End of Software Support - Clarifications

End of Software Support - Clarifications
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4256 replies

W
Userlevel 4
Badge +1

If history holds true, only 12 more pages on this thread till they lock it down.  Still no word from the slimy Sonos CEO.  It’s painfully obvious that this is really going to happen.  I’m still in denial.

B
Userlevel 1

‪ I have 6 Sonos products, two are considered legacy. I have preached the gospel of Sonos to my friends and family producing at least 14+ direct purchases.‬

‪Discontinuing support for some of your “legacy” products goes against the one of the main selling point for your products. ‬You need to be aware that your products are significantly more expensive than many of your competitors. The increased cost in my mind was worth it for the system integration and the previously promised longevity of the products. 

Just know that know that as airplay and other music streaming protocols become more more ubiquitous; your products will become less and less the main supplier for whole home audio. Additionally, since you appear to no longer be honoring your legacy products with updates the argument for longevity falls flat with me. 

I am not saying I will never purchase one of your products again but your decision has made the field more even for your competitors and quite frankly the premium price for your products does not seem to be worth it. 

You have successfully made me feel like a fool for spending the amount of money that I have, when I could get the same functionality out of a set of speakers/stereo paired with an airplay adapter or amazon dot; achieving the exact same functionality for a fraction of the price with a set of speakers that wont die off in the never ending upgrade cycle that you are attempting to lock your customers into.


Ben

J

I think there are better solutions to the technological limitations. Put the legacy devices into a legacy mode where all they do is receive and play audio from non-legacy devices in the same network. Old device doesn’t know how to contact a streaming service? No problem, the newer device does. There’s no device that doesn’t have the computational power to simply receive and play audio, that’s what they’ve all done since day one.

J

Your products are outrageously overpriced.  I bought a few of them because I thought they would be a good investment.     No cables, easy to use, some nice features …. I decided to blow a ton of money on this.   But if I knew this would be like buying another car, that needs to be dumped and replaced whever it’s worn out …. I would never have chosen Sonos.  And I certainly wont’ now.     $500 for a mediocre monophonic room speaker that gets bricked after 7 years?   That’s totally insane.   Goodbye Sonos.

M
Userlevel 1

I am another who has “invested” in a Sonos system. Compared to others I have a small system comprising of 2 x Play 5, 2 x Play 3 and 2 x 1s. My 5s were only bought in 2015. I wouldn't have paid £900 for them if I had thought there was a chance of them being bricked by the maker in 5 years. My main use is Spotify so we’ll see how bad things are in May, the last Controller update was a pigs ear so I’m not hopeful.

I get that computers and phones age but my old iPhone 3 is still in use with a relative. My speakers are not computers.

I’m in the market for a sound bar. I can't justify any further Sonos products now though. Premium price for a 5 year life, no thanks, not even with 30% off.

G
Userlevel 6
Badge +4

I think there are better solutions to the technological limitations. Put the legacy devices into a legacy mode where all they do is receive and play audio from non-legacy devices in the same network. Old device doesn’t know how to contact a streaming service? No problem, the newer device does. There’s no device that doesn’t have the computational power to simply receive and play audio, that’s what they’ve all done since day one.

Thing is you have to want to do that, and Sonos doesn’t want to.

J

It seems to me that Sonos have not thought out how this will work. I use Spotify and think there is a risk that (“legacy”) Sonos won’t work with that anymore.

Ryan, Can you say what Sonos are doing with Spotify to keep legacy products working? Are you talking to them about this?

 

 

 

P
Userlevel 2
Badge +3

Why why why???

I am unable to understand why sonos cannot freeze code bases at the moment something drastic changes in their product line. This started at the time the CR100 was dropped from the software.

Why not have major releases and with every new main feature and hardware generation introduced the current release is frozen and a new software release is started. Similar as for windows and MAC OS software. Older generation apple PC’s and laptop still function happily with the MacOS latest release that was supported for that PC/Laptop.  Only security updates will be issued for those releases and new features will only be available on the current code base.

So could we please get 3 release version;

classic sonos equipment including CR100 support

classic sonos equipment 

current sonos hardware family support

It goes without saying that each release version should come with it own user interface app for IOS, MacOS and Android.

I’ll leave it up to Sonos marketing to come up with glossy names for each release ;-)

 

U
Userlevel 4
Badge

Ability to sell additional products to existing customers.

As our customers add Sonos to their homes and listen to more audio content, they typically increase the number of our products in their homes. In fiscal 2019, follow-on purchases represented approximately 37% of new product registrations. As we execute on our product roadmap to address evolving consumer preferences, we believe we can expand the number of products in our customers’ homes. Our ability to sell additional products to existing customers is a key part of our business model, as follow-on purchases indicate high customer engagement and satisfaction, decrease the likelihood of competitive substitution and result in higher customer lifetime value. We will continue to innovate and invest in product development in order to enhance customer experience and drive sales of additional products to existing customers.

