Sonos Defends Legacy Product Support Phaseout

Customers owning legacy Sonos products affected by the May deadline for software updates won’t see an immediate impact, a Sonos spokesperson emailed us. “Over time, technology will progress in ways these products are not able to accommodate.” Sonos will “work to maintain the existing experience and conduct bug fixes where the computing hardware will allow, but our efforts will ultimately be limited by the lack of memory and processing power of these legacy products.” The company advised registered owners of original Zone Players, Connect, Connect:Amp, first-generation Play:5, CR200 and Bridge products Tuesday (see 2001220064) the products will be “classified as legacy and no longer receive software updates and new features. This will affect your listening experience.” That sparked outrage on social media and Sonos' community forum where the company told customers if they want newer products to continue receiving updates and new features, they can separate them from legacy products and continue using both separately. Sonos community manager Ryan S. posted clarifications on the Sonos website after Tuesday’s announcement, which had 1,284 replies and 46,633 views by Thursday afternoon. A Wednesday thread was shut down, sparking more ire from customers.