End of software updates for older SONOS products

[scene]

Now this takes the biscuit! Just been on the Sonos GB store, and was having a look at the Sonos One (Can I use the trade in for the my old s5 for a Play One?) - here and there's a link at the bottom of the page to "last chance" and guess what? On that page they're offering the Sonos Connect for sale! No mention of the cessation of Support in May. So they're quite happy to sell these to you (obviously got excess stock), despite going on about how these are devices they haven't made for five years. Priceless.

 

[Derek D]

This is what I put on the Sonos Community Forum and Sonos Facebook (along with now thousands of others):

I am absolutely incensed by the shear insensitivity and blatant Marketing effort under the guise of ‘End of Software Updates’ This is totally unjustified - the amount of software involved is minute compared to something like MS Windows and they manage to support £100 products for 10 years and TVs last just as long. My Connect:Amp is probably only a few years old and cost £400 and now you want me to upgrade for an insulting and derisory 30% off a hugely inflated price of £600!!!!!!!!!!!

I will NOT Upgrade and will now be actively looking for alternative products especially as it now obvious you are going to do this to all my other products in the expectation of dubiously getting even more money from loyal Sonos owners.

Until this moment I held your Company and products in high regard, now I am appalled by your behaviour and will NEVER buy any more. You greedy b*******s have shot yourselves in the proverbial foot.

In addition you are encouraging massive eco waste - shame on you - you must be in the same camp as that bloody lunatic Trump where everything’s fine as long as you’re making money.

 

[Samd]

This is what I put on the Sonos Community Forum and Sonos Facebook (along with now thousands of others):

I am absolutely incensed by the shear insensitivity and blatant Marketing effort under the guise of ‘End of Software Updates’ This is totally unjustified - the amount of software involved is minute compared to something like MS Windows and they manage to support £100 products for 10 years and TVs last just as long. My Connect:Amp is probably only a few years old and cost £400 and now you want me to upgrade for an insulting and derisory 30% off a hugely inflated price of £600!!!!!!!!!!!

I will NOT Upgrade and will now be actively looking for alternative products especially as it now obvious you are going to do this to all my other products in the expectation of dubiously getting even more money from loyal Sonos owners.

Until this moment I held your Company and products in high regard, now I am appalled by your behaviour and will NEVER buy any more. You greedy b*******s have shot yourselves in the proverbial foot.

In addition you are encouraging massive eco waste - shame on you - you must be in the same camp as that bloody lunatic Trump where everything’s fine as long as you’re making money.

Do I detect that you are a tad miffed Derek

 

[bigboss]

Do I detect that you are a tad miffed Derek

Just a tad

 

[bigboss]

Just to clarify; Sonos never said its products will stop working after 5 years.....you won't get any new features via updates. If you're happy with your current features, you can continue using it.

 

[scene]

Just to clarify; Sonos never said its products will stop working after 5 years.....you won't get any new features via updates. If you're happy with your current features, you can continue using it.

Agreed - until Spotify, Deezer, etc. change something in their infrastructure which means that your Sonos needs an update - then it will stop working. Which is the risk, as there have been a number of these changes over the years.

Also any in-support devices won't get updated. So for the sake of accuracy:
1. You will stop getting updates from May - this won't stop your devices working (but see 2), but you won't get any new features after this date
2. If one of the connected apps - e.g. Spotify, Deezer, Tune-in,etc. change anything to the way you connect/stream from their services that requires an update to the Sonos app/device, you won't get it and this service could stop working - which is an unquantifiable risk.

 

[Niallivm]

Update 2/22: A message from Sonos 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.”

Patrick Spence
CEO, Sonos

 

[scene]

Update 2/22: A message from Sonos 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.”

Patrick Spence
CEO, Sonos

Well then. Obviously the strength of feeling from their user base has stung them in trying to staunch the flow. He's not contradicting anything they've previously said.
1. They have promised to looking at how to split your system, so new products can get updates - which is a good thing.
2. They have promised to keep old products updated with bug and security fixes - for a long as possible. Good to hear, bad that there's no commitment for how long that is going to be for, a few months, or a few years?
3. He admits they've mucked up, and wants to get us all back on side again. Yes, they have, and I'm sure he does.

I think to get us back on side, they probably need to:
1. Hurry up and give details of the split set up model, and that model had better not be too restrictive on whole house/grouping/control functionality
2. Make a more concrete statement on the commitment for support (3yrs minimum?)
3. State up front the minimum period a device will be supported in terms of active updates, for all current and new devices, and make sure this information is available on their website. Need to be up front on this, so people can make an informed choice - Apple and Google manage this for their phones, and Google for Chromebooks.

 

[bigboss]

I don't think they can actually say how many years can they continue to support with security updates and bug fixes, considering their length of support is already industry leading! Giving a timeline means they will deliberately end support. This is against what they've done since they started. Who can predict security issues and whether the updates required will actually be supported by the chip in these devices?

 

[davidf]

The problem is, the longevity of the legacy Sonos products now rests in the hands of the providers of the streaming services themselves - if TIDAL make a change to their system, it could very well affect the usability in some way. Because of this, they can’t say how long the product will continue to work as it should. It could be two years, it could be two months.

 

[scene]

The problem is, the longevity of the legacy Sonos products now rests in the hands of the providers of the streaming services themselves - if TIDAL make a change to their system, it could very well affect the usability in some way. Because of this, they can’t say how long the product will continue to work as it should. It could be two years, it could be two months.

Agree. As others have said, I suspect this has a lot to do with the move to HIRes streaming across the board, something that Sonos noticeably don't have. I assume that will be announced in June, given the May cutoff date for support.

 

[bigboss]

Entirely possible. Sonos is losing out on the hi Res market currently.