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.
Sonos also increased the cost of the amp $50 just before this announcement so the 30% discount is now off of something that is 10% more expensive. Nice!
I like to think the best of people but there is either a lot of bad management or lots of shady practices and a lot of coincidences (aka large stock sales just before announcements)
I guess it’s true to say that in many ways this situation is irreversible. Can anyone buy Sonos in the future and expect them not to do this again.
I want a quality sound system, I thought I had one. I don’t want one that talks to Alexa or Siri or anyone else for that matter. My Sonos was brilliant with the processor it has - no need for a better/bigger one.
Good bye Sonos - it was nice knowing you. Parting is such sweet sorrow…..
Had response from customer support, same typical corporate line still being taken they are just not getting how peed off we are.
still no reply from the CEO guess that’s two fingers up to us
I suppose the issue, is that with old hifi, it was components, but Sonos is a ecosystem, if a core part becomes obsolete, it impacts the rest. I will need to ditch my Bridge, but it does not appear to be in the trade up category for a Boost. When will my two Play 1s become legacy? My connect, well, that won’t be replaced with Sonos, maybe an Audiolab. I get that being streaming, technology moves on, and I also get that Sonos only make money from hardware, and I get that any streamer, may have the same issue eventually, but when you sell an ecosystem, this seems a pretty blunt way to handle it.
The News has now hit the UK Press, it’s in The Times, Headline Sonos Speake’s are obsolete within months! I think a quick rethink needs to be made on the announcement, but even with this they have lost trust in what was a loyal following. For any management reading these comments let’s see you put this right and admit what a balls up you made.
Ouch!
Plus the BBC, Daily Mail, Metro, Evening Standard, The Sun, What HiFi and AOL UK. The share price has fallen over 2%. At some point will someone at Sonos have a rethink?
On friday the share price was 15.395..Now it’s only 14.46. They have lost already over 6%, about 100 millions of market cap .. And I strongly believe this will continue. Would you buy piece of Sonos at the moment? Sonos customers are very angry and there is a possibility about much bigger problems also.
And the management does not comment or do anything. The ball keeps rolling. Hiding is one way to do things, but does it change anything?
I was looking forward to upgrading my system, not now! Take your 30% and stick it!
Still a deafening silence from Sonos with any coherent technical explanation. Most of us just want to be able to stream music reliably from the internet and/or a NAS. What has changed/will change so dramatically that legacy products will not be able to provide this capability?
I have to agree. This was anticipated, and as is ‘ok’ as far as they are concerned.
Quite how they’ll get passed all the negative press, and negative reviews online is beyond me.
I’ve also now switched off updates. I’m a long time SONOS user having kitted out my entire home in 2009 when I built the property.
This decision is the worst PR a company could get. It’s all over the UK press and social media. I will not be held to ransom by a company who has zero respect for its customers. I won’t upgrade and pay to replace perfectly viable hardware. Never mind the cost, the environmental impact of disposing of these legacy products is a disgrace and SONOS should be ashamed of even suggesting that. Why brick a product leading to disposal? Allow it to remain operational so it doesn’t end up in landfill.
I will not be buying any SONOS products again. Such a fall from grace for a once great company. Very sad.
@Ryan S Why are some “legacy” components eligible for the 30% trade-up discount, and others aren’t?
My now-legacy Bridge is not, though the Boost is the logical trade up.
(My Play:5 speakers are eligible, but I don’t plan to consider new ones until the dust settles on what actually will happen in May to legacy components. But I do need a functional Bridge/Boost due to the location of my WiFi router and need for a separate WiFi network for Sonos.)
Typical short term PE (private equity) behaviour, i bet the people at Sonos don’t agree with this
INVESTORS, SELL YOUR SONOS STOCK. This company has just had its “RATNER” MOMENT. If you have 1 minute 36 seconds to spare, you can see Gerald Ratner give his speech that resulted in the destruction of his company.
An interesting recent announcement from Sonos that in May 2020 they will be launching the Sonos Brick.
Full Details to follow
Interesting that with all the furore ongoing there’s no hint of crisis management PR getting involved. Leaves the impression that this reaction has been factored in and doesn’t require any additional handling.
Yup, and from the doubled down of closing the other thread only to open a new thread… Yup, it looks and feels like they really don’t care at this point. Which is fine, as I have a feeling they will still do business, but for the vast majority of folks here, they have lost including me. There is no way in hell I am going to re-invest in equipment that will be obsoleted by the company. So I am done.
