Sonos is t forcing me - yet, but it is coming. They are a company I no longer trust. You completely evaded the points I actually did make such as the aim of controlling the market, turning customers into cash cows, the fact that its not ethical to brick tech that works. 

Personally I have thrown away lots of gear that I no longer needed and nobody else in the family wanted. I’ve always liked to keep up with tech and gadgets in the past so ended up giving away older stuff to family and friends, but some stuff nobody wanted and some stuff was just no use any more…

I threw away 3 perfectly good and working video recorders because nobody used them any more as DVD had taken over and hard disc recorders were the norm.

I threw away a couple of 32 inch wide screen CRT televisions because everything had now gone to flat screen technology and HD.

I threw away a couple of minidisc player/recorders because I no longer needed them and everyone was now ripping to MP3/FLAC onto hard disks etc.

I threw away at least 4 computer monitors.

That is just off the top of my head, there’s probably a lot more. These were all still in working order but were no use to me or anyone else any more. They all went to local dump/recycling centre.

That’s how the developed economies with stable/declining populations achieve GDP growth rates, and we are now starting to see the probable cost of these antics.

Instead of learning from this, in India we are aping this behaviour, and so is China probably - human nature is the same across the world except for minor detail differences. And in this big picture Sonos and its schemes are fleabites on a flea in a huge game reserve.

I suspect we will all keep doing this until nature bites back.

I didn’t evade. I ignored your opinions - not points, as points have facts behind them, opinions have feelings.

no you ignored my feelings based on facts. Sonos seeking to control the market is a fact backed up by experience. Sonos killing me using my iphone is a fact, not an opinion. Perhaps you are not capable of producing a coherent argument? 

Other than enforcing their patents which is perfectly reasonable what is Sonos doing to control the market?

Why are you blaming Sonos for Apple dropping support for their older devices? Apple should follow Sonos’ path and keep their old stuff working, like my 13 year old ZP.

So I’ll wait patiently for your facts now.

Here is a simpler solution: offer a 25% price discount for registered owners with eligible equipment for no other reason than they are current, easily verified customers and as such have a discount extended to them for newer products. The older units are still theirs to do with as they please. Leaving them on the Sonos network will still have possible negative future impacts by deprecating the entire system so there is already an incentive to either resell or give them away. Bricking the traded devices is rather ridiculous. 
Make this a loyalty program, not a trade-in program.

They are now telling me that my 3 Gen 1 Play 5’s are inhibiting updates to my 9 other pieces of equipment (2 playbases, 2 subs, 2 Play 1’s, 1 Play 5 Gen II, Boost and Connect Amp).  Also, the play 5’s only show a trade for the Move, I don’t consider that a fair trade.  I’m not sure how the software updates can’t discern the individual units.

“Legacy products were introduced between 2005 and 2011 and, given the age of the technology, do not have enough memory or processing power to sustain future innovation.

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.”

So it’s not just $1200.00 worth of “Legacy” units anymore, my whole system has become “Legacy”.

Guess I should be happy since I’m a Stockholder, but I’m not.

Not sure where you read that the trade up for the Play:5 is a Move.  There is no “trade up”, it’s a trade in.  For each device you trade in, you get a discount of 30% off any one Sonos item you wish to buy, including some of the bundles.  Theoretically, you could trade in a Connect ($350 when new) and get 30% off a full 5.1 Home Theater set.  

I got the “trade up” right from the Sonos site hyperlinked from there Email.  Says $279.30 after Trade Up.

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.

I got the “trade up” right from the Sonos site hyperlinked from there Email.  Says $279.30 after Trade Up.

 

 

Just a suggestion (and a strange one at that).  You can use your 30% on any and all Sonos products (and most bundles).

Ok, I do see the 30% off any New product now, but it’s only after I log into my account on the Sonos site.  I guess if the Email would have prompted a log-in to my account first, I wouldn’t have misunderstood and would have seen the 30% information up front.  Thanks for the push jgatie!

I read it like this too - “replace all units before updates end in May, or you will get a reduced experience from your system”. So, no choise, no options. Just replace otherwise fully functionally equipment in order to be able to use any new products”.

And I also wondered about the suggested trade-in Play:5 to Move - nothing on the My Sonos site indicates that anything else should be possible. Hopefully it is but it is not written anywhere.

I have studied the product descriptions in order to see if there would be any useful new features that could somehow justify replacing the old devices, but I don’t see any. Maybe iPhone users will be happy, but I use Android - and not for streaming music.

This whole “offer” has made me look for alternatives to Sonos, even though I have until now been happy with what I had. Sad, sad. I guess that Sonos has decided to split their customers in two groups and go with the one that can be expected to replace equipment often; while leaving the more moderate buyers behind. Probably some marketing guru came up with this idea as the new black, so now Sonos follow this path for a while, until they will be almost bancrupt, bought by Samsung/Harmann, and closed.

OK, you nailed it.

How things can change in just a few weeks.  You called it.  OK, still not being forced, but now prodded with a sharp stick!

They simply don’t want to support these legacy devices anymore...and now we know, after the price increase.  A seriously jerkish move.

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.

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.   

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.

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 ‍♀️‍♀️

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:

• Connect AMP
• Connect
• Bridge X 2
• Beam
• Sonos Play3 (Gen 1) X 6
• Sonos Play5 (Gen 1)
• Sonos One (with mic)
• Sonos One (no airplay)

You should be delighting me, making want to buy another thing, and move on, not filling me with rage.

:-(

Tori & Jeff

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. 

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.