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posted by martyb on Monday February 12 2018, @11:55AM   Printer-friendly
from the planned^Wscheduled-obsolescence dept.

Sonos, the consumer electronics company known for audio streaming and "smart" speakers, has decided that the music controller device, the "CR100", has reached end of life. By which they mean they will be pushing a software upgrade that will kill it.

... the next Sonos update in early April will turn off the CR100 connection -- unless you decide you don't want any updates at all. (Make sure you set that up in advance -- if you accept the update, you can't undo it and go back to using the old controller.)

That means if you want to keep on using a device you're happy with, you have to give up all the new features on all your Sonos speakers.

The company says its primary concern is the age of the lithium ion batteries in the controllers; although in that case an official device recall would be better than an update that stops them working - and a battery replacement scheme would handle the problem just as well.

Although the controller is old (Sonos stopped selling the CR100 in 2009) it is still perfectly functional for many users. However, according to a forum posting explaining the options these users will have to choose between the CR100 and the functionality of the rest of their system:

... opting not to update means you will not receive any new features or future security patches for your entire system – not just the CR100. For example, being on an unsupported version means that you might lose connectivity to music services, as is already the case for Google Play Music on the CR100. It is necessary to configure your system in advance to avoid future updates. Any update applied to the firmware and/or to the app, even unintentionally, is irreversible.

Originally spotted on The EEV Blog Youtube channel.


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  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday February 12 2018, @12:30PM (3 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday February 12 2018, @12:30PM (#636657) Journal

    Wise people duy bo-yeah

    FTFY.
    Before it sounded like English, but I could't get it. Now it makes better sense.

    (grin)

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  • (Score: 4, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday February 12 2018, @12:35PM (2 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday February 12 2018, @12:35PM (#636660) Homepage Journal

    I'm still caffeinating this morning. Coherent English isn't due to arrive for another fifteen ounces and two cigarettes.

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    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 4, Funny) by BsAtHome on Monday February 12 2018, @01:21PM

      by BsAtHome (889) on Monday February 12 2018, @01:21PM (#636670)

      You seem to be recovering from sleep quite fast. It usually takes me a week to recover, just to discover that a new week has started in which recovery is required.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 13 2018, @07:29AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 13 2018, @07:29AM (#637034)

      You boot a helluva lot faster than I do.

      It seems just the time I get powered up and coherent, its time to go home. Employers want the hours of my day that are the least productive - that is in terms of creativity.

      The only thing that comes up on me at dawn is the physical plant... that is I gotta piss and crap. Don't ask me to think. I can barely recite things from memory, providing I can even access it.