Already looking at alternatives.
At least it will hurt the CEO with the precipitous stock drop, if he has to exercise his options;
To address this shortfall in Mr. Spence’s equity position, and in light of Mr. Spence’s strong performance, smooth transition into a publicly-traded company, and progress on our strategic growth initiatives in the prior year, the Committee granted Mr. Spence an award that was targeted at twice the annual guideline for his position provided by our compensation consultant. Specifically, the Committee targeted a regular award in RSUs, consistent with the philosophy for the rest of the executives, with a target value of $5 million (378,044 RSUs) and an additional, special award in stock options with the same targeted value of $5 million determined on the basis of the Black-Scholes pricing model (875,000 options). His RSU award will vest ratably over four years and his stock option will vest 50% in November 2021 and 50% in November 2022, with both awards subject to his continued employment through each applicable vesting date.
Well i have 5 products that will not receive software updates from May …. But hay sonos its only £2000 worth of gear that works just fine and they look as new the day they came out of there boxes and you what me to put them in a land fill site…. But on the other hand my controller 100 is still classed as a modern products...Hmmm might switch it on when i get home tonight and see.
Yeah…. loved that controller. Brings back good memories when I first bought the system. Shame about how it’s gone now.
Let me give a simple explanation of how evolution works.
We will start with
END OF PRODUCT SUPPORT
this evolves to
END OF CUSTOMER FAITH &TRUST
this evolves to
END OF CUSTOMERS
this evolves to
DEATH OF A COMPANY
Remind me of the upgrade cost from Windows 7 to 10?
As you binned my original comment here it is again and i will add it infinitum until you come to your senses.
I am absolutely incensed by the shear insensitivity and blatant Marketing effort under the guise of ‘End of Software Updates’ This is totally unjustified - the amount of software involved is minute compared to something like MS Windows and they manage to support £100 products for 10 years and TVs last just as long. My Connect:Amp is probably only a few years old and cost £400 and now you want me to upgrade for an insulting and derisory 30% off a hugely inflated price of £600!!!!!!!!!!!
I will NOT Upgrade and will now be actively looking for alternative products especially as it now obvious you are going to do this to all my other products in the expectation of dubiously getting even more money from loyal Sonos owners.
Until this moment I held your Company and products in high regard, now I am appalled by your behaviour and will NEVER buy any more. You greedy b*******s have shot yourselves in the proverbial foot.
In addition you are encouraging massive eco waste - shame on you - you must be in the same camp as that bloody lunatic Trump where everything’s fine as long as you’re making money.
Another interesting note, the CEO’s increase in Salary and salaries to attract the highly qualified executives. Guess that’s why I’m destined to be a Plebe, wouldn’t be able to treat the hand that feeds me (Customers) this way;
Name
FY18 Salary ($)
FY19 Salary ($)
% Increase
Patrick Spence
$350,000
$550,000
57%
Brittany Bagley
0
$475,000
0
Matthew Siegel
$375,000
$400,000
7%
Nicholas Millington
$350,000
$375,000
7%
Edward Lazarus
0
$375,000
0
Salaries for Ms. Bagley and Mr. Lazarus were negotiated as part of the package to attract each of these newly hired executives to Sonos.
This isn’t sarcasm but a genuine question …. how do you turn the updates option to off on a Win 10 device please?
Or if not possible then on an android phone?
Why should I buy equipment which in 5 years time will become obsolete,,utterly cynical approach by Sonos...NEVER by Sonos again unless you want to pour money down the Sonos drain
in my sonos you can see a nice pie chart on how much u stream music / use tv (i have a 5.1 and 1x play1 in the kitchen)
tv around 99.5%
music around 0.5%
so clearly i would be ok with a bog standard, second hand 5.1 av and wired speakers.
so, incase anyone wanted to decide whether they actually need music streaming
ona side note, not sure ive read so many forum posts in a 24-48hour period, i guess its a live interactive soap opera unfolding before our eyes.
#SonosAteMyHamster
I have 10 Sonos products - including one play 5 gen 1. Thinking of just selling it all now whilst it still has some value. The products cost thousands and don’t want to be stuck with it all when another announcement is made for legacy wave 2 and the whole lot is worthless. Gutted as loved my Sonos system but rather invest in something that will last
