So you’ve read all about Amazon Alexa working with Sonos and you want to know more. Here’s a rundown of how the integration works.
Your Amazon Alexa devices are listening for you to say the wake word, “Alexa”. When they hear that word, the microphones record what you say and send the audio to the Amazon Alexa cloud to be translated.
That voice line turns into a string of text. The Amazon protocols determine if it’s meant for Amazon Alexa or for a Sonos player. If it’s for Sonos, that text is then sent directly, and securely, over to the Sonos cloud to be turned into a command using our own codes.
Finally, the Sonos intended command goes down to the system.
Want to try it out?
Here are some fun commands to try. I like starting with:
“Alexa, play some salsa in the kitchen.”
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When I ask Alexa to change the speakers volume it seems to be that the „steps“ are to large and the command „set to Volume x (1-10)“ doesn‘t work either.
With the new Sonos skill, can I include a Sonos speaker in an Alexa multi room group along with echo devices and play music across them all I.e. does the Sonos speaker appear as an emulated echo speaker? Thx
For example I should be able to have a stereo pair in my Living Room, a single speaker in my kitchen and another in my bedroom. I should be able to say Alexa play music in entire house (or something similar) and have all 4 speakers play.
If you want to group ungroup rooms etc, then you will need to follow the guides that have been published in the past by these two people:
https://github.com/rgraciano/echo-sonos
https://github.com/jishi/node-sonos-http-api
Requires some work to set up, but once done you will have all the functionality you want. Grouping, ungrouping, spotify etc.
I am quite astounded that the multi million dollar companies Amazon and Sonos spent a year in development and announced with much fanfare, a system that has only half the functionality of the one above which was put together by amateur programmers and released over a year ago.
This isnt some form of "entitlement" either, its just that with amateur programming able to deliver the functionality of grouping and ungrouping, accessing local music and spotify, I was obviously expecting the release from in house professionals to match the existing amateur functionality in a slicker more straight forward setup. How very wrong I was.
Ill be back to setting up the systems above again, because they offer MUCH more functionality than this official release.
Heck, Amazon and Sonos could have just bought this setup off the amateur programmer, wrapped it in their own systems to avoid the need for people to set it up themselves, delivered lots more functionality and released it six months ago. Did they even bother to look what people were currently doing?
Did this amateur code also allow Alexa to work with users music libraries as well? Currently that is a pathetic deal breaker for me with the new Alexa feature
Wow amazing. Whole point to me was to be able to ask Alexa to play music from my artists. If you have to use an app to start the music why would I bother to it use the app and use my voice to control it?
No, play cannot be initiated via voice control for unsupported services. However, once you initiate playback via the Sonos app, basic play/pause/skip/volume controls work via voice for any service and or source.
From what I saw from my alexa app, the Sonos doesn't appear on the Alexa multiroom group, though the Sonos system(room name), appeers on the Alexa Devices.
So I assume initially, it cannot be group to an alexa multiroom group along side with the echo devices.
hope this helps
Yeah, it seems that way. Strange in one way to not have implemented it as an emulated "echo speaker" and allow mix and match. Conversely, I can see why they've maybe treated Sonos as a smart home entertainment device and not just speakers, although the current beta skill has a very heavy flavour of the latter
Thanks
I'd like to see grouping added, but also the ability to ask alexa to switch back to tv(for people with playbar) when you're finished listening to music. At the minute I can ask alexa to play music in my living room but then when I want to watch the tv again, I still have to open the app to switch the audio back to tv, which means I still end up using the app.
Did this amateur code also allow Alexa to work with users music libraries as well? Currently that is a pathetic deal breaker for me with the new Alexa feature
Yes it does.
Full current list of abilities from this github code is below.
(read and then wonder as I do why giants like Amazon and Sonos couldn't have this in their official release after working on it for a year - when anyone who follows this code can have it working in about an hour or so).
List of features below taken from here: https://github.com/rgraciano/echo-sonos
Music Services
echo-sonos supports Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, Deezer Elite, Sonos playlists, Sonos favorites, SiriusXM, the local Sonos music library, and configurable node-sonos-http-api presets.
Sonos Playlists: "Alexa, ask sonos to start playlist MY PLAYLIST in the ROOM"
Sonos Favorites: "Alexa, ask sonos to play favorite MY FAVORITE in the ROOM"
Music services: "Alexa, ask sonos to change music to SERVICE" (SERVICE = Presets, Library, Apple, Spotify, Deezer, or Elite)
SiriusXM: "Alexa, play SiriusXM channel CHANNEL in the ROOM"
SiriusXM: "Alexa, play SiriusXM station STATION in the ROOM"
node-sonos-http-api Presets: "Alexa, ask sonos to play Rock" (queues a node-sonos-http-api macro that sets up speaker/volume/service configuration)
Sonos Rooms and Groups
echo-sonos can default to controlling a specific room, to save you some talking. It will also remember the last room that was used in a normal command, and use that room in future commands.
