Answered

Alexa welcomes Apple Music to Amazon Echo

  • 30 November 2018
  • 63 replies
  • 14034 views

Userlevel 2
Badge
So on Dec 17th Apple Music will be available on Amazon Echo devices.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/baig/2018/11/30/alexa-welcomes-apple-music-amazon-echo/2151574002/

The question is; does this make Apple Music immediately available to those of us who use an Echo connected to Sonos. On Dec 17th will I be able to ask my Echo to play apple music on my Sonos ? Or will Sonos also need to "do something" to make this work ?
icon

Best answer by Keith N 30 November 2018, 21:06

View original

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

63 replies

I suppose if you are going to use an app to play music they would rather have you use the Sonos app to do this? (I guess they do promote airplay) So with alexa cast does it stream from your phone to the speaker like airplay or does it stream from the sono's it self?

Alexa Cast streams from the cloud, controlled from your phone running the Amazon Music app. The phone doesn’t need to be connected to your WiFi.
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

Airplay 2 does not always stream directly from your phone to the device.
For example HomePod siri voice commands will stream music from the music service via internet to the HomePod.


yeah only if you have a home pod, If you have sonos the chance of you having a home pod is about nil.
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

Alexa Cast streams from the cloud, controlled from your phone running the Amazon Music app. The phone doesn’t need to be connected to your WiFi.


Well that's cool. wish airplay was like that.
There is no indication of that these days. You can control Sonos speakers directly from the Tidal app or airplay from the Tidal app.
I think Sonos finally realized it was hurting sales to have to use the app for everything.
Airplay 2 does not always stream directly from your phone to the device.
For example HomePod siri voice commands will stream music from the music service via internet to the HomePod.


Yes, exactly. Folks love their music apps, and most of them have vastly improved over the last couple years. Most will now wirelessly connect to Sonos speakers in some manner.

Alexa Cast streams from the cloud, controlled from your phone running the Amazon Music app. The phone doesn’t need to be connected to your WiFi.


Well that's cool. wish airplay was like that.


Apple is always at least three years behind the competition, lol. AirPlay is a dinosaur.
Userlevel 5
Badge +10

Airplay 2 does not always stream directly from your phone to the device.
For example HomePod siri voice commands will stream music from the music service via internet to the HomePod.

yeah only if you have a home pod, If you have sonos the chance of you having a home pod is about nil.


Having a HomePod or not has nothing to do with how Airplay 2 works which is what I was responding to. There are also other scenarios where Airplay 2 pulls directly from the music service.
You are incorrect that people who own Sonos or Homepods might not have both. I myself know many people who have both. I have four Homepods in two stereo pairs and a Beam, Sub, and rear Sonos Ones and two Sonos Ones for outdoors.
The Homepods sound better for music than anything Sonos makes including the Play 5 which is much more expensive. In fact I sold two Play 5's on Craigslist after stereo pairing came put for the Homepods.
I use Sonos for home theater and cheap outdoor speakers and Homepods for music. I also like the 360 coverage since SQ doesn't change as you move around a room.
Userlevel 5
Badge +10

Alexa Cast streams from the cloud, controlled from your phone running the Amazon Music app. The phone doesn’t need to be connected to your WiFi.

Well that's cool. wish airplay was like that.

Apple is always at least three years behind the competition, lol. AirPlay is a dinosaur.


Which tells me you know nothing about Apple, Airplay, and especially Airplay 2.
Meanwhile Sonos and many other audio companies are getting Airplay2 into as many of their products as fast as they can because their customers want it.
Userlevel 5
Badge +10

Alexa Cast streams from the cloud, controlled from your phone running the Amazon Music app. The phone doesn’t need to be connected to your WiFi.

Well that's cool. wish airplay was like that.


As I mentioned above Airplay 2 does in some circumstances pull directly from the music service.

Alexa Cast streams from the cloud, controlled from your phone running the Amazon Music app. The phone doesn’t need to be connected to your WiFi.

Well that's cool. wish airplay was like that.

Apple is always at least three years behind the competition, lol. AirPlay is a dinosaur.


Which tells me you know nothing about Apple, Airplay, and especially Airplay 2.


Enough to know that AirPlay is my last choice, just above BlueTooth, for my iPhone and iPads. It requires much more bandwidth than casting, requires your phone to be on while playing, like BlueTooth, simply isn’t on the same playing field as the competition. Maybe on the HomePod, but having listened, and read the reviews (outside the Apple fanboy rags), the HomePod loses to the Beam, to stereo-paired Ones, and certainly to the Play:5. Virtually every review.
Userlevel 5
Badge +10

Alexa Cast streams from the cloud, controlled from your phone running the Amazon Music app. The phone doesn’t need to be connected to your WiFi.

Well that's cool. wish airplay was like that.

Apple is always at least three years behind the competition, lol. AirPlay is a dinosaur.


Which tells me you know nothing about Apple, Airplay, and especially Airplay 2.


Enough to know that AirPlay is my last choice, just above BlueTooth, for my iPhone and iPads. It requires much more bandwidth than casting, requires your phone to be on while playing, like BlueTooth, simply isn’t on the same playing field as the competition. Maybe on the HomePod, but having listened, and read the reviews (outside the Apple fanboy rags), the HomePod loses to the Beam, to stereo-paired Ones, and certainly to the Play:5. Virtually every review.


