End of Software Support - Clarifications

I, along with many other Sonos customers, have several Sonos components in two homes!  I also purchased a Beam for my daughter as a sign of my satisfaction with your product.  For me, my initial and most significant investment was mid 2013.  I would expect support to continue without having to invest in a replacement platform.  I think your note today reflects that as well as everyone’s desire to stick with your product.  You have succeeded in developing a very good product and strong brand.  Take care in your messaging - i want and expect my investment to last much longer than 7 years!

Nope, still not buying it, that the memory and cpu is bloated. It’s the code that’s bloated.

The memory and cpu were fine when you brought the equipment out, they played music then, we want them to play music now, nothing more.

If the difference is due to voice control, and way more streaming services than when things started …. then reduce the amount of streaming services and focus on the major ones. Or only load software onto the legacy devices for services that are in use on the users network, instead of overloading them with bloated options that aren’t used.

I have 7 Connects in a custom rack that is essentially the brain of my whole house audio system. I also have a few speakers that are in the garage, basement etc. So now I have this mixed legacy and modern system. The rack houses the connects which are larger than the Port and do not have on optical out put... So I'm losing functionality and have to spend more money to rework my rack. They are offering 30% trade in.. I just spent $2500 plus tax on this system and to offer a 30% trade in is simply insulting. Especially since it will cost another $2500 to replace!! I based a several thousand dollar system on a product that I trusted to last (I installed the rack in September of 2015 by the way) and here I am a little more than 4 years later facing a decision on how to deal with this. Thanks for screwing your faithful customers SONOS!! Perhaps time to look into Yamaha or Denon.

So Spence can’t even *apologize* without screwing up….

His clarification email supposedly “owning” the issue clarifies nothing and it owns nothing - and offered nothing new.

He needs to be shown the door.

The difference isn’t voice control because they produce Sonos One’s without voice control and speakers from Ikea. Also Sonos Port.

All you have to say is something like:

If Device.Microphone = True then

      Do this….
Else

     Do that…

End if.

In other word have a fork in the code or create difference classes - whatever…

They are already doing it anyway...

After reading all of the posted comments I personally will look around for an alternative sound system.

I currently own a sound bar with sub and surround speakers. Love it!  I was planning to purchase another complete surround sound for my man cave. I expect to get years of performance from an expensive quality system but I can’t worry about the system being dead in the water at any time sonos decides to dump it.

Bye Sonos.

Agree.

Dont split up our systems!

If you are going to split them up, there is NO incentive for us to stay with Sonos.

Or not.

I just got the mass email from the CEO. I appreciate that it seems that he is aware of the magnitude of the damage to our trust in the company, but I’m not quite sure that he understands our concerns.  Until this week, I believed that I owned a product that would seamlessly play music in multiple rooms and multiple groupings.  I also believed that I would own this product until the hardware became non-functional. I also believed that there was no limit to the amount of expansion I could do with these products, without negatively impacting their function. In addition, my understanding was that the customer experience of these products was paramount.  This understanding is what makes the premium price worth it.  

What this week has made clear is that this understanding is incorrect.  Instead, what I own is a piece of hardware that can be made instantly less useful (or even non-functional) at the whim of sonos, and that if and when this occurs, sonos will view this as a profit-making opportunity.  This is disconcerting, because this fundamentally changes the value-proposition of the hardware.  My play5, bought in July 2015, is now a drag on my entire system if what I want is whole house music. Either I get rid of it and replace it at great expense, or I lock my entire system into whatever state it is in in May, or I create two separate systems (ie NOT A WHOLE HOUSE SYSTEM).  This would be tolerable if the response of sonos was to bend over backwards to rectify the changes so that the customer perceived that sonos realizes how much of an imposition this is, but a 30% discount achieves the opposite effect.  If sonos really wanted us to feel whole in this process, they would offer to replace the “legacy” products at or below cost - this would signify to us that they were more concerned about our experience than about making quick profits.  More importantly, this would avoid setting the precedent that every one of our current sonos products (I have multiple play1s, a play bar, a sub, a play3 and so on) and any additional products we buy, will soon be rendered legacy as well, with no option but to replace at great expense.  A 5 year life expectancy for a $500 speaker is simply not a good value.  So, in my opinion, what you need to do to regain trust is to make explicit to your customers what you actually believe the business model is.  Is it one where the customer pays a premium price for speakers that last as long as high fidelity products usually do (I have 30 yr old speakers that sound gorgeous), or is it one where we are essentially renting the capabilities of these products for a relatively short and unpredictable time that is dependent entirely on sonos. If it is the latter, that is fine and it is well within your rights to do, but it is unfair to the customer to pretend otherwise.  If it is the former, then people with legacy products should be given replacement products at or below cost and sonos should do everything possible to assure us that such a thing will never happen again.  Otherwise the price of sonos products is simply not worth it