I
Userlevel 4
Badge +4

WOW! Sonos what a big fail

I own 3 devices that are now going to be bricks, thank you so much!

I have a Sub I just purchased after Christmas and thankfully I have until the end of the month to return it (thanks amazon) grabbing the box out the garage after this rant.

I have close to 20 Sonos products in my house from over the years, now I see that this adding ever year was me just being stupid.

 

Side note if you still own Sonos stock SELL IT before it is a $5 stock, Hopefully apple will buy this company and straighten things out.

 

SONOS reverse this stupid move

#sellsonos,#boycottsonos

FFS - sincerely hope that Apple don’t buy Sonos; even greater premium pricing and even less continued support!  I’ve been there, done that and finally just about extricated myself from that ecosystem (says he from the keyboard of his MAC)… but I’m no longer buying new products from them either.

S
Userlevel 2

Sounds like what you need to do is fork your software for the “legacy” (read: old) hardware, or make it modular based on device it’s installed on.  Add some feature flags so the device and controllers know what it does and doesn’t support, and let customers make sane decisions about when hardware upgrade time is.

I would be contented with my now scheduled for obsolescence Connect not supporting “cool new feature X”, because it’s job is to be an input for my CD changer (yes, I still buy cd’s) and nothing else.

I’ve been a software developer for over 20 years, I understand this problem, but I’ve also spent about $4k on Sonos products over the last 5 years, so now I’m very concerned about their lifespan.

I’m not happy, these components are *expensive*, but I’m going to wait and see what this legacy system separation looks like before I make any decisions.  Right now it looks like my options are 1) replace the old items, and just accept that I will need to keep replacing them over time, or 2) use what I have until each item is no longer supported and replace them with non-smart speakers as that time comes.

I’m not going to return the two Play:5’s I just purchased for my home office, they sound great.  But my further Sonos purchasing plans are on hold until you announce more.

You goofed with this announcement, especially right after all the media buzz about people being unhappy with your trade-up bricking process.  You should have had the legacy separation well defined and ready to release first.  You’ve created far too much uncertainty, which fosters anger.  Customers don’t want to hear “your stuff won’t be supported anymore, but we’ll have some sort of solution to make it less painful by then”, which is exactly the message you’re sending right now.

I find myself wondering if any Sonos employee will actually read this...

G
Userlevel 6
Badge +4

It seems to me that Sonos have not thought out how this will work. I use Spotify and think there is a risk that (“legacy”) Sonos won’t work with that anymore.

Ryan, Can you say what Sonos are doing with Spotify to keep legacy products working? Are you talking to them about this?

 

 

 

 I disagree (sorry), but it seems Sonos has thought about it carefully for some time, warning investors of the impact of doing it beforehand.

H
Userlevel 6
Badge +3

Ability to sell additional products to existing customers.

As our customers add Sonos to their homes and listen to more audio content, they typically increase the number of our products in their homes. In fiscal 2019, follow-on purchases represented approximately 37% of new product registrations. As we execute on our product roadmap to address evolving consumer preferences, we believe we can expand the number of products in our customers’ homes. Our ability to sell additional products to existing customers is a key part of our business model, as follow-on purchases indicate high customer engagement and satisfaction, decrease the likelihood of competitive substitution and result in higher customer lifetime value. We will continue to innovate and invest in product development in order to enhance customer experience and drive sales of additional products to existing customers.

 
They’ve messed that up then!

L
Userlevel 3

As others have said, this is a brilliant way to destroy the reputation of the Sonos Brand. To think I was just yesterday thinking about buying two Play Move for outside use - only today to find that they would be forced into a legacy system because Sonos has decided that my perfectly operating kit will no longer be supported. 

Absolutely disgraceful behaviour and I will NEVER purchase any Sonos Kit in future unless the company reverses this appalling decision.  

J

I feel robbed…

 

S
Userlevel 1

If we have to spend all this money to upgrade will we have to do it all over again in five years?  There is definately a lack of trust here.

M
Userlevel 3
Badge

Ability to sell additional products to existing customers.

As our customers add Sonos to their homes and listen to more audio content, they typically increase the number of our products in their homes. In fiscal 2019, follow-on purchases represented approximately 37% of new product registrations. As we execute on our product roadmap to address evolving consumer preferences, we believe we can expand the number of products in our customers’ homes. Our ability to sell additional products to existing customers is a key part of our business model, as follow-on purchases indicate high customer engagement and satisfaction, decrease the likelihood of competitive substitution and result in higher customer lifetime value. We will continue to innovate and invest in product development in order to enhance customer experience and drive sales of additional products to existing customers.

