It is ENTIRELY within Sonos’ gift to change this. This is not a fundamental law of the universe.

Modify the software.

This is the crux of the issue for me. If say Spotify changes something that means Sonos needs to change, then will it get fixed? I don’t see “upgrading” at 30% reduced price as an incentive, far from it. 

Here’s some exciting news on the upgrade program!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_sop=10&_osacat=0&_odkw=sonos&_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1311.R7.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.TRS0&_nkw=sonos+play+5&_sacat=0

Lots of people choosing to upgrade their end of life’d kit to MONEY they can spend on an alternative product.

Ryan - this is the most concerning thing (for me at least) - you say: Streaming services will work the same as well, but at some time in the future, service software changes might cause it to degrade or stop working. - So you are confirming that you won’t be updating legacy devices to cope with service software changes. It seems unlikely that these changes would impose unrealistic demands on legacy devices, so why won’t you be updating the software?

another bad move. closing the original thread and creating this new topic. unbelievable...

keep the angry complaints coming….. dont interact with sonos support. shaft them big time like they have just done to us.

game over. 

@MrSwadge, I replied to this a few pages back, but I know some replies get missed. These legacy devices are stretched to the limits of their hardware already. Where possible, we will work to maintain the existing experience and conduct bug fixes on the legacy devices where the computing hardware will allow. 

@PeteD, as above, where possible, we’ll try to update legacy devices, but we might not be able to. The hardware might not be able to support whatever solution is needed.

I’m of a similar mindset, that despite my ‘legacy’ Play 5 having been purchased only 4yrs ago.  £330 to replace and effectively stand still, taking the 30% on a new P5.  Still really love the whole SONOS idea in principle, but this is making me look around at the resell value of my existing ‘non-legacy’ kit whilst it’s still considered ‘non-legacy’.  SONOS retailers are going to love it when I and other customers appear at their doors seeking recompense for devices which have been made expensive bricks in such a short time.  I still fail to understand why SONOS think the perfectly functional speaker / wifi devices will need in future more capacity to do other ‘stuff’.  Surely, they as a company could engineer their platform so as to not require heavy duty software on the devices themselves?  It’s not as if the device itself needs to manage the connection back to e.g. Spotify, is it?  This ‘let’s just force them to bin them and pay us for an upgrade’ decision smacks of laziness or weak engineering capability.  I understand digital rot, but if one of my apple laptops becomes unable to use the latest OSX version, I don’t suddenly find I cannot upgrade the others, and the can all happily coexist on the same network.  Sort it out, SONOS!

I completely understand the limitations imposed by the tech on the development of new features; that’s fine, I’ll stick with what I have now and skip new stuff. But I don’t understand why what we have now can’t be maintained. I currently stream from Spotify, so should be able to continue to do so for the foreseeable. I really don't need voice assistant nonsense. 30% off to trade in a house full of perfectly fine kit - joke.

Way to go totally destroying brand loyalty.

I have no doubt you know what you’re talking about here, but there are other costs to consider besides the cost of parts.  It does need to be developed, tested, manufacturer, and supported to a limited number of customers that very well may be insulted that you are asking for them to pay for it at cost or even that they have to use it all.     I may be wrong, but since Sonos hasn’t created the device you’re wanting, it seems reasonable to assume it’s not the slam dunk solution you’re imagining it is.

I only bought my Play:5 speakers 6 years ago. So you’re closer to getting totally screwed than you might think. 

Whatever the reason, this is a really bad policy. I’ve been a big fan of Sonos. We have 4 Play:5’s, and a whole bunch of other Sonos products that I can see now will need to be replaced eventually. But fool me once...

I've got a bunch of Sonos speakers including a full surround sound set plus various speakers in assorted rooms. One of those is a Play 5. Now that speaker is sion to be obsolete?? When will the rest be? Phones + computers make sense to have a limited life span. I never expected that with supposed high end speakers. My confidence in your product is shattered. I will never buy or support your brand again. I've gone from a strong promoter to disappointed critic. Sonos sucks

I’ve been a loyal Sonos customer for a number of years now. 

I estimate I’ve spent nearly £6,000 on Sonos products, with my most recent purchase being just last month. 

I was also, up until yesterday, a shareholder.

In the strongest possible terms, I urge you to reconsider your recent planned obsolescence announcement.

It’s a staggeringly wasteful decision, and one that alienates your loyal customers.

Should you not reverse course, I will be unable to continue being a customer or evangelist for your company, and will instead be forced to consider myself hostage to your company and its destructive business practices.

Please reconsider and do the right thing.

I’ve been Sonos customer for years and like many on here I have spent over $5,000 pulling my system together piece by piece. The slap in the face by Sonos shows that they are more concerned with forcing existing customers to purchase new temporary products knowing that they will be obsolete in 5 years or less. 

I will be reaching out to Best Buy to see what their return policy is and what promotions they will be offering for Sonos competitor products. I’ve had my Bose products for over 20 years in my media room and they offer lifetime product support and replacement. 

Depending on what I hear I will have the following equipment for sale at 50% of what I paid for them. 

