Question

Alexa doesn't know about Sonos playlists??!!!

  • 16 November 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 850 views

I bought Alexa specifically because I was told I would be able to use its voice control features with Sonos. I am now learning that I can't ask Alexa to play one of my Sonos playlists! Only change the volume or stop playing. Is this really true? If so, what a waste. How hard can it be for Alexa to know a few playlists? Even if I have to enter them into the app once manually for Alexa to recognize them, it doesn't sound like too great a technological feat.

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2 replies

Alexa doesn't know, because Alexa doesn't ask. Sonos can't tell Alexa what Alexa doesn't ask for. Alexa won't play anything on Sonos that it can't already play on the echo...basically. There are reasons, technical and speculative, for this, and Sonos staff is very much aware that customers want this and many other features. Unfortunately, they are not in complete control of getting a lot of these features implemented.

Personally, I use Amazon, Pandora, and SiriusXM for pretty much everything, so it doesn't effect my usage much. I can definitely see why it's a deal breaker for others though.
Similarly, it won’t play MP3s on my local server - which is the main reason for choosing Sonos in the first place. Really hoping that “Sonos Music” is added as an additional Music provider for Alexa, like Amazon Music / Spotify, etc. It’s feasible...