Sonos to cease support for older products in May - news discussion

Buy a CD player and a bunch of CDs and you can still use it until it all physically falls apart. Buy Sonos and use Spotify and you will have to upgrade at some point. It's a hidden cost.
 
I have already posted on the ipad story. I suspect you cannot blame Sonos that their App will not download. That is purely Apple. I haave a early ipad2 and an iTouch 4 ..I think. Any software on them is ok, but updates cannot be downloaded. Why?. Because they check the iOS revision, and if it is too old, they abort and ask you to update the iOS. But the Apple website will not update these older machines
I wouldn't mind if I could use my iPad to control my Sonos speakers via the earlier app and forego recent enhancements. When I try to use the iPad, Sonos tells me to upgrade my OS. But my iPad tells me it can't upgrade its OS because the hardware is too old, so it's as good as dead. Sonos could quite easily have maintained compatibility with old iPads in the new app, but they chose not to. So I've got to buy a new iPad (or other tablet), just to achieve the trivial task of controlling my Sonos stuff. Annoying, and expensive. In the meantime I've taken to using an obsolete Android phone to do this.
 
I wonder if it’s possible just to stop updating Sonos systems without too many problems. If a new feature is not needed, why update? Especially for those who only use local storage to stream from. Might be a little difficult on the app side of things.
 
I've seen lots of hate for Sonos over this, but I'd like to point out the following:

  • Music streaming was very different when these products were first sold - Sonos built them to a budget and specification. B&O have a similar setup, with devices costing an order of magnitude more, and have only supported theirs at maximum as long as Sonos.
  • No new software updates does not mean the product won't work - you haven't WASTED your money. It will continue to function exactly the same as it currently does.
  • It makes sense that any products in the same group will be limited by the oldest product - if the older processors cannot cope with the newer features, then it's not feasible to try and brute force them.
I don't think Sonos have been unreasonable about this at all - their products have been supported SIGNIFICANTLY longer than your £800 mobile phone you're happy to upgrade every 2 years.

As a customer, it's not fair to ask for indefinite support on a product you've spent money on once - Sonos would go bust.
 
I’ve concluded that any hardware that is dependent on anything “cloud” based, especially with a one-time cost is a bad thing for the consumer. You’ll either be lumbered with an unexpected subscription at some point or a device which no longer works.

Consumers don’t think in terms of what’s involved in running a cloud service, they see their physical goods and expect it to work, until it breaks.

People do understand technology moves on, hence why people understand when Netflix or Amazon prime no longer works after several years on their smart TV. However, they can buy an inexpensive dongle to continue watching and continue to watch terrestrial TV or anything else with a HDMI cable.



This on the other hand is in a different league, in terms of waste and your options available. You can either stick with what you’ve got, knowing at some point it will stop working or trade in at great expense and “recycle”, which is still at the expense of our planet and resources!



I don’t understand why they don’t just keep these “legacy” products with the current features, releasing updates only when the likes of Spotify and other streaming services roll out updates. Obviously if major changes are made such as codec changes happen, which the speaker doesn’t support, then obviously it’s understandable why it would stop working.

Also, why can’t the newer speakers receive updates? They already do something similar for AirPlay, with only the newer speakers being compatible. You simply can’t Airplay to the older speakers…
 
Well looks like they are going back on this somewhat.

Sonos have committed to allow networks with older legacy devices and newer supported devices to receive upgrades. They plan to allow users to segment their hardware to allow the newer devices to receive upgrades and the legacy ones ring-fenced.

However, crucially they have said that they still plan to rollout security updates for legacy products.

Seems like a sensible resolution which should go a long way to appeasing people.

Completely understand the complexity of running and supporting large environments - makes sense that it can’t be done indefinitely. What their CEO announced today seems to be the common sense solution.
 
The alternative is no new features.
The gadget addicts will have to go through withdrawal.
 
Am I right in thinking this means they been supporting them with updates for about 10 years ?
That amount of time sounds amazing..
 
Couple of points I’ve found:

Sonos have come out and stated what’s going to happen, unlike a lot of tech like tv’s and Tv streaming Devices. They just drop apps and remove services and say ‘sorry it’s a couple of years old and tough’

the real bit that irks me is that it stops newer Sonos stuff from updating.
However if your TV has a HDMI input you can spend £30 on a fire stick and update your apps, Sonos aren’t giving you that “upgrade” path
 
I got a personal email (lol) from the CEO of Sonos today. He apologised for the mix up and basically said everything will be fine.

