Why I'm not buying Sonos again

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#2404399 22-Jan-2020 10:13

jonathan18:

I totally get your frustration.

It does support my theory that a modular approach is more sustainable; we elected to 'smarten' our existing equipment via the use of Chromecast Audios, and even the speakers we purchased last year for our bedroom are 'dumb' (other than BT) and have a Chromecast Audio attached. Maybe not as convenient, but at least the future of every single one of these six Chromecast-enabled stereos is not dictated to by the whims of the manufacturer.

I get the appeal of a single box approach, but there are real risks attached to doing so; we decided against a Sonos for our bedroom based partly on their closed system, and this provides another reason.

I use sonos because I havent found a decent alternative to a truly wireless surround sound system.

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#2404400 22-Jan-2020 10:14

CYaBro:

I understand why this happens with technology but I'm also a bit miffed that my Sonos gear may stop working in the future. I will be emailing the CEO directly about it.

They should at least be offering a trade-in deal, with good payouts, so we can upgrade to new Sonos equipment without having to pay too much.
That way they can recycle the old equipment appropriately as well rather than just ending up in the landfill.

Sonos are offering a trade-in deal under which legacy gear registered for that purpose will generate a 30% discount off the latest model.

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eracode

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#2404402 22-Jan-2020 10:18

SirHumphreyAppleby:

geekiegeek:

Sonos have supported these products with updates for 15 and 9 years respectively which is a lot longer than most companies support their devices. It's also not as if they will stop working, you just won't get new features.

Nine years may be well above average for device support (which in many cases, such as Android, is pathetic), but...

"If modern products remain connected to legacy products after May, they also will not receive software updates and new features."

I.e. Replace all your gear with modern hardware or your new gear doesn't get updates. That, IMO, is unreasonable. Moden equipment should be supported, and with its additional capabilities should easily be able to cope with a bit of legacy gear in the mix. It's planned obsolescence.

Engadget’s article on this today says:

”Sonos was clear in its blog post on the news that its old products aren't being phased out -- they'll continue to work for the foreseeable future. The company also says that it'll offer a way for people who have both these legacy products as well as newer ones a way to "split" the system so that current speakers can take advantage of software updates and new features, though we don't have the full details on how that'll work just yet.”

https://www.engadget.com/2020/01/21/sonos-legacy-products-software-updates-ending/?utm_campaign=homepage&utm_medium=internal&utm_source=dl

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NightStalker

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#2404403 22-Jan-2020 10:18

CYaBro:

I understand why this happens with technology but I'm also a bit miffed that my Sonos gear may stop working in the future.

I will be emailing the CEO directly about it.
They should at least be offering a trade-in deal, with good payouts, so we can upgrade to new Sonos equipment without having to pay too much.
That way they can recycle the old equipment appropriately as well rather than just ending up in the landfill.

Not sure if Sonos has changed its stance but its been recently commented that their trade up/in recycle program bricks the existing Sonos.

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CYaBro

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#2404406 22-Jan-2020 10:28

eracode:

CYaBro:

I understand why this happens with technology but I'm also a bit miffed that my Sonos gear may stop working in the future. I will be emailing the CEO directly about it.

They should at least be offering a trade-in deal, with good payouts, so we can upgrade to new Sonos equipment without having to pay too much.
That way they can recycle the old equipment appropriately as well rather than just ending up in the landfill.

Sonos are offering a trade-in deal under which legacy gear registered for that purpose will generate a 30% discount off the latest model.

Yea just saw that but 30% isn't a lot, and is it even available in NZ?

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

reven

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#2404407 22-Jan-2020 10:29

selling them secondhand on TM would probably get you close to 70% of the original price. sonos stuff holds its price

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afe66

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#2404408 22-Jan-2020 10:30

I got this email too this morning and am annoyed.
My system of two Five and a One speaker work fine.

The new features they tout are not things I have any interest in. Ie I dont want to talk to my speakers and have them listen.

I just want to play music off my server or spotify. Ie doing exactly the same thing that it has been doing for 5 years.

Without a clear announcement they will offer a limited legacy functionality to preserve at least local stream ability they can be clear that when I replace my system I will not buy Sonos again and I will be clear in expressing my unhappiness to other and suggesting they buy differently.

A.

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#2404410 22-Jan-2020 10:33

Ps. Going to make doubly sure that auto update is turned off.....

evilengineer

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#2404411 22-Jan-2020 10:34

Sounds like an advert for keeping all your music on a NAS and using "home brew" Raspberry Pi/speaker combos for multi-room audio.

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#2404413 22-Jan-2020 10:38

Fair enough. It would be nice if, when ending support for these products, they added a method to load up custom firmware onto them so you could at least have options if the hardware is still working fine.

eracode

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#2404415 22-Jan-2020 10:45

evilengineer:

Sounds like an advert for keeping all your music on a NAS and using "home brew" Raspberry Pi/speaker combos for multi-room audio.

Not for me - these days I own no music at all - everything is streamed.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

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CokemonZ

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#2404416 22-Jan-2020 10:50

richms:

Could be worse, you could have LG ones where the only update they did to add chromecast multiroom support, broke their own much better multiroom, they sweep the product range under the rug by breaking the support forums, hide any support information on non googleable pages and offer no email support anymore for them.

I have a ton of these speakers, and still find they work really well.

And they all have external inputs so worst come to the worst I can do the equivalent of chromecast audio in the future.

Agree they screwed up a bit, but there is no 'they will stop working'.

davidcole

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#2404418 22-Jan-2020 10:52

eracode:

evilengineer:

Sounds like an advert for keeping all your music on a NAS and using "home brew" Raspberry Pi/speaker combos for multi-room audio.

Not for me - these days I own no music at all - everything is streamed.

Volumio is still a good option in this case....can run a local music library (or nas) and can play spotify as well. Also has airplay capability (if of interest). Will run on all manner of Raspberry Pis, and with an amplifer gets some pretty good sound. I do need to work out the multiroom, but it's supposed to be possible. But all the navigation and config is web ui based, so it's a pretty plug an dplay situation.

If sonos can't open source their entire system, then maybe they just need to ensure that user can have local control (maybe outside of the main apps) - a legacy app or something, that just sunsets the current feature set

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#2404419 22-Jan-2020 10:54

sen8or:

You'll also have to add windows operating systems, xbox and ios to your "not buying again list"? All have end of life / no further updates similar to Sonos

Doesn't sound like they'll stop working, simply there will be no further innovations or alterations to them.

Storm / teacup?

Not really the same as I can take my old computer and put another operating system on it and basically carry on as before.
An old iPhone will also keep working as a phone, and an old Xbox will still play any games I have on disc.

Can't do that with a Sonos speaker.

And they do say that they could stop working altogether at some point.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

CYaBro

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#2404420 22-Jan-2020 10:55

reven:

selling them secondhand on TM would probably get you close to 70% of the original price. sonos stuff holds its price

Ummm not if they no longer work, which Sonos says may happen with the legacy products after May 2020.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

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