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Amazon music is on streaming on another device ...

  • 4 October 2017
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Userlevel 6
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Starting to get tee hang of this.

4 Sonos devices and 1 echo dot here.

Cancelled Deezer and have Amazon unlimited 30 day trial (not the limited echo music service).

I can start multiple Amazon streams via the app without issue, and I can start one Amazon stream by voice ok. However if I start a second Amazon stream in another room by voice, Echo says that Amazon music is streaming on another device, would I like to stream on {room name} instead?’. Is this expected behaviour?

Thanks
Andrew
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Best answer by Ryan S 4 October 2017, 22:11

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21 replies

Userlevel 7
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Hi Andrew, that is expected behavior at this time. Many music services have a limit to the number of concurrent streams that can be going. Amazon Music is limited to one. However, you can group multiple Sonos players together and have Amazon Music playing to all of them at the same time.
Appear to be having a similar issue. I say Alexa 'play music in Family Room' , says it's playing but no sound. When try to do same again it says it's playing on another device, but what device??? It appears Amazon Music is playing in the back ground somewhere as if open Sonos App on its own & play from Apple Music it plays ok.
I'm getting the same issue as the above i.e. it says it's already playing on another device but I don't know which one and don't know how to stop it.
I'm having the same issue on my new Sonos One. Even though I am not streaming anywhere else I still get this message and it's really frustrating.
Same issue. Help? Just bought Sonos with Alexa built in. Won't do what I purchased it for cause of the 'playing on anther device' issue. I'm gonna return it if I can't get it fixed. Dumb.
I had the same problem and called tech support, they said to remove the sonos skills from Alexa and re-add it. It worked.
Userlevel 7
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I had the same problem and called tech support, they said to remove the sonos skills from Alexa and re-add it. It worked.
This is a go to method to fix the issue. Another thing that can do the trick is to say "Alexa, stop playing" and see if it lists where music is playing (even if it isn't). Also, you can go to the Alexa App, and check if there are any devices that say they're playing music.
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Hi Andrew, that is expected behavior at this time. Many music services have a limit to the number of concurrent streams that can be going. Amazon Music is limited to one. However, you can group multiple Sonos players together and have Amazon Music playing to all of them at the same time.

Sorry, that's not the point.

As long as I use the app I can use Amazon unlimited to play different music streams on any of the Sonos devices - no problem at all. The fun part starts when Alexa is used to start streaming: All over sudden it is only possible to listen to one unlimited stream at the time.

If all of this happens due to the one user at a time limit - fine with me but than we need support for multiple accounts on the Sonos side to use the unlimited family plan ... any plans for that?
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I'm still confused by the different levels of Amazon Unlimited, and I probably would be avoiding Amazon altogether if any other service currently worked.

As far as I understand it Amazon Music unlimited Individual plan works with multiple devices but only one stream at a time.

The Family plan allows 6 streams at a time.

There is only me in the household but I do like to walk from room to room and request different music as the mood takes me, so the only way I got this to work was to pay more and opt for the Family plan --- just for me

I'm still weighting up whether or not I like Amazon music unlimited enough to keep it --- to be honest I much preferred Deezer, but there is no sign this will ever work with Echo. Spotify (via voice) is coming next month -- can anyone advise if this allows multiple simultaneous streams ??

Regards

Andrew
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Right now I use Amazon unlimited and I can stream different unlimited streams in every single room. No problem at all - as long as you use the app.

The family plan is needed if you use more than one device (not streams) to listen to at the same time e.g. streaming on Mobile device on the road while someone else ist listening to the Sonos at home - this will not work. Right now Sonos is handled as one device - again if you use the app to control it.

Normally the devices are personalized like iphones - and there is one stream per device. That's where Sonoes does not quite fit in: a sonos speaker is not really personal nor is it limited to one stream at a time ...
Userlevel 6
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Ahh, I think I understand it now ---- so theoretically I should only need the personal plan --- except it doesn't work via voice to have more than one stream but it does work via the app.

So has anyone been able to confirm either Amazon's or Sonos's official position on this ?? Where does the fault lie ? Is this going to be fixed ? It's a bit annoying to find I've been paying for a dearer streaming service just to resolve an anomaly with voice control !!

