SoundTouch being phased out???!!!

[iukwes]

Went into the Bose store to purchase 18 soundtouch amps and soundbars for two condos I'm building for clients.  I noticed a new speaker sitting there, a WiFi speaker with something called BoseMusic.  I'm about two weeks away from drywall going up and all wiring completed for the new condos, both clients planned on going with sound touch.  The sales rep said that the new technology did not communicate with sound touch!  Are you kidding me?  I own 6 SoundTouch systems in my own home, and now they are not compatible with the new technology!!!!!!  Bose this is a huge mistake and must be addressed. After spending over $10,000 on systems at my own house they best be compatible to play and work with this BoseMusic or have a firmware update available.  I will completely stop using Bose products!  7 of my vehicles have bose systems and have always looked for that when choosing a vehicle.  Now to know Bose it trying to satisfy some crap about Alexia that is junk to begin with, and completely abandon a product compatibility because of a new addition is ridiculous.  Bose better offer a firmware compatibility upgrade soon or the store is going to have a huge pile of sound touch equipment returned to the store for updated current wifi compatible systems.  Let me know what to do with the new condos and with my current equipment at my house and about $60,000 worth of equipment that was installed at my clients homes within the last two years!

[lcdopizarro]

I feel exactly the same way.  Bose needs to address this ASAP. 

[sjguntur12]

same irritating feeling...they are trying to outdate the products with incompatibilities, to start with 'smart speakers'...'atmos' etc, and what else in near future?

Before buying new products customers/prospects should think whether they want to buy Just Alexa? or wait for 'Atmos' and more? be-cautious on your investments with frequent outdated products

[MykelNeiD]

Take a look at youtube and search for bose ,there is a pre-sales training (not directly from bose) you can find and the trainer is talking about several things regarding both eco systems etc. 

[adolfob]

Bose needs to give an answer. I have been supporting Soundotuch since it was launched and, after buying 5 devices for different rooms, I can't believe that they are now outdated!

Sonos didn't do this when they introduced its new smart speaker with voice capabilities. This new speaker is obviously compatible with even the oldest ones. I would have expected the same for Bose.

I hope Bose will do something to make Soundtouch speakers able to update to this new "system". Just as Sonos did!

Thank you.

[grath]

I completely agree with you, iukwes.

As highlighted in my thread "Smart Home series - seriously, seriously Bose!?", people who have bought Bose SoundTouch equipment have been fooled. The "clean start" direction chosen by Bose is a major strategic mistake and I think many customers would not even consider to upgrade, but move to a completely different brand.

Bose shoud definitely adjust the direction by allowing support for SoundTouch products in the Bose Music app and ensure basic compatibility between Smart Home and SoundTouch products. There is a major difference between 1) not releasing Smart Home functionality to SoundTouch products, and 2) not providing any compability between Smart Home and SoundTouch products. I think most customers would accept and understand 1), but 2) is basically stating "we are phashing out all SoundTouch products and you should scrap your equipment and buy Smart Home instead".

As a former software engineer I understand the desire to simplify and focus on a new platform without spending time on ensuring backward compatibility. However, this is very different from stating "it was not possible to provide compatibility because of different technological platforms". This is a conscious business decision, not a technological limitation. The network foundation of both products appear to be SSDP and mDNS, i.e. there is not much difference in how the products communicate with each other at the protocol level.

[kwolton]

I absolutely agree, I feel that Bose just want to sweep the SoundTouch product under the carpet and forget it ever happened. They do make great speakers but I feel their developement team have seriously let them down with SoundTouch. I have no doubt they could make them compatable if they wanted to, but because of repeated delays in new features coming to SoundTouch and inherent problems with the platform they would rather discontinue it and move on. Shame for all of us that have recently spent thousands on SoundTouch knowing it’s a dying breed! I wonder if Bose will offer a trade in for existing SoundTouch customers?

[DIMM]

Yes, I am also very upset by this I have been a loyal bose customer for 25 years and invested tens of thousands of dollars the last one is lifestyle 650, bose is telling us that they going to continue to support sound touch, but for how long, it's only a matter of time, I think that right now somebody would be a FOOL to buy a sound touch system. I will not buy anything that has the name bose on it again and if there is a way for me to sell all my sound touch I will and move on to SONOS which is a smart company and care for their customers, also their app is sooo much better.

[hdow]

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@iukwes wrote:

"Went into the Bose store to purchase 18 soundtouch amps and soundbars for two condos I'm building for clients.  I noticed a new speaker sitting there, a WiFi speaker with something called BoseMusic.  I'm about two weeks away from drywall going up and all wiring completed for the new condos, both clients planned on going with sound touch.  The sales rep said that the new technology did not communicate with sound touch!"

If this is true (I've had Bose reps tell me things that weren't) then my next sound system won't be a Bose system. Certainly I won't be buying incompatable Bose products to integrate into my current system if they won't integrate. 

Save for my Bose sound system & my wifi router, all my equipment is Apple. But for the timing (I was not in a position to wait for Homepod back when I was buying a new system), I probably would have chosen Apple's system over the Bose system in the first place, but I went with Bose and am not unhappy. Even though Bose did not entirely deliver what I wanted, there are some things I prefer over what I think I know about Homepod. But if I have to buy something that won't integrate, I might as well plan to migrate to Apple for my sound system. At least I can rely on Apple to maintain device compatiblity over time, and to obsolete things slowly rather than abruptly. 

For the time being, I'm satisfied with what I have, after a year mucking about with various workaround solutions to unify the speakers in my place, and make them play nice with my wifi. I am contemplating buying one or two more pieces of Bose equipment to put the last touches on the system, but neither is terribly important so I'll have to consider whether to do that or not. Or to wait for closeout sales...

But certainly if I were looking for a new system, I'd be wary of buying Bose. I don't expect any company to support equipment and maintain backwards compatiblility forever, but I do expect them to do it for at least a couple generations. 

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[paudux]

An honest answer from Bose please, is the Soundtouch product range now obsolete or being phased out?

Upgrades over the last couple of years have gradually made the DLNA compatability almost nonexistant, and the latest down grade now means that only State funded or minor radio stations are available.

This being the case potential customers should be warned, so they can make an evaluation on the functionallity thats left, especially with online purchases and as people start buying for Christmas.