Sonos announced today that it will be ending support for some legacy hardware later on this year. The phase out won't happen for a few months yet, and Sonos says that it will only impact its "oldest products." Those products can still be used once support ends too, but they'll no longer receive software updates and new features from Sonos.
Sonos is suing Google, alleging that the search giant stole its multi-room speaker tech and then used its market heft to undercut it with cheap Echo models. Sonos also accused Amazon of similar abuses, but has apparently opted to only take one such case to court. The allegations - which Google and Amazon deny - come as Sonos admits it was "naive" in how it worked with the industry heavyweights.
As much as we'd love to keep holding to consumers electronics as much as we could, there are times when they just can't move forward any longer. Usually, that takes years of regular use but some manufacturers often give people reasons to upgrade to a new model sooner rather than later. And what better way to do that than by rendering a device completely useless the way Sonos is doing now with its so-called Recycle Mode.
Sonos is raising the prices of two of its multi-room music products, as the company shifts some of its production out of China. The Sonos Amp and Sonos Port will both be seeing a $50 increase, Sonos confirmed today, though it's not blaming tariffs for the change.
Spotify Free users will now be able to stream to Sonos speakers, removing the previous requirement that listeners have a premium account. The update means that Sonos owners can now dip into Spotify's catalog without having a monthly fee to consider, as well as getting access to the streaming service's personalized playlists.
Sonos has launched a trade-in program for some of its earliest products, offering a discount on new connected speakers for those willing to recycle their older models. Initially three of Sonos' devices are eligible for the new Sonos Trade Up program, in some cases dating back all the way to 2004.
If you're one of the many who have been waiting for Sonos to make a Bluetooth speaker, then here's some good news: the Sonos Move is available to purchase beginning today. The Move bucks some of the trends established by many Bluetooth speakers out there. For starters, this is no sub-$100 Bluetooth speaker that's meant to be more of an impulse purchase, but rather a wireless speaker with a premium price of $399.
Expectations were high for Sonos Move, the multi-room audio company's first portable, Bluetooth-compatible speaker. Dangerously high, you could argue: Sonos says its users have been asking for a completely wire-free speaker pretty much from day one, and that's plenty of time for an outlandish wish-list to develop. The reality of the $399 Move is that it's not quite the speaker we expected - the question is whether that's a good thing or bad.
IKEA has quietly added a US product page for its SYMFONISK remote, a handy - and inexpensive - controller for its Sonos-powered speakers, ahead of its expected launch next month. The gadget will give Sonos speaker owners a way to remotely control their music, without having to pull out a phone and load the Sonos app, or speak to an assistant like Amazon Alexa.
Two of Sonos' newest whole-home audio products are arriving on shelves, with the Sonos One SL and Sonos Port both available from today. Announced last week alongside the new Sonos Move - the company's first battery-powered and Bluetooth-compatible speaker - the two new models eschew integrated assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
Pretty much from day one, Sonos customers have been asking for a portable speaker and one which can be taken outside: the new Sonos Move delivers both. As you might expect from the company pioneering streaming audio long before Spotify and Apple Music were even born, though, the Move is no ordinary wireless speaker. Yes, Sonos has made a Bluetooth speaker, and an expensive one at that, but it did so as only it could.
Sonos' big news today may be Move, the company's first portable speaker, but it also has two other products to help build out your whole-home streaming audio system. The Sonos One SL offers another option for those looking for an affordable speaker but without integrated assistant support, while the Sonos Port is a nod to the audiophile crowd with some special features to make their installations more effective.