Amazon Echo sounds interesting. It would be great if this could be used as a controller for Sonos.
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We'll have to see. Echo is very fast, truly amazing in my opinion. For instance, my daughter asked me what the definition of "vexed" was. Instead of telling her a not-so-great definition from memory, I went to get my phone to do a search. Instead, I simply asked echo: "Alexa, what is the definition of 'vexed'?", and she answered very shortly after I asked. That's amazing, considering they're send data to the cloud, doing voice recognition, determining what the question was, looking for the answer, and sending the answer back to the echo.
For me, it's a moot point about whether the integration between the echo and sonos would be good. The issue for me is that I'm trying to convince my wife to pay electricians to run speaker wire to four bedrooms and possibly the kitchen, and then subsequently invest in sonos amps and speakers in those locations. That's thousands of dollars. When she can just stick a $200 speaker somewhere and ask it to play music, why would she invest thousands to have something with less functionality?
And then there's the new Dot:
https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=14047587011&ref=ODS_HA_P_surl
A small Echo that also outputs to a speaker system. If this doesn't have sonos shaking in its boots, I don't know what will.
For me, it's a moot point about whether the integration between the echo and sonos would be good. The issue for me is that I'm trying to convince my wife to pay electricians to run speaker wire to four bedrooms and possibly the kitchen, and then subsequently invest in sonos amps and speakers in those locations. That's thousands of dollars. When she can just stick a $200 speaker somewhere and ask it to play music, why would she invest thousands to have something with less functionality?
And then there's the new Dot:
https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=14047587011&ref=ODS_HA_P_surl
A small Echo that also outputs to a speaker system. If this doesn't have sonos shaking in its boots, I don't know what will.
I tried controlling Apple Music via Siri a few times. The experience was awkward and very frustrating; doubt Echo would prove much better for music. Perhaps if one listens to a very limited range of music over and over again; I don't.
Yes, Anymote and Yonomi both allow very limited on/off control of Sonos devices from Alexa. Existing playlists, volume control too, at least via Yonomi.
No ability to search, though, which the Sonos voice control will no doubt include.
No ability to search, though, which the Sonos voice control will no doubt include.
Josh.ai will let users control Sonos using the Amazon Echo. It accepts commands like a song title. I attached a video below that shows the voice commands.
The Sonos part is at 1 minute and 43 seconds
The Sonos part is at 1 minute and 43 seconds
The Sonos part is at 1 minute and 43 seconds
That's sound great video Josh.ai!
There are plenty of Amazon Alexa commands those make easier to use Echo or Echo Dot devices. Just say “Alexa – and command” to act. Check out some command here https://www.megebyte.com/list-of-alexa-commands-for-amazon-echo/
I am not dismissve of Echo but I do lay a sense of perspective over it.
It is only available in the US. It is not available to the much larger market that is Europe.
Lets look at Europe.
Got the 3rd generation Kindle.
Only got the Amazon phone as they had to shift stock.
Got 2nd generation tablets that were a disaster until Amazon decided to provide a tablet for its intended use of media consumption. Software that is a mess.
Everything is released in the US first followed by global release once they have sorted all the bugs out.
Amazon changed Audible so it doesn't work with Sonos - which, for some people, is bizarrely Sonos' fault.
There are now 3 echo products. How many will there be in five years. How many home automation devices / systems are there? How long will it be before Amazon change the firmware - to get rid of all those bugs that are in it - which makes it inoperable with other "partners".
It is new. The novelty factor hasn't worn off.
Nowhere else in the world has access to any Echo device. Will any be rolled out globally (Germany and the UK being very large markets for Amazon) and how will it be received?
There are so many variables. Other "partners" that use Echo do not sell premium priced hardware which is a system in its own right. Why is a static voice controlled device better than a mobile voice controlled device? What integration should Sonos pursue. A static device in one room or a mobile one.
It is only available in the US. It is not available to the much larger market that is Europe.
Lets look at Europe.
Got the 3rd generation Kindle.
Only got the Amazon phone as they had to shift stock.
Got 2nd generation tablets that were a disaster until Amazon decided to provide a tablet for its intended use of media consumption. Software that is a mess.
Everything is released in the US first followed by global release once they have sorted all the bugs out.
Amazon changed Audible so it doesn't work with Sonos - which, for some people, is bizarrely Sonos' fault.
There are now 3 echo products. How many will there be in five years. How many home automation devices / systems are there? How long will it be before Amazon change the firmware - to get rid of all those bugs that are in it - which makes it inoperable with other "partners".
It is new. The novelty factor hasn't worn off.
Nowhere else in the world has access to any Echo device. Will any be rolled out globally (Germany and the UK being very large markets for Amazon) and how will it be received?
