Congratulations Sonos, you've turned many of your most loyal customers into your fiercest critics.
This announcement is not the first and we're starting to see a terrible trend from this company. I also dont own any legacy products but I'm going to tell people to avoid this shit at all costs.
Now you've really shot yourself in the foot, your hardware is limited by your software growth and you're having to segment your product eco-system. Your software releases have always been poor quality, either delayed because it isn't functional or rushed and buggy because you're trying to compete with bigger brands. Your hardware was amazing until now.
Integrity is a word that does not seem to extend to Sonos. Many of us have purchased Sonos components for the express purpose of inter-connectivity and whole house music. Many of us have accepted that older components do not have all the features of newer ones, but none of us have ever thought that Sonos would do the unspeakable and make our expensive items totally redundant. I can understand you need and wish to keep improving your products, but why do you force all the things you think of on us. I certainly do not want voice control, and I hardly ever use streaming. Improvement is a subjective word, and different from development.
You have had a product called Bridge, now to be moved to the legacy status. Why not be clever and introduce a Bridge 2 - which would act as a bridge between legacy and non legacy products., it could act as a mini ‘server’ within each person’s network of Sonos items and thus reduce the processing requirements of individual components. You have the ability to include as much memory and processing power as is required to undertake such a task. It would give you greater flexibility for future developments as you would not be hampered by the weakest link.
My Connect has been deemed legacy, but I cannot see a component that replaces it. Your Port product is totally different;.it has no controls, no built in power supply, and it is a totally different size, shape and colour. Together with my redundant Bridge you are asking me to pay another £400 or so to change to a worse position. That sounds to me like extortion and certainly would not fit my idea of a company behaving with integrity.
Please immediately postpone your May deadline and take the time to reflect upon you proposed actions. Do you really wish to go down a path which causes so much anger and frustration for your customers. I am sure there are alternatives which you could implement, but they will require thought and reflection. Perhaps you will then choose to act with respect to us as Sonos purchaser and show the degree of integrity expected bu us.
It’s all been said above, but same here….thousands of $ spent, Sonos brand advocate until now. All changed in a moment. The only slight consolation is I was about to add another Connect:amp, which I’ll now avoid.
There have been a number of contributors who have made points about Sonos now only caring about future sales and that this decision is therefore a not unexpected result. With all due respect, this is wrong. Sales of Sonos products have largely, if this thread and my own experience are any guide, by sequential purchasing and recommendation. In my case, we were bought a Play:1 some years ago as a gift, on the basis that my son had found his own to be a very good solution. I have expanded to a Play:3, a Bridge (since sold), a Connect (recently upgraded to a Port, with the old unit going on eBay), a Beam and 2 x Ones (replacing 2 x further Play:1s, with costs largely recouped) over the course of time. My son has also expanded his system
This was driven for both of us by the promised longevity and integration of Sonos.
Oops. This clearly commercially driven decision now puts not only any future expansion in doubt, but threatens the healthy 2nd-hand market. I know Sonos might not care about that, but they should, as it represents a way for the (formerly) good name of their brand to spread.
I have seen no signs that they will reverse or reconsider this policy in the immediate future; perhaps once the share price slides further (it dropped 2.3% yesterday), someone towards the top of the management structure might recognise the PR disaster and loss of consumer trust now in progress.
But the damage has already been done. Like many others, my investment in Sonos has come to an end, nor will I be enthusing about its products to others.
This is a terrible terrible move, both from a PR perspective and a customer loyalty perspective.
900+ comments on this thread and 1800+ on the initial thread all appear to agree.
One of the USPs of Sonos is that the whole system works together. Suggesting that being able to run two separate systems for ‘current’ and ‘legacy’ products really doesn’t cut it. Sure I can understand that the computing power of older units might not cut it to support newer features, but it should be possible to allow older and newer products to co-exist.
And actually, what new features? I’ve been using Sonos for 10 years and apart from supporting lots of new music services, I can’t think of any significant feature updates.
None of this hasn't been said before. Just adding my voice in the hope that Sonos might listen or care. So far there’s not much evidence of that.
I have 15 units, mostly legacy, and 2 recent Sonos Move.
I’ve just started an eBay return on one of the Moves, as it’s still new in it’s box.
I can’t justify spending this kind of money on a ‘speaker’ with a planned obsolescence.
You’ve got to be kidding me… I do not own one of the so called “legacy” products, but I’m still mad as hell… For the love of God… those are speakers… they’re not smartphones…. you can and you will make things work, unless you want to LOSE ALL OF YOUR CUSTOMERS… Tell me one thing - who is going to buy an expensive speaker from you, considering the “5 year software support” FOR A SPEAKER?!?!? And then what - throw the WORKING DEVICE in the bin for a pitiful 30% discount? ARE YOU INSANE?!?!?!
You’re making a bad joke on the back of loyal customers and that is going to backfire on you… YOU CAN BE SURE OF IT!
I worked in IT for a long time, over 30 years and an old boss of mine from early in my career had a sign on the wall, “You can never win an argument with a customer”. This is one argument Sonos has already lost, along with a number of customers and previously planned purchases of their products. I do think Sonos will survive this but it will be with a damaged image and reduced customer base / sales. It will take many years for them to recover, my guess 10 years plus.
