Retired Sonos Staff

End of Software Support - Clarifications

Dec 8, 2022 11:29 AM UTC
4256 replies
270589 views
Translate All

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

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

Show previous replies

I Love Spring Flowers

Lyricist III

I think you are right. What’s been missed is how many people have had their eyes opened to the possibilities out there for alternatives - some of which are very inexpensive and provide fabulous sound quality and usability

+1. I recently set up a Pi>DAC+>PiCoreplayer

I was going to replace my legacy Connect and Connect:Amps in the coming months. But now I’m not so sure as I can’t go back to slumming it with Sonos playback ui. I’m still getting used to the Material picore skin but it’s already that much better imo.

Translate

G

Goodbye Sonos

Enthusiast II

I think you are right. What’s been missed is how many people have had their eyes opened to the possibilities out there for alternatives - some of which are very inexpensive and provide fabulous sound quality and usability

+1. I recently set up a Pi>DAC+>PiCoreplayer

I was going to replace my legacy Connect and Connect:Amps in the coming months. But now I’m not so sure as I can’t go back to slumming it with Sonos playback ui. I’m still getting used to the Material picore skin but it’s already that much better imo.

I am using the squeezer android app at present and it works really well and its freeware

Translate

C

castalla

Local Superstar

Very welcome announcement - too late for me.

I am sitting listening to a pair of stereo speakers with a separate sub powered by a 192kHz 24 bit DAC on a raspberry pi running piCorePlayer streaming from another raspberry pi with LMS installed on it holding my music collection and quite frankly it knocks the sonos kit into a cocked hat by comparison.

I would never have looked away from Sonos had this debacle not occurred - but it did, and I did and now I have a much better solution for me. More pi’s are on order to power other zones.

These pi’s are so cheap and the dac’s cost very little too - incredibly cheap for the astounding quality of sound and the usability of the Squeezer app on Android is great too.

So there it is… too late for me

And this is the point that some on the thread just don't seem to get .…. how many examples are needed to underline the credibility.

I have also entered that new pool and whilst not quite as far to the deep end as you, I’m not far off.

The announcement I can’t fully absorb yet but it sounds good overall. And either way I appreciate the effort to communicate status. Good or bad. And that is key …. customers can locked into a holding pattern with the right noises regularly made. If you don’t get the messages you will land elsewhere as you have.

I think you are right. What’s been missed is how many people have had their eyes opened to the possibilities out there for alternatives - some of which are very inexpensive and provide fabulous sound quality and usability

I gave up on the Sonos eco-system ages ago - I just use a raspberry Pi (currently a zero w) to run LMS and control my eclectic set of speakers/players.

At the moment I have a Squeezebox Radio, Touch, Pure Jongo SX3, Sonos Beam, and a Chromecast Audio (feeding a BT transmitter for headphones). There are others!

The whole caboodle is controlled through the LMS webgui, On Android, I use Kiwi Browser displaying the LMS Material interface (excellent). Other options to control (used infrequently) are a Squeezebox Controller (think CR 200) and Echo voice using LMS-lite skill.

Translate

It's the courageous bee's knees - all 6 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝. - - - - - Make Sonos Great Again - - - - -

K

Kumar

I think you are right. What’s been missed is how many people have had their eyes opened to the possibilities out there for alternatives - some of which are very inexpensive and provide fabulous sound quality and usability

And what better time to tinker around when most people are going to both have all the time in the world sitting at home in some form of isolation, and a need to stay mentally occupied? All that Sonos offers is the passive pleasure of listening to music:-).

Translate

G

Goodbye Sonos

Enthusiast II

Very welcome announcement - too late for me.

I am sitting listening to a pair of stereo speakers with a separate sub powered by a 192kHz 24 bit DAC on a raspberry pi running piCorePlayer streaming from another raspberry pi with LMS installed on it holding my music collection and quite frankly it knocks the sonos kit into a cocked hat by comparison.

I would never have looked away from Sonos had this debacle not occurred - but it did, and I did and now I have a much better solution for me. More pi’s are on order to power other zones.

These pi’s are so cheap and the dac’s cost very little too - incredibly cheap for the astounding quality of sound and the usability of the Squeezer app on Android is great too.

So there it is… too late for me

And this is the point that some on the thread just don't seem to get .…. how many examples are needed to underline the credibility.

I have also entered that new pool and whilst not quite as far to the deep end as you, I’m not far off.

