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Sonos's “recycle mode” intentionally bricks devices so they can't be reused

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Re: Sonos's “recycle mode” intentionally bricks devices so they can't be reused

#221

Post by jacquesm »

crazygringo wrote: post #203

It seems like a lot of commenters here (as well as the tweets) are totally missing the purpose of the recycle mode. If you want to sell, give away, or otherwise let someone else reuse your Sonos, then DON'T PUT IT IN RECYCLE MODE . Easy peasy. Recycle mode exists for when you intentionally want to get a Sonos trade-in credit for recycling your speakers for materials . But because you don't send the speakers directly…

No, you are totally missing the point of the recycle mode: the recycle mode is there to gain control of the devices after they have been initially sold to ensure that they will not be resold or given away when someone upgrades resulting in countless instances of good gear ending in the landfill or having to be recycled at substantial cost to society by dangling a small advantage in front of the original buyer.

Recycling effectively is the same as throwing them in the trash in this case. There is no need for this. Sonos could just as easily offer an upgrade discount to people who bought their gear originally but they are scared that this would affect their ability to sell to other people so they create what is called artificial scarcity.

And that should not happen with things that are still serviceable, especially not for a company that claims to have sustainability as their motto.

Re: Sonos's “recycle mode” intentionally bricks devices so they can't be reused

#222

Post by jacquesm »

kodachi wrote: post #186
cellularmitosis wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a physical device (ie featured-locked upon shipping), “support” amounts to paying the server bill, which is likely negligible.

Would be great if you could use your own server, and that the server code was open.

And that's how it should have been.

Re: Sonos's “recycle mode” intentionally bricks devices so they can't be reused

#223

Post by Zarel »

Aaargh20318 wrote: post #214
crazygringo wrote: post #203

It seems like a lot of commenters here (as well as the tweets) are totally missing the purpose of the recycle mode. If you want to sell, give away, or otherwise let someone else reuse your Sonos, then DON'T PUT IT IN RECYCLE MODE . Easy peasy. Recycle mode exists for when you intentionally want to get a Sonos trade-in credit for recycling your speakers for materials . But because you don't send the speakers directly…

> The credit helps encourage people to recycle them at all instead of just throwing them in the trash, right? As others have commented, the most environmentally friendly way to ‘recycle’ is to reuse. The purpose of this recycle mode is not to encourage recycling, but to kill the second hand market.

The recycle credit is 30% off a new Sonos product, which, as far as I can tell, is worth around $100.

The linked tweet says the recycled Sonos would have been worth $250 on the secondhand market if not recycled.

It's extremely doubtful that the recycle credit is intended to prevent a second-hand market, and far more likely accidental. It does seem like a trade-in credit would work better, but nothing prevents third parties from offering a trade-in credit above $100.

Re: Sonos's “recycle mode” intentionally bricks devices so they can't be reused

#224

Post by TylerE »

timpattinson wrote: post #160
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Millennial audiophools need their 192kHz 32-bit playback. Grandpa's sound system just won't cut it for reproducing those refined ultrasonics.

[flagged]

Why, specially, are audiophiles worthy of scorn on HN?

Show some damn respect for others interest.

Re: Sonos's “recycle mode” intentionally bricks devices so they can't be reused

#225

Post by bathtub365 »

jacquesm wrote: post #218
bathtub365 wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They run a routing/cross-auth system so you can stream from other IP-based audio services directly to your speakers. They aren’t entirely a hardware company and those integrations are a value-add for a lot of consumers. I think you should be able to run them in some kind of offline mode, though.

Even that does not require a server for the speakers to connect to owned by Sonos.

That’s true, but running and maintaining one is outside the expertise of most people.

Re: Sonos's “recycle mode” intentionally bricks devices so they can't be reused

#226

Post by blackflame »

scoot wrote: post #215
blackflame wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about things like Dolby atmos that use 3D noise wave cancellation/amplification technology to effectively do to surround sound what 3D glasses did for the TV

> do to surround sound what 3D glasses did for the TV reply So, nothing, at the end of the day?