Well that is unlikely to happen by 100% of the customers on this forum which probably make up (and/or influence) a good percentage of that 37%. If you are shareholder or trader reading this… sell, sell, SELL!

J
Userlevel 1

We you to support the best decision for your home.
 

If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate with asking.

Up until yesterday I would have recommended Sonos products and looked to buy more. Now I would certainly not recommend them and will be looking to move on. A great shame. I can understand not supporting older hardware, but you have twisted a knife - and removed any confidence that your products will be worth giving house room to. Arbitrary decisions to punish loyal customers seem destined to annoy, irritate and deter. Such a shame, but there it is. You had a good product and you have damaged your own brand. Sonos is off my list.

W
Userlevel 4
Badge +1

Haha...Sonos stock price for the last week!  I hope they go under.

 

M
Userlevel 1

I bought a Sonos Connect in 2018 to enable my husband to play his LPs on a turnable (which doesn’t have an amp) and his other other Sonos speakers.

 

Is is true that you will not be supplying software updates for this product (the Sonos Connect) and if so does this mean that his other Sonos speakers ( 1 Play 5, 3 Play 3, and 1 Play 1) will aslo no longer receive software updates.

I sinverely hope this is not the case. We spent a lot of money with Sonos 2 years ago and if ithe devices are to become obsolete I don’t know what we will do .

We are a retired couple in our early 70’s and can’t afford to replace the system.

 

I am very worried.

D
Userlevel 1

I’m curious about the timing of this announcement. Any decent software \ technology company would give users at least 12 months notice of a product being no longer supported. In this case we have a ridiculously short 4 month’s notice. What is happening in May? Do Sonos have a significant system update that their testing has identified won’t work on the ‘legacy’ items? Or is one of their major music services making changes that won’t work with our older equipment?

Or is this just an attempt to boost trade up sales in this financial quarter??

All may become clear in May. Meanwhile my current thoughts are to continue with my equipment in ‘legacy’ mode, while looking for alternative systems. I’ll not be spending anymore on Sonos equipment. Sad end to a happy relationship!!

P
Userlevel 4
Badge +1

It seems to me that Sonos have not thought out how this will work. I use Spotify and think there is a risk that (“legacy”) Sonos won’t work with that anymore.

Ryan, Can you say what Sonos are doing with Spotify to keep legacy products working? Are you talking to them about this?

 

 

 

 I disagree (sorry), but it seems Sonos has thought about it carefully for some time, warning investors of the impact of doing it beforehand.


Yes. Premeditated brand killing -- We know this will hurt badly our customers, but we will do it anyway because we think that Sonos can make money with this. The surprise for Sonos has been that people are furious. They clearly have not been thinking to the final step. People are not a little angry.. I can feel much stronger attitude from all users.

It’s easy to destroy something, but how can you build the brand again to the old level? Who is going to trust ever again about the future with Sonos products?

And if you can make money in short term with “blackmailing” what about the long term? And I don’t think the short term will work either because old users will not take -30% deal. It’s bad and the real deal is about -10% if you will compare that to the prices for other shops.

G
Userlevel 6
Badge +4

Thing is these aren’t cheap throwaway disposable items.

Sonos sold itself on the longevity of the product and the ability to build a system over the years to come.

Two things that no longer hold true.

There are cheaper ways today to accomplish similar results, and Sonos makes a lot of sales on a repeat sales basis.

Why would anyone invest more into a Sonos system, now that they know their investment will become an expensive brick after 5 years?

It will only take a tiny API change to take out streaming services one by one.

Also the major advantage Sonos had when it came out was the ability to play the same music across multiple rooms in time\sync.

Anyone with legacy kit will lose this function 100% - unless (and I can’t for the life of me see why anyone would want to do this) they decide to forego all updates to their “current” products - which would means their current products could also be broken by tiny API changes to streaming services.

This is a really bleak outlook however you look at it.

S

I am a long time Sonos user and have spent thousands of dollars on your products. I am no longer going to spend a single penny on your products any more. 
 

I don’t even own these ”obsolete” products. I’m just worried now you’re going to do the same thing to the speakers I bought only 4 years ago. I can’t trust any speaker you sell today will become obsolete in a couple of years. I want my system to continue to receive updates and work with older speakers.

 

What a shame. I felt so much loyalty to Sonos


I have only had my Paly 5 for 3 years talk about planned obsolescence… This is what killed the big 3 autos in the 70’s. I agree such expensive eqipment now outdated. Shame on you Sonos

K
Userlevel 1

Is there any evidence that Sonos is listening?  This is corporate suicide!   They must understand that this will poison their corporate image.  It is also a shame because up to now I have been very happy with their product.  Sonos Corporate:  Think!!  Fire whoever came up with this cynical ploy, change your position and come up with a reasonable option before it’s too late!

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