Sonos Bricking units for trade in peoples thoughts  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: longboard1210
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2019, 10:12:54 am
content: Well Sonos are offering cheaper upgrades if you want to trade up your equipmentYou give them your unit code and they bar that unit from working and send you a new speakerI dont know how i feel about this practise stopping perfectly good equipment from working seems a bit extreme whats other folks thoughts on itPlus i suspect a load of bared units to be up for sale and people buying them

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2019, 10:51:15 am
content: You shouldn't be surprised:-https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/company-loads-malware-into-their-product-to-stop-you-using-it!/-https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/sonos-holding-their-users-hostage-cloud-account-now-required/I don't have any Sonos product and I won't buy any.

author: Fred27
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 27, 2019, 12:00:23 pm
content: It doesn't seem unreasonable to brick a unit instead of getting you to physically return it. It is only with the user's agreement after all. I have one of the units that qualify for the deal but the ones you can replace it with are still a bit pricey even with 30% off, and I don't really need more Sonos units right now.

author: Fred27
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 27, 2019, 12:01:20 pm
content: I wonder if the bricked units can be repurposed into anything useful?

author: TopLoser
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 27, 2019, 12:07:35 pm
content: So what happens to scopes that Tek and Keysight take in p/ex deals, and so many other companies doing trade in deals?I don't see an issue with this. At least with Sonos they leave you with the challenge of reviving or repurposing the equipment...

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2019, 10:55:23 pm
content: Quote from: Fred27 on December 27, 2019, 12:01:20 pmNo doubt someone will figure out how (custom firmware most likely), but it's more a matter of when... either way my opinion of this company hasn't decreased any more than it already has.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2019, 11:00:57 pm
content: Quote from: amyk on December 27, 2019, 10:55:23 pmI was actually surprised, that they dont charge anymore 500 EUR for a 50W * tweeter with DSP** and plastic housing***.*PMPO** to make it sound boomey*** you know, wood is expensive.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 28, 2019, 01:13:54 am
content: Quote from: TopLoser on December 27, 2019, 12:07:35 pmPerhaps a very small percentage of the gear gets refurbished and sold on their ebay store. But yeah the vast majority would be a product from another company that they have no interest in reselling. I've done the same thing, returned customer parts went straight to recycling.I agree better if it can be remotely disabled and then recycled locally. No costs and emissions wasted trucking it around.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 28, 2019, 01:19:41 am
content: There is a very long history of companies taking trade-ins and crushing the traded in equipment to keep it off the market. I am morally very opposed to deliberately destroying good stuff just to keep someone else from having it so I'll have no part in any such program or give my money to any company that engages in it.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 28, 2019, 07:36:49 am
content: Quote from: longboard1210 on December 27, 2019, 10:12:54 amThis will be interesting to watch. Obviously Sonos won't care because it's "not their problem" but unsuspecting buyers might be purchasing dodgy/blocked units being sold "as is" on ebay. An omission isn't a lie and sellers are likely to get away with it.

author: eti
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 29, 2019, 04:03:51 am
content: Story:We had a microwave which went wrong, so called the mfr and the lady says "Cut the mains wire where it enters the chassis, and send me a photo of that. Once I get it, I shall replace it for you"The replacment showed tiny spots of internal rust, only after 6-8 mths, so I contacted her again, and she repeated the same procedure... except this time I sent the same photo from the previous unit, and gave the unit with minor internal rust spots, to a family member. Is this immoral? Well, I feel not, since they're gonna crush it. They do this because there's a LOT of scammers, but I am not one, and:~ They're compelled to replace a product which has imperfections in SUCH a short period of time.~ I am making no money from the remaining unit - it's given away.The world is run by morons.

author: MrMobodies
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 29, 2019, 06:00:20 am
content: I setup some Sonos speakers for someone in 2014.One soundbar and one bass woofer.I unboxed them, setup the wifi, paired to the television, joined their phones and I don't remember registering it at all.It just worked and the software seemed flexible but I didn't really have any problems or so.I think this happened with NowTV that I brought for someone, they wanted a credit card, nothing on the box so I returned it and after an argument ebay refunded my money.Not looking good for Sonos:https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.sonos.com453 reviews1.5 out of 5 stars.QuoteQuoteQuote

