Retired Sonos Staff

End of Software Support - Clarifications

December 8, 2022 at 11:29 AM
4256 replies
269836 views

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

G

Goodbye Sonos

Enthusiast II

Bumping the trade-in discount to 50% would go a LONG way towards making this acceptable.

My gut instinct is that Sonos has been digging themselves in a proverbial software hole for years by making all devices in a system run the same version. I bet that some of the coders there have been saying this for years and were ignored by management. Now the time has come that some products will be legacy soon but the software would have to be re-written completely in order to accommodate both legacy and newer products at the same time. It’s a mess that’s been in the making for years, and there’s no easy solution. My advice is to start hiring some top notch programmers to figure it out.

Definition of how NOT to design and code software and interfaces

chickentender

In previous posts many have looked to alternatives such as Bluesound, or more modular approaches involving Chromecast/Echo type feed/grouping devices as well as DIY solutions.

I just came across something that encompasses all of the above, namely “Arylic”, and I think many here will want to have a look:

Truly impressive. I can’t say I’m wild about the chinese origins, but that is becoming as par for the course as subscription-based services are, and for the price and versatility, it’s at least worth a look, particularly considering the DIY aspect (meaning you can assemble the system yourself if you choose to, offering quite a bit of peace-of-mind in that regard, knowing precisely what is in side each and every piece of hardware you are deploying into your home.)
Interesting at the very least.

G

Goodbye Sonos

Enthusiast II

Sonos it's like you’re not even listening. You locked the previous thread because you thought people didn't understand but the majority of us do understand. Its Sonos that doesn't understand.

Very disappointed. You should be working on a path for people to keep their legacy products updated. Either by creating a new network connected legacy compute device to pick up the slack or making your software flexible enough to work with legacy and new hardware.

Invest in a solution, your customers want one.

I understood perfectly what Sonos was doing to me… and it isn’t very nice…

M

MrSwadge

Enthusiast I

@Ryan S : It’s clear that 30% off new kit isn’t good enough. It’s bad for the environment and it’s still expensive, plus how long will that “premium” product be supported? In the other thread that was locked it was mooted that replacing the motherboard/pcb inside the existing speakers would be a good alternative upgrade path. It would enable Sonos to responsibly recycle the old components and allow Sonos engineers to upgrade existing speakers. This would produce less waste and also would be a cheaper upgrade path for customers too. I realise that electronics are a certain size and specification, but I believe this would be achievable. Sonos appears to be happy to burn bridges with existing customers, but there are better alternatives if Sonos will consider them.

B

Beemr

Lyricist II

You know you can solve this issue to the benefit of everyone. IT developers, if given the right goal will come up with a solution. Suggest you do not be so stubborn as to ignore all options. Shareholders will take a dim view of the leadership that reduced their investment value. The resellers of the world will not be channel partners into the future (COSTCO for example) unless they can sell you at a lost leader discount. Ah well there is always Walmart.

A

AGB

Contributor I

One modest proposal.

While I understand the rationale behind your needs to stop supporting the old hardware with software updates I think that there could be a better solution, more satisfactory for us (the users) and you (Sonos).

My proposal is to create a simple device, as powerful as need (let’s call it THE DEVICE), that can compensate the lack of “power” of the Legacy devices. The trick is to create a new software for legacy Sonos hardware that can let them act as dumb devices controlled 100% from THE DEVICE.

I think something similar to the old Sonos Bridge that can create a sub-network inside the Sonos System. Something like that:

In my opinion you could sell this product to a symbolic price (just to cover the costs of implementation), for example 50 Euros / device .

Of course you are going to loose the extra revenue from users that are interested in renewal of their legacy hardware but you will obtain a couple of benefits that, for me, overcome that minus:

You are going to make happy the older users – the one that supported Sonos when it was in its early phase;
You are going to communicate the market that you are not going to leave your old hardware behind, but you are going to to everything in your possibility to let your system a last long device. (you are going to promise something that differentiate a lot from your competitors);

Keep in mind, regarding the second one, that you should try to communicate trust in this moment.

Everybody (at least in this chat) is in doubt about buying a new Sonos piece. It may be the next Legacy device!

Thanks for your consideration

Ab.

Dibsey

Contributor I

Just like so many people I am dismayed at this total lack of respect for your customers Sonos. Also like so many I have invested in thousands of pounds worth of Sonos equipment over the last few years. This feels like two things. One - A massive kick in the b**ls and Two - A marketing ploy to try and get loyal customers to ‘upgrade’ and thus boost sales! I can’t afford to spend money replacing my Connect and the Denon unit it connects will thus become redundant. Your products are far from cheap and I for one refuse to have anything else to do with this brand if this policy is implemented. For the record I have 11 Sonos products in my home. I now feel betrayed and furious that in the current climate you are forcing people to throw out perfectly good equipment! Get real, and do it quickly!

S

supermax

Contributor I

What HiFi review of multi room systems recommends Audio Pro, Bluesound, Denon and Bose.

https://www.whathifi.com/best-buys/streaming/best-multi-room-systems

Any other thoughts?

S

Sonorusa

Lyricist I