Change room: "Alexa, ask sonos to change room to ROOM"
Change room and service: "Alexa, ask sonos to change room to ROOM and music to SERVICE"
Add room to the group: "Alexa, ask sonos to join NEW_ROOM to the ROOM"
Remove room from the group: "Alexa, ask sonos to ungroup ROOM"
Playing Music
Play songs from an artist: "Alexa, ask sonos to play ARTIST NAME in the ROOM"
Play songs from an album: "Alexa, ask sonos to play album ALBUM NAME in the ROOM"
Play a song: "Alexa, ask sonos to play the song SONG NAME in the ROOM"
Play "radio" songs like this artist: "Alexa, ask sonos to play ARTIST NAME radio in the ROOM"
Play more "radio" songs like this song: "Alexa, play more songs by this artist in the ROOM"
Play more "radio" songs like this track: "Alexa, play more songs like this in the ROOM"
Next: "Alexa, ask sonos go to the next track in the ROOM"
Previous: "Alexa, ask sonos to go back in the ROOM"
Clear queue: "Alexa, ask sonos to clear the queue in the ROOM"
What's playing: "Alexa, ask sonos what's playing in the ROOM"
Controlling Music
Pause: "Alexa, ask sonos to pause in the ROOM"
Pause all: "Alexa, ask sonos to pause all"
Resume: "Alexa, ask sonos to resume in the ROOM"
Resume all: "Alexa, ask sonos to resume all"
Mute: "Alexa, ask sonos to mute in the ROOM"
Unmute: "Alexa, ask sonos to unmute in the ROOM"
Repeat: "Alexa, ask sonos to turn repeat [on,off] in the ROOM"
Shuffle: "Alexa, ask sonos to turn shuffle [on,off] in the ROOM"
Crossfade: "Alexa, ask sonos to turn crossfade [on,off] in the ROOM"
Volume up or down (single room): "Alexa, ask sonos to turn it [up,down] in the ROOM"
Volume up or down (all in group): "Alexa, ask sonos to turn it [up,down] in the ROOM group"
Set volume (single room): "Alexa, ask sonos to change the volume to 22 in the ROOM"
Set volume (all in group): "Alexa, ask sonos to change the volume to 22 in the ROOM group"
Wow, that's ridiculous that sonos can't even match that feature set after 18 months of trying. Maybe amazon have deliberately crippled the feature set to make it less compelling than their devices
I have Hue bulbs that are grouped as Living Room too. Any ideas what I should be saying? How I should be saying it? Or why I am having problems?
See my post here: https://en.community.sonos.com/amazon-alexa-and-sonos-229102/using-sonos-alexa-and-smart-bulbs-in-a-room-all-with-the-same-name-6791525
As I mentioned on another post:
I had been waiting for this for so long and it really would had made my day.
But I asked Alexa to play Wonderwall on Main Room or Play AeroSmith in Main Room and all it does is play whatever was playing on my Deezer. Then I made sure to make Amazon Music my default on the Echo app.
I asked the same commands and now it just plays whatever song was playing or had been playing on Amazon Music.
Serious Blue Balls.
And this had been in beta out on Reddit all this time and it works like this?
Seriously?
I had been waiting for this for so long and it really would had made my day.
But I asked Alexa to play Wonderwall on Main Room or Play AeroSmith in Main Room and all it does is play whatever was playing on my Deezer. Then I made sure to make Amazon Music my default on the Echo app.
I asked the same commands and now it just plays whatever song was playing or had been playing on Amazon Music.
Serious Blue Balls.
And this had been in beta out on Reddit all this time and it works like this?
Seriously?
I had been waiting for this for so long and it really would had made my day.
But I asked Alexa to play Wonderwall on Main Room or Play AeroSmith in Main Room and all it does is play whatever was playing on my Deezer. Then I made sure to make Amazon Music my default on the Echo app.
I asked the same commands and now it just plays whatever song was playing or had been playing on Amazon Music.
Serious Blue Balls.
And this had been in beta out on Reddit all this time and it works like this?
Seriously WTF?
That is not how it is supposed to work, obviously. So how about instead of blasting out a vulgar tirade, perhaps you could submit a diagnostic and then list the reference number here so a Sonos tech can sort it out. That would be far more helpful to both you and everyone else.
Userlevel 7
+26
Generally speaking, the Sonos One has just about the same quality as the PLAY:1. I've heard from plenty of people that the Sonos One has a bit more bass to it, but I think that's going to have come down to personal testing. They both sound great.
Works great for me so far.
