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Ryan S
Ryan S
Retired Sonos Staff
January 22, 2020

End of Software Support - Clarifications

End of Software Support - Clarifications

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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    4256 replies

    Show previous replies
    bonervz
    Enthusiast II
    January 22, 2020

    Great to see SONOS getting a ton of well deserved negative press on this major debacle. I would just like to get my money back. Perhaps chief product officer Nick Millington who coincidentally just sold 1/3 of his stock before this announcement would like to pay me for my now obsolete gear. 

    https://boycottsonos.com

    Nice website. Great job! 

    Sonos from leader to loser in 2020.
      spinksea
      Contributor I
      January 22, 2020

      Massive rethink, will not be adding to my system, of Playbar, woofer, 4 x play 1 2 x Play 3, 2 x Play 5 and two connects

        cosmo35166
        Enthusiast I
        January 22, 2020

        Great to see SONOS getting a ton of well deserved negative press on this major debacle. I would just like to get my money back. Perhaps chief product officer Nick Millington who coincidentally just sold 1/3 of his stock before this announcement would like to pay me for my now obsolete gear. 

        https://boycottsonos.com

        Maybe the FTC can probe him, investigate for insider trading.  Better yet, the FTC should open an Antitrust investigation against this company.  Yes I’m still really mad!

          rAndison
          Enthusiast I
          January 22, 2020

          So Sonos will still release firmware to fix bugs. Will a streaming service that is currently supported changing API be considered a bug and receive a fix on legacy hardware?

          This is the crux of the issue for me. If say Spotify changes something that means Sonos needs to change, then will it get fixed? I don’t see “upgrading” at 30% reduced price as an incentive, far from it. 

          @MrSwadge, I replied to this a few pages back, but I know some replies get missed. These legacy devices are stretched to the limits of their hardware already. Where possible, we will work to maintain the existing experience and conduct bug fixes on the legacy devices where the computing hardware will allow. 

           

          Ryan - this is the most concerning thing (for me at least) - you say: Streaming services will work the same as well, but at some time in the future, service software changes might cause it to degrade or stop working. - So you are confirming that you won’t be updating legacy devices to cope with service software changes. It seems unlikely that these changes would impose unrealistic demands on legacy devices, so why won’t you be updating the software?

          @PeteD, as above, where possible, we’ll try to update legacy devices, but we might not be able to. The hardware might not be able to support whatever solution is needed.

           

          “These legacy devices are stretched to the limits of their hardware already.”

          But Sonos is already streaming Deezer and Amazon etc now… I’m not interested in any future new features gizmos, I’m interested in Sonos continuing to provide a service that I have been receiving over the years. Amending a line of code to ensure it aligns with external databases is hardly going to stress it any further. Just branch code the app based on Legacy / modern hardware to provide a basic no frills streaming / network service or full package all bells and whistles. There is no need to add extra code to the device.

          This is just sounding like complete cut and paste BS and is only serving to make me even more angry and determined to kick Sonos into touch.

            attacama40
            Headliner I
            January 22, 2020

            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).  

             

            You sure we not got the same wife? :grinning:   …. same here, genuine stuff. Bought a new Amp a few weeks back and a sub thinking about it. To layer on my what, think it’s 14 boxes (of which 5 now on death row) and indeed was about to buy two more Amp’s and another sub. And these are all linked to B&W’s …. either in ceiling CCM683’s, 663’s or Matrix 805’s.

            Approval from other halves has always been a game of chess … there’s little chance of that now.

            I suppose at least the B&W’s will sustain any transition. Glad I only ever bought two box (Play) solutions now

              pf_1
              Contributor I
              January 22, 2020

              Another option you should all consider is to contact the California State Attorney general.  They will be interested in this scheme Sonos is running.   

                KingPin
                Enthusiast II
                January 22, 2020

                This may be the best stock to short sell on the market today. Just keep an eye open and quickly turn the position if they reverse this decision. I think they have about 24 hours to do it before the company’s reputation is damaged for a long long time. If not reversed, keep the short position open. 

                  Disgusted2020
                  Lyricist II
                  January 22, 2020

                  A loyal customer for many years…..£3K worth of Sonos equipment. 
                   

                  I’d love to be constructive, but I think everyone else has said the facts objectively. So retiring my 5 year old products whilst offering me a “discount”which is no better than many high street vendors, Obliterating customer loyalty and creating a mountain of waste in environmentally sensitive times - all in one swift move!
                  When you took away using Music on IOS devices through your app without streaming it was insulting, but this is next level incompetence. Wake up management if you don’t want to sink this ship you’re all so happy sailing on …..I’ll vote with my feet and not spend a penny more on your now “fly by night” labelled products....

                    davepowers
                    Lyricist I
                    January 22, 2020

                    Shame on you, Sonos.

                    At least I will have very good looking and expensive door stops to litter around the house.

                    #dontbuySonos

                    /s/ another burned customer

                      attacama40
                      Headliner I
                      January 22, 2020

                      Great to see SONOS getting a ton of well deserved negative press on this major debacle. I would just like to get my money back. Perhaps chief product officer Nick Millington who coincidentally just sold 1/3 of his stock before this announcement would like to pay me for my now obsolete gear. 

                      https://boycottsonos.com

                       

                      CEO: patrick.spence@sonos.com

                      Chief Product Officer: nick.millington@sonos.com

                      COO: david.perri@sonos.com

                       

                      Quality stuff … although taking what I considered a balanced view, the closing of the previous thread displays utter contempt and puts me now in the less tolerant box.

                      Your web site there is a reasonable flag waved back. 

                      Should not be necessary but I like it

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