Can then deveop, test, manufacture the device by May, for the limited market at a price customers can except that won’t be a huge lose for Sonos? Is that plan better than the loss Sonos is likely to take from their current plan? I don’t know for sure, but I find that very doubtful.

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Danny

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