Sonos junking older products as 'legacy' 21 January 2020 at 7:48PM edited 21 January 2020 at 8:32PM in Techie Stuff 37 replies 2.2K views

Cherry_Hinton_Blue

Wow. Very angry. Networked speaker manufacturer Sonos has sent users the message: "In May, the following products in your system will be classified as legacy and no longer receive software updates and new features. This will affect your listening experience... 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."

With many users running a collection of Sonos components they have built up over the years, this means that any old components have to be junked, or any new ones can't receive software updates.

Sonos has sent users a list of affected products. I have nine Sonos components, of which three are on the list. There's an 'offer' of a 30% discount on trade-ins, but not all are like-for-like (the new 'Connect' unit, for example, doesn't have a critical feature of the 'legacy' one).

This is really dreadful behaviour. I am of course tempted to scrap the whole Sonos setup, but by adding to it slowly over the years, the system has cost me £2000, and I'd only get a fraction back by selling the newer, non-'legacy' components.

The announcement of course follows the hideous news last month that traded-in components are 'bricked' permanently.

Hatrick24

I am in the same boat. My issue is this: The email states it applies to products produced between 2006 and 2011, however, the two products of ours that it lists were both purchased long after this, the first in Feb 2015 and the second some time after that.

I too am very, very cross. In the current era where we are all trying to recycle, they are trying to push us to replace equipment that has nothing wrong with it.

getmore4less

Surprised no one has hacked the product to allow continued use, or reuse.

Another case of taking a product(speaker) that used to last a lifetime and turning it into service model cash cow.

Jono111

It works as it should, be happy.
New hardware has newer parts and features which need newer firmware which is often incompatible and will not coexist with older firmware in a combined system.
It is no different to Android phones only getting a few OS updates before they stop getting any more, smart TV's are the same.

Neil49

My Connect ZP90 is on that list which is annoying despite the fact that it is quite old.

They say that if it's connected to other newer products then none of them get updated so I'll just disconnect it when an update is released then reconnect it later.

pedal999

Absolutely bouncing livid!!
I was annoyed when they retired the CR100 controllers, and yes I could have had a single £100 voucher in exchange for 2 controllers, but every room had a Sonos, so couldn't see the point..
Now I have:-
1 x ZP80
3 x ZP100
1 x ZP120
1 x Play 5 (gen1)
which leaves a lonely Play:1 (gen1) that will be compatible after May..
To upgrade like for like will cost me £2,270 with the 30% discount!!,
Even if I make decisions to go for a lower spec (e.g. Beam with the bedroom TVs rather than Amp), I can't get it below £1,235 (inc discount) to upgrade each piece of kit that requires it.

I can feel a huge letter of complaint coming on.. Talk about not looking after early adopters.. 30% discount isn't enough IMHO - if it was inverted and we were being asked to pay 30%, it would still cost me nearly £1000, but I would begrudgingly accept they were doing everything the could to look after loyal customers..

GS..

It's one thing to stop supporting, and about to brick, or otherwise destroy older products, and I would question whether that's even legal, to destroy, remove access to a product that has been bought and paid for

Jono111 wrote: »

It works as it should, be happy.
New hardware has newer parts and features which need newer firmware which is often incompatible and will not coexist with older firmware in a combined system.
It is no different to Android phones only getting a few OS updates before they stop getting any more, smart TV's are the same.

getmore4less

If the products work then do you need any updates?

Is there a market for people to just run legacy systems, to expand their systems buy up the stock from those people that want to move forward.

Worst case there is probably a way to turn them into speakers.

This situation is very different to a smart TV or phones,

The smart bits of the TV might stop working but they are still usable as TV.

Same with the phones no more upgrades but it will still work as a phone.

Chino

pedal999 wrote: »

Talk about not looking after early adopters..

Why should the fact that you ran out and bought something entitle you to some special consideration?

pedal999 wrote: »

it would still cost me nearly £1000, but I would begrudgingly accept they were doing everything the could to look after loyal customers..

Maybe now you'll learn that there's no such thing as a "loyal customer", only customers who can't find a better product from another vendor and customers who can't be bothered to locate a better product from another vendor. Loyalty doesn't (and shouldn't) come into it.

chrisw

getmore4less wrote: »

This situation is very different to a smart TV or phones,

The smart bits of the TV might stop working but they are still usable as TV.

Same with the phones no more upgrades but it will still work as a phone.

It appears to me that this is exactly the same situation.

The equipment will still work, but won't receive any updates or new features.

The unfortunate bit is that if it is connected to newer equipment, the newer equipment won't receive the updates either. So it will still work but without the newer features.

As Neil says above, just disconnect the old equipment before updating.

getmore4less

Lets see how long multi room sync survives in a mixed environment.