Retired Sonos Staff

End of Software Support - Clarifications

December 8, 2022 at 11:29 AM
4256 replies
269763 views

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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IvyImHaus

Lyricist I

We may choose to discontinue support for older versions of our products, resulting in customer dissatisfaction that could negatively affect our business and operating results.

We have historically maintained, and we believe our customers may expect, extensive backward compatibility for our older products and the software that supports them, allowing older products to continue to benefit from new software updates. We expect that in the near term, this backward compatibility will no longer be practical or cost-effective, and we may decrease or discontinue service for our older products. If we no longer provide extensive backward capability for our products, we may damage our relationship with our existing customers, as well as our reputation, brand loyalty and ability to attract new customers. For these reasons, any decision to decrease or discontinue backward capability may decrease sales and adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

Source: https://s22.q4cdn.com/672173472/files/doc_financials/2019/q4/52d86c5b-248f-4939-aa85-1489c1828e7f.pdf#page=17

It was planned and they even predicted it in their own annual report of 2019 what’s happening now.

WTF?

melvimbe

@davidsjones76 You stated that:

It is inevitable that this will happen to every “smart” device at some point. Sonos, are just the first to do it. To name a few, we have had Bose, Yamaha, Denon, and B&O speakers over the last couple of years.

That’s not exactly accurate. Bose for example, has dropped their entire line of smart speakers in the past while creating a brand new one. They may still be offering some minimal support for the old line, but no new features and cannot be mixed with the new line. There are also multiroom systems that have come and gone and thus consumers are not able to expand and grow with their original purchases.

Regardless, this change in support Sonos is making is probably negatively effecting a lot more customers than the other cases have, with probably more investment from customers. It’s fair to say that this is a first in that regard.

Danny

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dunno

Lyricist I

Basically I want my Sonos kit to keep working. I don’t want voice control, I want Spotify, Audible and TuneIn to keep working.

I’m happy to pay a subscription fee for this or even buy a simple central hub that contains upgraded memory etc to stream out to my legacy devices. I can’t see why this couldn’t be made a reality pretty easily.

1

133133

Enthusiast II

Tried to log in to post yesterday but suspect the servers could not handle it?

What is the point in adding to the pages of disgust. I ploughed through 5 pages with zero support for this action. Unlike the CR100 debacle there are no gloating trolls because even they too now realise they are getting screwed over by Sonos if not today then tomorrow.

It is now clear that the system architecture was flawed from the start and the technology part could never keep up and should have been split from the amplification and speakers a long time ago. Yes, Sonos would not have made so much money short term but would have long term.

I’ve no idea how this plays out from here but I said at CR100 time screw me again and I am done. It has come to pass.

To have ANY chance requires you to pare back the OS so whatever the legacy system is it is still supportable.

What is completely incomprehensible after the CR100 debacle and knowing the outcry this would cause is coming out with an announcement with no clear idea what it means, how you will move forward or being able to answer the basic questions from the community. Coming out with clarification the next day and it still being clear as mud is rank amateur. Something as big as this should have been worked on for months. Poor Ryan hung out to dry.

You don’t deserve him. We do deserve you. You won’t deserve us.

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tony 123

Lyricist I

30% is an insult to people who were early adopters of your technology and are know being penalised for it !, I have continued to build my System over the years to more and more rooms including playbar, beam, sub, several play 1’s and 5’s to now be upset that you will no longer support it an more upsetting this will also impact on later products if I choose to keep running !, 30% is not adequate to force change on loyal customers, very disappointed and urge you to rethink your offering

Tony

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PooleGuy

Lyricist I

Good bye sonos bum move.

Your product needs do 1 thing and 1 thing only - play streamed music. Don't give me horse crap about cpu and memory. Just a cash grab to get customers to spend more money.

No other wireless speaker I'm aware of has had to do this. You telling me your legacy speakers can't handle updates from streaming services? Goodness sake you are a tech company solution it!