The announcement I can’t fully absorb yet but it sounds good overall. And either way I appreciate the effort to communicate status. Good or bad. And that is key …. customers can locked into a holding pattern with the right noises regularly made. If you don’t get the messages you will land elsewhere as you have.

I think you are right. What’s been missed is how many people have had their eyes opened to the possibilities out there for alternatives - some of which are very inexpensive and provide fabulous sound quality and usability

I gave up on the Sonos eco-system ages ago - I just use a raspberry Pi (currently a zero w) to run LMS and control my eclectic set of speakers/players.

At the moment I have a Squeezebox Radio, Touch, Pure Jongo SX3, Sonos Beam, and a Chromecast Audio (feeding a BT transmitter for headphones). There are others!

The whole caboodle is controlled through the LMS webgui, On Android, I use Kiwi Browser displaying the LMS Material interface (excellent). Other options to control (used infrequently) are a Squeezebox Controller (think CR 200) and Echo voice using LMS-lite skill.

I’ve just installed the material skin plugin on LMS (Logitech media server) and yes you are right it looks the business and works a treat

Translate

G

Goodbye Sonos

Enthusiast II

I think you are right. What’s been missed is how many people have had their eyes opened to the possibilities out there for alternatives - some of which are very inexpensive and provide fabulous sound quality and usability

And what better time to tinker around when most people are going to both have all the time in the world sitting at home in some form of isolation, and a need to stay mentally occupied? All that Sonos offers is the passive pleasure of listening to music:-).

I am sat here now enjoying the passive pleasure of listening to music - seriously this is easier to use than the Sonos app

Translate

A

attacama40

Headliner I

I think you are right. What’s been missed is how many people have had their eyes opened to the possibilities out there for alternatives - some of which are very inexpensive and provide fabulous sound quality and usability

And what better time to tinker around when most people are going to both have all the time in the world sitting at home in some form of isolation, and a need to stay mentally occupied? All that Sonos offers is the passive pleasure of listening to music:-).

Kumar my wife sees Covid19 as a tool to accelerate our house renovation! :-) …. we were just renovating the garden (big enough in itself and including some Sonos to drive our Evid 6.2’s out there). Now it’s the lounge as well! Mind has a silver lining …. lounge is our home cinema room which is 15 years awaiting a major tech refurb. Means Dolby Atmos, large TV, extra speakers etc.

By the way, whilst the above is accurate and hopefully gently amusing, I don’t wish in any way to belittle or undermine the severity many are facing and the sadness of some as well. Think as you mentioned a little while back, our tech friction is a minor issue compared to the situ of many.

Translate

A

attacama40

Headliner I

I think you are right. What’s been missed is how many people have had their eyes opened to the possibilities out there for alternatives - some of which are very inexpensive and provide fabulous sound quality and usability

And what better time to tinker around when most people are going to both have all the time in the world sitting at home in some form of isolation, and a need to stay mentally occupied? All that Sonos offers is the passive pleasure of listening to music:-).

I am sat here now enjoying the passive pleasure of listening to music - seriously this is easier to use than the Sonos app

Take a trial of Roon … seriously it’s compelling stuff.

And that is said not to the detriment of the Sonos app … I like that and is still my primary tool on Win 10 but the Roon thing takes it to a whole new lever of music and catalog management. In some ways over complex, in some ways very compelling.

Translate

K

Kumar

I have started testing a PowerBoost 500+ with a Li Battery and a little bit of electronics (Electrolytic Capacitor, resistor, transistor and a relay) so when the mains is turned off to the PowerBoost, the Pi shuts down, the relay closes and the battery turns off. Then when you turn the power on again, the relay opens, and the Pi starts up. It works too. Simples…!

Is the sequence of events correct? How does the Pi initiate turn off routines after the mains power is pulled? Unless the mains is there just to keep the battery charged and the Pi runs on the battery all the time that it is on.

And this sounds interesting, but perhaps an overkill to me. I am quite ok to power down the Pi via either the VNC or a terminal command, and cycle the mains switch to get the Pi on again.

Translate

K

Kumar

By the way, whilst the above is accurate and hopefully gently amusing, I don’t wish in any way to belittle or undermine the severity many are facing and the sadness of some as well. Think as you mentioned a little while back, our tech friction is a minor issue compared to the situ of many.

Humour as long as possible is a very good idea. I am honestly terrified about how things are unravelling so I am being deadly serious when I say that I will be over the moon if Sonos does all it is saying it will do in May. Because there is no way they can do that if things stay on the present course where the external environment is concerned.

Translate

Show more replies

Sign up

Login to the community