Discontinuing service and software updates for older legacy Sonos speakers?

I would assume that Sonos would handle things similar to how they have in the past. Sonos let customers know through various channels months in advance when the CR100 was no longer getting service. The implementation of airplay 2 is an example of how they will communicate how new features will only be available on certain products.

Of course, they may not always no things with enough certainty to announce changes as early as customers would like, and some customer will disagree with the changes regardless.

I'll wait and see what they come up with before getting the pitchforks and torches. If they kill off all my gen 1 play 5's though, that would suck.

The problem for those of us using speakers with online services such as Spotify probably means once API changes are made by the service provider, we'll almost certainly be shut out from using those services with our older Sonos speakers.

There's nothing particularly shocking about this.
Really? I don't expect old kit to do all that newer kit will do, but I do expect it to continue to do all the things that it currently does...

Once play devices become involved, I thinks it's time for "sonos classic" version to keep those alive. Killing cr100 + cr200 is one thing, but killing play devices is another.

Once play devices become involved, I thinks it's time for "sonos classic" version to keep those alive. Killing cr100 + cr200 is one thing, but killing play devices is another. AGREE!
No problem with new services not being available, like control from apps like Spotify, voice control like Alexa, or the newly released airplay. But being able to continue streaming and using local media the way I do now, i hope will be kept. I have 20 speakers and it starts to feel like Sonos could care less about people using there system, just the new market.
I downloaded v9 this morning, and chuckled while reading the new features, none of which I will be using. Hmmmm, no new windows program, hmmm nothing cool for my android devices and gui, no new app features like maybe a new virtual grouping option, no cool new home theatre options, no neat amp additions, no cool local media software. So I sit hear watching new hardware and software come out the last few years, but nothing that would make me buy more, and believe me, I'm looking for reasons.

AGREE!
No problem with new services not being available, like control from apps like Spotify, voice control like Alexa, or the newly released airplay. But being able to continue streaming and using local media the way I do now, i hope will be kept. I have 20 speakers and it starts to feel like Sonos could care less about people using there system, just the new market.
I downloaded v9 this morning, and chuckled while reading the new features, none of which I will be using. Hmmmm, no new windows program, hmmm nothing cool for my android devices and gui, no new app features like maybe a new virtual grouping option, no cool new home theatre options, no neat amp additions, no cool local media software. So I sit hear watching new hardware and software come out the last few years, but nothing that would make me buy more, and believe me, I'm looking for reasons.

I think you bring up some excellent points. Clearly Sonos is trying to appeal to a wide audience and it becomes rather difficult to appeal to everyone. Like you, I have no real interest in airplay 2, but I am interested in the Beam and voice control. I don't care about local media, but agree on virtual grouping. There are plenty of customers on here that do care about airplay 2, and are only going to ever buy one or two units and don't care much about multiroom functionality. There are all sorts of us on here. Sonos is kind of in a catch-22 in then it's difficult to please all their customers with their variety of needs and wishes, both old and new customers.

AGREE!
No problem with new services not being available, like control from apps like Spotify, voice control like Alexa, or the newly released airplay. But being able to continue streaming and using local media the way I do now, i hope will be kept. I have 20 speakers and it starts to feel like Sonos could care less about people using there system, just the new market.
I downloaded v9 this morning, and chuckled while reading the new features, none of which I will be using. Hmmmm, no new windows program, hmmm nothing cool for my android devices and gui, no new app features like maybe a new virtual grouping option, no cool new home theatre options, no neat amp additions, no cool local media software. So I sit hear watching new hardware and software come out the last few years, but nothing that would make me buy more, and believe me, I'm looking for reasons.

I think you bring up some excellent points. Clearly Sonos is trying to appeal to a wide audience and it becomes rather difficult to appeal to everyone. Like you, I have no real interest in airplay 2, but I am interested in the Beam and voice control. I don't care about local media, but agree on virtual grouping. There are plenty of customers on here that do care about airplay 2, and are only going to ever buy one or two units and don't care much about multiroom functionality. There are all sorts of us on here. Sonos is kind of in a catch-22 in then it's difficult to please all their customers with their variety of needs and wishes, both old and new customers.

Yes, it appears they are going for that market, which might be the correct one. But it seems like I would still be throwing in things for us multi-room users! If that market doesn't see multi-room as the biggest selling feature of Sonos and sees echo dots, etc as comparable options then they aren't going to be buying as many. If they buy 3, then you need 6-7 of them to sell the same amount as one of me.

