Either I'm misunderstanding or this scheme is just encouraging people to throw away perfectly good Sonos equipment.
The way I read it, you "trade up" by selecting an eligible device and it then gets deactivated by Sonos for you to bin.
This is surely ethically wrong?
Lots of talk about everything from the moon landings being fake to the Earth being flat.
Sonos has an excellent reputation for keeping future plans quiet which leads to trolls trying to get responses by posting all kinds of stuff.
You will save yourself a lot of grief if you filter out all the predictions based on nothing but bile and speculation.
Only reliable sources on future plans I’ve found are the Sonos staff and posts linking to FCC filings.
Well personally I don’t think I’m trolling by saying I’d be annoyed if a company bricked the audio equipment that I own that is working perfectly well and trying to find out what is going on. I invested a fair sum in it whether or not it was in the past.
To me it’s fairly unprecedented that a piece of equipment that is connected to my stereo and my in ceiling speakers in the bedroom just suddenly potentially gets “taken” from me unless I buy a modern version that does exactly the same thing. Even Apple’s multipurpose iPhones don’t get deactivated. They continue to run on the old software. With an audio component they are even simpler and only perform a predefined role so even harder to justify. So it’s fair enough in my opinion to ask whether they are planning to brick them if we don’t upgrade at some point. Knowledge is power.
Not supporting the CR100 is different because a viable alternative was provided via smartphones and desktop applications which 99.9% of people had access to therefore no loss was really suffered.
Also people’s circumstances change. When I bought them I had a much higher income. Now I’m retired spending that sort of money on replacements is not trivial. Like I said, I did not subscribe to a perpetual gravy train business model when I purchased them. I owe them nothing. They owe me a working product for the life of the hardware imo. The only constraint is software and as I said a one man development team has created a third party UI for it - so they can manage it no problem at all with their resources. Also that software constraint is a problem of their own making, it’s their design, it should not become my problem that they didn’t potentially think about the whole of life support costs. They should be supported until I decide they are no longer useful and decommission them myself.
And yes some of this is pre-emptive. If you don’t speak up you get walked over.
I also wrote this.
I don’t really care that my zp80’s and zp100 are old - I’m getting old too lol. They do what I want and I don’t care that they run on Wireless G - big deal - wireless G can cope with streaming audio - that’s why the products worked in the first place. They work just as well the non microphone versions of recent Sonos Products for my purposes and work with far better speakers than the recent Sonos products to boot.
I don’t care about the upgrade offer either because to me most of the products are a downgrade for my purposes or only offer the same functionality in terms of my usage.
There is absolutely no reason by the ZP80’s and ZP100’s should be not supported because they are no different to the new Ikea speakers with no microphones or the Sonos One version that is new with no microphones.
I would therefore be annoyed if my audio equipment was forcibly deactivated and I don’t give a toss about fanboys here who don’t care because they have recently bought the latest and greatest. I’m not in the habit of charitable donations to companies that can’t manage their business models into the future. I didn’t sign up for a perpetual income stream back to Sonos (although I did recently buy a Sonos Beam for my TV because I thought the company was decent since I found my older products reliable). I bought supposedly simple media streamers and a media streamer amplifier that is effectively part of my house ie. inbuilt ceiling speakers. Not my fault they took away the CR100 interface and then have to support an app to control them.
Besides they are no different to their other modern products in terms of function anyway other than the wireless G network protocol which is no skin off their teeth. I mention that functionally they are not much different to some of their other products because from a programming perspective their user interface functionality through the app would work the same way and from a coding perspective it’s not much different.
All I can say is I’m loyal to Sonos for the moment and did recently buy a new product as mentioned - but I deactivating would make me instantly disloyal and they wouldn’t be getting any more of my cash in the future no matter what - hypothetically speaking. My ZP100 is an expensive bit of kit especially for the modern equivalent and is a perfectly good amplifier as well.
Also as far as supporting their app goes you have individuals that write sophisticated apps that aren’t companies including ones for Sonos would you believe - so I don’t buy the lack of resources constraint I’ve heard touted here on their part. If a single developer can do it - so can Sonos.
I wrote this a month ago - I must be psychic huh… I’m one of the smartest people ever it seems.
….
+11
Note, there will not be any change in current functionality for the legacy devices, they will just stop getting software updates. They will continue to work. You are not being forced to buy new equipment.
That’s not true. We’ve seen recently that you now need v10.4 to control speakers via the Spotify app. In 6 months time, Spotify may need v10.7 to run, which legacy devices will not get.
I’m with everyone else here. This is a egregious policy to try and force people to buy new products.
My whole house is setup for Sonos, as is my office. I have recommended Sonos to countless people. Now they are telling me that 5 of my Connects and 1 of my ConnectAmps are not going to be compatible going forward (plus 4 other products)? I won’t be updating the software (nor will I be upgrading my equipment), but it seems like the problem could be that the equipment could no longer be compatible with some music services? Sonos is asking for another $3,000 to replace my Connects and ConnectAmp that are working flawlessly? Not gonna happen.
