Retired Sonos Staff

End of Software Support - Clarifications

December 8, 2022 at 11:29 AM
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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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chickentender

My 2 cents as a very disappointed early adopter. I used to work for Tweeter a now defunct New England based a/v specialty retailer that had stores across the country and we were the FIRST nationwide retailer to sell Sonos when it first launched. There was no Spotify or Iphones for that matter and even Sirius or XM (pre-merger) wasn’t available on Sonos yet. Many of us sales people were fortunate enough to win Sonos products for free in sales contests, the logic being there’d be more sales if sales people had it at home. They were right. I and many other sales people sold the crap out of Sonos so we could have it too. If we sold 5 systems (in those days it was 1 ZP100, 1 ZP80 and 1 CR100 controller) we’d win the same for ourselves. This contest ran twice so many of us won two 2room systems. We gushed about how ground breaking, flexible and expandable they were. I sold Sonos to countless customers for years and if I were still in the biz would be very reluctant to do so in the future. This new “legacy” crap will affect 4 of my zones and to add insult to injury I’d have to buy TWO products to replace what my trusty ZP100 does in ONE box. I use my ZP100 to feed my receiver based surround system through the RCA outs and use the speaker outs to feed outdoor speakers on my balcony. All I have to do is switch the volume in that zone from “fixed” to “variable”. I won’t be able to DO that now because the “AMP” doesn’t have analog outs so NOW I need an “AMP” AND a “PORT” to do what ONE ZP100 did. Not to mention that the “AMP” AND the “PORT” are BOTH MORE money than their predecessors were with the same (or in the case of the “AMP”) LESS functionality. A 30% discount on a “trade-up” is a slap in the face not just for all the customers who’ve spent thousands on your products, but it’s slap to all of us sales people (current and former) who f***ing BUILT YOUR COMPANY. You should be ASHAMED. FIX THIS and treat your long time customers BETTER than a “sale” price,. 30% is BULLS**. I guess I’ll be looking at Yamaha Music Cast in the future.They’re LESS money with MORE connections……..and THEY support REAL hi-res 192/24 audio files as well.

That truly sucks. Have a look at the Arylic series of amps and pre’s. (A50 specifically) Certainly doesn’t address your overall system (being Sonos I’m assuming) but it’s worth a look.

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highpks

Lyricist III

Correct me if I’m wrong, but for now, it seems that the “legacy” stigma is limited to products that have inputs rather than pure players. It would be palatable, at least for this round, *if* Sonos made a replacement device that was actually better (more inputs, optical output?) and affordable.

Since that’s not the case, let’s play this strategy out, of separating our Sonos “legacy” products from “modern” with 2 separately functioning systems. Yuk! Now, what happens next time? Another wave of “legacy 2021” products, which have some subset of features that work with them, but not on “legacy 2020”? Now we have 3 systems with differing features? Bull-spit!

The *only* viable solution for Sonos to save face and marketshare is to provide an actually affordable upgrade path. 30% off is not that.

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Retro Kid

Lyricist II

Seriously considering getting the whole set up on eBay as soon as possible.

Wont be buying any more SONOS products.

Only problem here is you won’t be the only one doing that - and the arse will fall out the second hand market. :-(

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HelterSkelter

Enthusiast II

So, what functionality exactly will I lose if I just hold onto my 1st Gen Play:5? I take the software updates but am really unclear as to what that does for me.

Please answer this. Perhaps I, and many others, will be less angry if we know the answer to that question.

If you stream from services such as Spotify, and they decide to make a change to the API in the future … Sonos won’t necessarily make a change so that you can continue streaming. Functionality will be lost over time.

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Ryan SAuthor

Retired Sonos Staff

So, what functionality exactly will I lose if I just hold onto my 1st Gen Play:5? I take the software updates but am really unclear as to what that does for me.

Please answer this. Perhaps I, and many others, will be less angry if we know the answer to that question.

@FrontRangeTraveller, after the last updates in May, you can continue to use legacy products (your Play:5 gen1) and your experience will initially remain the same. We don't expect any immediate impacts from ending software updates. However, functionality of features and services will be impacted as technology evolves, over time. If all you have is the Play:5 gen1, the biggest thing you’ll notice is that you won’t get any more updates. If you use music services or voice assistants, or any other connected service, over time those may have trouble if their software changes and the Play:5 can’t update.

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atebit

Avid Contributor I

I have 8 x ZPxxx that have & continue to work flawlessly. I spent much cheddar in the early 2000s on these, and expected that they would continue to do their jobs just like the rest of my “high-end” audio gear. I’ve spent thousands. (Most) People aren’t made of money. I spent a lot expecting I’d get a “lifetime” of use of of them. Sure, capacitors dry out, tube filaments burn out, but these can be easily repaired. The notion that I’m going to pay $600 - 30% just to regain my EXSISTING functionality is ludicrous. Who needs Siri, Alexa or Google??

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CalBear

Lyricist II

Simple concept here if Sonos actually wanted to support its best, longest-running customers properly and give them reason/comfort to buy additional equipment over time: There is absolutely NO TECHNICAL REASON why a “modern/capable” piece of equipment can’t just stream the desired audio to a “legacy” amp/player. Can already use “line in” from one device to get sound out of another through the network as it is.

So come May 2020, allow me to leave all my equipment on the same network, and just have the App use one of the non-legacy products (with the “latest drivers, etc.”) to stream the audio into the legacy one. Done. Absolutely no reason that shouldn’t easily be possible since it already works today. And you can't tell me that the audio stream itself is somehow going to become “too much for older equipment to handle.” Even if there was something to that (which there isn’t!), then just run a scaler on the “modern box" to convert it to a legacy-level stream.

And if this is something Sonos isn’t willing to support, then it’s 100% clear that this move is pure money-grabbing BS for its stock-holders, and all current and future customers should run for the exits! Won't the investors be pissed at THAT outcome!

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Mike J B

Lyricist III

Closing the old thread? Tragic strategy. I’ll keep this short:

Be clear about what happening in May (New OS? Then who’s beta testing?)
If you can’t be clear about what’s happening in May then push out the date. 3.5 months is not enough warning!
Up the discount to 50%
Find a better way to crystallise your Legacy product’s core functionality (which includes integration). Balance those development costs against the value of your remaining reputation.

I’m still just so disappointed. Don’t be kidding yourselves that you can just ride out this one. It’s going to haunt you for years. The mere existence of a Legacy category will be a permanent ball-and-chain around your neck. A reminder and warning to all involved or invested in Sonos that you couldn’t develop a better solution and are no longer industry leaders but beholden to the likes of Spotify and Google. So sad.

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herts101

Avid Contributor I

So, 3 years left for my Play:3, which presumably you will then suggest I have to replace with the more expensive Move.

And the 1s could easily go around the same time if they follow the same route as the Connects and discontinue based on the manufacture date.

Time to spend the next few months planning what future system I want in my house that can replace the 14 zone Sonos. Frankly it’s not the money I would need to spend now that’s an issue, but the ongoing cost I would paying out for the rest of my life to continue a whole house 1 zone system.

Glad to see the stock price tanking today. Serves you right.

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lukeshoey

Lyricist III

If people want to voice their views on an external platform you can leave a review on trust pilot. Already over 650 reviews:

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.sonos.com

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