End of Software Support - Clarifications

End of Software Support - Clarifications
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D
Userlevel 2
Badge +3

Can you just image if Tesla did this….

I’m sorry since you have an older Tesla in your garage, you won’t be able to update your current model because they are incompatible with one another btw you’ll have purchase another charging station because just like apple we change the plugs with each new upgrade.   

Are you talking about apples ligthning connector? If so you couldnt be More wrong since its 8 years old

E

Two points of advice:  Remove “legacy” from all communications and let product features drive users to upgrade to new products. I personally upgraded two of my play 5’s and decided to remain on my 4 “legacy” connect amps. Even a 50% reduction couldn’t get me there. 
 

Last message from Patrick was a start now let’s stop the conversation!

W

Is it me or is Patrick not listening? He says he hears us but then I see zero actual change. Where is the change?? Let me be the one to determine my hardware isn't keeping up. This is a marketing ploy to sell more product. It's disgusting. And not what any of us signed up to when we bought into the Sonos system. 

Patrick, make an actual change. Don't say you hear us and then do nothing. 

 

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

 

T

I totally understand Sonos’ position.  I work in the tech industry where end-of-sale and end-of-life processes are pretty well understood.  I have some empathy for Sonos as they are clearly going through this process for the first time.

I suppose I’m fortunate in some aspects … I didn’t buy the majority of my Sonos system in the first place … it was in the house when I bought the house (4 x Connect:AMP + 1 x Connect + 1 piece of junk Windows CE remote).  As such, i’ve already had the benefit of Sonos technology for over 8 years.  I’ve added to the system since then (Sub which I’m a bit worried about interoperability in the same room with Connect:AMP and Play:5). 

That said, with this info, I’m sort of happy now that I recently decided to upgrade my media room with something other than Sonos (due to lack of support for newer sound formats etc.).  Just about everything streams these days so there are plenty of other choices out there if you don’t need multiple zones working in unison.

The way I see it, in the same time-frame, I’ve probably been through about 4 iPhones / Android phones, a couple of tablets and probably on to  the 3rd MacBook … the reality is if you want the new software and features then you generally need to upgrade the hardware at some point. 

I think the 30% trade in offer for the old gear is pretty generous.  As long as they don’t try to develop a “software subscription” model on top of my next purchase then I guess I’m going to bite the bullet and start saving … might have to replace the system in dribs and drabs so hope that the trade in program lasts for a long period … list price for what I need to replace is AUD$4,600 (maybe I’ll be a bit more strategic about which units I buy and where I place them based upon my current usage).  For those of you who who are too frustrated … there is still a grey market (eBay) to dump your devices but I think the Sonos offer is probably better given this announcement.

A
Userlevel 3
Badge +3

So now Sonos has gotten it wrong twice...the first announcement, and then, saying the same thing over again. 
 

I’m reminded of the South Park “We’re Sorry” parody of BP...

M
Userlevel 2
Badge

I lost trust and respect in Sonos when they decided to brick the Sonos CR100 and I vowed never to buy their products again.

Today, my venerable system of ZP100, ZP120, Play:5 and 3 CR100’s continues to work satisfactorily.

I sympathise greatly with everyone affected - this is not what you bought into.

Trust no one.

 

 

 

M
Userlevel 4
Badge +3

I purchased 4 Sonos devices four days ago, basing my decision on the good reputation of the brand. Then came the announcement that at some point in the not very distant future the equipment will cease to function as promised. What a mistake I have made.  Obviously, this  will be my only Sonos purchase.

Return them

I bought more SONOS GEAR 74 days ago and I am returning them. 
no hope for this company now. 

only when people return the product for refund where possible and also stop buying will we get resol

D
Userlevel 7
Badge +5

Wow this is taking off, most media outlets in my country have now run the story on how Sonos is taking whole audio system’s ransom, how they gave very little notice in advance and how the company is screwing over the enviroment with this planned obsolescense.

Their Trustpilot rating is now at 79% of reviews only giving it 1/5 which is the lowest and the comment section on the media sites, under the news of this, is filled with livid people vowing to never buy another sonos product.

This is gonna hurt REAL bad for sonos, a lot of people that has sonos and was looking to expand will now NOT buy any more, and the thing i think sonos has forgot the most is that sonos is very much a product that is “advertised” by current owners, and if they say “Dont buy sonos” i bet, that is gonna hurt their sales as well.

