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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upstatemike

I wonder if a firmware tweak would allow the LED on Sonos products to glow in in a UV range that kills Corona virus? If they could do that players would fly off the shelves and the stock would rebound instantly.

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Local music library with carefully constructed playlists - no shuffling!, Integration with Homeseer Automation, No touch screen devices, No streaming services, No Apple products ever

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attacama40

Headliner I

I wonder if a firmware tweak would allow the LED on Sonos products to glow in in a UV range that kills Corona virus? If they could do that players would fly off the shelves and the stock would rebound instantly.

You know what … is funny but not so daft.

I just bought a UV-C commercial grade light. Sort of thing they use in hospitals. They are apparently rather effective. Plug it in a room for 30 mins and it has a high success rate apparently. Take a read…

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-21058-w

I have no idea of the practicality but imagine that …. every Nest, every Sonos, Alexa, Google Home, 4k TV, Apple thing, etc having a low grade UV-C emitter?

There is a counter argument of course stating that developing an immunity to such things is important and I don’t believe that UV-C is great for human beings in proximity. But conceptually? Interesting.

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K

Kumar

It could turn out to be the perfect storm for Sonos.

That would be trivial compared to what happens to the much larger players across the economy and the consequent impact of that on the global economy and our lives; Sonos would sink unnoticed in that storm.

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melvimbe

IMO, till there is stability again in the world, Sonos needs to announce that it is calling off this event - if needed, Covid also gives them a good cover to do this. Nothing will change for all Sonos users in the visible medium term, and there will be one less anxiety for everyone touched by Sonos to deal with at a time everyone has enough on their plate.

Of course it is looking likely that this decision will be taken for Sonos by external events anyway.

The May event never required anyone to take immediate action to begin with. There were, and still currently are, two reason to migrate from legacy modern, The first one being lack of new features and products. If people aren’t looking to buy luxury items right now, then new products shouldn’t be an appeal. New features is nice, but shouldn't be a source of anxiety.

The second reason is that a legacy system would stop working because of a significant change in a streaming service. That was never likely to happen right away, but the risk is even further reduced since streaming companies are even less likely to change things up right now.

In short, no one needs to be concerned about their Sonos system no longer working in May, regardless of whether Sonos chooses to delay.

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Danny

K

Kumar

Discussions about the May event are moot already - the decision is no longer in Sonos hands, the external environment will deny them the resources to implement and support the change. Which is why I said that if things revert back to a situation where they are free in May do as they wish, the world will be celebrating for much bigger reasons.

As for me, all I hope for on this score is for streaming services to still work and keep music playing at home for mental well being. Yes, there is the NAS, but how long after those services stop will mains power remain reliable/available will raise its head in days.

This is like living in a disaster movie; nothing I had ever hoped to live long enough to see.

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DK_Madsen

Enthusiast II

That would be trivial compared to what happens to the much larger players across the economy and the consequent impact of that on the global economy and our lives; Sonos would sink unnoticed in that storm.

Offcourse, but in a crisis, it’s a bad idea to have multiple bad vectors stacked against you.

If you have 2 big holes in the bottom of your bathtub, the water will drain out faster than if you have one, and the chance that you personally will run out of bathtub water is far greater.

Yesterday the Sonos stock was down and touched $7.10 this is less than half of what the stock was worth, the day before the announcement, and while i understand that Corona is also a big factor, it is really bad that the stock price halves in 2 months and it seems that the stock price right now only has one way and that is down.

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Smilja

You both should go and try to cram stuff onto an already crammed harddisk drive. Then you might get a clue on the Why.

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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)

melvimbe

Discussions about the May event are moot already - the decision is no longer in Sonos hands, the external environment will deny them the resources to implement and support the change. Which is why I said that if things revert back to a situation where they are free in May do as they wish, the world will be celebrating for much bigger reasons.

It’s entirely possible that Sonos employees will still be able complete development required for the May event, I’m sure quite a few will be able to do their work from home. Heck, school has been canceled for my kids, but they’re required to do school work from home.

As for me, all I hope for on this score is for streaming services to still work and keep music playing at home for mental well being. Yes, there is the NAS, but how long after those services stop will mains power remain reliable/available will raise its head in days.

This is like living in a disaster movie; nothing I had ever hoped to live long enough to see.

Perhaps the situation where you’re at is worse than where I am, but there is little reason to think that power is going to go out for an extended period of time. I don’t think streaming services are going to stop work any time soon either.

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Danny

Smilja

Guys, I’ve got news.

Sonos S2 overview and compatibility

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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)

melvimbe

Guys, I’ve got news.

Sonos S2 overview and compatibility

Well dang. Why in the world didn’t Sonos lead with this information?

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Danny

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