I’m considering setting up a crowd funded legal challenge to get advice on legality and taking it further. It seems to me equipment in full working order should continue to be software supported. Additionally, if perfectly good new(ish) equipment won’t be supported if plugged into legacy equipment the facts should be clearly stated in the buying information so that customers know clearly what the full facts are. Nothing that I can see says this.
VW had terrible publicity over their problems, a major crowd funded legal action is ongoing and still continues to damage their reputation. Nothing good can come from this Sonos.
I would like to take advantage of the upgrade offer for older speakers (January 2020), I have a house full of them. However, judging you by your recent announcement I won’t as the products you advertise today will become “legacy” products in a couple of years. When the speakers no longer work I will replace them with speakers from a company who value their customers rather than one that just wants to rip them off. Goodbye Sonos!
Couldn’t have put it better myself
I bought my Play Bar, Sub and Play 5 on the same day 5 years ago to add to my Connect Amp, and have since bought the Play 1 SL’s (or whatever they’re called). We’ve just moved into a new house, so we’re (were) about to add two further Play 1’s plus two of the outdoor version. So now my Play 5 and Connect Amp need to be separated from my other kit once updates stop in May. I’m assuming the Sub and the Play Bar are to follow shortly.
The thing is, back in the day when I first bought the Amp, Sonos had no competitors, plus I was locked into a system after that so I just kept adding onto it, no questions. But now Sonos do have competitors, and they’re putting out top kit with better sound (Bose) that do the same thing. So, given that nearly £1000 worth of kit just became useless, and I have to separate it from my newer kit, I’m lost on how Sonos thinks they get to keep me as a customer.
Someone above mentioned that other manufacturers will suffer the same fate in time. Really? Not received any emails from Sony or Panasonic which made my TV’s saying they’ll stop working. I’ve got two first gen Apple TV’s boxes still working a treat. I think the lesson here is, stick with the big guys who have the money to support their equipment beyond five years.
Bye bye Sonos, it was great while it lasted.
Having been happy with the system for so long, I really haven’t kept up to date with the alternatives. Does anybody have recommendations on systems that offer the same sort of sound quality and useability as SONOS has done to date?
Same boat as you.
A couple of people mentioned Yamaha MusicCast on the early pages of this thread. Looks worth checking out
What a joke, will not be investing in anymore Sonos kit.
there is a lot of angry customers here, Twitter FB. Why aren't you reassuring them? reverse your decision for the good of your company..
And still no word from Sonos to it’s listening and loyal (if highly charged) user base …….
‘Is there anybody out there’ ?
I have approached Ikea to request a return of Symfonisk speakers purchased in December as defective.
To administrator,
I wrote an email letter to your CEO on Tuesday. Should I expect a response, or do you not plan on replying to your customers? As a reminder I run 26 devices in 20 or so zones. I really want confirmation that you expect me to spend an additional $5,500 to “upgrade” 16 devices so I can get full value from the other 10.
Thank you.
Richard
If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate with asking.
Here’s a question - is it really technically infeasible/economically burdensome to continue support of legacy products?
It’s technically feasible but would cost Sonos more money, so they’d much rather their customers stumped up lots more money instead...
I feel sorry for the engineers (true engineers) who develop the hardware/software. I’m sure they probably suggested alternative solutions to the fat cats but were ignored. Chickens coming home to roost?
Dear oh dear oh dear!
I only want honesty and if there are some other issues involved here then that may help us understand why SONOS may have believed there was no real choice. But otherwise it all appears to be a business trying to manipulate their slice of the market and completely misjudging. Someone (paid) has come up with this, been overly influential in getting it approved, will be overly confident that they have done the right thing or that someone else is to blame, and be looking at their next career move. I think they may have sadly begun the sinking of a very well respected and loved brand. I was influenced and was also influential in a lot of friends and associates investing (and I mean investing for long-term use) in SONOS products and know all that have commented to me so far are hugely disappointed.
If I was offered 30% discount on my original SONOS products then I would have been happy (back then). But 30% discount on current products when it now appears that everything will have a shorter life expectancy is really not tempting. The speakers are fab and do not need replacing, why are we being asked to add to the mountains of unnecessary waste?
SONOS: Humiliating your existing customer base and introducing us to your chief competition is a remarkable marketing strategy!
Sadly, Bose is not a publicly traded company. If it was, I have no doubt that the appreciation on a stock purchase now would more than amply fund my transition to its products by May.
I have enjoyed my SONOS experience. I’ll be sorry to see it end, but end it will if this atrocity is not corrected.
I’ll be leaving quietly, before my speakers become ‘legacy’ too. I’ll sell off my equipment later on in the year after the dust has settled and move on. Luckily I sold my older Sonos equipment a year or so ago, so I’ll just take this as a lesson on how a company can change completely.
It was great fun while it lasted. So long and thanks for all the fish.
it may have already been said but, once we’ve potential all invested in the “modern” eco system and our devices re supported. How long before one of those is “end of life” and becomes a “legacy” product and forced into a perpetual upgrade cycle.
I am not going end up in that costly cycle. Time to look for alternatives.