Perhaps not the best analogy, but the ability to make an explosion happen over your head instead of from the front left and center is a marked improvement

Re: Sonos's “recycle mode” intentionally bricks devices so they can't be reused

#227

Post by Aeolun »

whoisjuan wrote: post #219
song wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People understand the purpose of it quite well. They just completely disagree with your analysis. First, the most environmental form of recycling is for an object to be reused as is. So, if any item is given to a recycling center, if the recycling center can just sell it directly to someone else, then it's much more environmentally friendly. Second, the credit doesn't encourage people to recycle them at all instead o…

> So, if any item is given to a recycling center, if the recycling center can just sell it directly to someone else, then it's much more environmentally friendly. I think OP's analysis did cover that. You don't have to put it in the recycle mode. You can sell it yourself or choose not to get the credit so someone else can "Recycle" it by reusing it. I do agree with you that people could still put in the trash, but I…

The end result of all this is to say Sonos doesn’t give a whit about the environment though. If that was the case they would allow someone at the recycle center to buy their old equipment, and the original owner to buy a new one with a discount (for being a loyal customer, and presumably still making a profit).

Re: Sonos's “recycle mode” intentionally bricks devices so they can't be reused

#228

Post by robocat »

crazygringo wrote: post #203

It seems like a lot of commenters here (as well as the tweets) are totally missing the purpose of the recycle mode. If you want to sell, give away, or otherwise let someone else reuse your Sonos, then DON'T PUT IT IN RECYCLE MODE . Easy peasy. Recycle mode exists for when you intentionally want to get a Sonos trade-in credit for recycling your speakers for materials . But because you don't send the speakers directly…

In other words "recycle" mode isn't recycling (you can just chuck them in the trash) and it isn't reusing.

A complete deception to sound green, with zero cost to Sonos with zero attempt to be green, and just causing a waste stream. Nice one Sonos.

Re: Sonos's “recycle mode” intentionally bricks devices so they can't be reused

#229

Post by hnuser123456 »

Aeolun wrote: post #227
whoisjuan wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So, if any item is given to a recycling center, if the recycling center can just sell it directly to someone else, then it's much more environmentally friendly. I think OP's analysis did cover that. You don't have to put it in the recycle mode. You can sell it yourself or choose not to get the credit so someone else can "Recycle" it by reusing it. I do agree with you that people could still put in the trash, but I…

The end result of all this is to say Sonos doesn’t give a whit about the environment though. If that was the case they would allow someone at the recycle center to buy their old equipment, and the original owner to buy a new one with a discount (for being a loyal customer, and presumably still making a profit).

Why would a recycling center want to buy anything? It's a recycling center, not a pawn/thrift shop. How does Sonos not care about the environment unless they do something completely and utterly nonsense?

Re: Sonos's “recycle mode” intentionally bricks devices so they can't be reused

#230

Post by MegaDeKay »

crazygringo wrote: post #203

It seems like a lot of commenters here (as well as the tweets) are totally missing the purpose of the recycle mode. If you want to sell, give away, or otherwise let someone else reuse your Sonos, then DON'T PUT IT IN RECYCLE MODE . Easy peasy. Recycle mode exists for when you intentionally want to get a Sonos trade-in credit for recycling your speakers for materials . But because you don't send the speakers directly…

From the thread in that tweet:

"To add insult to injury, there are complaints on Sonos' support forums from people who've managed to accidentally put their devices into recycling mode, and been told by Sonos support that there's no way to stop the countdown, forcing them to buy new devices after 21 days."

and

"From what our eBay guy can tell, the bricking isn't even in hardware; you can't recover it if you're good with JTAG, because it's blacklisted as "recycled" on their servers. There's nothing stopping these things from working except Sonos says they can't."

Madness.

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