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Sonos lets users choose to brick old devices in exchange for a discount. Ones that don't will no longer get updates past May. The way this has played out in so

by Kalium 7y ago

Sonos lets users choose to brick old devices in exchange for a discount. Ones that don't will no longer get updates past May. The way this has played out in social media has been weird. I've seen more than one person turn this into "Sonos is going to brick all my devices!". It's either the world's worst communication strategy at work or people deliberately conflating two parts of one message.

sp332 7y ago
Ones that don't will no longer get updates past May. It goes beyond that, because they won't update any devices on the same network as old devices either. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/01/sonos-sunsets-several-smart-speakers-software-support-spurring-storm/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/01/sonos... In May they plan to have a way to segregate old devices onto a separate network, but they still won't work together with new ones.
- Kalium 7y ago
  Having used and owned Sonos devices, this doesn't surprise me at all. The devices expect to work together in complex ways. Expecting new ones to correctly work together with old ones over the same network can be expected to entail pretty much all the work of supporting the old devices. New devices are now constrained by the networking hardware and protocols of the old ones... forever. Which is the whole thing Sonos is clearly trying to get away from. Supporting legacy devices forever is clearly untenable. With that said, I do see another angle they could have pursued. They could have led with the network segregation approach, making it clear that the legacy devices will still work perfectly with one another on their own network. Sonos could also have said that legacy devices may stop working as expected without warning after any future update that applies to current devices only. This strikes me as likely to work great until it comes down and then it blows up catastrophically when the update lands. Those are the best options I can see, but my vision is of course quite limited. Perhaps you have better ideas!
pjc50 7y ago
They were saying that new devices would not get updates either if networking with an old device. Really this is their fault for announcing that while the device bricking fiasco was still in play.
- Kalium 7y ago
  In my eyes, they're clearly part of the same move to drop support for older devices. They probably should have unified the message, though.
jedberg 7y ago
> Sonos lets users choose to brick old devices in exchange for a discount. What I don't understand is why. Let's look at the two options. Option one: User must brick device and trash it, Sonos sells new device at 30% off, basically losing out on their margin. Option two: User can keep old device, maybe even sell it to a new Sonos customer who can't afford new devices. Sonos sells new device at 30% loyalty discount, losing out on their margin (but gaining a new customer who can't get that loyalty discount if they decide to upgrade in the future). From a company perspective, Option 2 looks much more attractive: Same initial cost, but you look more environmental and you gain a potential new customer.
- Kalium 7y ago
  I'm going to put on my pessimism hat for a moment. Option two: User buys a nice, expensive wireless speaker at a discount. After setting it up, they learn that it will literally never get an update and they can't get any support for it. Their experience sucks, and worse, it always will. Now they feel like they've been screwed by Sonos on top of however much money they paid for the thing. Their brand new-to-them device is forever hobbled. That doesn't sound like a happy new customer. That sounds like an angry secondary-market consumer that will never be a customer and a tarnished brand. That seems sub-optimal for a company that highly prizes loyalty and the user experience.
  - Hamuko 7y ago
    >After setting it up, they learn that it will literally never get an update and they can't get any support for it. >That seems sub-optimal for a company that highly prizes loyalty and the user experience. It's not the customer's fault that their product is never getting updated and they can't get any support.
    - Kalium 7y ago
      You're absolutely right. It's a consequence of the company's decision to not offer infinite support to hardware. It's also a consequence of a user potentially failing to do their research before purchasing. If a company is going to drop support for older devices, ensuring that poorly informed users don't get screwed by this seems like a reasonable decision. I understand that some may consider this completely unreasonable, particularly on the basis that halting support is in no way a business decision that should ever contemplated. Again, you're right. This is a consequence of Sonos' decision to stop supporting some of their products. It's just perhaps considering that there may be some small amount of room for nuance.

by Kalium 7y ago

sp332 7y ago

Ones that don't will no longer get updates past May. It goes beyond that, because they won't update any devices on the same network as old devices either. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/01/sonos-sunsets-several-smart-speakers-software-support-spurring-storm/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/01/sonos... In May they plan to have a way to segregate old devices onto a separate network, but they still won't work together with new ones.

Kalium 7y ago
Having used and owned Sonos devices, this doesn't surprise me at all. The devices expect to work together in complex ways. Expecting new ones to correctly work together with old ones over the same network can be expected to entail pretty much all the work of supporting the old devices. New devices are now constrained by the networking hardware and protocols of the old ones... forever. Which is the whole thing Sonos is clearly trying to get away from. Supporting legacy devices forever is clearly untenable. With that said, I do see another angle they could have pursued. They could have led with the network segregation approach, making it clear that the legacy devices will still work perfectly with one another on their own network. Sonos could also have said that legacy devices may stop working as expected without warning after any future update that applies to current devices only. This strikes me as likely to work great until it comes down and then it blows up catastrophically when the update lands. Those are the best options I can see, but my vision is of course quite limited. Perhaps you have better ideas!

pjc50 7y ago

They were saying that new devices would not get updates either if networking with an old device. Really this is their fault for announcing that while the device bricking fiasco was still in play.

Kalium 7y ago
In my eyes, they're clearly part of the same move to drop support for older devices. They probably should have unified the message, though.

jedberg 7y ago

> Sonos lets users choose to brick old devices in exchange for a discount. What I don't understand is why. Let's look at the two options. Option one: User must brick device and trash it, Sonos sells new device at 30% off, basically losing out on their margin. Option two: User can keep old device, maybe even sell it to a new Sonos customer who can't afford new devices. Sonos sells new device at 30% loyalty discount, losing out on their margin (but gaining a new customer who can't get that loyalty discount if they decide to upgrade in the future). From a company perspective, Option 2 looks much more attractive: Same initial cost, but you look more environmental and you gain a potential new customer.

Kalium 7y ago
I'm going to put on my pessimism hat for a moment. Option two: User buys a nice, expensive wireless speaker at a discount. After setting it up, they learn that it will literally never get an update and they can't get any support for it. Their experience sucks, and worse, it always will. Now they feel like they've been screwed by Sonos on top of however much money they paid for the thing. Their brand new-to-them device is forever hobbled. That doesn't sound like a happy new customer. That sounds like an angry secondary-market consumer that will never be a customer and a tarnished brand. That seems sub-optimal for a company that highly prizes loyalty and the user experience.
- Hamuko 7y ago
  >After setting it up, they learn that it will literally never get an update and they can't get any support for it. >That seems sub-optimal for a company that highly prizes loyalty and the user experience. It's not the customer's fault that their product is never getting updated and they can't get any support.
  - Kalium 7y ago
    You're absolutely right. It's a consequence of the company's decision to not offer infinite support to hardware. It's also a consequence of a user potentially failing to do their research before purchasing. If a company is going to drop support for older devices, ensuring that poorly informed users don't get screwed by this seems like a reasonable decision. I understand that some may consider this completely unreasonable, particularly on the basis that halting support is in no way a business decision that should ever contemplated. Again, you're right. This is a consequence of Sonos' decision to stop supporting some of their products. It's just perhaps considering that there may be some small amount of room for nuance.