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 29, 2019, 06:08:01 pm
content: This is exactly the reason I rarely update anything anymore unless I absolutely have to. I have been burned too many times by updates that broke something that was working perfectly before. It's too common these days to have updates that are impossible to roll back.

author: TopLoser
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 31, 2019, 05:45:45 pm
content: If you don't want it to be bricked then it's simple - sell it unbricked and buy a new unit if you want to upgrade.You'll get more than the 30% that Sonos are offering as a discount from the sale of the working unit.You decide if you want to brick it or not.

author: MadTux
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2019, 08:20:26 pm
content: Or simply don't even consider buying these Sonos hipster ghettoblaster trashcans and keep your 1980/1990s audio amplifers. The good ones are build 100% from discrete components (e.g. Revox B750, the older Arcam Alpha Amplifiers..) and will be servicable as long as you can get discrete parts.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2019, 11:38:36 pm
content: Here in the US people have been throwing away those once quite expensive and nice mid-90s~mid-00s receivers full of inputs and class AB power stages. Some of these can still produce good quality audio and one of mine even has a beautiful spectrum analyzer. They are beasts, though.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 31, 2019, 11:43:42 pm
content: Quote from: MadTux on December 31, 2019, 08:20:26 pmTo be fair, the Sonos speakers are actually quite good and large amps/speakers are not suited to some rooms. For example, I have an Ikea Symfonisk lamp/speaker on my desk next to me. It's small but it sounds excellent. In the kitchen and bathrooms I have Sonos speakers (I like to listen to the news or music while I'm having a shower).If someone can come up with alternative firmware which turns them into an open source speaker that I can stream to, I'd flash the units in a heartbeat and ditch the cluttered Sonos application.

author: MrMobodies
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2019, 11:53:38 pm
content: I found an article about Sonos being sued and that a plaintiff arguing they knew about the end of life but didn't know about the firmware bricking it and they wouldn't have brought it if the knew they were going to do that.https://www.classaction.org/news/sonos-docked-with-class-action-after-forced-phase-out-of-cr100-speaker-controllerQuote

author: TopLoser
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 01, 2020, 12:10:09 am
content: Thank fuck I don’t have crazy principles, my life is soooo much easier!!

author: MrMobodies
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 01, 2020, 02:27:18 am
content: My principle would be when I buy anything from any manufacturer... leave me alone unless I request support.I'd expect them to care about batteries when it is within a product lifetime window and there is a recallThe choice is really nothing useful. I'll read the concerns and if I don't want to use it I switch it off.Like this post:https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-software-228995/how-do-cr100-owners-take-up-the-sonos-offer-to-stop-future-os-updates-6804206QuoteContinuing to use past end of life means we are not in any way liable for the safety of the lithium batteries in these products and we will not provide any support/repair or official replacement parts. Use at your own risk.Sounds much better.1,No longer be able to add speakers to Sonos system?I wonder whether this is to do with speakers with the same firmware on them as the controller or just the new stuff or phone "app" update or every other Sonos gear you own.https://en.community.sonos.com/music-services-and-sources-228994/this-cant-be-legal-6828581QuoteJust reading that condescending bit in the response and this above it is as of they now treat the users of these things like they somewhat stupid. Take away local functionality (not online dependent) that came with the package, make it into a cloud? based service and use their so called 'updates' to remove the existing functionality from your working system and charge for the privilege of using it remotely? Tell the user that they shouldn't disable updates, must be online all the time...etc, or you will no longer be able add speakers...or received features, etc. It is like they are running a managed service where you don't own the equipment anymore and they are striping away at the functions/features and turning them into subscriptions through the updates.If the"received features"according to the complaints and from Trustpilot were to remove the existing functionality, make it harder to use, and make changes to interfere and obstruct systems that were working perfectly and theplannedforced obsolescence it sounds like a feature to make moreattentionand money for themselves.We recommend that the CR100 is online and it is important so it can be bricked by an update, otherwise knowing your battery is a risk we will prevent you from adding speakers to your Sonos system.When some do update:https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/disable-option-to-update-sonos-in-enterprise-environment-6767812QuoteQuoteMaybe it is not condescending and it is just my perception on things.