Retired Sonos Staff

End of Software Support - Clarifications

December 8, 2022 at 11:29 AM
4256 replies
269774 views

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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Show previous replies

chickentender

Yes. I think that’s a reasonable position/choice for sure. If you wire everything, you will not have to worry about these issues. Or you could use cheap Alexa pucks on all your speakers and have powered speakers or

There are many options beyond Alexa and such… even Raspberry Pi and similar DIY solutions are getting more and more capable. Wiring, if planning for longevity is likely still the best solution, but the field is ever-changing. All those are roads I likely would have gone down if it weren't that I saw something more powerful in Sonos (particularly at the time!)…

The problem is that, just like any hi-fi system purchased as a premium investment, Sonos was sold as such, and truly, had I known the long-term ramifications of the choice I made at the time, I well may not have… very likely would not have.
And that is the bottom-line sentiment of hundreds of folks in the past 24 hours.

J

JAV

Lyricist III

Sonos stock is taking a well deserved Hit… Sell Sell Sell… too bad… just like their legacy products, all good things come to an end…

I

IBarch

Lyricist I

The reason given for end of life is that my existing devices “do not have enough memory or processing power to sustain future innovation”.

That may be correct for some new features. I am ok with this and fully expect not to get new features.

However, it is absolute rubbish regarding supporting the existing feature set that my devices have. The majority of changes will be keeping up with any interface changes that third party services like Spotify may make. These are extremely unlikely to require any more memory or processing power than my device have. In fact, it is an almost certainty that no changes will be made that my devices cant handle.

The only reason SONOS are doing this is for cost of maintaining the software. There is no technical reasons whatsoever. It is to protect the bottom line.

As an owner of a software company myself, I know maintenance costs. Customers cannot expect support for free forever. I would consider paying an annual maintenance fee for the small amount of work to maintain existing features that would be required over a year. Why is that not an option?

P

patbla

Enthusiast II

I have a number of existing products that will now be “legacy”. If I choose option 1 and keep them, my software for my entire network will be frozen at the current version. If I were to buy any new products, they would also have to run on this old version.

Therefore please explain why I would ever buy Sonos again if all my existing products and any new products are treated as legacy right now and could potentially lose access to services and features they may ship with?

Do you only care about new customers or those who are prepared to re-buy the equipment they already own? You certainly don’t care about the rest of us.

I’ve asked the further question (no response) which is will future products be able to be downgraded to work with legacy system? While they are saying that there will be a way to add new products to a “legacy” network I want someone to come out and clarify that there will be a way to downgrade the firmware to a version that the new component may have never been designed for. Seems like a complicated proposition, especially since it’s not clear that all systems will be frozen at the same version.

S

swarbets

Lyricist I

We have just realised the Sonos 1 speakers we own are going to become obsolete & so I felt we had to add our voice. We are in disbelief and so disappointed. We do not have the money to replace. These were investments for us at a time we could have spent the money on our young family but chose to buy these to last into the long term future. We did not realise that they are in effect disposable items. We use them everyday and Its hard to imagine just throwing them away? I didn’t buy them to landfill these after a few years. This is terrible for the environment. Shame on Sonos.

C

canary

Contributor I

Legacy mode

Oh dear.

This is a Ratneresque move that is going to rapidly backfire. As others have said, Sonos have in effect just announced that their products are disposable.

That’s absolutely fine, so here’s what I’m going to do: eBay my entire Sonos 5.1 system this weekend and never, ever purchase another piece of Sonos equipment.

I would urge everyone to boycott Sonos until this nonsensical decision has been publicly reversed.

As it stands, you are alienating loyal customers from the kind of socio-economic categories that companies yearn for.

But hey, we all know it’s about the money so the only way Sonos is going to listen is through taking a financial hit.

WAKE UP CEO before you destroy your well-deserved brand and turn it into a ‘legacy brand’ - just like our speakers.

chickentender

What did you think was Ryan meant when he said “Where possible, we will work to maintain the existing experience and conduct bug fixes on the legacy devices where the computing hardware will allow. “ It sounds like you’re getting what you’re asking for.

Not if interoperability goes out the window and silo’ing is necessary in this scenario.
If the above is true it will indeed prevent many from selling off their systems, continuing on as-is today, but it will most assuredly prevent the vast majority from adding modern unit sold at a premium into their same ecosystem in the future. That seems clear.

It is the ecosystem that purchasers bought into first and foremost as presented by Sonos, and it is the loss of that ecosystem that is at stake. Again, if a system can indeed be frozen in its current state and simply receive maintenance updates, that will dry the eyes of many, but it will not entice any to invest further.

C

cosmo35166

Enthusiast I

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.

What did you think was Ryan meant when he said “Where possible, we will work to maintain the existing experience and conduct bug fixes on the legacy devices where the computing hardware will allow. “ It sounds like you’re getting what you’re asking for.

Maybe it’s about commitment, being forthright and direct. “Where Possible” and “might not” do not provide the warm fuzzies for continued investment into the products, not for me. It’s hard to stand on the sidelines and hope the Company does what’s best in the interest of their Customers. if nothing else, this event was poorly executed and communicated. Or it was planned, maybe they want to take the stock back private by driving it down.

G

gary larden

Lyricist II

Thankyou Sonos, I’ve got 1x connect Amp, 3 x connects and a sub woofer.

All of these ‘ dinosaurs’ will be left in the lurch after May and eventually die. That’s a fitting thankyou from Sonos for the financial support from people like myself who have purchased £1,500.00,s worth of Sonos equipment. In effect we have helped shape your company. Without the early purchases you wouldn’t be where you are now. Suffice to say I shall not be supporting you in the future. It does work both ways you know. I’ll be looking for a new supplier. Well done !

E

ewolkoff

Enthusiast II

One thought that just came to mind. As long as you can group an AirPlay Sonos speaker with these legacy products, you should always be able to use any music program through iOS to play whatever you need to, no? So even if you can’t use the Sonos controller to play Spotify (because they change their API), you could still use your iPhone and just group the rooms.

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