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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J

jwinther

Lyricist III

Quite the nihilist view there. One important missed factor: Sonos built its reputation over the last decade and a half on favorable reviews, favorable tech press, and word of mouth. It has all been generally rosy but for a couple of hiccups along the way; overall sentiment has been positive. I’ve been here for a number of years now off and on since 2014, and though there’ve been some instances of discontent, the level to which folks are flocking to this board is absolutely unprecedented, and dwarfs anything I’ve ever seen and by an enormous margin.
Damage is being done and it isn’t just limited to this forum or Reddit comments. Onboarding new customers amid a backlash of this scale is going to be quite a task in my opinion. Again, I’ve never seen this many people (yourself included by the looks of it, welcome ) here on the board. Ever. And no one showed up to ask how to create a playlist or connect a turntable. It’s of a singular reason for these thousands of posts.

Nihilist as seem from within the fan club, yes. Also, if you read my other replys, you will find that this is just another angle - basically I am as sad about this whole things as everybody else here. But it may be useful to try seing the situation with the eyes of the opponent - who may not even be aware that there is “a situation”.

I agree that Sonos’ reputation is built on a certain business model that includes loyal customers. When the first products appeared, the looks of them was clearly inspired by Apple’s products (like other products appearing in the market at that time). and to me at least it was clear that they were trying to build a similar “fanboy” metality among their customers that could justify higher prices - the design would help making this model seem just to the customers.

However, they may not see the world this way anymore - that is what I am testing with that input.

And thanks for the welcome! As I am now dismantling the broken dream and leaving the Sonos universe in favor of another, my time in this forum will most likely be short. But still, nice to meet you :)

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“This is a chance now to come up with a system that doesn’t cause massive planetary damage in exchange for disposable stuff,” Proctor said. (https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3a8dpn/sonos-makes-it-clear-you-no-longer-own-the-things-you-buy)

chickentender

Quite the nihilist view there. One important missed factor: Sonos built its reputation over the last decade and a half on favorable reviews, favorable tech press, and word of mouth. It has all been generally rosy but for a couple of hiccups along the way; overall sentiment has been positive. I’ve been here for a number of years now off and on since 2014, and though there’ve been some instances of discontent, the level to which folks are flocking to this board is absolutely unprecedented, and dwarfs anything I’ve ever seen and by an enormous margin.
Damage is being done and it isn’t just limited to this forum or Reddit comments. Onboarding new customers amid a backlash of this scale is going to be quite a task in my opinion. Again, I’ve never seen this many people (yourself included by the looks of it, welcome ) here on the board. Ever. And no one showed up to ask how to create a playlist or connect a turntable. It’s of a singular reason for these thousands of posts.

Nihilist as seem from within the fan club, yes. Also, if you read my other replys, you will find that this is just another angle - basically I am as sad about this whole things as everybody else here. But it may be useful to try seing the situation with the eyes of the opponent - who may not even be aware that there is “a situation”.

I agree that Sonos’ reputation is built on a certain business model that includes loyal customers. When the first products appeared, the looks of them was clearly inspired by Apple’s products (like other products appearing in the market at that time). and to me at least it was clear that they were trying to build a similar “fanboy” metality among their customers that could justify higher prices - the design would help making this model seem just to the customers.

However, they may not see the world this way anymore - that is what I am testing with that input.

And thanks for the welcome! As I am now dismantling the broken dream and leaving the Sonos universe in favor of another, my time in this forum will most likely be short. But still, nice to meet you :)

Cheers mate. May your listening be ever more enjoyable. :)

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lee Tronix

Lyricist I

It is a crock. The process is irrelevant as audio is receiving signal the speaker outputs the sound. In this case the audio is received through the internet which is passed to the speaker. So the only support is from the software which has absolutely nothing to do with the Sonos speakers.

They are struggling and want to upgrade 100s of 1000s of original customers - so yeah its a crock...

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Good Riddance & Never Again Sonos

B

Barry McCockinner

Trending Lyricist I

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.

Why would you make an announcement that you're ceasing support for legacy systems before you have a plan tested and in place, and tell everyone an option is to upgrade at 30% discount?

Seems to me that IS the plan. Spark a panic and attempt to get your customers to upgrade due to fear of the unknown.

Trying to make a sale using FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) is always a bad move.

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C

Cisume

Enthusiast II

this is a good discussion - the presenter has 9 'legacy' products and has said be will not upgrade them because they will just do it again in 5 plus years -

"you just killed me as a customer, dead, Sonos"

"ill never buy another sonos product again"

Leo is a charlatan. To compare the players to a computer is plain silly.

We talking network connected streaming devices which don’t have any need to be smart.

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A

attacama40

Headliner I

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.

Why would you make an announcement that you're ceasing support for legacy systems before you have a plan tested and in place, and tell everyone an option is to upgrade at 30% discount?

Seems to me that IS the plan. Spark a panic and attempt to get your customers to upgrade due to fear of the unknown.

Trying to make a sale using FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) is always a bad move.

Ouch that is a dark and yet compelling explanation.

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F

FrankH654

Lyricist II

If you’d chosen Sonos for durability and quality you will be surprised by the companies definition of legacy which renders your £1000+ investment for life a rather expensive scrapheap. Wait for the Player and the Sub hit the dust and things will get really rough on Sonos forums. Maximise profits is at the core rather that quality products. The 30 percent discount is an insult and you should think twice having a 70 percent depreciation over five years. My desto computer is older than this. As a software engineer I know that Sonos can make this work. There is no need to support voice assistants on devices without micro and I did not ever think that built in “innovation” should be the focus of a solid music system rather than excellent sound. Give a 70 percent discount on legacy buybacks and you may get out of this hole you dug yourself. Otherwise, I am off. Goodbye Sonos. You were once a good choice and I was a proud Sonos owner and encouraged others to be part of that. Well, stupid that.

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G

Gavlow66

Lyricist I

In all Sonos marketing the strap line is that ‘The Sonos system will grow with you’, a very powerful statement until you realise that your ‘children’ will only make 5 years old!

I have invested in the system over the years and expanded to a whole house music system which I now have to spend thousands to replace/upgrade and I cannot buy or add to the system any further after the big Sonos shutdown?

Personally, I think that this is a terrible move by what I always believed to be a trustworthy company.

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T

Thumbpicker

Enthusiast II

It’s not even exactly a true 30% discount. It’s 30% off RRP.

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S

sonot

Lyricist I

Shameful decision by Sonos. And I truly thought you were better than this. Not only did I buy Sonos for myself, but also for my family. You’ve betrayed us all.

What will happen to my Play 5 after you stop updates? How long will it continue to work properly? How can I maintain an integrated system if one of the devices has to be isolated from the others? How long before you do the same thing to other Sonos products?

Most of all, now that you’ve destroyed the confidence of your existing loyal customers, why would any of us want to buy another Sonos product in the future?

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