Retired Sonos Staff

End of Software Support - Clarifications

Dec 8, 2022 11:29 AM UTC
4256 replies
270548 views
Translate All

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

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

Show previous replies

Ken_Griffiths

Yes, like I said it’s a personal decision. I don’t want to keep replacing items so I’ll just move wholesale to another solution - simple… or it will be once I’ve decided where to go. My Sonos will not go to waste either though - I’ll flog it on ebay.

Yes, that’s sounds fine, as perhaps a 'loss' in those type of circumstance, is often someone else’s gain ...and of course, potentially a new generation of customer for Sonos too. All good stuff and entirely your choice of course.👍

Translate

biggetjeindewei

Collaborator II

So, I have only Legacy equipment.

Can I still add a new Sonos component after say half a year?

Because….. for adding new components I need to perform a sw update, but that will not be possible because I only have Legacy products.…

Am I missing something?

Translate

Maurice

jgatie

So, I have only Legacy equipment.

Can I still add a new Sonos component after say half a year?

Because….. for adding new components I need to perform a sw update, but that will not be possible because I only have Legacy products.…

Am I missing something?

You will be able to add Sonos products that exist at the time the legacy software goes into effect in May. If Sonos brings a brand new device to market a year from now, the legacy software will not know about the new device, so you will not be able to add that.

Translate

melvimbe

So, I have only Legacy equipment.

Can I still add a new Sonos component after say half a year?

Because….. for adding new components I need to perform a sw update, but that will not be possible because I only have Legacy products.…

Am I missing something?

It’s my understanding, though I can’t recall where I picked up that understanding, is that you will be able to add any of the devices that you currently can add. You won’t be able to a product that Sonos doesn’t currently make. This will be made clear, and exactly how new speakers can be added, in May.

Translate

Danny

Ken_Griffiths

So, I have only Legacy equipment.

Can I still add a new Sonos component after say half a year?

Because….. for adding new components I need to perform a sw update, but that will not be possible because I only have Legacy products.…

Am I missing something?

My thoughts on this particular topic...

We can perhaps only speculate a little here, until the full detail is announced, but from all the things I have personally read so far, the existing Sonos announcements and Staff comments seem to 'infer' that if the 'new' product you purchase to add to your existing Home system is one that is available at the time of the separation into 'modern' and 'legacy’ systems (around May-time 2020), like a Sonos One SL for example, you will be able to add that speaker to a legacy setup at any point, going forward and for the foreseeable future. Obviously you can also choose to separate out such a device and place that into a separate 'modern' setup instead.

However, if say your purchase was a brand new product, like a 'yet to be invented' Sonos Three (gen 2) (just an example), that is maybe launched much later in the year, you will 'likely' not be able to add that to the 'existing' legacy system, but will need to run that under a 'modern' setup.

You can still run both 'legacy' and 'modern' systems however, side by side… what is not yet clear, is if the two will be able to 'play together' nicely for 'some' things, or if we will have to always treat them as two separate systems, within the same Home.

Just to say that this is merely 'my own take' on things and so these things are therefore 'subject to change', so to speak, but hope that perhaps may assist you a little.

Translate

Paul St

Lyricist III

Just noticed quite a few gen 1 play 5s popping up on Facebook market place, a lot of people are going to get a shock quite soon if they buy these.

Translate

M

mwiseman

Enthusiast II

Just noticed quite a few gen 1 play 5s popping up on Facebook market place, a lot of people are going to get a shock quite soon if they buy these.

But not here: https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/certified-refurbished-2

:wink:

Translate

Ken_Griffiths

Just noticed quite a few gen 1 play 5s popping up on Facebook market place, a lot of people are going to get a shock quite soon if they buy these.

But not here: https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/certified-refurbished-2

:wink:

Not even a Black Sonos One (gen1) on the Sonos U.K. site … they’re all sold out. I have been after one since Xmas to match one I have already, but they still have some in the US … wish Sonos would ship a few over here.

I have 'signed up' to be notified when one lands here. A great speaker for only £159… a bargain (I think) ...er ...if you can get them.

Translate

User694694

Enthusiast II

Just noticed quite a few gen 1 play 5s popping up on Facebook market place, a lot of people are going to get a shock quite soon if they buy these.

Maybe. I guess it depends on how they intend to use them (single speaker to stream their local library and they will probably never be disappointed). It also largely depends on how Sonos decides to implement its split system, and if Sonos continues to support streaming music services for their legacy devices. Everyone here seems to have their interpretation of what Sonos has said and not said, but there’s certainly no consensus at this point.

Translate

A

audiophile99

Lyricist III

61% of Sonos customers own more than one speaker and made purchases with the explicit guarantee (add on at anytime) of multi-speaker integration.

The back story of the disrupted speaker integration support announcement of 1/21/20:
“Investors are concerned about Sonos' long-term endurance as it gravitates toward producing products with longer shelf lives, which result in longer replacement cycles.”
https://www.businessinsider.com/sonos-fitbit-gopro-ipo-company-shares-dropped-80-percent-2018-8?op=1

This became a problem for Sonos investors because “92% of the products we’ve ever shipped are still in use today.” The solution was to force customers to replace working speakers at an immense goodwill cost of crippling their integrated-speaker-system brand identity.

Sonos share price has lost nearly half of its value ($10.55 on 3/5/20) from its IPO high ($19.91 on 8/2/18).

I hope a course-correction at Sonos is imminent. Great speakers!

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/sonos-ipo-stock-price-2018-8-1027426964

Translate

Show more replies

Sign up

Login to the community