There are so many variables. Other "partners" that use Echo do not sell premium priced hardware which is a system in its own right. Why is a static voice controlled device better than a mobile voice controlled device? What integration should Sonos pursue. A static device in one room or a mobile one.
Short answer is if you are controlling something attached to your house then the controller should be attached as well... or at least in close proximity. The last thing you want is to not be able to control something because somebody grabbed the primary controller and took it with them to the grocery store or whatever.
For people who always carry a smart device on their person (no not everybody does) then having that as an option to act as a secondary controller can be very handy but there always needs to be a primary controller that stays close to the thing being controlled. Ideally that primary controller will be voice activated.
Sonos CEO's response - http://blog.sonos.com/news/industry-in-transition-invest-in-future
Very good news to hear! So the new microphones added to Play:5 gen 2 can mean an Alexa in every room with a sonos. Also, I think with true play, the mics might help tune themselves like I believe Bose does with home theater.
Download the Yonomi app. Echo now controls Sonos.
I just got an echo, I love my sonos system, after one voice command for echo to play something relaxing and it doing it I immediately yearned for it to control my sonos system. I really hope they get this set up, as like other posters, if amazon sets something up like this I'd probably ditch sonos
its been two months, any update Sonos on when official sonos/echo integration is coming?
You must be joking! Do you have ANY idea how long it takes just to ramp up an integration project of this scope, much less get it funded, designed, developed, tested, documented, deployed, etc? I don't think so... Maybe six months from now.
1) Sonos never gives timelines, release dates, or detailed roadmaps. The next time you hear about this will be the public beta.
2) Even if Sonos did do #1, you should familiarize yourself with the average software development cycle. A large scale revamp such as this is at the very least a 6 month development course, preceded by at least that number of months planning (which may or may not have taken place already). Nothing major gets done in 2 months in the software world. Matter of fact, the vast majority of the time, nothing minor gets done in 2 months; if you actually want it to be tested and release worthy.
Patience grasshopper. Patience.
1) Sonos never gives timelines, release dates, or detailed roadmaps. The next time you hear about this will be the public beta.
2) Even if Sonos did do #1, you should familiarize yourself with the average software development cycle. A large scale revamp such as this is at the very least a 6 month development course, preceded by at least that number of months planning (which may or may not have taken place already). Nothing major gets done in 2 months in the software world. Matter of fact, the vast majority of the time, nothing minor gets done in 2 months; if you actually want it to be tested and release worthy.
Patience grasshopper. Patience.
thats funny you mention SDLC. i actually have been developing software for the better part of 25 years so i get timelines, patience, etc.
i would hope sonos was well along the path of a release before their CEO's public blog post and the revamping of the organization.
they have already said its coming, they should have a timeline, a plan, a schedule.
i will take your point though of patience and hope that sonos does a really nice integration with echo and its worth the wait.
Amazon only just announced availability of AVS to third party devices on March 23rd of this year. Two months ago. Assuming Sonos uses it, they've barely had time to assess the offering, start talks with Amazon, and maybe get a few developers trained on its use. A long, long road ahead...
More tick box pain for sonos, makes sonos look like a 10 year old product....
Why? Sonos has announced it is working on voice control. No other multi-room system has even announced this functionality, Sonos is the first. In what way could these facts make Sonos "look like a 10 year old product"? Seems to me they are ahead of the game, not behind.
Do we even know if they are going to add Alexa to the Sonos (using internal mic), or create a skill? I'm crossing my fingers for a skill, I don't see Sonos catching up with Echo's special mics in time to catch this falling knife.
The way the CEO worded it a while back, it gave me the feeling that decision to adopt Echo was fairly recent. Just my interpretation of his words.
I agree, 2 months is ridiculously short for anything. But if they are only developing a skill, it should be fairly straightforward. A couple people have already created json custom skills, doesn't seem to be that tough, but needs a server.
One big issue I see, and maybe I am completely missing something here, is that I think for an Echo Skill to work with Sonos, they will need some kind of hub on the local network (or software running on local computer). Sonos speakers, unlike many other IoT devices, are not accessible from the internet (a good and bad thing). They do not maintain a connection with 'home base', and are only accessible when the app scans the local network to see what it finds. I'm pretty sure Alexa skills needs a combination of the cloud, plus an IoT devices reachable from the cloud to send commands to. Please correct me if I am wrong.
The way the CEO worded it a while back, it gave me the feeling that decision to adopt Echo was fairly recent. Just my interpretation of his words.
I agree, 2 months is ridiculously short for anything. But if they are only developing a skill, it should be fairly straightforward. A couple people have already created json custom skills, doesn't seem to be that tough, but needs a server.