I dont hope that sonos had anticipated this in advance and just shrugged their shoulders because this is bad, and i mean “Real risk of going out of business” bad.

 

K
Userlevel 3
Badge

Why are you still selling obsolete products that will not be supported after May? Not a word about this on the Connect UK product page.

 

https://www.sonos.com/en-gb/shop/connect.html

J
Userlevel 1

This is absolute TRASH.

 

I am still angry over the removal of lock screen controls from iOS devices, but this is too far.

 

I have 24 devices on my current system, many of which were manufactured around the same time as my Play 5 and Connect which has been affected.  How long before my Play 1s and Play 3s are affected in the same manner?  What about my wayyyy overpriced Playbar and the 3 Subs in my house?

 

30% for “Trade-In” is an insult considering you offer a 65% discount for third party employees who stand to lose nothing at all.  

 

Certainly this will land in a brand ending class action suit.  It’s unfortunate that a brand I have trusted and proselytized for years is abandoning me.

 

Well, here’s to hoping the inevitable class action suit will pay enough to replace the stuff in my house.

chickentender

 

F
Userlevel 1

I’m upset, but I would be more upset if I bought the Sonos Connect they are still selling here in Australia at a major electronic retailer with a caption in the description that reads:

“Never Obsolete. Ongoing software updates mean the Sonos product you buy today will be even better tomorrow”

Get in quick though, it does say limited stock…….! $549 

 

A
Userlevel 6
Badge +11

I’m pleased we (at last) got a brief from Sonos management. It plugs the dam….for a short while! Days

I'm still disappointed at how we got here.

Also, THE PRESSURE SHOULD NOT LET UP from us, the previously loyal customers.

Sonos have issued a ‘holding statement’ , super stuff.

We now need a ROADMAP WITHIN THE NEXT 7 DAYS of precisely what will be done to answer core issues concerning us, the previously loyal customers.

That is, a FIRM INTENTION OF WHAT WILL BE & WHAT WILL NOT BE DONE. 

And then a TARGET DATE OF WHEN THAT WILL BE DONE.

This is reasonable. This is fair.

So let’s expect a detailed plan by FRIDAY 31st JANUARY.

That gives a full week Sonos. Enough time to publish a roadmap.

These are your loyal, patient and reasonable customers speaking Sonos Management!

Let’s do a better job with our communications and expectation setting and clear answers (good or bad)

Your objective Sonos: 

LET ME CONTINUE TO ADD TO MY SYSTEM SAFE IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF WERE WE ARE GOING.

Probably too late at night in the US to be read. Probably too early in the day in the UK to be heard. But I hope this gets to the desk of someone who can see that this action will put 60% of the fire out.

D

Put simply, respective of any backtracking, only due to commercial reasons and with no regard for your customers, I WILL NEVER buy another sonos product again. 
 

I have 9 Sonos products. That number now will only go down as Sonos decide to dump me over time. 
 

What I don’t understand is how can a “cutting edge” technology company not find a way to maintain updates. The only reason is simple, they have decided we’re not worth it. There is no technical reason. 
 

 

T
Userlevel 2

After a few days and watching the fallout this is really quite funny.

Greedy Sonos thought they could get away with doing over their dumb herd of Sonos sheep, only it turns out we’re not so dumb.

Share price falls. Suddenly greedy Sonos is interested in it’s dumb customers again.

CEO has to apologise.

Will it make any difference? 

Nope.

Whaf next? Sonos please do one. Another company will recognise the reasons why Sonos actually became successful and instead of ignoring these, will embrace these and prosper.

Then I can buy a shiny new system.

 

 

 

Y
Userlevel 1

This is absolute TRASH.

 

I am still angry over the removal of lock screen controls from iOS devices, but this is too far.

 

I have 24 devices on my current system, many of which were manufactured around the same time as my Play 5 and Connect which has been affected.  How long before my Play 1s and Play 3s are affected in the same manner?  What about my wayyyy overpriced Playbar and the 3 Subs in my house?

 

30% for “Trade-In” is an insult considering you offer a 65% discount for third party employees who stand to lose nothing at all.  

 

Certainly this will land in a brand ending class action suit.  It’s unfortunate that a brand I have trusted and proselytized for years is abandoning me.

