Sonos CEO Patrick Spence On Right To Repair (techcrunch.com) 17
In an interview with TechCrunch, Sonos CEO Patrick Spence discussed the emergence of spatial audio, the state of the smart home, and how a seemingly endless stream of lawsuits between Sonos and Google impact its day to day. Here's what he had to say about looming right-to-repair legislation and how it impacted the company's focus on reparability: We factor in everything. But I would say that our team has been on this for a long time, in terms of being the right thing to do. Also, I think we're learning. When we were first bringing out our products 20 years ago, we were like, "How do you build these things so they'll make the sound you want?" So we had to use things like adhesives. We've been able to come up with ways and inventions that allow us to disassemble these products. It comes into our thinking more broadly about what we're building and how you live up to the law of the land, but even before that, we were already starting to use recycled materials. We were already starting to use things that allow it to be more easily repaired. In late 2021, the company announced plans to extend the lifespan of its products and use less energy. They started a "Design for Disassembly" program that "includes changes like swapping out adhesives for fasteners, which can make it easier for consumers to take apart Sonos products for repair," reports The Verge. When asked for additional information about the program, Sonos wouldn't confirm whether it will also make replacement parts and repair manuals available.
All of its products by the end of 2023 will use post-consumer recycled plastic and they will include "sleep mode," a feature that cuts down on power consumption while the device is idle. The goal is for Sonos products to ultimately use less than 2 watts while idle," adds The Verge.
In the longterm, Sonos aims to cut emissions from its products' energy use by 45 percent by 2040. They also want to essentially cancel its entire footprint by that date by relying on a mixture of carbon offsets and new technologies that remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
All of its products by the end of 2023 will use post-consumer recycled plastic and they will include "sleep mode," a feature that cuts down on power consumption while the device is idle. The goal is for Sonos products to ultimately use less than 2 watts while idle," adds The Verge.
In the longterm, Sonos aims to cut emissions from its products' energy use by 45 percent by 2040. They also want to essentially cancel its entire footprint by that date by relying on a mixture of carbon offsets and new technologies that remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
Buzzword bingo! (Score:5, Insightful)
You know nothing's gonna come of any of this, right? Just words.
Re: (Score:3)
[Company Name] Announces Commitment to Environmental Responsibility
[City, State] - [Company Name], a leading provider of [products/services], is pleased to announce its commitment to environmental responsibility. The company recognizes the importance of preserving the environment for future generations and is taking steps to minimize its impact on the planet.
"At [Company Name], we take our responsibility to the environment seriously," said [Exec
Re: (Score:2)
Yes! He successfully shoe-horned all the greenwash buzzwords into one press release. Well done!
Came here to say this. It was all just a bunch of marketing-speak for "Our products are still destined to be e-waste, but they're future e-waste you can feel good about buying!"
Re: Buzzword bingo! (Score:2)
Yep marketing gobbledygook gook. Funnily enough a few of their competitors have build repairable and upgrade able products. Bang and Olfsun comes to mind.
lame (Score:3)
We switched to more recycled materials and now use some fasteners instead of adhesives. And we green-washed everything else.
We still want you to buy the latest version every year, because we need the income. So, good luck finding info and parts to do a repair, just buy a new green-washed one!
Re: (Score:2)
The "sleep" mode isn't even very low power. They should be able to get down to 0.5W quite easily, while maintaining connection to a WiFi network. The EU is currently proposing 0.5W as the limit with display off, 0.8W with display on.
Re: (Score:2)
We did all that whilst experimenting with...
- Marking all the older hardware as "legacy" and then refusing to do any sort of updates for it, segregating it off from the "modern" stuff we sell at higher margins so that your network becomes less usable
- Letting people brick their devices for "recycling" rather than sell them on ebay or whatever to someone else
And now they want a medal because they're using screws instead of glue? Thumbscrews don't work with glue - that's why they're using screws for them.
Re: (Score:2)
You can take apart their speakers, but they are not going to sell replacement parts, so what's the point?
Less power, recycled plastic, cutting emissions... (Score:4, Insightful)
The fuck does any of this have to do with how repairable the product will be?
Cut the marketing bull and instead tell us how you plan to make your stuff repairable.
If it quacks like a brick... (Score:4, Interesting)
https://www.theverge.com/2020/... [theverge.com]
Sure, Sonos is perfectly repairable... (Score:5, Informative)
Except that the entire thing is working on a software stack, that can be deprecated at any moment, and when the service changes protocol your amplifier-speaker is a brick. And even if you try to hijack the audio stages of the amplifier, you soon find out that there's no such thing: the output is driven via software PWM directly to the power driver, there's no audio stage. If you want to recycle sonos speakers your best bet is to rip the board and replace it with a cheap amplifier kit, keeping only the speakers and case.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re: Sure, Sonos is perfectly repairable... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Well, they said right to *repair*. If server support is purposely ended then it's not broken, so it doesn't need to be repaired.
You see, their team has been on this as the right thing to do for a long time.
But here's some screws for the plastic case with a speaker and micro controller you paid several hundred dollars for.
Spatial Audio? (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
What's the IP rating of those speakers? (Score:2)
Real bold to say he's replacing adhesive with screws when his products get to sit on a bookshelf all their life; rather than being dropped in puddles and being in shirt pockets during a rainstorm, etc.
And don't even talk about "gaskets" and "o-rings". After the owner takes the unit apart, those usually go missing, mis-aligned, or fasteners insufficiently torqued (or over-torqued and stripped), or simply left off, the IP rating quickly becomes 00.
Cool (Score:1)