Not sure what you mean by maintained.  Sonos is dropping support, which doesn’t mean that your legacy products will suddenly stop working. Spotify will continue to work until Spotify changes things on their side.  Sonos has stated they will provide assistance to customers with issues short of software updates...although it seems like they may do some minor updates now?  Not sure on that aspect.

Great reply. I totally agree about sending streams in legacy and modern formats. It’s just a protocol at the end of the day. Fork the code and add some backwards compatibility in the modern code which streams data in the appropriate format to each device. I’d love to know a technical reason why that isn’t possible.

@Ryan S So, shouldn’t Sonos be offering a simple hardware upgrade kit for our legacy equipment, most people would be happy to pay a nominal fee for an upgrade motherboard. Sonos is supposed to be a sustainable focused company, discarding 5 year old equipment isn’t in line with your company ethos.

Are you able to reconcile how answers 3 and 4 will be reconciled? If I buy a new component (later version) to add to a “legacy” system will I be able to downgrade the new component? what about to a version that predates the new component?

Are you ensuring that you will provide the means to downgrade the firmware in all future components to match the firmware in someone’s existing “legacy” system?

This is a critical question!

Like everyone else, this notice has stopped me from considering any additional purchases.

The appeal of the Sonos system was three fold, quality components, simplicity and finally the ability to expand my system with new products.

It now looks like all of these thanks have been crushed. Quality components don’t matter if I’ve got to replace it in circa 5 years, I’ll by cheaper products. Simplicity, not if I have to set up multiple networks for my legacy devices. I’ll go back to a simple amp and speaker set up and just physically plug my iPad in. Expand the system, I’m not paying anything else to Sonos if the product has such a short life span.

Someone needs to rethink this or create a hardware solution, a “home hub” solution that can manage/stream the music to the legacy units and keep connected for the new units seems the best bet. Guarantee to keep the system working for 15 years+ if you replace the “home hub”  is also needed. It’s the only way I’d even consider looking at Sonos again.

Further question: how many messages of support for this scam have you had? I'll bet you 30% of the cost of a nee Bluesound system there havent been any! 

Bluesound: better than sonos.... Ive seen that comment all over your Community thread. Even the new one you opened coz all the comments were CRITICAL. Wonder if Bluesound or Denon  will offer a better landfill deal for sonos products than sonos itself?

It's kind of absurd that Sonos, who brought us a device to hook up our old speakers, can't do the same for their own “legacy” devices. It's not “planned obsolescence” as much as its forced obsolescence.

I see. So two further questions…

6. Will modern speakers come with a legacy mode? Otherwise those wishing to extend their all legacy system (and keep a single multi-room network) will most likely look to another brand which is the same as having separate apps for legacy and modern networks.
 

1. As new iOS versions etc are released Sonos will support a legacy app as well or will this functionality be baked into future apps as well. A legacy mode if you like. 

 Sonos are both high end speakers and smart speakers...meaning they have the same sort of hardware and software that your phone + computers do.    In your next choice for speakers, you may want to stay away from smart speakers.  Other brands may last longer, hard to tell since most haven’t been around as long as Sonos.  Going with cheap speakers is not much of an investiment, and you may do better from one of the tech giants, since they can subsides their smart speakers from their other lines of business.

Its not just blackmail, its extortion too! LOL 

Well the Play 5 is at least worth the value of a 30% discount to someone looking to buy a new Sonos product.  On a Sonos Amp, that’s $195.

As a software developer myself, I get it that software evolves at a rapid pace and that you’re at the mercy of 3rd parties for things like SDK updates, protocol updates, new codecs, etc.

It boggles the mind however that a more palatable solution couldn’t be found. Is it not possible to have builds of firmware for the legacy devices that keep the command & control components, mesh audio, and basic streaming services?

What about doing a circuit board swap? Surely the components other than the circuit board are still perfectly fine on these devices, and it would be a lot cheaper for customers than the laughable trade-up program. It seems a shame to be throwing out perfectly good enclosures, amplification components, speaker drivers, etc.

I can see Sonos taking a sizable financial hit as owners migrate to Denon Heos, Amazon, Google, Apple, Bluesound, etc. over this.  There will be a much larger than normal supply of used (non-legacy) Sonos gear on the market as people change vendors.

I wonder if Sonos has taken into account that this will also prevent many existing customers from buying new Sonos gear, thereby hurting the bottom line even more. I was toying with the idea of getting a Beam for the Ensuite, but now I won’t. I also won’t be able to buy any new Sonos gear after May because it won’t work with my new/legacy mixed network, and I probably won’t be able to roll it back to 10.X to get it to work.

I’m skeptical that the option of separating the legacy into its own network will be useful to me. I’ve got a Connect:AMP acting as the rear surrounds for a Playbar+SUB. I can’t separate that unit without losing my 5.1 setup. I also love the feature where I can have the Playbar TV audio play in other adjacent rooms, so I can have the TV sound in the kitchen and office. I’ll lose that ability if my Connect:AMPs are relegated to being independent of the non-legacy units.