Sonos Criticized for Recycle Mode Feature

Sonos is facing backlash for encouraging people to use a "recycle mode" feature on older devices that ends up making its speakers permanently useless.

Business Insider reports that the company is pushing a trade-up program that lets people "recycle" their devices in exchange for a 30 percent discount on a new speaker. But in order to trade in their device, consumers must turn on recycle mode, which makes the speaker impossible to be reused.

Business Insider has more information:

When Sonos launched a trade-up program in October, the company framed it as a way for people to "responsibly recycle older products." Customers could trade in older models of the high-tech speakers for a 30% discount on a new one.

But in order to qualify for the program, people must enable "recycle mode," a software feature that activates a countdown before bricking the speaker — that is, making it permanently unusable.

The feature ensures that people won't be able to resell old devices — Sonos speakers tend to last a long time, and used ones can cost about $250. Recycle mode decreases the number of working Sonos speakers in circulation, allowing the company to maintain more control over supply and demand for its products.

Read the full article here.