JtB
Prepare a way for the Lord
- Location
- North Hampshire
Any other disgruntled owners of Sonos Legacy speakers? 
Sonos End of Life Announcement
- Thread starter JtB
- Start date
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- announcement
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Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Sadly, thats the problem with modern technology made to a proprietary standard.
twentysix by twentyfive
Clinging on tightly
- Location
- Over the Hill
What's the reason for "End of Life"?
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Sonos are no longer supporting certain older model with software updates etc, so in the future they may cease to work properly or even at all. On a completely unrelated note, they will take these old ones as a trade in against a new one...which in a few years time will also probably have its support withdrawn....
Beebo
Firm and Fruity
- Location
- Hexleybeef
It is something we all have to get used to more and more.
My iPad stopped getting updates a year ago.
My smart TVs will probably stop soon as apps tend to drop off.
It’s not very customer friendly is it when the equipment is perfectly serviceable and does what you bought it to do. You didn’t buy it to do the stuff that hadn’t been developed yet.
My iPad stopped getting updates a year ago.
My smart TVs will probably stop soon as apps tend to drop off.
It’s not very customer friendly is it when the equipment is perfectly serviceable and does what you bought it to do. You didn’t buy it to do the stuff that hadn’t been developed yet.
The way they've handled it is even worse they have just been a bit "oh so well tuff "about.
It's true you can get a discount on a new one but to get that the process bricks the old one.
So many will end up in the bin as people can't be stuffed to send it back. It also means it has little sell on value adding to even more waste.
If that's not enough if you have and old one linked to a newer one then the newer one won't get any updates either.
It's true you can get a discount on a new one but to get that the process bricks the old one.
So many will end up in the bin as people can't be stuffed to send it back. It also means it has little sell on value adding to even more waste.
If that's not enough if you have and old one linked to a newer one then the newer one won't get any updates either.
derrick
The Glue that binds us together.
- Location
- On the edge of London
Just because items do not get updates does not mean they will stop working, I have a Marantz server that is probably 15 years old, still working perfectly, has not been updated for years.
twentysix by twentyfive
Clinging on tightly
- Location
- Over the Hill
It's not planet friendly either
Racing roadkill
Guru
The obsolescence escalator in full effect.
Fab Foodie
hanging-on in quiet desperation ...
- Location
- Kirton, Devon.
Sonos has rocketed down in my estimation.....
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Sonos have themselves said they may not work properly, or not at all. That could be scaremongering, trying to get folk to fork out for another, but that's a massive own goal if it is.
OP
OP
JtB
Prepare a way for the Lord
- Location
- North Hampshire
I think the problem Sonos have created for themselves is that they have marketed their products as high end Hi-Fi and in doing so have commanded a hefty premium for their brand. Unlike internet gadgets such as smartphones and Windows computers, Hi-Fi traditionally does not have an "end of life" date dictated by software updates and so it tends to continue to support the same level of features as day 1 until it breaks down .
Parts of my original Hi-Fi date back to the 70's and several years ago I decided I wanted to add wireless capability along with internet streaming. Initially I purchased a number of Sonos speakers plus a Sonos device to integrate them with my legacy turntable, cassette deck and CD player. Then a short while ago I decided I wanted to integrate my Hi-Fi with my TV audio and so I purchased some further Sonos components (i.e. a soundbar, subwoofer and surround speakers).
Over the years like many other loyal Sonos customers I have spent £1000's on Sonos components, but at last I now have the music / TV system I envisaged and for me it was worth the expense because the quality of sound never fails to take my breath away. Of course with Sonos being marketed as quality Hi-Fi I never spent too much time thinking about what was "under the hood" (to coin an American expression), for me this was an investment in quality equipment intended to provide many years of future entertainment. I'm sure also that Sonos have made a few extra sales as a result of my own "word of mouth" recommendations because I have always been very complimentary about my own experiences of the brand.
