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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K

Kumar

I suppose if your hellbent on staying 11.0 no matter what, with 0% chance of ever moving on, then it makes sense.

Are you alluding to the possibility that he is escaping from Sonos? :wink:

I am done with Sonos, so 11.0 is it for me. Whatever bugs that remain unaddressed in it, are ones that do not bother me today. I shall remain in legacy system mode till my Sonos hardware dies, replacing it with alternatives I prefer, as and when the need arises in future.

In that sense, yes, I am escaping from Sonos:-).

Once the dust settles on this pandemic, months from now, I will move to S1 that has finished with its shakedowns, to take advantage of security updates it will receive, that I am sure Sonos will not confer on 11.0. At this point in time, given all that is coming down the pipes all over the world, it makes no sense to me to pioneer forward to S1, if that is going to have be done in the middle of a world in chaos.

YMMV.

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melvimbe

Are you alluding to the possibility that he is escaping from Sonos? :wink:

Huh? How did you come to that conclusion? Ken wasn’t eluding to anything, he was asking for clarification of what Kumar was alluding to.

I hate grammar and spelling police who try to “win” a discussion by pointing out trivial things, but Ken is clearly a smart guy and, if he is anything like me, will appreciate having out the error of spelling/usage of a similar sounding word pointed out in a humorous way (attempted humorous way, at least.) Not meant seriously, hence the smilie.

It looked like a misinterpretation of Ken’s statement. To be honest, I completely missed the allude/elude reference and the joke in there and I’m just now seeing it. (heck, I used the wrong world myself without realizing it) My bad, didn’t see what you were going for there.

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Danny

melvimbe

Once the dust settles on this pandemic, months from now, I will move to S1 that has finished with its shakedowns, to take advantage of security updates it will receive, that I am sure Sonos will not confer on 11.0. At this point in time, given all that is coming down the pipes all over the world, it makes no sense to me to pioneer forward to S1, if that is going to have be done in the middle of a world in chaos.

YMMV.

I’m not following how the pandemic makes migrating from 11.0 to 11.1 (or whatever the last legacy update is) a pioneering effort. Honestly, I see no difference in the next update compared to the 10.9 (or whatever it was) to 11.0 update and every update before that.

Also, I think you, and everyone else, are pretty much already S1/legacy, we are just not yet updated to the last version of S1. Perhaps a better definition of S1 is...everything not S2.

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Danny

Ken_Griffiths

Global Pandemics aside, I will just allude to the fact that my plan is to elude the sonos S1 legacy system at the earliest opportunity, post May, without too much delay ...I just hope I have that correct this time... ha ha🤞

More importantly however, whichever side of the S1/S2 fence a users viewpoint may lie within this thread, or elsewhere, I sincerely hope that absolutely everyone here (including relatives & friends) remain safe.👍

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K

Kumar

I’m not following how the pandemic makes migrating from 11.0 to 11.1 (or whatever the last legacy update is) a pioneering effort.

You did not notice the YMMV at the end of my post.

My thinking is not rocket science. At this time, every gadget and appliance that I have is running under the “If it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it” regime. Sonos has done nothing to suggest it has earned or even needs a different approach.

I also doubt that S1 will be as minor a change as 11.0 to 11.1; and even any such minor change that precedes the move to S1, I shall not allow inside my system till the world gets back to near normal. 11.0 is a nice, round and easy to remember version.

The only exception I am making is for updates to my Mac, since I used it for net banking.

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Smilja

I imagine S1 is going to be a renamed v11.x.

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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)

106rallye

@Kumar You state: “I also doubt that S1 will be as minor a change as 11.0 to 11.1; and even any such minor change that precedes the move to S1, I shall not allow inside my system till the world gets back to near normal. 11.0 is a nice, round and easy to remember version. “

Why wouldn't it be? Sonos has said S1 will not loose any of the thing all Sonos’ can do now immediately. So why would it be different from what we have now?

For internet connected appliances (like Sonos) the “if it ain't broke. don't fix it”-approach seems unwise, because fixes also contain security updates. "Broke” can also be broke in the sense that your Sonos would contain a security issue because you haven't updated it.

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G

GJHV

Contributor I

Please fix YOUR legacy problem!

Just create a NEW “Bridge” to keep all hardware working as one system! Everybody will except that new features can’t be introduced on very old hardware. But making home audio systems after a few years "legacy products" is not acceptable for a very high priced product. And it will cost Sonos many very loyal customer who have been advocates for Sonos for many years.
Technically it is possible to even add Airplay 2 to all speakers via a NEW Bridge with simply better specs. Sonos customers deserve this from the company they supported for many years.

FYI I use Airplay (1) on ALL my Sonos speakers via a very simple software product on my Synology NAS and have All my sonos speakers in HomeKit / Siri.

There is more possible by software then you (@sonos) think!

Regards Guido

PS

from the Sonos website:

“Easily connect speakers over WiFi to create the sound system you want, and expand it any time.”

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Ken_Griffiths

Please fix YOUR legacy problem!

Just create a NEW “Bridge” to keep all hardware working as one system! Everybody will except that new features can’t be introduced on very old hardware. But making home audio systems after a few years "legacy products" is not acceptable for a very high priced product. And it will cost Sonos many very loyal customer who have been advocates for Sonos for many years.
Technically it is possible to even add Airplay 2 to all speakers via a NEW Bridge with simply better specs. Sonos customers deserve this from the company they supported for many years.

FYI I use Airplay (1) on ALL my Sonos speakers via a very simple software product on my Synology NAS and have All my sonos speakers in HomeKit / Siri.

There is more possible by software then you (@sonos) think!

Regards Guido

PS

from the Sonos website:

“Easily connect speakers over WiFi to create the sound system you want, and expand it any time.”

Isn’t what you mention here, just the same as purchasing perhaps a Sonos One SL, or the cheaper IKEA Symfonisk speaker and grouping either one of those devices with any (or every) old (or new) Sonos device? ..and then AirPlaying Music to the group(s)?

I understand with AirPlay bonjour mDNS multicast communication, that an AirPlay source will play to AirPlay receivers on the same network subnet. So you could, for example, have two. or more, entirely separate Sonos Households on a home network, lets call them HH1 and HH2.

HH1 might contain a mix of old legacy devices like Play:5 (gen1’s), old ZP90 etc. and a symfonisk speaker.
HH2 might contain several newer Sonos products, including a Sonos One SL.

So all a user has to do is play either one, or two, simultaneous audio streams from any Airplay2 capable App, either from a PC/Mac, or iOS mobile device ...and direct one stream to the symfonisk device in HH1 and the other stream to the Sonos One SL in HH2… see example screenshot of an "iOS AirPlay device-list" doing just that type of thing on my home network.

Both devices in the separate Sonos Households play in sync. So it’s then just a case of grouping those two playing devices with any other speakers available in their respective households using their sonos controller App.

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K

Kumar

"Broke” can also be broke in the sense that your Sonos would contain a security issue because you haven't updated it.

To me, that is a much smaller risk in comparison, and I can live with it till the pandemic is over and I can risk another Sonos update.

YMMV.

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