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I was going to buy a Sonos speaker, but this changed my mind. I'm not buying a device that was built to be bricked. I would have bought a Sonos instead of an A

I was going to buy a Sonos speaker, but this changed my mind. I'm not buying a device that was built to be bricked. I would have bought a Sonos instead of an Apple Homepod because I thought they were more "open". But if the manufacturer can just make my device useless, I'm not interested. Audio and Hifi gear is extremely versatile and virtually everything is compatible. High end devices easily last for decades. This feature makes it clear that Sonos has no intention of following that tradition.

kristianc 7y ago
> I would have bought a Sonos instead of an Apple Homepod because I thought they were more "open". But if the manufacturer can just make my device useless, I'm not interested. Nope, it’s just iOS updates that brick HomePods.
- kirstenbirgit 7y ago
  That was a bug, not a 'feature' like Recycle Mode.
  - sm4rk0 7y ago
    Anyway, you should be aware of risk when buying a piece of hardware which depends on a service (like OTA updates or cloud connection).
  - kristianc 7y ago
    Incidentally, iOS has a remote kill switch as a feature too.
- jakobegger 7y ago
  Yes. Just to be clear, I'm going to buy neither a Homepod nor a Sonos. I think I'm going to get dumb speakers and a Raspberry/Hifiberry. Shairplay does 90% of what I want a smart speaker to do, and I think a Raspberry is a pretty future proof device.
  - vinw 7y ago
    You should also take a look at snapcast as an open Sonos alternative that can run on raspberry pi. https://github.com/badaix/snapcast https://github.com/badaix/snapcast
callmeal 7y ago
>I was going to buy a Sonos speaker, but this changed my mind. I'm not buying a device that was built to be bricked. I had a complete sonos setup that I rage donated after moving and accidentally connecting it to the internet at which point sonos wouldn't let me play my music until I "upgraded" the software with alexa enabled. Forget about recycle mode, sonos is one of the most intrusive privacy invading companies that I know off and I'm so happy they're getting all this bad press, because when I went to their forums with my complaints the whole response there was "meh" and "how can you run with old software?".
- BillinghamJ 7y ago
  All voice assistant service options are entirely disabled until you go into the settings and set one of them up. The update may well have made it possible to set up Alexa, but it would not have done so.

kristianc 7y ago

> I would have bought a Sonos instead of an Apple Homepod because I thought they were more "open". But if the manufacturer can just make my device useless, I'm not interested. Nope, it’s just iOS updates that brick HomePods.

kirstenbirgit 7y ago
That was a bug, not a 'feature' like Recycle Mode.
- sm4rk0 7y ago
  Anyway, you should be aware of risk when buying a piece of hardware which depends on a service (like OTA updates or cloud connection).
- kristianc 7y ago
  Incidentally, iOS has a remote kill switch as a feature too.
jakobegger 7y ago
Yes. Just to be clear, I'm going to buy neither a Homepod nor a Sonos. I think I'm going to get dumb speakers and a Raspberry/Hifiberry. Shairplay does 90% of what I want a smart speaker to do, and I think a Raspberry is a pretty future proof device.
- vinw 7y ago
  You should also take a look at snapcast as an open Sonos alternative that can run on raspberry pi. https://github.com/badaix/snapcast https://github.com/badaix/snapcast

callmeal 7y ago

>I was going to buy a Sonos speaker, but this changed my mind. I'm not buying a device that was built to be bricked. I had a complete sonos setup that I rage donated after moving and accidentally connecting it to the internet at which point sonos wouldn't let me play my music until I "upgraded" the software with alexa enabled. Forget about recycle mode, sonos is one of the most intrusive privacy invading companies that I know off and I'm so happy they're getting all this bad press, because when I went to their forums with my complaints the whole response there was "meh" and "how can you run with old software?".

BillinghamJ 7y ago
All voice assistant service options are entirely disabled until you go into the settings and set one of them up. The update may well have made it possible to set up Alexa, but it would not have done so.