End of Software Support - Clarifications

Actually I think it’s more than simply botched communication. For years Sonos has sold what appeared to all consumers as the same product without informing anybody that the internals were changing in a way that could make the earlier revisions obsolete. I suspect that this is one of the reasons some people have stated that they purchased legacy components in recent years, no way or reasona to identify old stock. Changing the mute button for a play/pause button doesn’t lead one to the natural conclusion that the product is significantly different. 

Furthermore, as I’ve stated before on this thread, their corporate messaging remains missleading to this day. For example their website still says “Hook up your turntable to Play:5 or Amp to stream vinyl all around your home.” I have 2 Play:5s (Gen 1) that are now legacy and will likely not be able to stream to modern devices come May (unless I freeze all updates to all devices). 

Now you may say that they mean only the Gen 2 Play:5 so how about this one:

All Sonos speakers and components connect over WiFi so you can build the system you want. Put on a podcast in the bedroom while someone else watches TV in the living room, or group all your speakers to play music in sync.

Can someone tell me how this is not missleading? yes it may still be true at this very moment but they have announced their intention to break this functionality.

In my mind this goes beyond botched communications and rather goes to a fundamental change to what the company offers (offered): a single integrated multi-room audio systems that can grow over time. 

I just find it crazy that my perfectly performing system is now going to be compromised because it contains a Play 5 (gen 1).  The play 5 works perfectly and it in showroom condition.  My expectation when purchasing was that it would work until there was a component failure and not stop working because of software limitations.  This was not made clear when I purchased.  I purchased a speaker that would play music over wifi and I viewed that as limitless.  They really must start selling their kit with expiry dates so that customers know the lifespan of the now disposable kit.  The environmental impact is even more infuriating.  

I don’t think you can really say that your Play 5s will stop stop working that way.  We’ll find out in May, but my understanding is that updates to legacy devices stop in May.  That doesn’t mean they’ll stop working or your system will be crippled in May.  Everything should continue to work as normal,  Sometime down the road, you may run into problems with your legacy devices, but it shouldn’t be as early as May.

Systems containing legacy devices will as I understand stil it be able to group with modern devices as long as they are kept on “legacy grade” software. So you will get safety upgrades.

Possible disadvantages: over time some new features will not be available to you. More importantly current features may degrade and newly bought devices may not be able to be grouped with your current devices because the new device will possibly be on the newest software. We will know more about this from may.

The latest email says that following:

“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.”

When the CEO says that they “are working on a way to split your system” I don’t know why I wouldn’t believe his words. Splitting the system is not the same as having a single integrated multi-room audio system. Also saying that the products will coexist is a far cry from their existing language of grouping all the speakers to play music in sync. I can only believe that if they are using different words they are meant to have a different meaning. 

I hope to be proven wrong and that you are right but the choice of words leads me to believe that I won’t be.

Hey all, this is certainly a very sensitive issue and I have struggled about what to do with a system taht has served me well for all these years. I weighed out the options with trading in for newer Sonos units,  moving to Denon Heos or Bluesound. 

If it werent for the decision of Sonos to discontinue support for the “legacy units” I would of kept this sonos system going for another 10 years and probably added a couple of units in the spring to my 4 unit system and never even considered replacing my current units, if I am going to spend new money on gear I cant in good conscience give my money to the company that is making me spend it in the first place. 

So I have already purchased 6 new units form Bluesound and will sell my current Sonos sytem for whatever I can to try and recover atleast some of the cost of the new system. 

I can only say I am sorry to leave the Sonos comunity that I enjoyed for 9 years, But when a company decides to make decisions that favor there share holders as oppsed to the people who pay for the products it time to jump ship. 

Good luck to all. 

You do realize Bluesound is vulnerable to the same future compatibility issues, as are all processor/RAM/storage based streaming devices?  Sonos is just the first to face these issues because they were first to market (though Bose did just discontinue their entire SoundTouch lineup because they couldn’t make them compatible with Alexa).

jgatie, I did consider this and came to the conclusion that Bluesound is on there third generation, there current generation the i series is running the same cortex A9 processor that the current generation is running, I also know that there first generation devices are also still supported.

On the bluesound forums this issue was raised by fellow Sonos converts, Bluesond's response was that they have no intention of making any of there devices "legacy" and point to the fact that there older first gen  hardware is still supported, but you are right that I do take a chance that the same thing could potentially happen down the line. 

I do also get the sense that Sonos will do this much more often than any one else in the future.

Bluesound is affiliated with NAD who make high end audio components that are upgradeable by replacing modules not whole units, you pay more for NAD/Bluesound but people keep them for much longer.

I have no ill will towards Sonos, my decision was based on Sonos forcing my hand if bluesound does the same thing down the line I will kick them to the curb as well.

God I’ve lost the will to live, I not been here few a couple of weeks and it seems the thread is descending into a slanging match. Remember where our anger should be directed, I seen many comments about support periods. I brought a system that made no mention of support periods and the goal posts were moved later. If I buy a product with support, a time period is specified at the time of purchase not after the event of purchase.

Where did you get the idea that support is ending for any Sonos products?