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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User694694

Enthusiast II

It’s boggling how poorly Sonos has handled this transition and dissemination of information. Having said that, it seems we have arrived at a point that many (including me) will be satisfied with. I’m still a little grey on the “as long as possible” regarding streaming music services, but for some reason, it seems a little more reassuring having been put into its current form/commitment. Interestingly, now that I feel more comfortable with being able to continue to use my legacy devices if I so choose, I may decide to actually upgrade.

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melvimbe

Anyone want to take a bet, that sonos knew all of this back in January.

Why they wanted to keep this a secret i beyond me, the “You will get higher quality music” would have calmed some people down.

This Wired article suggested that Sonos has been working on a split, or at least how to deal with legacy units that were maxed out, for a year now. Doesn’t say that they new what features were going to be added and when, but seems likely.

If I had to guess, Sonos thought they negative reaction wasn’t going to be quite so negative, and they could then do possitive annoucements around May or later that woulld still be somewhat ‘fresh’ news when the Christmas retail seasons starts? Or perhaps they wanted to hold that info so as not to tip their hand to the competition? I don’t know Regardless, hindsight clearly shows that they did not pick the right course of action.

Instead they kept everyone in the dark, endured a “storm” and had to rephrase what they said at first, all because they did not just tell the truth from the beginning.

They didn’t lie about anything. They did not provide all information upfront, and they did change some of the information based on the negative reaction. I don’t see that as the same thing.

Shares are right now, down to USD 7, from USD ~15 the day before the announcement, and if the trend continues it will be below USD 7 tomorrow or even later today

Part of that is due the corona virus hit every stock is going through right now, and I would say any downward trend tomorrow would be more virus related than specific to Sonos.

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Danny

J

John_54

Trending Lyricist I

So I have 6 speakers, 4 modern, 2 legacy. As I understand it I can continue to use them together (with current streaming functionality) on S1 after May until the 2 legacy are no longer compatible with the moderns. At that point I can trade up the 2 legacies and continue to use the 6 speakers, now all modern, on S2.

Correct?

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melvimbe

So I have 6 speakers, 4 modern, 2 legacy. As I understand it I can continue to use them together (with current streaming functionality) on S1 after May until the 2 legacy are no longer compatible with the moderns. At that point (days, months,year~~), I can trade up the 2 legacies, switch to S2, and usethe 6 together.~~

~~Correct?~~

Pretty much. Your legacy speakers are more likely to stop working either to hardware failure or signifcant change in a streaming service, rather Sonos dropping support, IMO. Also, you do not need to wait for some a failure of sorts of your legacy devices before trading up. You can do that any time.

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Danny

User694694

Enthusiast II

Anyone want to take a bet, that sonos knew all of this back in January.

Why they wanted to keep this a secret i beyond me, the “You will get higher quality music” would have calmed some people down.

Instead they kept everyone in the dark, endured a “storm” and had to rephrase what they said at first, all because they did not just tell the truth from the beginning.

Shares are right now, down to USD 7, from USD ~15 the day before the announcement, and if the trend continues it will be below USD 7 tomorrow or even later today

The entire market is being rocked by the direct and indirect effects of the corona virus. My diversified portfolio is down about 22%. I think this amplifies any downward turn that companies were experiencing. Eventually the markets (and Sonos) will bounce back. But, I don’t know if anyone knows how much of a nose dive we’re going to take in the short and possibly medium term.

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S

smallstool

Enthusiast I

Anyone want to take a bet, that sonos knew all of this back in January.

Why they wanted to keep this a secret i beyond me, the “You will get higher quality music” would have calmed some people down.

Instead they kept everyone in the dark, endured a “storm” and had to rephrase what they said at first, all because they did not just tell the truth from the beginning.

Shares are right now, down to USD 7, from USD ~15 the day before the announcement, and if the trend continues it will be below USD 7 tomorrow or even later today

The entire market is being rocked by the direct and indirect effects of the corona virus. My diversified portfolio is down about 22%. I think this amplifies any downward turn that companies were experiencing. Eventually the markets (and Sonos) will bounce back. But, I don’t know if anyone knows how much of a nose dive we’re going to take in the short and possibly medium term.