So everybody chill and have a nice weekend
 
The text in the email:


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 just 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 honour that investment for as long as possible. Whilst 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, whilst legacy products work together and remain in their current state. We’re finalising details on this plan and will share more in the coming weeks.

Whilst 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 programme 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.
 
With the advent of internet connected appliances comes the hard fact that product longevity has diminished. Now if I buy any such product I alway ask the question can I afford to replace it within 5-years (or less if the product has been on the market a few years), if not I look for an alternative cheaper product. I don't rely that items may still function or partly function, and that way I am not disappointed when support ends.

Until manufacturers start to consider waste and build devices that are easily upgradable (e.g. replaceable modules) we are stuck with disposable technology. Unfortunately the current world business model really does not allow for this, so we may be waiting some time for a solution.
 
To make them upgradeable would increase the cost since it would mean making the electronics upgradeable by customers without causing damage.
 
To make them upgradeable would increase the cost since it would mean making the electronics upgradeable by customers without causing damage.
If part of the original design it may not increase costs. It is easy to make an accessible part containing the affected parts (Wi-Fi, CPU, RAM, CODECS, etc.) and leave behind the parts that are not affected (amplifier, PSU, speakers, etc). Of course the upgraded electronics module would be chargeable but would save landfill.
 
To a fair degree but at some point things like interfaces, amplifiers and speakers will change and parts will have limited availability so you would have to use parts with longer time to failure which will increase costs and possibly increase power consumption.
I am in favour of longer product life and making a PCB replaceable is a good idea but there is more to it than that.
 
The more I think about it, the more this is just total rubbish from Sonos.

They have already split the software in terms of features; think about speakers that have Alexa or Google Assistant built in. Sonos didn’t say “well if all your speakers don’t support Alexa then we can’t give you any more updates”.

Poor show from Sonos.
 
I've been pondering a move away from streaming anyway and this will probably be the final push I need. I kept all my CDs and HIFI and just bought a Sonos Connect and two Sonos Play 1s to see how I feel about streaming. It's certainly convenient but I rarely take advantage of multi-room features and I have a niggling feeling that long-term it could get very expensive. When the streaming services up their monthly rates to £15 and companies like Sonos do things like this, the costs will just keep escalating. I think I'm going to go back to a combination of physical media (primarily CDs), some bluetooth and some very low key streaming using Google Play Music.
 
Thats good, only brought my connect amp 18 months ago
 
It's only Connect's up to 2015 as well, newer ones than that are fine

Strictly, as I understand it, it's products with 32MB RAM that are getting nuked. Quite entertainingly the original Connect and Connect:Amp (not the more recent update) had a silent upgrade to 64GB part-way through their life, so some are screwed and some not.

(Mine's screwed BTW, plus four Play:5s. The Sub and PlayBase live to... err... be stuck on old firmware for ever after May...)

My main concerns, after getting stuck on the "legacy" fork, are that Spotify or Internet Radio will stop working at some point. Sonos have seemed to be suggesting the iOS App will continue support for legacy systems with new iOS releases... hopefully...

Oh and presumably I can't buy any new Sonos products, as they might come with more recent firmware that meant they wouldn't work in a legacy Sonos system. Or, as production firmware is often quite old (the manufacturer assuming users will get an OTA upgrade promptly) they might come with out-of-date (legacy-compatible) firmware, but would they know that if I had a legacy system they should only update to that level, not the latest (non-legacy-compatible) one?
 
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Or, as production firmware is often quite old (the manufacturer assuming users will get an OTA upgrade promptly
It varies with the type of product, we use the current firmware for production after I have tested it and it is formally approved.
 
I've been fairly happy with my Sonos system for years, but between this announcement and their recent attempt to sue Google, they've irritated me.

The Google assistant integration isn't great and there's no Hi-Res support.

I've been looking into alternatives. The front runner for me so far is Denon HEOS. I'm thinking of swapping my Onkyo for a Denon at some point so hopefully I could get Hi-Res support on my floor standers.

Any thoughts?

Edit: I've removed the part about the Connect not working well with my Onkyo AVR. This turned out to be issues with my receiver and network which have now been resolved with firmware updates.
 
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For context, I have:
* 1 x Play:5 Gen 1
* 1 x Connect (bought 2018 so hopefully not EOL)
* 3 x Play:1 (probably not long before these go EOL)
* 2 x Play:One

I was tempted to take up the trade up offer on the Play:5, but I don't really want to spend any more money on this ecosystem if I end up having to partition it off to get future updates/streaming support.
 
Maybe change the name to gadgetinspector.nl?
Given how long Inspector Gadget has been around the internet I think you would find it very difficult to get a good ranking.
 

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