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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K

Kumar

@Goodbye Sonos : unless one knows exactly what those numbers are, what they mean, and how they are computed, they are just numbers and therefore not meaningful - the old thing about lies, damned lies, and statistics applies.

It is extremely difficult/expensive to extract anything significant in a way that reduces what physically goes into some landfill from something like a Sonos play 5 unit or a Connect Amp. Apple claims to do a lot of this for their products via specially designed robots and machines, but assuming that is not just PR, I do not believe that Sonos has the scale to match that kind of effort.

I agree that if the Hue does not result in bulb changes, it is not that big a deal. But the principle still applies where IoT devices are concerned. I am not sure what a internet enabled smart fridge did in 2015, or what it does even today for that matter, but imagine a situation where the one sold in 2015 can no longer do what the one sold today does, unless one buys the new fridge. Even while the 2015 one is discharging its basic function of cooling just as well as it did when new. Far better to have a fridge with a changeable internet interface module attached to it.

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D

DK_Madsen

Enthusiast II

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.

But this is only the bridge they want people to change right ?

If they want you to throw away working bulbs it is every thing as horrible as the Sonos deal.

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G

Goodbye Sonos

Enthusiast II

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.

But this is only the bridge they want people to change right ?

If they want you to throw away working bulbs it is every thing as horrible as the Sonos deal.

Yes, Its just the bridge - total cost £36 or less on eBay

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G

Goodbye Sonos

Enthusiast II

@Goodbye Sonos : unless one knows exactly what those numbers are, what they mean, and how they are computed, they are just numbers and therefore not meaningful - the old thing about lies, damned lies, and statistics applies.

It is extremely difficult/expensive to extract anything significant in a way that reduces what physically goes into some landfill from something like a Sonos play 5 unit or a Connect Amp. Apple claims to do a lot of this for their products via specially designed robots and machines, but assuming that is not just PR, I do not believe that Sonos has the scale to match that kind of effort.

I agree that if the Hue does not result in bulb changes, it is not that big a deal. But the principle still applies where IoT devices are concerned. I am not sure what a internet enabled smart fridge did in 2015, or what it does even today for that matter, but imagine a situation where the one sold in 2015 can no longer do what the one sold today does, unless one buys the new fridge. Even while the 2015 one is discharging its basic function of cooling just as well as it did when new. Far better to have a fridge with a changeable internet interface module attached to it.

have a look at http://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/784263/UK_Statistics_on_Waste_statistical_notice_March_2019_rev_FINAL.pdf if you want the background on the stats - I am sure if you are interested you’ll be able to investigate this fully and understand UK recycling.

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K

Kumar

But this is only the bridge they want people to change right ?

If they want you to throw away working bulbs it is every thing as horrible as the Sonos deal.

It seems that it is just the bridge - and I did point out in my first post on this that I wasn't sure what was to be thrown away in the Hue case - and I based my comment on the following conclusion from that article:

Relentless progress is an inevitability of the consumer tech industry, but while we may be resigned to upgrading our laptops and phones every few years, if not sooner, the thought of doing the same with IoT infrastructure is far tougher to swallow.

As I wrote later, if the IoT infrastructure in this particular case does not include the bulbs, it isn't that big an issue. But in other cases, it could well be as big an issue as it clearly is for Sonos.

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J

John B

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.

It is certainly a digression. This has nothing to do with bulbs. It is like making the Bridge redundant so that people need a Boost to have a fully functioning system. Except that with Sonos. you don’t need a Bridge or a Boost.

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K

Kumar

I am sure if you are interested you’ll be able to investigate this fully and understand UK recycling.

I am not interested in what the UK does for recycling in general; on the other hand, if you can point to anything in that data that tells how much percent by weight/volume of trashed products like Sonos is recycled such that it goes back into a new product made either by the same maker or anyone else, and therefore does not end up in landfills, that will be of interest. Somehow, I doubt the link will shed any light on that relevant bit of information for the case we are discussing. I also doubt that this percentage will go into double digits, but that is just my reckoning.

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G

Goodbye Sonos

Enthusiast II

I am sure if you are interested you’ll be able to investigate this fully and understand UK recycling.

I am not interested in what the UK does for recycling in general; on the other hand, if you can point to anything in that data that tells how much percent by weight/volume of trashed products like Sonos is recycled such that it goes back into a new product made either by the same maker or anyone else, and therefore does not end up in landfills, that will be of interest. Somehow, I doubt the link will shed any light on that relevant bit of information for the case we are discussing. I also doubt that this percentage will go into double digits, but that is just my reckoning.

I am not here to do investigation work for you.

You made a wild claim that only paper and tin cans were recycled - I provided evidence to demonstrate that could not be true.

Its up to you to prove your point, not me; and I’ve disproved it anyway

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K

Kumar

I made no such claim. Wild or otherwise.

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D

Daniel88

Avid Contributor I

Sonos has turned me, from being an avid Sonos supporter, to a “Never sonos again”.

A long post from me, explaining my reasons for this exact change, has gone into the spam filter.

Also, I expand the “never Sonos again”, to never again a smart audio system that does not have a cheap and easily replaceable smart front end. For instance, I would not hesitate to buy or recommend Echo Dots, or even the cheap Show 5, but never something like the Echo Studio or Echo Sub.

And a link to an article that is another example why looking to not buy expensive integrated smart solutions/products is the smart thing to do in future:

https://www.slashgear.com/signify-philips-hue-bridge-end-of-support-owner-reaction-06612426/

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.

Looking at that graph that shows how much ram and rom each sonos speaker has, it is clear that they target the units with 32Mbyte ram and rom

It is also clear that the next speakers in line will the the ones that have only 64 Mbyte.

This means that the Play 1, the play 3 & Connect amp are next in line and anyone pondering, whether or not to go for the 30% off, should take a good hard look at their current setup, and be aware that in a few years they will have to do the same, all over again with their 1, 3 and Connect amp products.

Not to mention the Play 5 2.gen they want you to buy instead of the 1.gen...It has only got 256 Mbyte, and rumours has it that there is a 3.gen play 5 being made, so if i get a Play 5 2.gen, to replace my 1.gen Play 5, i might have to do it all over again in 5 years time.

And yes….I am also looking at something that has a speaker, and amplifier, and then i can buy some more inexpensive hardware to do the actual music streaming, that can be just changed for cheap, the day it stops being supported.

Funny that people was mad that they had to scrap their hue bridge that cost 60USD to replace, but Sonos thought that making people change speakers that cost multiple hundred dollars, would be fine.

TBH i think sonos has been living in a bubble, where they convinced themselves, that they were a bit like apple, and the “followers” would loyally and blindly follow the advice of sonos.

Huge difference between 32 and 256MB theres 8 times more memory in the gen2, i dont think thats ever going to be a problem, and If so, i hope sonos Will find a way through the problem, Im happy If my play 5’s gen2 last for atleast 7-8 years, i Will just save a few bucks every month for years and buy the new ones, imagine what people spend on smartphones, thousand dollars every 2 years or so, its tech, but i have confidence in the 256mb menory,

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