I see where they are going and I think its good they have an eye on that market, but that market can easily switch to google or some other speakers once they have some decent multi-room and then Sonos is left squeezed out. Don't see it happening soon, I just don't see the focus on existing customers which I think could be done alongside the new markets.

Partnering in the home automation/ intercom market would be a valuable field, love to use my speakers as doorbells, intercoms, etc. I see these type of apps etc but they are done by side programmers. A little focus there would be great also. Like the guy who had several write ups about using Sonos and tips for using. They hired him, and now ive seen nothing coming from Sonos that looks like he developed it.

I do process control and the primary vendor I program with, for years watched another guy then company write tools for their software. They could have easily got together a team and created the same software in 3 months and just a handful of people. But never saw the market. All their customers ended up buying it for 50000K plus annual support contract revenue. They eventually had to buy them spending many millions when they could have created for less than 100K.

Just hope Sonos can still see that side of the business and keep it going or I think they will be overcome. Sonos is better than anybody in the multi-room market because of their initial excellence in the field and still are. But it seems like they are just taking it for granted.

Yes, it appears they are going for that market, which might be the correct one. But it seems like I would still be throwing in things for us multi-room users! If that market doesn't see multi-room as the biggest selling feature of Sonos and sees echo dots, etc as comparable options then they aren't going to be buying as many. If they buy 3, then you need 6-7 of them to sell the same amount as one of me.


I agree that the Sonos One was more about the voice control crowd than multiroom, since there is already a play 1, but I do think the Beam is also for multiroom. It does fit a space for small/medium spaces where you want your tv audio to integrate with your system. I also think it's worth noting that Sonos put a lot of effort into the sound quality of the Beam.


I see where they are going and I think its good they have an eye on that market, but that market can easily switch to google or some other speakers once they have some decent multi-room and then Sonos is left squeezed out. Don't see it happening soon, I just don't see the focus on existing customers which I think could be done alongside the new markets.


It's hard to tell what Amazon and Google want long term. They may be fine with Sonos or others selling the speakers as long as they sell the services on the speakers. Apple has always preferred closed systems, and the Homepod is clearly geared towards replacing Sonos. I agreed that they are a long way off still.


Partnering in the home automation/ intercom market would be a valuable field, love to use my speakers as doorbells, intercoms, etc. I see these type of apps etc but they are done by side programmers. A little focus there would be great also. Like the guy who had several write ups about using Sonos and tips for using. They hired him, and now ive seen nothing coming from Sonos that looks like he developed it.


I am kind of glad Sonos has stayed mostly out of home automation. As in stands now, home automation is a big mess. I currently have 3 different hubs/applications where I can write different routines, all with different capabilities, to get what I want done. I don't Sonos to get involved with that. That said you can control Sonos from a variety of smart hubs and apps. I've heard of others doing doorbells through Smartthings with Sonos, they it does appear to require some know-how to do it.



I do process control and the primary vendor I program with, for years watched another guy then company write tools for their software. They could have easily got together a team and created the same software in 3 months and just a handful of people. But never saw the market. All their customers ended up buying it for 50000K plus annual support contract revenue. They eventually had to buy them spending many millions when they could have created for less than 100K.

Just hope Sonos can still see that side of the business and keep it going or I think they will be overcome. Sonos is better than anybody in the multi-room market because of their initial excellence in the field and still are. But it seems like they are just taking it for granted.

I guess I see it more as them being ahead of the market in this area, and currently focusing where they fear they could lose ground to competitors.

The problem for those of us using speakers with online services such as Spotify probably means once API changes are made by the service provider, we'll almost certainly be shut out from using those services with our older Sonos speakers.

There's nothing particularly shocking about this.
Really? I don't expect old kit to do all that newer kit will do, but I do expect it to continue to do all the things that it currently does...

This is one of the downsides of these speaker systems. Sonos are not going to keep supporting older devices forever. Once features break such as Spotify integration, that's it.

Of course it's not without risk for Sonos. Once we start getting cut off, some of us will evaluate whether we want to stay in the Sonos ecosystem. I certainly won't be adding to my Sonos setup with new speakers until I know what Sonos plans are for handling this.

there is not any valid business reason that Sonos cannot enable their older models to continue to work... particularly if they care about the customer base that brought them here. I fully expect someday to have to get a newer product to serve as a core - that then enables all my Play:1 devices to be fed.