Everything you said is incorrect and that is easily proven but I'm not going to further pollute this thread with responding further. There are plenty of places you can rag on Apple without knowing what you are talking about.
Lol.
I use Tidal on Sonos 1 and set Alexa to use Tidal as default music service. Works great. I have Apple music too and am excited to see it as an upcoming option. Tidal + Apple music is a great combo.
I use Tidal on Sonos 1 and set Alexa to use Tidal as default music service. Works great.

Thanks for confirming! Good indication that Apple Music just might work via Alexa on Sonos, without Sonos needing to do anything. That wasn’t the case with Spotify, or with a host of other Alexa skills, though, so time will tell.
Badge
Nice, hoping this means I can set default music to Apple Music in Alexa and use Alexa to play from Apple Music on my Sonos Ones. I have switched entirely to Apple Music for the watch and HomePod, but kept a individual Spotify subscription just for the Sonos Ones. If this works out it'll be bye bye Spotify for me.

Enough to know that AirPlay is my last choice, just above BlueTooth, for my iPhone and iPads. It requires much more bandwidth than casting, requires your phone to be on while playing, like BlueTooth, simply isn’t on the same playing field as the competition. Maybe on the HomePod, but having listened, and read the reviews (outside the Apple fanboy rags), the HomePod loses to the Beam, to stereo-paired Ones, and certainly to the Play:5. Virtually every review.


Everything you said is incorrect and that is easily proven but I'm not going to further pollute this thread with responding further. There are plenty of places you can rag on Apple without knowing what you are talking about.


I think chicks was speaking in terms of airplay 2 with Sonos speakers in his first 2 statements, and i have to agree with him. You might not need to stream through your phone/ipad when your speaker is homepod or AppleTV, but you certainly do with Sonos speakers.

I wouldn't necessarily say that casting from a specific app is necessarily better than airplay 2 though. Casting is almost always going to give you a better stream, but airplay, like bluetooth, is not limited to a specific streaming app.

Regarding which speakers sound better, 'better' is always subjective. I've seen reviews pointing both ways, but yes, mostly favoring Sonos. What matters is what you personally prefer.
Userlevel 2
Badge
Just received the Amazon Alexa update to add Apple Music on 12/17. Any news on how this will integrate with Sonos, given this is happening next week !!??
Userlevel 2
Badge
Connected my echo dot to Apple Music using the just released skill. Preferred speaker is set to my Play:5. When I ask her to play anything from Apple Music I get

“Apple Music is not supported on this device”

Except of course it is, if I play using the Sonos App!

WHEN WILL THIS WORK ?
Connected my echo dot to Apple Music using the just released skill. Preferred speaker is set to my Play:5. When I ask her to play anything from Apple Music I get

“Apple Music is not supported on this device”

Except of course it is, if I play using the Sonos App!

WHEN WILL THIS WORK ?


A great question. Sonos would greatly benefit from having this during the XMas shopping season. They’ve already failed miserably by not having Google Assistant ready when promised. Amazon and Apple will benefit greatly from these Sonos screwups. Two huge opportunities missed. Not good!
Tried it today. I can play songs from Apple Music on my Echo Dot, but when I try on my Sonos One, it says "Apple Music is not supported on this device."

:(

Hope Sonos and Amazon get it together so this works.
Badge
Damn. There was a little hope that it would work.
But also, the latest update to Alexa in Canada didn't even include the Apple Music feature. booooooo.
Apple Music was enabled today on Alexa. I configured it and it works on my Amazon Alexa devices.

However if I try to play music from Apple Music through Sonos devices Alexa replies, “Apple Music is not available on this device”. Works on Amazon Echo and Show. But not on Sonos. Super frustrating as I still have to get my phone out to airplay to Sonos. No voice control.

I bought these Sonos speakers for their Alexa integration but between this issue, not being able to use Sonos for drop in, and not being able to turn off the Alexa response sound on Sonos, I’m seriously regretting my decision to buy Sonos and am now thinking I need to power Alexa through a dumb amp and dump my Sonos.

Oh - and Sonos doesn’t act as a default Alexa device for a room either - smart groups. So that’s another missing feature.

These issues all make the Alexa integration more frustrating than useful on Sonos.
Pretty brutal; it's been shipping a day from Amazon and Sonos is supposed to be ready NOW... Yeesh. Airplay works fine for me.
I was able to ask my Echo to play Apple Music on my Play:1 and it worked fine.

Edit: Never mind. The music was coming from Amazon music, not Apple.
Userlevel 3
Badge +4
I’m not in the US.

What happens if you ask Alexa via the Echo Dot to play on your Sonos speaker?
I’m not in the US.

What happens if you ask Alexa via the Echo Dot to play on your Sonos speaker?


“Alexa, play ARTIST from Apple Music on SONOS ROOM”
“Apple Music is not supported on this device”

If I don’t say “from Apple Music” Alexa plays from Amazon Music, even though I’ve set Apple Music as my default.