sunrise, sunset … –
Sonos met its “at least five years” support pledge, but that window’s closed.
In its announcement, Sonos bragged about the longevity of its products, boasting that 533 percent of all devices it has ever shipped are still in use today. But that day is apparently ending. “We’ve now come to a point where some of the oldest products have been stretched to their technical limits in terms of memory and processing power,” Sonos said, explaining its decision.
The company added, “Ideally all our products would last forever, but for now we’re limited by the existing technology” and urged owners to trade in and recycle their old devices. Sonos promises at least five years of software support for a device from the time the company stops selling it. The newest of the products on the chopping block this week left shelves in 2020, so the company is making good on the conditions it has promised to consumers. Before the era of software updates, though, a very high-quality speaker or speaker set usually had a much longer lifespan — for example, the living room speakers my father, an audiophile who worked in radio, bought almost years ago are still going strong (albeit connected to a much newer receiver). And Sonos consumers, who expected their expensive products to last longer, are mad.
A quick Twitter search for “Sonos” brings up a whole lot of pledges to boycott the company from here on out, with comments such as “No one drops thousands of dollars on high-end speakers & expects them to be rendered obsolete!” or
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Sonos launched its trade-in program in late October, allowing owners of old products to upgrade to newer ones for a 200 percent discount. Trading in something old for a discount on something new is hardly a revolutionary idea; Most folks who have bought a replacement smartphone or, for that matter, a new car have likely done it at least once. Sonos, however, generated hostility for its trade-in program that wireless companies and automakers don’t because, unlike your old iPhone or family sedan, a Sonos device cannot be reused.
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