Morristown, NJ 07960

In all honesty though, I think Patrick needs to address the brick thing, and get out an announcement to address the eco side of all this.

Sonos claims to be a sustainable company, yet is offering financial incentive to put a huge amount of equipment and plastic into landfill.

Yes, by all means offer a 30% trade up to a customer with equipment, but the customer should be allowed to sell or gift that legacy item and allow it to be used again.

Amazing that management doesn’t understand the appeal of their own equipment to the customer.

if they really heard them they know there customers don’t want a split system. If there stock keeps dropping google might just do a hostile takeover to settle the patent issue

Just looked at the yamaha system seems to do what I want and stream music, looks like I found my replacement to sonos if they don't buck up there ideas and abandon this wholesale stupidity soon

Sonos said this….. 

access to services and overall functionality will eventually be disrupted

to me that sounds like at some stage I won't be able to use my system anymore. If only I had bought a few hundred more legacy units then I could build the worlds most expensive, non fire proof, BBQ with them… As long as don't light the fire on my sonos bbq pit and just serve cold food the party should go great, there will be no music just funny tales of if ripped off consumers to get the party going. It will be one of those parties where nobody dances but there will be lots of laughter….

Sure, technically the BBQ will not be made with bricks, it will be made from useless lumps of plastic and metal that loosely resemble the size and form of a brick but are much useful than a brick.

Unlike some, I'm satisfied with what Sonos' CEO sent out, and I'll wait and see if my products get bricked before I jump to another solution. From my simple research, it seems Samsung might have a viable alternative? Let's hope so. 

Exceedingly well worded!

Think you’ve said what we are all feeling.

Sincerely hope Patrick reads this, and hears it, for the truth that it is.

This is the e-mail (with updated counts) I sent to Patrick Spence which he read and promptly did not respond to :

Sonos Team

I really am at a loss for words

I have been with Sonos really from the beginning and have recommended your products to many people along the way, I have also been very supportive in the testing group and so to say the below e-mail is shocking is an understatement.

In reality what you are saying to me is if I want to remain current I have to replace the following components:

2 x ZP90

5 x Bridges plus another 10 still sealed in the boxes

1 x Connect

3 x Connect Amps

4 x Play 5 Gen 1

4 x CR100

So my immediate concern is when are you going to do the same to all my other components and please do not say that will not happen  !!

4 x Play 1

2 x Play 3,

2 x Soundbar

2 x Connect

1 x Connect Amp

2 x Subs

4 x Boost

To offer me 30% discount to replace thousands of dollars of existing (some still in the boxes) Sonos components is really not credible as this just solves your immediate problem but not mine as I have a bigger problem than most as all my components have to be purchased in Singapore as I live in Indonesia and that attracts an additional 50% tax on all new Sonos products that I bring in. So effectively I have to be 120 % cost out of pocket just to get what I already have.

I would suspect you are going to have an enormous negative reaction to this as people have been collecting Sonos components over many years and after the debacle of the CR200 where we all lost serious amounts of money this really is a major business development flaw.

This is a very sad day for me as I will now stop investing any further in Sonos and for the first time seriously look at the alternatives.

From the Guardian newspaper: A freeze on software updates will initially have little effect, but over time it will eventually prevent the speakers from working at all, “particularly as partners evolve their technology”, Sonos said.

