Alexa/Audible and Sonos?

I hope Sonos will support audible. I hear grumblings about and then nothing. Then random chat posters says “in big way”... what does that mean? Just fix the integration. I don’t need it to be fancy. Just want the ability to tell Alexa to play an audio book. Don’t need to stream from audible app or anything else. I would rather have bare bones now than some fully baked million way interface in the very far future. Keep it simple.

If Sonos were to issue a statement on this and be open and honest, I think that would go a long way and have a better outcome than what they are doing now. A candid, truthful response would be more appreciated than the repeated lies and tap-dancing that they have done so far. If Sonos is actually reading these comments and taking them into consideration, they would realize that this is now less about having this specific functionality and more about how they handling the response and communication to their customers. This issue is no longer about not being able to use Audible on our devices, and has everything to do with the growing lack of confidence in the integrity of the company. Here's what they need to do:

Apologize
Apologize for how they've handled this so far. Point out all of the occasions that they've "promised" delivery of this feature and failed. Apologize for the lack of honesty/transparency in the communications to their customers.

Come clean.
If the issue is that there is a technical limitation, a licensing issue between Amazon/Sonos, a contract dispute, or that it simply hasn't become a priority in the list of features/functionality that resources are dedicated to, come clean. There is a reason (probably several) that this hasn't been delivered as promised. If it's because Amazon is dragging their feet, and Sonos is waiting on them, then say so. If its something that's tied up in a legal dispute or contract negotiations, then say so (within legal boundaries of course). Without knowing the reasons behind the delay, it just leaves the door open to speculation. Sonos has the ability to control that message, and they should. If done right, this may have more of an impact than actually delivering the requested functionality at this point in time. They've left an infection untreated, and now it's festering.

Offer Value
Harvest every single user that has posted about this on the support forums on your site, and deliver a personalized apology summarizing points (1) and (2) above. Offer something of value that incentivizes them to further invest in the Sonos platform. A one-time 20-30% discount on any Play1, Play3 or Play5 device, for example. Give them an additional 10% off if they share the apology they received on social media with comments on how Sonos did the right thing.

Change Service Culture
This is a tough one, because who knows what the customer service culture is like at Sonos. There's evidence (opinions) all over the place in the support forums so anybody's guess is as good as mine is. This entire thing would have never happened to begin with, if the culture didn't allow it. Will Sonos examine this and take it into consideration and actually try to foster improvement in their customer service and communications? I doubt it, but for the sake of the company I hope this is used as an example of what not to do. I hope this ends up being a success story, mostly because I just want to listen to my audio books.

I agree! Just give us an honest answer and not run us around. I’ve now qualified my recommendation to friends based on how iffy things are with sonos. I really believe they intend to support audible so just a matter of communicating out when they are going to do it. Again I would rather have audible support now through the app at least and more to come. Just something letting us know our purchase is going to live up to what I was told it would do.

Still waiting for Audible... Feeling disappointed in Sonos.

I agree with everyone. They say they're working on it, but can't even say what stage they're at. Is it in testing? Are they only at the brainstorming stage? After 2+ years of little to no information, I wouldn't know which to bet on. Very disappointing. And now with other products catching up, I wonder how much of a priority this is for them.

I can understand that they want to be secretive about new functionality, so that they can get a jump on the competition, but to be secret about reinstating functionality is obviously frustrating for many Sonos customers and seems quite petty. If they're concerned about setting expectations which mightn't be met, (perhaps through no fault of their own as there are obviously at least 2 parties involved in getting this working), then at least say it's a tentative time-line, or as suggested, perhaps say what stage the re-instatement is in, (analysis, development, system test, user test, ready to roll out etc., or whatever their methodology stages are). To say so little doesn't inspire any confidence.

I’ve been waiting a year now...

seriously disappointed with Sonos and their inability to commit to a fix date.

Promoting your product with Alexa that isn’t fit to be call Sonos Alexa is fake marketing.

You don’t have a release date or you are refusing to share demonstrates the difference between a company like Apple who delivers on release dates

and Sonos who seriously is losing good will from people who purchased Sonos and wants simple audible functionality...

ie play a book on audible and it comes out of a Sonos speaker ...

how hard can it get!

We can put a man on the frikin moon!!

Geez ...so I go buy Sonos Alexa as John Lewis guy says yes Alexa plays audible...

so I buy 2 £400 for Christmas to add to my massive Sonos system...

still no audible...

joke!

Hope your Sales Director reads the car crash support you’re offering for this feature !

Should be ashamed about releasing a product that’s only 50% Alexa ... it’s not just audible bit loads of other functionality missing ....

You should rename Sonos Alexa to Sonos Ale as it’s not finished

That’s a bit harsh on Sonos tbh. What I think most people miss is the non-Amazon non-echo devices are “Alexa enabled” and are therefore less capable than the true blue echo devices. Even some Amazon hardware is only Alexa enabled and doesn’t support the full Alexa Echo feature set. Third parties can only develop the facilities as and when the Amazon APIs allow them to develop, no matter how ‘easy’ non-developers think it should be.