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Any fellow soylentils early adopters of Sonos sound systems?
In May, Sonos will stop providing software updates for its oldest products, and they'll no longer receive any new features. The decision impacts "legacy" devices that are currently part of the company's trade-up program, including all Sonos Zone Players, the Connect and Connect:Amp, the first-generation Play:5, the CR200 controller, and the Bridge. It's important to note that with the Connect and Connect:Amp, this only applies to devices manufactured between 2011 and 2015. Newer hardware revisions will continue receiving updates.
"Without new software updates, access to services and overall functionality of your sound system will eventually be disrupted, particularly as partners evolve their technology," Sonos warned in a blog post today. The company says customers can choose to either keep using these products after support ends — they should continue functioning in the near-term — or replace them with a modern Sonos product at a discount.
Read more at The Verge.
(Score: 4, Informative) by bradley13 on Wednesday January 22 2020, @12:36PM (5 children)
I have two Sonos speakers. The sound quality is really excellent. That's the "love" part.
As for the "hate" part, well... First, they seem to issue continuous updates for the things. You just want to play music, but no, you have to install an update - no choice. As often as not, after an update, the speakers have to be manually re-initialized. Sometimes between updates, too, for no apparent reason. Also, there's no easy way to stream music to the speakers from an arbitrary source. Everything is supposed to go over the Sonos app, which is a PITA.
The "hate" part is definitely bigger than the "love" part. Which is why I have *only* two speakers. If Sonos would make the damned things easy to setup and use with *any* audio source, if they would scrap all the cloud crap (which is probably the reason for the continual updates) - then their products would be a lot more pleasant to own...
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2) by rigrig on Wednesday January 22 2020, @01:42PM
Sonos: "We have listened to your concerns, and..."
No one remembers the singer.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 22 2020, @02:50PM (2 children)
Excellent sound quality you say. Interesting.
I'm pretty handy with wire cutters and a soldering iron. Might have to look into turning some into non-IoT speakers when the non-working ones start turning up cheap on ebay or free on the side of the road.
It's probably all one board, but it shouldn't be impossible to cut the IoT shit from the amp and connect your own signal in its place. And if it is, then small amps are cheap and fun to play with anyway.
(Score: 5, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday January 22 2020, @06:56PM (1 child)
Hacking the Sonos Ikea Symfonisk Into a High Quality Speaker Amp [makezine.com]
(MAKE is dead, long live MAKE!)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @01:22AM
Thanks. Some useful info there, but they're doing the opposite of what I meant. I meant cutting out the Sonos IoT stuff and using the drivers and possibly the amp in the original box. They're dumping the drivers and box and using the circuitry on other speakers.
I expect as soon as the Sonos's start going inactive there will be another hacker article to fix them. :)
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday January 22 2020, @03:36PM
Sounds like the managers at Sonos wanted to get in on that obsolescence through lack of support. That way, they can get their customers to keep buying the new shiny.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"