I was going to purchase a Sub soon to pair with my PlayBase, but I won’t be buying any new Sonos equipment if the plan will be to make them obsolete in the future. I have paid a premium for Sonos equipment thinking that I was getting a premium product with premium support, to last many, many years (like other audio equipment). If this new policy goes into affect, Sonos has lost me as a customer, and as an ambassador for the Sonos brand.
I am have invested a lot of money in my Sonos system around my house. To now be told that the 2 Play:5 units that I have will not work and as a result will stop me updating the other 5 Sonos units on my home system after May 2020 is an absolute disgrace. A 30% upgrade allowance is far short on the expense of adding two new Sonos devices. This has now made me seriously think about Sonos as an ethical company and whether going forward I would want to buy any further products as the 5 current products that I have that are now affected will within the next year of so land me in the same situation. I cannot justify the expense and will have to look at other companies to provide my home entertainment systems. Watch out Sonos I am sure Google and Amazon will be only to happy to take your loyal customers away from you - after all you have helped already.
This is blatant profiteering, at a stroke destroying faith in the Sonos brand. I’ve spent £thousands on Sonos products, expecting them to last as long as my previous hifi kit, all of which is in perfect working order after decades. But the Sonos equipment is apparently obsolete after 5 years. Well, listen to this, Sonos. When your kit “loses functionality” as you promise it will, I’ll definitely trade up - to another manufacturer, one that doesn’t treat its customers with such contempt. The US car industry tried building in obsolescence in the 1970s, while wiser - and more savvy - competitors in Europe and Japan concentrated on quality and longevity. As a result, the US car industry almost went bust, while their competitors prospered. Unless Sonos reverses this foolish and unethical policy soon, it will be the company heading for the scrapyard along with its expensive speakers.
Sonos Shareholder meeting;
| Time and Date: | February 27, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time | ||
| Place: | 614 Chapala Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101 | ||
+15
Sure would have been nice to see this before the price increase on the Port. Nope, not intentional at all.
The so called “Connect Amp” has two different models, one of which is obsolete under this program, one is not. At the time when the hardware got rev’d there was a mix of the two Connect Amps in the marketplace, a person could have purchased one of each and inadvertently ended up with an end of life product. I’d call that false advertising, or some sort of violation of consumer laws.
I have that exact problem. Multiple amps and connects that were purchased and deployed amongst young units and old units. Several key areas that I used are now going to potentially drag down other current systems.
i also question if this will be a rolling “10 year old” product issue… so next year the 2012 units fall off and on and on.
It would be helpful to get some insight as to the scope of the problem created by stopping future updates. Lack of access to new streaming services or smart home inter connectivity I can leave with. Unit log offs and content interruptions would be a deal breaker. As referenced in other threads, Sonos taking the carrot approach over the stick would feel better to those of us who have gone all in on years and years of products.
Like most formerly-loyal, multi-product Sonos users, I’m pretty bothered about this entire issue. However, it’s this lack of concern for the environment that angers me the most. I really want nothing to do with a company that cares so little about the state of the planet in 2020. And the arrogance of the responses from Sonos on this thread--basically trying to argue that by bricking perfectly functioning, high-quality devices, while calling it a “recycling” program, they are taking an ethical approach to electronic waste--is simply insulting.
In the end, I think this is all about wanting to add unnecessary “upgrades” only to differentiate their products from cheaper devices like Amazon Echoes, Google Home Minis, etc. That’s the only reason I can think of, because streaming music alone shouldn’t be facing many technological innovations in the coming years. To me it shows a real lack of faith in the quality of their products and their overall system.
Joke’s on them (and the planet) in the end, when in pursuit of short-term profits and stock market gains they ruin their reputation and push away their loyal customers (many of whom, like me, have essentially been unpaid salespeople over the past decade as I told people how great Sonos is). Or, sadly, the joke might be on me when they eventually declare bankruptcy and ALL of my products stop working!
I still haven’t received the email from Sonos. I never got the offer email when the CR100 was dumped either. I think this is because I had to change the email address that my system was linked to and their system cannot cope with this. I have to find these things out from the internet rather than from Sonos.
If I log into my Sonos account and view my details it does tell me that I have 4 items that will be ‘trashed’ soon.
By the way, you must have a Bonehead for Public Relations to send out an email like that.
Do the right thing SONO’s, as an investor/shareholder, figure out the software to separate the Gen 1 from the non-legacy software. If I don’t Trade Up, you are making the rest of my system obsolete (8 other products). I currently do not wish to spend the $$$$ (after 30% off) on three more Play 5’s and then dump operating speakers in the trash. Can’t wait for your earnings call!
I was going to make use of the trade up scheme until I saw the bombshell announcement yesterday. I’ve now changed my mind because I’ve lost all trust and confidence in Sonos as a company and I don’t want to feel trapped into their system any more.
I will take the option of keeping my existing hardware and stop the software updates.
Am I alone in this feeling of not trusting Sonos any more?
Looks like lots of very unhappy customers . Sonos you really need to relook at this ? If your speakers are as good as you say … then they should be just as good without software … or am I missing something on how speakers actually work !!! Very annoyed .
App solution needed.
