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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train_nerd

Trending Lyricist I

Three observations:

Over the weekend I took my network down to install a rack system. Before installation, I had two older Sonos Ones that were not listed as part of my system. Brought network back up and those two older Sonos Ones are now listed as part of my System, both being listed as Modern products, apparently not Trade-In eligible. I was worried about whether those two older Sonos Ones would work or be obsoleted, but now they are reported as Modern product. I was happily surprised. Reason this occurred is unknown to me.
After several rounds of tangling with Sonos Support. I was able to Trade-Up an old unused Bridge for a 30% discount on a new Port. Initially offered only a new Boost, I was a stinker requesting the new discounted Port for the old Bridge. (I thought and argued 30% discount offer was for ANY Sonos component….not so sure now....) It struck me that an exception was made in my situation, but I again was happily surprised with outcome. Arguably this was good-faith on the part of the Sonos mothership - it was the “right” thing for them to do downwind of controversy.
Sitting tight on remainder of Sonos changes until May dust settles. Meanwhile exploring Amazon Echo options including MyMedia skill (needs always-on server) for NAS music.

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J

John B

Three observations:

Over the weekend I took my network down to install a rack system. Before installation, I had two older Sonos Ones that were not listed as part of my system. Brought network back up and those two older Sonos Ones are now listed as part of my System, both being listed as Modern products, apparently not Trade-In eligible. I was worried about whether those two older Sonos Ones would work or be obsoleted, but now they are reported as Modern product. I was happily surprised. Reason this occurred is

Not sure why the surprise. It has been absolutely clear all along that no Sonos Ones are ‘legacy’. Nor are any Play:1s, which is what I suspect you mean.

Also, even if you had had ‘legacy’ products, they would have continued to work and would not have been ‘obsoleted’.

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G

Goodbye Sonos

Enthusiast II

Three observations:

Over the weekend I took my network down to install a rack system. Before installation, I had two older Sonos Ones that were not listed as part of my system. Brought network back up and those two older Sonos Ones are now listed as part of my System, both being listed as Modern products, apparently not Trade-In eligible. I was worried about whether those two older Sonos Ones would work or be obsoleted, but now they are reported as Modern product. I was happily surprised. Reason this occurred is

Not sure why the surprise. It has been absolutely clear all along that no Sonos Ones are ‘legacy’. Nor are any Play:1s, which is what I suspect you mean.

Also, even if you had had ‘legacy’ products, they would have continued to work and would not have been ‘obsoleted’.

Lets look at the dictionary definition of the word “obsolete” shall we…..

obsolete

/ˈɒbsəliːt/

adjective

1.

no longer produced or used; out of date.

"the disposal of old and obsolete machinery"

Similar:

out of date

old

defunct

verb

US

cause (a product or idea) to become obsolete by replacing it with something new.

"we're trying to stimulate the business by obsoleting last year's designs"

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J

John B

I rest my case, thanks for your support.

Also @train_nerd wrote ‘I was worried about whether those two older Sonos Ones would work or be obsoleted’.

Therefore, he was equating ‘obsolete’ with ‘not working’. (Note that I referenced his use of the term by using quote marks.)

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G

Goodbye Sonos

Enthusiast II

I rest my case, thanks for your support.

Also @train_nerd wrote ‘I was worried about whether those two older Sonos Ones would work or be obsoleted’.

Therefore, he was equating ‘obsolete’ with ‘not working’.

You are funny, now you are redefining the meaning of words away from what is specified in the dictionary to your own definitions to suit your own purposes. I mean its laughable.

Perhaps I should redefine the word square to equate to triangle - I mean that’s how it works isn’t it?

Still at least you are making me smile, which is nice :)

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J

John B

I rest my case, thanks for your support.

Also @train_nerd wrote ‘I was worried about whether those two older Sonos Ones would work or be obsoleted’.

Therefore, he was equating ‘obsolete’ with ‘not working’.

You are funny, one day you are telling me Google home and Alexa are like 50 year old Ford Anglia cars and the next you are redefining the meaning of words away from what is specified in the dictionary to your own definitions to suit your own purposes. I mean its laughable.

Perhaps I should redefine the word square to mean triangle - I mean that’s how it works isn’t it?

Still at least you are making me smile, which is nice :)

Perhaps you should not attribute someone else’s remarks to me?

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Ken_Griffiths

I rest my case, thanks for your support.

Also @train_nerd wrote ‘I was worried about whether those two older Sonos Ones would work or be obsoleted’.

Therefore, he was equating ‘obsolete’ with ‘not working’. (Note that I referenced his use of the term by using quote marks.)

The Collins Dictionary seems to agree with the fact that 'obsolete’ means ...no longer in use, or practice and is 'discarded' and that is most certainly not the case with the Sonos Play:1 Speaker. Just more attempts, by some here, to try to twist the truth and meaning of the actual Sonos announcements.

Users can choose to responsibly recycle their older devices if they want to.. I do not see anything in any of the Sonos announcements that is forcing them to discard, or make obsolete any Sonos device. The old devices can apparently “continue to work just as they do now”.

Translate

G

Goodbye Sonos

Enthusiast II

I rest my case, thanks for your support.

Also @train_nerd wrote ‘I was worried about whether those two older Sonos Ones would work or be obsoleted’.

Therefore, he was equating ‘obsolete’ with ‘not working’.

You are funny, one day you are telling me Google home and Alexa are like 50 year old Ford Anglia cars and the next you are redefining the meaning of words away from what is specified in the dictionary to your own definitions to suit your own purposes. I mean its laughable.

Perhaps I should redefine the word square to mean triangle - I mean that’s how it works isn’t it?

Still at least you are making me smile, which is nice :)

Perhaps you should not attribute someone else’s remarks to me?

That’s not what I posted

Translate

G

Goodbye Sonos

Enthusiast II

I rest my case, thanks for your support.

Also @train_nerd wrote ‘I was worried about whether those two older Sonos Ones would work or be obsoleted’.

Therefore, he was equating ‘obsolete’ with ‘not working’. (Note that I referenced his use of the term by using quote marks.)

The Collins Dictionary seems to agree with the fact that 'obsolete’ means ...no longer in use, or practice and is 'discarded' and that is most certainly not the case with the Sonos Play:1 Speaker. Just more attempts, by some here, to try to twist the truth and meaning of the actual Sonos announcements.

Users can choose to responsibly recycle their older devices if they want to.. I do not see anything in any of the Sonos announcements that is forcing them to discard, or make obsolete any Sonos device. The old devices can apparently “continue to work just as they do now”.

obsolete

/ˈɒbsəliːt/

adjective

1.

no longer produced or used; out of date.

"the disposal of old and obsolete machinery"

Similar:

out of date

old

defunct

verb

US

cause (a product or idea) to become obsolete by replacing it with something new.

"we're trying to stimulate the business by obsoleting last year's designs"

Translate

J

John B

@train_nerd said he was ‘worried’ that his Sonos Ones might not work - clearly not something he felt he had any choice over. That even one user should have that concern shows what a twisted picture has been created by some of the language used by some of the complainants on here.

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