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The Death of Planned ObsolescenceWhy today's gadgets keep getting better. (At least until the battery dies.)

By Farhad ManjooPosted Monday, Aug. 11, 2008, at 3:28 PM ET

Sonos ZP120 in bedroomIn 2005, a Southern California start-up named Sonos put out a multiroom digital music system, a gadget that sounds straightforward but was actually ahead of its time. Back then, music had already gone digital, but most digital players were meant to be used on the go, not at home. If the iPod is the modern version of the Walkman, Sonos is the reincarnation of the home stereo. It uses wireless networks to string together small "ZonePlayers," stand-alone devices that pipe stereo-quality sound to different rooms in your house. You control the Sonos through a Wi-Fi remote that sports a big LCD screen and an iPod-like scroll wheel. Together, the system's components add up to something transformative: Sonos frees your songs from tinny computer speakers, bringing music to far-flung corners of your McMansion.

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But that was three years ago—an eternity in the gadget world. Last week, Sonos offered its first major hardware overhaul since the product's debut (the company decreased the size and increased the networking capabilities of its ZonePlayers). What's remarkable, though, is that while its hardware has barely changed in three years, the Sonos system has improved tremendously since it went on sale. In 2006, the company issued a software update to every Sonos sold—suddenly, the system could play audiobooks. A few months after that, another update allowed Sonos players to hook into the Rhapsody online music service, which meant that for $13 a month, people could now listen to millions of tracks that they didn't own. Later, Sonos added Napster, Pandora, and Sirius, plus a slew of free Internet radio stations. Last year, the company improved its controller's user interface, adding a function that lets you search your tunes from the device—another feature that every Sonos owner got through a software update.

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Michael Agger mused over the iPod revolution. Evan Cornog searched for the perfect sound. Elsewhere in Slate, Farhad Manjoo examined what third-party programs meant for the iPhone's future.

The Sonos isn't cheap—you'll pay $999 for a basic two-room plan, and each additional room will set you back $350 to $500, depending on your hardware needs (the company describes its customer base as "affluent"). But its high price is tempered by a feature that, until recently, was unheard-of in the consumer electronics market: A Sonos you buy today will get better as it ages. Through software updates, people who bought the very first Sonos system enjoy pretty much the same functionality that they'd find on a Sonos made two months ago. The company even extends its special offers to its existing customers—last week, both new and current users got a $200 coupon to purchase music from various online services.

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Sonos' approach signals a larger shift in the gadget industry, a business that has long titillated its customers with short-lived thrills—what gadget-lovers derisively call "planned obsolescence." It used to be that a gadget worked the best on the day you bought it; every day afterward, it would fall deeper under the shadow of something newer and more fantastic. But because music players, cell phones, cameras, GPS navigators, video game consoles, and nearly everything else now runs on Internet-updatable software, our gadgets' functions are no longer static. It's still true that a gizmo you buy today will eventually be superseded by something that comes along later. But just like Meryl Streep, your devices will now dazzle you as they age. They'll gain new functions and become easier to use, giving you fewer reasons to jump to whatever hot new thing is just hitting the market.

To appreciate how amazing this is, imagine if the same rules held sway in the car industry. Five years after you bought it, you could take your beater to the shop, and after a quick patch it'd be blessed with electronic stability control, a more fuel-efficient engine, and a radio that received satellite broadcasts.

That sort of metamorphosis is now routine in the consumer electronics business. When Microsoft released the Zune music player late in 2006, critics panned its poor song-beaming feature—you could send tracks to other Zunes, but the music would self-destruct after three days. A year later, Microsoft released a slate of new Zunes. The players featured a more intuitive user interface, and Microsoft dropped the time limit on beamed songs. But here's the kicker: People who'd bought the original Zune also got the new features. A similar thing happened when Apple revamped its original, lame Apple TV set-top box with a less-lame version a few months later. Overnight, a software update gave old Apple TVs the power to buy movies directly from the couch, a feature that had been left out of the first version.

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Farhad Manjoo is Slate's technology columnist and the author of True Enough: Learning To Live in a Post-Fact Society.

Photograph of Sonos ZP120 in bedroom courtesy Sonos. Photograph of iPhone on Slate's home page by Andrew Ross/AFP/Getty Images.

COMMENTS

Remarks from the Fray:

What Sonos continues to update is not quality of sound reproduction but access to music. While that may fit into the realm of customer service what is its true value? How much music do you need instant access to? How many people require a library of 60,000 songs to meet their daily music interests? It is nice but hardly spectacular and when it comes to music reproduction, who cares?

When it comes to audio reproduction many find that older equipments really do create the best quality reproduction. You can spew signal throughout your home but if it sounds tinny and lifeless why bother. An instrument produces music in a spatial orientation that faces the listener, not in surround sound. An orchestra is a collection of instruments and a solo vocal is the finest of all the instruments. Vintage stereo gear is some of the best ever designed or constructed. McIntosh, Scott, Fisher, Klipsch, JBL, Tannoy to name but a few whose devices are considered timeless. The beauty of the application of vacuum tube valves has been rediscovered in modern devices as well.

Audio reproduction is one technical arena that has evolved away from a purist analog pinnacle using digitally canned methods that focus on quantity, not quality. There are companies that seek to apply new materials and design to high caliber reproduction. Sadly the prices of their products are far beyond what is easily accessible. A little knowledge, a little money and a little effort will allow a person to cobble together the best of the old and the new into some truly spectacular set ups.

--Scoot'r-d

(To reply, click here.)

Mr. Farhad Manjoo mentioned that although we are departing from Planned Obsolescence, HW upgrades such as more disk space on computers, will eventually render our gadgets obsolete. I would argue that with emergence of cloud computing we are even moving away from HW obsolescence. In a not so distant future you'll be able to host your personal info on clouds, getting a virtual disk space upgrade if you will. It's not too hard to imagine virtual apps that process certain activities for you as well - giving your mobile phone or computer more processing power.

It's an interesting thought, especially when we talk about sustainability and green production. Less obsolescence built into our devices means there is room for a new model where manufacturers can make money on improving their devices and the world benefits from less waste.

--MKettler

(To reply, click here.)

IMHO, the iPhone remote is an absolute Sonos killer. I have been on the fence since the Sonos came out about buying it, because of the price to outfit my sprawling house.

No more. With the iPhone Remote app, I have a much better system for a far lower price.

1) Each room costs < $200 to add. Any old Airport Express (buy the previous gen on eBay) + a good set of powered speakers is all I need to add another room.

2) It's already sync'd with my master music library, which is sync'd with all my iPods and my Apple TV. No setup, no issues.

3) It supports purchased iTunes music.

There are certainly some things Sonos does better, but I either don't care (Rhapsody) or I'm willing to live with it (more complex volume level balancing/power-on power-off).

I don't think it's an accident that Sonos has had a flurry of promotions since the Apple iPhone Remote arrived.

--markgo

(To reply, click here.)

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