Credit: Sonos
Sonos are officially ending support for several legacy audio products, including the Connect, Connect Amp and Play:5.
The company say that these older products "have been stretched to their technical limits in terms of memory and processing power." Some of these products were launched over a decade ago and all were formally discontinued by 2015.
As of May, the Sonos Connect, Sonos Connect Amp, first-generation Sonos Play:5, Sonos Zone Players, Sonos CR200, and Sonos Bridge will no longer receive software updates or new features. While the devices themselves will still be able to be used past this use-by date, doing so means that the system that they're connected to will essentially be frozen in terms of software updates.
The other option here is Sonos' divisive trade-in program.
The way this works is that Sonos will give you a 30% discount on any purchase through them in return for placing your old hardware into "Recycling Mode" - which essentially wipes any user data on the speaker and then bricks it after a confirmation period of twenty-one days.
Sonos say "we have long believed in customer choice and hope the two options we are presenting to customers — continue to use these products, or trade up to a modern system — enables everyone to make the choice that’s right for them."
The company say that by permanently disabling older speakers, they're "protecting unsuspecting consumers from buying old products with a limited lifespan."
Of course, not everyone is thrilled with the company incentivizing users to render otherwise-functional speakers inert when they could easily be sold second-hand or given away to friends and family. Sonos recently came under fire by critics on Twitter over the contrast between how it presents recycling mode and the inherently wasteful reality.
For more information on Sonos' Trade Up program, visit the official site here..