I’m down 21% on my diversified portfolio, sonos is 54% down since this saga was kicked off by Spence & co - he should go to try and save the company.

The way sonos has handled all this (and continue to do so) is shocking - I know of no other company in business that is so unprofessional in its strategies and communications

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Connect Amp x 3, Connect x 1, Sub x 2, Playbar x 2, Beam x 1, Play 1 x 4, Play 3 x 2, Play 5 x 2, Boost x 1, Amp, Arc, 2 x Era 100, 2 x Era 300, Symfonisk x 2, Roam

A

attacama40

Headliner I

Anyone want to take a bet, that sonos knew all of this back in January.

Why they wanted to keep this a secret i beyond me, the “You will get higher quality music” would have calmed some people down.

Instead they kept everyone in the dark, endured a “storm” and had to rephrase what they said at first, all because they did not just tell the truth from the beginning.

Shares are right now, down to USD 7, from USD ~15 the day before the announcement, and if the trend continues it will be below USD 7 tomorrow or even later today

Precisely …. being an average bear, had someone told me I’d get ‘better grade sounds’ this would have been enough to have quelled the heat in exchange for some pain.

And it’s way before the May date that the stoic standard bearers insisted was so important.

And it is at least quantifiable and useful data and appreciated. Late yes? Messily done yes? Appreciated and useful yes.

Never too late to adopt, adapt and improve. But a shame for the organisation to have created their own land mine and then stepped on it … and gone back to check that they definitely did step on it.

Maybe now things clear and we regain a little confidence.

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A

attacama40

Headliner I

Anyone want to take a bet, that sonos knew all of this back in January.

Why they wanted to keep this a secret i beyond me, the “You will get higher quality music” would have calmed some people down.

Instead they kept everyone in the dark, endured a “storm” and had to rephrase what they said at first, all because they did not just tell the truth from the beginning.

Shares are right now, down to USD 7, from USD ~15 the day before the announcement, and if the trend continues it will be below USD 7 tomorrow or even later today

The entire market is being rocked by the direct and indirect effects of the corona virus. My diversified portfolio is down about 22%. I think this amplifies any downward turn that companies were experiencing. Eventually the markets (and Sonos) will bounce back. But, I don’t know if anyone knows how much of a nose dive we’re going to take in the short and possibly medium term.

I’m down 21% on my diversified portfolio, sonos is 54% down since this saga was kicked off by Spence & co - he should go to try and save the company.

The way sonos has handled all this (and continue to do so) is shocking - I know of no other company in business that is so unprofessional in its strategies and communications

I agree but in reality there have been many such messes over the years …. ask the ‘new coke guy, the guy who decided to doctor the VW emissions software, a hundred others. My own organisation included.

It has been a mess and I think the pain was amplified as many of us had such a loyalty … even a love for the product and system. We were junior slopes evangelists :-)

The difference between Sonos and my organisation is that everything would stop, we would fly out and meet in a lofty boardroom (somewhere in Europe and not go home until it was done) and cast a battle plan …. implement and win every one of our customers back. At ‘nearly’ any cost. We would not play with comms and maybe’s we would take the oxygen out of the complainers lungs until they stopped complaining.

There have been reassuring words … they were just slow and un-coordinated.

This (and the last one a week or two back) does improve matters for me. I say this not to damage Sonos. I still want to love the product. It was just so self destructive to watch it in slow motion

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melvimbe

And it’s way before the May date that the stoic standard bearers insisted was so important.

Sonos stated they would have more details in May. Whoever ‘stoic standard bearers’ are, they were only repeating what Sonos had stated.

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Danny

Smilja

The difference between Sonos and my organisation is that everything would stop, we would fly out and meet in a lofty boardroom (somewhere in Europe and not go home until it was done) and cast a battle plan …. implement and win every one of our customers back. At ‘nearly’ any cost. We would not play with comms and maybe’s we would take the oxygen out of the complainers lungs until they stopped complaining.

Sure. At the end of the day you would have won every one of your customers over at the cost of ‘nearly’ going insolvent.

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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)

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