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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Show previous replies

Airgetlam

Only if the third party, Spotify, in your example, maintains the previous stream in addition to the new version. In which case, there would be no reason for Sonos to change anyway.

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Bruce

D

Daniel88

Avid Contributor I

No, I don’t think you’re alone in that thought. Given how long Sonos has been able to maintain their software up in the current limited memory, I suspect they’ll be good in keeping within the expanded limit….but it all depends on how ‘large’ new features are. There’s no great way I’m aware of to predict future things like that.

So, I wouldn’t want to guaranty another 15 years before this needs to happen again, but I’d sure be surprised if it was substantially less, such as less than 10. But no one knows, so Sonos is doing the best prediction they can by saying 5 years from the last point the item is on sale on the Sonos website as a ‘new’ product.

I look at it much like early computers. Who knew that a ‘386 and a Meg of memory wouldn’t run Windows 10? ;)

Come to think about it the playbase is exactly 3 years old, and it too ”only” have 256MB, I dont think they Need much more, Maybe its a future proof thing to use 1gb, but still they could have done that too 3 years ago with the playbase

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Smilja

Only the Sonos Amp and the voice-enabled speakers (Beam, ONE, Move) do have 1 GB RAM/Storage. The ONE SL has 512 MB, IKEA Bookshelf and Lamp 256 MB.

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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

Come to think about it the playbase is exactly 3 years old, and it too ”only” have 256MB, I dont think they Need much more, Maybe its a future proof thing to use 1gb, but still they could have done that too 3 years ago with the playbase

We can make assumptions about how much is enough memory, but it’s still just an educated guess at best. Yes, 256 is much more than 32, but the playbase also has to handle airplay functions, TV audio duties, and now hi-rez...things the 32 MB devices didn’t. How much is left over? Don’t know. Sonos did believe that 256 was the right future proofing the cross then, maybe they still do.

And you also need to figure much of the 1GB memory devices use it for voice assistant functionality.

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Danny

Stanley_4

Grand Maestro

On memory limits, given enough memory to run a newer Linux kernel and core systemutilities Sonos has a lot of ability to tailor the optional software components to accommodate lower memory products.

Things like they have done already, like moving library indexing to more capable devices is a good example.

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LukeGalvin

Avid Contributor I

Just got this gem of an email (below). Seems like they just aren’t listenting and plan on pushing through irrespective of the customer’s very clear response.

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Ken_Griffiths

Just got this gem of an email (below). Seems like they just aren’t listenting and plan on pushing through irrespective of the customer’s very clear response.

Yes, I think anyone who has one of the (declared) sonos legacy devices can now get 30% off a new modern sonos product/speaker set. I assume that is now the Sonos ‘offer' for having to perhaps split your Sonos System, come June 2020, into what many are calling S1 and S2 Households… I guess the good bit is you can still apparently continue to use the old legacy products, rather than recycle them… so passing them onto friends and family is what I will be doing.

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ASWilson

Lyricist III

Just got this gem of an email (below). Seems like they just aren’t listenting and plan on pushing through irrespective of the customer’s very clear response.

Yes, I think anyone who has one of the (declared) sonos legacy devices can now get 30% off a new modern sonos product/speaker set. I assume that is now the Sonos ‘offer' for having to perhaps split your Sonos System, come June 2020, into what many are calling S1 and S2 Households… I guess the good bit is you can still apparently continue to use the old legacy products, rather than recycle them… so passing them onto friends and family is what I will be doing.

If you read the terms of service for their upgrade program it clearly states that the discount code is only applied to your account after you log in and “recycle” your perfectly good legacy device which will brick it in 21 days. So, no, you cannot accept the 30% discount and continue to use your legacy device or give it to a friend.

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LukeGalvin

Avid Contributor I

I had actually forgotten how furious I was with Sonos for the whole modern vs legacy issue. Their pushing it out as a “hey look at this great program we’ve got going in the middle of a GD pandemic” really drives it back home for me.

Perhaps they’re just preparing everyone for the rage they will feel come June, when they’ll have a bunch of locked-in consumers with nothing else to do with their time but shop for alternative speaker solutions.

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melvimbe

Just got this gem of an email (below). Seems like they just aren’t listenting and plan on pushing through irrespective of the customer’s very clear response.

Yes, I think anyone who has one of the (declared) sonos legacy devices can now get 30% off a new modern sonos product/speaker set. I assume that is now the Sonos ‘offer' for having to perhaps split your Sonos System, come June 2020, into what many are calling S1 and S2 Households… I guess the good bit is you can still apparently continue to use the old legacy products, rather than recycle them… so passing them onto friends and family is what I will be doing.

If you read the terms of service for their upgrade program it clearly states that the discount code is only applied to your account after you log in and “recycle” your perfectly good legacy device which will brick it in 21 days. So, no, you cannot accept the 30% discount and continue to use your legacy device or give it to a friend.

Incorrect. Read the current terms and conditions, you no longer need to recycle your legacy product.

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Danny

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