Wish list -
1 be able to set a particular dot(etc) to default to a sonos group so you can skip the location command (not sure if possible)
2 be able to play from local library
Wish list -
1 be able to set a particular dot(etc) to default to a sonos group so you can skip the location command (not sure if possible)
2 be able to play from local library
Generally speaking, the Sonos One has just about the same quality as the PLAY:1. I've heard from plenty of people that the Sonos One has a bit more bass to it, but I think that's going to have come down to personal testing. They both sound great.
Thanks for that update.
My other question:
Amazon will launch Alexa in India and sell echo etc via the Indian website from October 31.
Thereafter will it directly work with my Sonos kit, or is there some Sonos action also needed? If so, how long will it take Sonos to do what it will take to work with Alexa?
Can sonos play 1 and a Amazon Echo play the same song at the same time? I.e to be both used in one room together?
Yep - all understood, I was advising that there is a distinction between a Play:1 and a PlayOne. It may be seen by some that the way to have a stereo pair and voice control is to have one of each of these, but that is not possible.
To have a voice controlled pair of sonos 1's the options are:
Play:1 + Play:1 + echo dot
or
PlayOne + PlayOne.
To have a voice controlled pair of sonos 1's the options are:
Play:1 + Play:1 + echo dot
or
PlayOne + PlayOne.
Have an Echo Dot and a Sonos:1. First rev of the integration works fine for basic controls. Any idea when Spotify will be supported, and are there plans/schedule to be able to add a song that is playing thru sonos to a specific playlist via amazon echo alexa voice commands? Looking forward to future enhancements of this. I suspect my basic hw may be limiting.
To be clearer, it's Play 1 and Sonos One. Still going to be confusing, but it's marginally better.
Userlevel 7
+26
Generally speaking, the Sonos One has just about the same quality as the PLAY:1. I've heard from plenty of people that the Sonos One has a bit more bass to it, but I think that's going to have come down to personal testing. They both sound great.
Thanks for that update.
My other question:
Amazon will launch Alexa in India and sell echo etc via the Indian website from October 31.
Thereafter will it directly work with my Sonos kit, or is there some Sonos action also needed? If so, how long will it take Sonos to do what it will take to work with Alexa?
There will need to be some work by both us and Amazon, but I don't know how long or what will need to happen specifically. If I were to venture a guess, which is always dangerous, I'd say it shouldn't take long. But I'm sure there are some things I don't know about licensing and legal concerns beyond the server side things. Sorry I can't offer a better answer, but if I hear anything more I can share I'll be happy to let you in on it.
Well, spoke to soon. All working fine then the Playbar won't accept commands. Not sure what I've done wrong.
My other question:
Amazon will launch Alexa in India and sell echo etc via the Indian website from October 31.
Thereafter will it directly work with my Sonos kit, or is there some Sonos action also needed? If so, how long will it take Sonos to do what it will take to work with Alexa?
There will need to be some work by both us and Amazon, but I don't know how long or what will need to happen specifically. If I were to venture a guess, which is always dangerous, I'd say it shouldn't take long. But I'm sure there are some things I don't know about licensing and legal concerns beyond the server side things. Sorry I can't offer a better answer, but if I hear anything more I can share I'll be happy to let you in on it.
That Amazon will launch Alexa in India on Oct 31 is solid; Amazon has announced it here in the press and on their Indian website and Amazon's record is of not missing such promised dates.
And I am sure Sonos will get a confirmation of this from Amazon if/when the question is asked.
So why does Sonos not start the work - assuming there is any in the first place - now, while the launch date is almost a month away and not be in catch up mode after the event?
+2
Note that the way I thought grouping would work is that the Sonos speakers would integrate with the Alexa's own multi-room playback grouping.
https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/29/16219978/amazon-echo-multi-room-music-playback-how-to
Those groups do look like they are intended to be static (e.g., a "Downstairs" group with multiple devices).
Personally, that would be ideal for me. I don't actually need to ability to create custom groups on-the-fly using the voice interface. But I would like the ability to issue commands to start playing music in only a single room (i.e., "play X in the kitchen") or among commonly grouped sets of rooms (i.e., "play X downstairs," "play X everywhere," ...).
Anyone know why alexa won't forget a Sonos zone once it's found it ? I have two areas, living room and dining room. I want the living room to use the integration, and the dining room to use the 3.5mm jack to the play:5 line in (this stops it muting the dining room when issuing commands in the living room) works fine for awhile, then it finds and adds the dining room and it starts muting them all again.
It was full of gremlins when I first used it. Unplug dots. Deregister and delete Alexa app. Download alexa app. Register. Plug dots back in. Discover and I was up and running.
Apologies if this has been posted elsewhere.....
I have play 1's in 4 rooms (including the lounge with the playbar and sub).
I'm thinking of buying the echo dot(s) and i'm not sure whether i need one for each room or would one/two suffice?
I have play 1's in 4 rooms (including the lounge with the playbar and sub).
I'm thinking of buying the echo dot(s) and i'm not sure whether i need one for each room or would one/two suffice?
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