Andrew
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Can somebody clear this up please. v confused with this thread. If I have the amazon unlimited family plan, can I have 6 different dots or sonos ones playing at the same time?
Userlevel 7
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Can somebody clear this up please. v confused with this thread. If I have the amazon unlimited family plan, can I have 6 different dots or sonos ones playing at the same time?
The Alexa skill for Sonos is only linked with one of the accounts from the Family Plan. Which means you can only have the one stream active.

You can add multiple Amazon Music Family Users to Sonos, and within the Sonos app pick and choose which accounts to play to which players, however this won't get carried over to the Alexa controller. Alexa would be able to change to the next track or adjust standard playback, but if you try to play to play something new, it'll revert to using the original Amazon Music account that is added within Alexa.

This is a good place for some improvement in the future, but I don't have any specific details to share on if or when. I'll make sure to pass it on to the team though.

Also, when using the Sonos app, you can play Amazon Music to multiple Sonos players and they all count as "one stream", it's when you leave the Sonos system to control what's on via Alexa that the one active stream rule comes into play.
Userlevel 6
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Can somebody clear this up please. v confused with this thread. If I have the amazon unlimited family plan, can I have 6 different dots or sonos ones playing at the same time?
The Alexa skill for Sonos is only linked with one of the accounts from the Family Plan. Which means you can only have the one stream active.

You can add multiple Amazon Music Family Users to Sonos, and within the Sonos app pick and choose which accounts to play to which players, however this won't get carried over to the Alexa controller. Alexa would be able to change to the next track or adjust standard playback, but if you try to play to play something new, it'll revert to using the original Amazon Music account that is added within Alexa.

This is a good place for some improvement in the future, but I don't have any specific details to share on if or when. I'll make sure to pass it on to the team though.

Also, when using the Sonos app, you can play Amazon Music to multiple Sonos players and they all count as "one stream", it's when you leave the Sonos system to control what's on via Alexa that the one active stream rule comes into play.


Hi Ryan

Thanks for the clarification — and I think I get what your saying.

But just to par it down to the very basics — taking out different Amazon family member accounts and taking out the Sonos App — using voice only, am I correct in thinking the only way to request (by voice) different Sonos players to play different music at the same time is with the unlimited Family plan?

Thanks
Andrew
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No, i think he means regardless of family account or personal, if you use alexa then streaming is limited to one - until the enhancement comes in, so it just wont play if you do it on another at the same time.

If you take alexa out of the equation, then i think you are ok to have multiple streams (upto 6) on all your sonos at the same time, but not sure if having the skill enabled stops this.

Ryan, please can you write a simple sentence to verify then we can answer this.
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Interesting thread.....Based on Ryan's comment's I'm guessing the Spotify integration will be the same ie multiple streams allowed by app, only single allowed by voice?
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This is a bit naughty of me, as I'm trying to get clarification of what SHOULD be happening.

However, I can tell you of what IS happening on my system.

When Alexa + Sonos went live I signed up to the Amazon Unlimited Personal trial. It was then that I started this topic on here as I was getting the 'Amazon is playing on another device' (or whatever it is) message. So I upgraded to Amazon Unlimited Family, and now I don't have that limitation. I can start music (by voice) on multiple zones / speakers without issue. Which is great. Except that this contradicts what Ryan is saying. Which has left me even more confused...... 🙂 And yeah, some clarification of what will happen with Spotify would be nice, as I'm not liking Amazon unlimited very much !!!!

Andrew
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And this is what i want to clarify as i want to upgrade to family from personal to stop that limitation, however amazon music keeps stopping so i want to fix this before forking out more money
Userlevel 7
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Sorry for any confusion.

No, i think he means regardless of family account or personal, if you use alexa then streaming is limited to one - until the enhancement comes in, so it just wont play if you do it on another at the same time.

This is correct.

If you are using the Sonos app, you can pick and choose accounts to play from and tell different players to use them, but again, that'll only be when using the Sonos app. Once a stream is started using the Sonos app (no matter what account or service you use), Alexa can use the basic pause, skip, volume commands as normal.
Userlevel 6
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Well this is very strange — this is not my experience at all.

With Amazon family plan I am able to use Alexa to start different music in different rooms at the same time. Currently I have 4 zones and can have music playing on each, all started by Alexa, not the app. I can’t be the only one!!

Andrew
I have same problem, Amazon paying on another device but where???... I just said ALEXA STOP PLAYING and my Sonos started playing Amazon music;)