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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Self_Stirring_Mug

I didn’t see that this is a 64bit processor.

https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers/arm-processors/i.mx-applications-processors/i.mx-6-processors/i.mx-6quadplus-processor-quad-core-high-performance-advanced-3d-graphics-hd-video-advanced-multimedia-arm-cortex-a9-core:i.MX6QP

It supports a 64 bit ram configuration. I doubt a 32-bit processor would be capable of that. :)

Looks 32bit to me. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I.MX#i.MX_6_series

From my link :

and optimized 64-bit DDR3 or 2-ch., 32-bit LPDDR2 support.

That is fine. However memory support is not directly related to the processing core. A9 cores are 32bit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_Cortex-A9

I stand corrected.

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Smilja

They do now, so why they ought not in the future?

Offcourse they can.

Sonos has CHOSEN not to….But it would be possible to do if they wanted.

The “We can not make it run on different firmware revisions” is bogus, and in reality, the reason they have chosen this approach is to “force” their costumers to invest in new speakers.

I see. You are working in the production department at Sonos giving away internal details. :nerd:

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»And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space, Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.« (›Windmills Of Your Mind‹ [1967]. Music by Michel Legrand ; English lyrics written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman)

S

sonosg

Enthusiast I

OK, so we have had some good discussion on microprocessors. So far, it looks like they are ARM9 32-bit. At some point, there were some charts that showed all SONOS model numbers along with their memory capacity. I wonder if the source of that info could add the microprocessor as an extra bit of useful info across the entire range.

From the other point of view, where is the original information that suggests Airplay 2 would require a 64-bit processor at the receiving speaker? Again, at the receiving speaker, not the source (iOS, iPhone, etc...)

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J

John B

I personally feel that I probably understand less than 5% of the complexities of how Sonos does what it does. The confidence of some contributors to this thread about what is and isn't possible has often surprised me.

I imagine almost anything could be achieved. But at what cost to reliability of performance? Or to the other essential developments that Sonos needs to stay ahead of the competition?

I admit I don't know. It just seems to me that if the course Sonos has taken was so easily avoided then Sonos would have avoided it.

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S

sonosg

Enthusiast I

I personally feel that I probably understand less than 5% of the complexities of how Sonos does what it does. The confidence of some contributors to this thread about what is and isn't possible has often surprised me.

I imagine almost anything could be achieved. But at what cost to reliability of performance? Or to the other essential developments that Sonos needs to stay ahead of the competition?

I admit I don't know. It just seems to me that if the course Sonos has taken was so easily avoided then Sonos would have avoided it.

I was just looking for evidence to back up a fact that was presented, nothing more...

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S

Self_Stirring_Mug

OK, so we have had some good discussion on microprocessors. So far, it looks like they are ARM9 32-bit. At some point, there were some charts that showed all SONOS model numbers along with their memory capacity. I wonder if the source of that info could add the microprocessor as an extra bit of useful info across the entire range.

From the other point of view, where is the original information that suggests Airplay 2 would require a 64-bit processor at the receiving speaker? Again, at the receiving speaker, not the source (iOS, iPhone, etc...)

The Ikea speaker supports Airplay2 and is the samee Arm9 as the play1

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S

Self_Stirring_Mug

I personally feel that I probably understand less than 5% of the complexities of how Sonos does what it does. The confidence of some contributors to this thread about what is and isn't possible has often surprised me.

I imagine almost anything could be achieved. But at what cost to reliability of performance? Or to the other essential developments that Sonos needs to stay ahead of the competition?

I admit I don't know. It just seems to me that if the course Sonos has taken was so easily avoided then Sonos would have avoided it.

I was just looking for evidence to back up a fact that was presented, nothing more...

I think that was aimed at the poster claiming Airplay2 requires 64bit proc and perhaps at myself who was mistaken about the processor.

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J

John B

My comment was not aimed at either of you and definitely wasn't in response to either of your comments.

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K

Kumar

I did not invest in any Hue products for that very reason.

The difference i feel, between a Hue bulb and a Sonos speaker, is that the price of a sonos speaker is a lot higher than the price of a sonos speaker, and also, a bulb has always been a disposable item, whereas this has never been true with regards to speakers and sound systems.

Digressing a little - if the Hue bridge issue calls for replacement of many bulbs it becomes an issue of costs,inconvenience and environmental damage; I don't know if that is the case there.

Plus, the latest LED bulbs are no longer disposable as the old filament bulbs were, they are now built for years or even decades of service life in a typical home. So landfilling them before they die is just as irresponsible as doing that to a working Sonos speaker. And those that believe that recycling of such products, even where it is actually done, is as complete as it is for paper and tin cans are allowing themselves to be fooled because it is convenient to do so.

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G

Goodbye Sonos

Enthusiast II

I did not invest in any Hue products for that very reason.

The difference i feel, between a Hue bulb and a Sonos speaker, is that the price of a sonos speaker is a lot higher than the price of a sonos speaker, and also, a bulb has always been a disposable item, whereas this has never been true with regards to speakers and sound systems.

Digressing a little - if the Hue bridge issue calls for replacement of many bulbs it becomes an issue of costs,inconvenience and environmental damage; I don't know if that is the case there.

Plus, the latest LED bulbs are no longer disposable as the old filament bulbs were, they are now built for years or even decades of service life in a typical home. So landfilling them before they die is just as irresponsible as doing that to a working Sonos speaker. And those that believe that recycling of such products, even where it is actually done, is as complete as it is for paper and tin cans are allowing themselves to be fooled because it is convenient to do so.

The Philips thing is not really comparable with the Sonos end of support is it.

Firstly the bulbs (which are the vast bulk of any Philips hue system) are all compatible with the standard ZigBee communication protocol which makes them compatible with many many devices, and they’re all still supported anyway - so none of them have to be scrapped or go to Landfill as you suggest.

Also, no one likes to have to spend money, but the total cost to upgrade a Philips hue system to the current bridge is just £36 on eBay for a brand new bridge delivered or less for a secondhand device.

It’s hardly a comparable cost to the consumer when viewed against the Sonos costs to customers with end of support devices is it!

Also I don’t think in the UK we are fooling ourselves with regard to recycling - we’ve not perfect but in 2017 the recycling rate for England was 45.2%, compared with 46.3% in Northern Ireland, 43.5% in Scotland and 57.6% in Wales - so it’s definitely not just paper and tin cans being recycled in the UK.

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