Sonos is giving customers the option to trade in affected models and receive 30 per cent off a newly purchased replacement.

Of particular concern to many users on Twitter was that while some of these models are more than ten years old, others including the Connect and Connect:Amp were sold by Sonos as recently as 2015 and could be found for sale elsewhere much more recently.

There's no equivalent replacement for some old models including the Bridge and CR200, as modern wireless routers power all current Sonos speakers and the Sonos is used for multi-room functionality.

Meanwhile users of an old Connect or Connect:Amp could replace it with a Sonos Port ($599) or Amp ($999), and owners of the original Sonos Play:5 are looking at $749 for a modern replacement, before the discount.

"As this is the first time we've had to end software updates for any music player, we recognise this is new for Sonos owners, just as it is for Sonos," a Sonos spokesperson said in a statement.

"We've now come to the point where our oldest products have been stretched to their technical limits in terms of memory and processing power."

Sonos' speakers and the company's tie-ups with around 100 music streaming providers, including Apple Music and Spotify, have attracted fans around the world. The company, founded in 2002, listed on the US stock exchange in 2018.

But as Amazon's Echo, Google's Home and Apple's HomePod entered the market, the California-based company faced pressure over pricing and the variety of its products.

Many customers also highlighted the environmental aspect of the move at a time when people are buying more and more devices and then abandoning them quickly, increasing landfill waste.

Shares of the company were down 1.2 per cent at $US14.62 in early trading on Wednesday, US time.

Reuters, with staff reporters