My overall system contains a mixture of my legacy Hi-Fi, 1st Gen Sonos components and 2nd Gen components, and if I lose the just the 1st Gen Sonos components then this no-longer becomes the integrated system I envisaged. Of course after spending 18 years developing embedded software for high tech communications devices and then another 20 years in product management I fully appreciate the needs that ongoing software updates place on the hardware and I also appreciate that some of these software updates will be driven by the changes imposed on Sonos by its external partners. But what exactly are all these exciting new features that Sonos are referring to that have been eroding the hardware capabilities over the years? I'm still using my Sonos devices in exactly the same way as I did when they were first purchased and I don't ever recall seeing any significant new features being released with any of the Sonos software updates. I mean at the end of the day, these are just "wireless speakers" right (abait expensive ones)?
For me I don't care about the new features, all I want is to be able to continue to use these Sonos components in the way in which I have done so since the day I first purchased them, and if a software "end of life" is imposed on my system before its time then like many other loyal Sonos customers I shall not be spending another penny on Sonos ever again. Furthermore I think the Sonos brand will be irrevocably damaged and it will be the end of the road for Sonos, or at least the exclusive high-end Sonos products as we have come to know them.
Parts of my original Hi-Fi date back to the 70's and several years ago I decided I wanted to add wireless capability along with internet streaming. Initially I purchased a number of Sonos speakers plus a Sonos device to integrate them with my legacy turntable, cassette deck and CD player. Then a short while ago I decided I wanted to integrate my Hi-Fi with my TV audio and so I purchased some further Sonos components (i.e. a soundbar, subwoofer and surround speakers).
Over the years like many other loyal Sonos customers I have spent £1000's on Sonos components, but at last I now have the music / TV system I envisaged and for me it was worth the expense because the quality of sound never fails to take my breath away. Of course with Sonos being marketed as quality Hi-Fi I never spent too much time thinking about what was "under the hood" (to coin an American expression), for me this was an investment in quality equipment intended to provide many years of future entertainment. I'm sure also that Sonos have made a few extra sales as a result of my own "word of mouth" recommendations because I have always been very complimentary about my own experiences of the brand.
My overall system contains a mixture of my legacy Hi-Fi, 1st Gen Sonos components and 2nd Gen components, and if I lose the just the 1st Gen Sonos components then this no-longer becomes the integrated system I envisaged. Of course after spending 18 years developing embedded software for high tech communications devices and then another 20 years in product management I fully appreciate the needs that ongoing software updates place on the hardware and I also appreciate that some of these software updates will be driven by the changes imposed on Sonos by its external partners. But what exactly are all these exciting new features that Sonos are referring to that have been eroding the hardware capabilities over the years? I'm still using my Sonos devices in exactly the same way as I did when they were first purchased and I don't ever recall seeing any significant new features being released with any of the Sonos software updates. I mean at the end of the day, these are just "wireless speakers" right (abait expensive ones)?
For me I don't care about the new features, all I want is to be able to continue to use these Sonos components in the way in which I have done so since the day I first purchased them, and if a software "end of life" is imposed on my system before its time then like many other loyal Sonos customers I shall not be spending another penny on Sonos ever again. Furthermore I think the Sonos brand will be irrevocably damaged and it will be the end of the road for Sonos, or at least the exclusive high-end Sonos products as we have come to know them.
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- Location
- Somewhere wet & hilly in NW England.
My friend has spent an absolute fortune on Sonos over the past 5 or 6 years. He's not very chuffed at all with this announcement.
As an aside - I can't say I'm massively impressed with the sound tbh - it's ok but way off the pace vs decent audio kit.
As an aside - I can't say I'm massively impressed with the sound tbh - it's ok but way off the pace vs decent audio kit.
Fab Foodie
hanging-on in quiet desperation ...
- Location
- Kirton, Devon.
Agreed. And there are no updates either!
swee'pea99
Legendary Member
This is the bit I just don't understand. According to the report in the Independent:
Um, hang on. The lack of ongoing support has - according to this - two consequences:
- They will stop receiving new features
- They will be unable to be in a system with newer products
My guess is they won't gradually stop working at all. They won't get 'new features', whatever they might be. Who cares. And they won't work with new Sonos products. Which might be a bore for some Sonos owners. But it doesn't mean people who have old systems and stick with them will have any problems at all.
Unless I'm missing something, it looks like a cack-handed, short term-focused attempt to drive new sales, and one which seems likely to backfire horribly, with its major consequence being, as others have said, a body blow to the brand. It all looks staggeringly inept to me. Almost up there with Gerald Ratner.