One big issue I see, and maybe I am completely missing something here, is that I think for an Echo Skill to work with Sonos, they will need some kind of hub on the local network (or software running on local computer). Sonos speakers, unlike many other IoT devices, are not accessible from the internet (a good and bad thing). They do not maintain a connection with 'home base', and are only accessible when the app scans the local network to see what it finds. I'm pretty sure Alexa skills needs a combination of the cloud, plus an IoT devices reachable from the cloud to send commands to. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Interesting to see a licensed third part product...
http://www.invoxia.com/triby/
http://www.invoxia.com/triby/
Well, Amazon has certainly entered the wireless speaker market with a bang.
http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-echo-speaker-sales-beats-bose-and-logitech-2016-1
https://www.1010data.com/company/blog/can-you-hear-me-now-the-surprising-success-of-the-amazon-echo/
http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-echo-speaker-sales-beats-bose-and-logitech-2016-1
https://www.1010data.com/company/blog/can-you-hear-me-now-the-surprising-success-of-the-amazon-echo/
Since Amazon famously never releases sales figures on anything it manufactures, take that chart with a grain of salt. I've seen market analysis that had Amazon Fire tablets outselling iPads, and other market analysis where they were trailing Chinese tablet manufacturers. Not coincidentally, the premise behind each article (pretty much "Amazon takes over tablet industry" vs. "Amazon tablet division in big trouble") exactly matched the market "analysis".
Had enough Best Buy points to pick up an Echo for $5 this morning.
Addressing the sound quality first: it's about on part with my Squeezebox Radio, which is to say far below a room-corrected Play:1. About as expected.
Went through a couple of voice training sessions from across the room. I listen to a lot of French, Spanish, Portuguese, etc music, so Alexa has a tough time understanding artist names, but when she finally does, this can be affirmed in the app. Will take some time.
I don't have Spotify account, so am currently limited to Tunein or Pandora, and a few Amazon albums, on Echo. Annoyingly, Alexa seems to want to search I Heart Radio, which I've never used, by default, even though I haven't enabled an account there. I have to specifically mention Pandora or Tunein to play from either. Maybe there's a way to change the default, but I don't see how. No Apple Music, Google Music, SoundCloud, MixCloud, or most other places where I have accounts and can access via Sonos.
Hooked it up with Yonomi to control my Sonos devices. Let's just say that this process isn't up to Sonos levels of simplicity.
Looking forward to Sonos adding voice control, which will no doubt "just work", certainly better than Alexa +Yonomi.
For things like weather and traffic, pretty cool. For music, meh, very limited do far. I'll continue using the Sonos app for music until Alexa is smarter, or Sonos does voice control much better, as I expect they will.
Addressing the sound quality first: it's about on part with my Squeezebox Radio, which is to say far below a room-corrected Play:1. About as expected.
Went through a couple of voice training sessions from across the room. I listen to a lot of French, Spanish, Portuguese, etc music, so Alexa has a tough time understanding artist names, but when she finally does, this can be affirmed in the app. Will take some time.
I don't have Spotify account, so am currently limited to Tunein or Pandora, and a few Amazon albums, on Echo. Annoyingly, Alexa seems to want to search I Heart Radio, which I've never used, by default, even though I haven't enabled an account there. I have to specifically mention Pandora or Tunein to play from either. Maybe there's a way to change the default, but I don't see how. No Apple Music, Google Music, SoundCloud, MixCloud, or most other places where I have accounts and can access via Sonos.
Hooked it up with Yonomi to control my Sonos devices. Let's just say that this process isn't up to Sonos levels of simplicity.
Looking forward to Sonos adding voice control, which will no doubt "just work", certainly better than Alexa +Yonomi.
For things like weather and traffic, pretty cool. For music, meh, very limited do far. I'll continue using the Sonos app for music until Alexa is smarter, or Sonos does voice control much better, as I expect they will.
My guess is that the expected sales-angle is to sell more music, not other stuff... (All music you've ever bought on Amazon on CD or otherwise is already available to you to stream.) It's not a bad idea, and personally, I'd love to be able to control my Sonos verbally (reliably).
I don't feel the Echo sounds anywhere near the sound quality of a Play:5. Not even a Play:1 to my ears (but we all hear differently).
It doesn't seem to have nearly as much bass response and the clarity is much superior in the Play devices.
It doesn't seem to have nearly as much bass response and the clarity is much superior in the Play devices.
I SERIOUSLY doubt it's even near the quality of a Play 1.
Your praise is much higher than this review:
http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/19/7548059/amazon-echo-review-speaker
To say it could be the end of Sonos.... well, count the threads on here about other "Sonos-killers" that have come and gone!
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