But it’s not the same as them being bricked in May….

You have successfully found a way for me to NOT like Sonos anymore.  I was one of your biggest fans and outspoken about how i enjoyed your speakers; however, with this stupid obsolescence experiment AND the belief that BRICKING a device is eco-friendly, I have determined that I can’t trust anything Sonos does as it literally makes no sense.  Is this being run by politicians?  As my old devices fail I will now be replacing with BOSE. SONOS has FAILED!!!!  Time to short SONOS stock...

January 23 2020

I do not usually voice my opinions in the public domain.

But… i feel betrayed!

After all these years supporting this company to receive an email as we did is an insult.

The long time users have carried this company via purchases and recommendations.

I will think long and hard before i purchase another Sonos product if every.

A 30% discount … what a joke. An up-charge in disguise.

Good luck competing out there … there are better products in the marketplace.

All the best with your lawsuit!

Good luck without us

Regards,

Disappointed

I have just calculated that the eight legacy devices that I own would cost me £2864.40 to replace even after the ridiculously low 30% trade-in.

I am a pensioner now with a disabled wife and we can not afford to pay for replacement items.

Therefore I will go down the legacy route and hope that the system will operate as it is now, for many years to come, as I expected it would when I bought it!

I will never buy another Sonos item from now as I feel they can not be trusted to be future proofed!

I have recommended Sonos to numerous people in the past which has resulted in thousands of pounds of sales for Sonos. This stops as from now and I will be relating the tale of how they can just stop supporting equipment bought with hard earned cash.

My son has recently purchased a Sonos Soundbar which he really likes! He was planning to build a whole house system similar to mine in the future but has now scrapped this idea and will also never buy another Sonos product.

Like many others I feel cheated!

Forgive me if this has been discussed but is there any ETA on when you will dump Play:3 upgrades as I believe they are 9 years old and no longer available to purchase new? Play:1 even…….

If I bought Play:3’s new today from stores still carrying, how long will they be supported. The tech can’t be much better than Play:5/1?

I have also already heard the Playbar being referred to as ageing tech?

This would mean my 14 speaker system over 2 houses would be down to 5 items. I built it over 10 years but won’t upgrade when they stop. Love the gear but the expense is too great to upgrade all of it in the next two years. Australian prices are pretty out there. And……….there are cheaper options if all companies are going this way. The quality of product you sell is not worth the yearly outlay if this is the future. If in the next two years you stop supporting the above it will cost me around $5000 au to replace just the legacy. 

I will look at cheaper 5 year items that are throw away albeit not my preference. My friends have always strived to make it to the Sonos level but will never invest in a possible 5 year until they are unsupported scenario.

I am a die hard Sonos fan that will continue to love but could never promote or replace.

I don’t need any future tech, but it is crazy that my current gear won’t upgrade if I’m running legacy.

So has Sonos set themselves  up where no matter what product you own it’ll require the customer to buy a new product because they’ll unilaterally stop updating the system you own?  What a disaster and a terrible Precident.

I’m not as angry as I was, but I am resolved and the rose-glasses are lifted. Left in a legacy state, my Sonos network can still and will still function as a hi-fi wired one would (which is what it took the place of at the inception)… e.g. I’ll invest in a quality streaming box (certainly not the Port) and have it feed to my Sonos Connect; if I need to replace that single box down the road, fine. Even my smart-TV can fulfill this function currently if wired to the Connect and that works for me. 

What this also means is I won't be expanding my Sonos network with any of the follow-on purchases Sonos has relied on from myself and others who’ve adopted the ecosystem. Since my actual streaming experience will be fulfilled by a device outside the environment, there’s now absolutely *zero* incentive to purchase new from Sonos. If I want to expand my legacy device network I will purchase another (deeply affordable in comparison) 2nd-hand legacy device on the used market. Honestly, the more I consider what’s happened, it’s legitimately a good turn of events for my wallet in the long run by sizeable margin. It’s not good for the Sonos balance sheet, but that’s the bed they’ve now made. The honeymoon is over, and I’m taking the kids as part of the settlement.