 

Well, here’s to hoping the inevitable class action suit will pay enough to replace the stuff in my house.

Lock screen controls are back.  Have been for a while.  

C
Userlevel 7
Badge +1

You should all have a look at this:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sonos-apologizes-backlash-over-updates-225706700.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvLnVrLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMPsKJfr-WxlKHwffWQI4YmttYmYOhpT8lQDOTUpn9NqE8c041xbLAtPZbv2rjuVfK8cPLyi3namCa92t_LRQMSHlp-058nd8pGg_89sgN8Dj2UQbvmSWWOPDhupqzoZOS8vl2pbQWqwC3lJcffBQwLl3Mn8oG_rjd3GnsMbJWiH

S
Userlevel 2

hi Patrick Spence - thanks on behalf of your huge number of Sonos fans for backing down and ensuring that legacy products will still work for many more years!

Your email blast earlier this week was ill considered and I am personally glad you have ‘seen the light’!

Note to your management team. The real cost of selling premium products is that they come with premium expectations.

 


Backing down?   Seen the light?

Have you been offered 31% discount or something else to spin this for a failed CEO?

M
Userlevel 4
Badge

BBC reporting CEO has apologised…..

 

His letter now saying sorry and vague stuff about how ‘how old and new’ can live together. 

Still not sure what’s going to happen. Still don’t trust them. 

It sounds like you (if you can get old and new working together) that it definately was your plan to rip us off and you lied to us). 

 

 

C
Userlevel 5
Badge +3

I have five sonos amps that will pretty soon not work alongside my other 9 speakers.

This blatant attempt to exploit current owners is unacceptable.

I'm staring down the barrel of a £2000 cost to replace my legacy products after your "discount".

I wont bother. I will look to other devices and solutions. Individual amps and hard wired echo dots will do just fine.

 

The day you break my system and prevent all my speakers working together as they do know, is the day I (and hundreds of thousands of other existing customers) will go from singing your praise, to actively discouraging anyone from buying your products.

It will be interesting to see sales figures after this news has been pushed out by the world media.

 

I suspect either some very strong back peddling or a further demise in share price and earnings.

 

So long Sonos, thanks for all the fish.  It was fun.

M

I have KEF speakers, Technic speakers etc bought over 20 years ago that are still working fine.  I buy speakers for the quality of the sound they produce and I have been happy with the SONOS product.  I don’t buy speakers to talk to them and I never will.  I have always disliked the SONOS attitude that they know better than their customer.  It’s about the sound stupid as President Bush might not have said.

O
Badge

I wonder if CEO Patrick Spence will become ‘legacy’ after this fiasco?! 

S

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

So this is the excuse for writing off Almost my entire Sonos system off - 4 play 5’s & 1 amp over £2000 worth of equipment! To add insult to injury you offer a derisory 30% discount meaning I’ll need to invest over £1700 to stand still! Why would anyone invest in a company who do this to their customers. After Over 10 years a Sonos customer I’m out there are loads of streaming options out there at lower cost and if Sonos have made their products disposable items I’m going to change to a company who sell at a price that represents that fact. 

C
Userlevel 5
Badge +3

Deprecating a product that's almost 20 years old is one thing.

Deprecating the connect amp that's not even 5 years old is just a blatant smash and grab on the existing client base to boost sales figures of the new model.

D
Userlevel 7
Badge +5

You should all have a look at this:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sonos-apologizes-backlash-over-updates-225706700.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvLnVrLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMPsKJfr-WxlKHwffWQI4YmttYmYOhpT8lQDOTUpn9NqE8c041xbLAtPZbv2rjuVfK8cPLyi3namCa92t_LRQMSHlp-058nd8pGg_89sgN8Dj2UQbvmSWWOPDhupqzoZOS8vl2pbQWqwC3lJcffBQwLl3Mn8oG_rjd3GnsMbJWiH

 

There is so much wool and faff in this article

First they say

“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. ”

 

But then

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

 

If they want to split my system into two where “The modern products work together” and “The legacy products work together”, then the first statement that my legacy products will work like today is false or misleading.

 

From what i can gather they will just split the legacy systems up, probably with a new app, and i will be unable to stream MP3’s across “modern” and “Legacy” products like i can today.

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