You will not get another £ from me and only last week was thinking of getting 2 more ones. Not anymore.

Oh and ps the tone of your email. Not even an apology just a demand for action. Eesh sack your PR man.

Adios it was a fun journey whilst it lasted

K

kassey22000

Enthusiast II

After 24 hours and 55 pages of comments (before it was closed) none of which are complimentary, here is my 2p worth.

As a past product marketing manager, here are a few key points to take into consideration when announcing a products end of support.

1. Give lots of notice and take into account how recently customers have purchased the product.

> 4 months is no notice at all really, I would expect 12 months to be reasonable, or 6 as an absolute minimum. I bought my first components in Jan 2015 and now my Connect Amp and Play 5 are declared end of support after this relatively short time.

2. Offer a painless route to upgrade the system.

> Offering 30% discount is far from painless, it is a significant additional investment just to retain current functionality. The idea also of scrapping the old hardware to recycling or worse landfill is outrageous. At least leave the units to be used for as long as they can, as by your own admission, that may not be long.

Consider a swap out at cost plus support expenses to make the exchange palatable. The current discount must still bring a good profit unless your margins are poor.

3. Be VERY clear about why you are doing this, the future benefits and the implications of retaining the current hardware.

I expect cost is the real driver here, memory and processing power is just a limitation as branching code and distributing two versions is not rocket science, but at least he honest. I understand that sonos cannot predict what may happen with future changes to streaming services, but the total lack of clarity and certainty beggars belief. How long till the rest of my system is obsoleted as I now know I will be lucky to get 4 months notice. What great new ground breaking features are coming in May that is forcing this end of support for older speakers? The dual system possibly seems to something that may or may not work, but little information is being offered about it, we are promised more info in May. Will there still be an upgrade offer when the system breaks eventually, or is this just a short term offer?

So in all you have made a real error of judgement here and have an uphill climb to resolve it, if that is even possible now. The sonos name is now badly tarnished and only a retraction and complete rethink of this proposal has any chance to recover the mess created. I really do hope some people from sonos are taking action based on this thread. Having closed the old tgread, posted a few minor clarifications and started a new one, I fear sonos simply aren't listening and underestimate the impact this will ultimately have on the company.

I agree and I think the other huge blindside for their management team is just how many savvy tech industry folks invested heavily in the Sonos solution only to be jabbed in the eye with this horrible PR disaster. They have clearly woken the sleeping giant on this one! Investment firms will be listening, will the board?

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dstanley

Lyricist I

Although it will not likely result in anything here - I will post here saying that as a long-time customer (2007) of 11 pieces of Sonos equipment - I, too, am totally flabbergasted by the emails of Legacy Equipment and the thought of them being abandoned by Sonos in the near future.

Sonos - I do NOT want to ‘talk’ to my Play 5 Gen 1’s - I am fine with them playing my own media or mirroring content from my ‘Modern’ Sonos equipment. Please don’t brick them. A discount of 30% on inferior products is ludicrous - what manufacturer makes only 30% on their products?

Like so may others in the Sonos Community - I have recommended systems to any all people that would listen to me. Now these friends will no longer listen to any advise from me - thanks Sonos.

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srtlewis

Lyricist I

Wow way to lose your entire loyal customer base. To think I was about to buy a new set of SONOS speakers for the house extension. Me thinks I will wait and see how this pans out. The thing about HiFi is it lasts generations. My best pair of B&W speakers are 20 years old and sound glorious. My Keff setup as well. It is not a smart Phone with a 18-24 month refresh cycle. I will be parking this right here and refusing to update as my system works fine for what I need. No new speakers will be added to the mix (which should make my wife happy).

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spinksea

Contributor I

Having bought a number of Sonos speakers for the whole house, this announcement is very disappointing and have now made me rethink any future purchases as who is to say in another years time, SONOS decides to end of life other products.

This is truly a means to make more money. BOSE looks like I am coming back to you.

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