Sonos, a call for you to find a solution to the legacy generation 1 announcement that doesn't cause the mass carbon footprint waste of perfectly good products, and also cause a large proportion of your customer base to simply abandon your products forever.
I am no technical expert but a solution here seems perfectly logical and feasible. You want to develop new software and take new products forward, but at the same time say gen1 products wont cope with those updates.
You need a strategy of App deployment and retention aligned to generation of products.
If at 30th April 2020 the current version of your App was cast in stone but made available for constant download for gen1 products, meaning I could still use, connect and enjoy my sound system, this would be a reasonable compromise. I'd accept, as in any environment that if I didnt have the latest kit, I might not be able to enjoy the latest features, but I would not expect to lose everything I had enjoyed simply because there was no way to preserve it.
You need a clear differential on Gen1 and Gen2 onwards etc software from May 2020 onwards that customers can make an informed decision on.
Would it be so hard to keep both old and new software apps on the Play and iStore for example?
Also, can we not have a selection in the App to force its hand and prevent it trying to bring updates down for the speakers? We just need to preserve what we have within an App that functions with it.
Stop the madness.
Thank you
It’s just sad. They are just adding “planned obsolescence” into what was once a great product.
This is not only “not adding value” you are “taking away value” we have already purchased.
I hate this.
If you do this to me I will never buy another product from you.
I have been a massive promoter, but if you break my stuff for no reason, I will become a massive demoter. Deliberately breaking a persons’s hardware with software is unethical.
This is the wrong direction to go in. If I had stock, I would be selling it.
I am 100% with sjoop1985 - this is wasteful and “a bridge too far.”
As someone whom has spent literally thousands of dollars on Sonos equipment I am so angry. I am not able to express how angry.
So far I own:
You should be delighting me, making want to buy another thing, and move on, not filling me with rage.
:-(
Tori & Jeff
The power to break hardware with software is the new reality. But it’s wrong.
And it is a reality that must be resisted, by both manufacturers and consumers.
As much as I have loved my Sonos system until now, if you really do this, I won’t buy another thing from you. I don’t care if my Sonos system completely stops working. My utter powerlessness in this situation makes my resolve stronger. Be advised, I have posted my first #SonosSucks social media post.
As a consumer, I don’t care when the product was “designed” as discussed in many Sonos posts. I care when it was “last sold as new” by Sonos or a dealer. I believe these Play 5’s were being sold for quite a while, perhaps through 2015. That is not 10 years ago by a long stretch.
This is not only “not adding value” you are “taking away value” we have already purchased.
I hate this.
If you do this to me I will never buy another product from you.
I have been a massive promoter, but if you break my stuff for no reason, I will become a massive demoter. Deliberately breaking a persons’s hardware with software is unethical.
This is the wrong direction to go in. If I had stock, I would be selling it.
I am 100% with sjoop1985 - this is wasteful and “a bridge too far.”
As someone whom has spent literally thousands of dollars on Sonos equipment I am so angry. I am not able to express how angry.
So far I own:
You should be delighting me, making want to buy another thing, and move on, not filling me with rage.
:-(
Tori & Jeff
Frankly I am horrified that my perfectly good speakers are no longer useful unless I trade up . When I purchased the system it was very expensive and at no time did Sonos day it only had a limited life span !! I would have looked at alternatives. The 30% is a joke as I can buy a competitors system for less . Think I will be saying goodbye to Sonos when the speakers stop working - customer loyalty 🤷♀️🤷♀️
The so called “Connect Amp” has two different models, one of which is obsolete under this program, one is not. At the time when the hardware got rev’d there was a mix of the two Connect Amps in the marketplace, a person could have purchased one of each and inadvertently ended up with an end of life product. I’d call that false advertising, or some sort of violation of consumer laws.
How? There was no advertising about end of support life at all during the time of purchase, except for probably something about Sonos having the right to drop support at any time or a certain time. Both amps in your example would be covered under your scenario. At the very least it would not matter that one is continuing support and one is not. You might have a case if the devices you bought listed the tech specs of the device, and one of the devices didn’t meet that spec. But Sonos doesn’t release that information.
I’m not saying you have to be happy about this situation. I’m just not seeing how your scenario results in any unique kind of grievance.
Because since at the time I purchased both of them, one had a shorter lifetime than the other, even though they had the same name and price. This was not disclosed to me.
But if you have “mixed” Legacy/non-Legacy units, the Legacy units affect them all thus rendering the entire system a Legacy system; “Please note that because Sonos is a system, all products operate on the same software. If modern products remain connected to legacy products after May, they also will not receive software updates and new features.” In my case having both new/old, it does prompt me to look at Trading in my 3 effected Play 5’s.
Note, there will not be any change in current functionality for the legacy devices, they will just stop getting software updates. They will continue to work. You are not being forced to buy new equipment.
But you will be prevented from using new devices with the old ones - as they must all run same software version; the new ones will not get updated either. And what happens the day when the new ones sold are equipped with software versions higher than the maximum ones used by the old devices? Will you then even be able to plug in the new devices into your system?
I think that we must expect that before long the older devices in practice simply cannot function anymore.
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