Short version: a podcast skill called AnyPod which I use all the time on my Echo Dot isn't working on my new Sonos One, and as a new Sonos user I'm not sure if there's a problem or it's just not actually supposed to work.
So today I got my Sonos One, I set it up, all seems to be working, I can ask it to play music and that's fine, I can ask for radio stations and it works, it controls my heating and the TV just like my Echo Dot, awesome. Then I try to get it to play a podcast I've been listening to. I'm about halfway through the back catalogue so the built in Alexa podcast feature via TuneIn is a pain (only plays the most recent episode). I use a skill called AnyPod which lets you subscribe to podcasts, specify an episode number to play, and it remembers where you got to.
So I say "Alexa, tell AnyPod to play Reply All". The Sonos says "Now playing Reply All episode 86" and gives me the episode title, just like the Echo Dot does... and then silence. I test with the Echo Dot, it works as expected, episode 86 starts playing.
I tried a few different podcasts and get the same result, the Sonos just will not play a podcast using the AnyPod skill. Works fine using the built in podcast functionality but that will only play the most recent episode of a podcast.
Reading some posts on the forum here, I disabled the Sonos skill, restarted the Sonos and re-enabled the skill, rediscovered devices... still no good.
I wondered if ALL 3rd party skill were restricted but when I tested, but every other skill I tried seems to work ok.
So my question is, am I doing something wrong or is it to be expected that this skill would't work with my Sonos?
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There are a variety of third-party skills, and even some Amazon commands (like flash briefing and sports update), that play audio and don't work correctly with the Sonos One. Skills that play nature sounds, sleep sounds, and others fit into this category too. Not sure whose court this ball falls into (Sonos or Amazon), but hopefully it gets figured out soon. 🙂
from amazon's product description page:
Do all Alexa commands work through Sonos One?
Most Alexa commands and skills are supported. However, some features are not available: Voice calling, drop-in and messaging; Setting reminders and getting notifications; Playing audiobooks (coming soon).
Do all Alexa commands work through Sonos One?
Most Alexa commands and skills are supported. However, some features are not available: Voice calling, drop-in and messaging; Setting reminders and getting notifications; Playing audiobooks (coming soon).
I just got my Sonos One, and have the exact same result with Anypod: "I say "Alexa, tell AnyPod to play Reply All". The Sonos says "Now playing Reply All episode 86" and gives me the episode title, just like the Echo Dot does... and then silence. I test with the Echo Dot, it works as expected," So it seems to recognize the skill and the command structure, but can't execute. Too bad. I've never used Spotify. Might that work as a reasonable alternative to Anypod?
oddly the Amazon Echo Show has the same symptoms as the Sonos, so I wonder if the issue is Amazon's and not Sonos's
I have been politely pestering both Sonos and Amazon about this. Lack of third party audio has been identified as a bug and Amazon is working on a fix that should be ready by early to mid January.
Just the messenger, but, I was on the phone quite a bit with Amazon yesterday about this once I heard from Sonos what the issue was to simply point out so many of us are dealing with this bug. It made me smile to see the update that it was originally planned to be fixed sometime in 2018 to now hopefully in January. Not sure my pestering had anything to do with it, but, I have often felt people should know about this problem before purchasing it and the lack of information about it from both companies is frustrating. Heck. You still would not know if you were not surfing around this forum.
Just the messenger, but, I was on the phone quite a bit with Amazon yesterday about this once I heard from Sonos what the issue was to simply point out so many of us are dealing with this bug. It made me smile to see the update that it was originally planned to be fixed sometime in 2018 to now hopefully in January. Not sure my pestering had anything to do with it, but, I have often felt people should know about this problem before purchasing it and the lack of information about it from both companies is frustrating. Heck. You still would not know if you were not surfing around this forum.
lesliegolf, thanks for pestering on our behalf. I'm sure it helps, especially when done politely. I do understand that the spider web of integration we want between Sonos, Echo, and third party apps is challenging and has a long way to go. But I'm happy to have the products now, use whatever parts work, and look forward to software updates and improvements in the months ahead. It's what makes life exciting, interesting, and yes indeed ... often frustrating.
This issue is still not fixed, Alexa still apparently cannot play audio from skills on the Alexa app. There seem to be several threads on this issue each with slightly different information but the consensus is that this doesn’t work yet and we’re way past mid-January.
It's now March 3, 2018. Just updated my Sonos with the latest. Still does not work with AnyPod. Same symptoms, namely says it's starting to play the specific podcast correctly then dead silence (never starts).
If anyone isn't clear on what this issue is, here is a video showing it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uCeK4AooSQ&feature=youtu.be
Alexa can hear fine, can answer fine, can play programs from TuneIn or Pandora. But any skills added to her which require her to play 3rd party audio, will not work. Sonos has said in prior threads they know about this issue, although imply it only affects a few skills - it doesn't, it affects all and any skill requiring 3rd party audio added specifically to Alexa.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uCeK4AooSQ&feature=youtu.be
Alexa can hear fine, can answer fine, can play programs from TuneIn or Pandora. But any skills added to her which require her to play 3rd party audio, will not work. Sonos has said in prior threads they know about this issue, although imply it only affects a few skills - it doesn't, it affects all and any skill requiring 3rd party audio added specifically to Alexa.
With the 8.5 update today, the skill now says "Sorry, I'm having trouble accessing your anypod skill right now".
Yes, there are dozens of skills, including AnyPod, Stitcher, Radio Paradise, MyMedia, and many others, that don’t work because Sonos hasn’t yet implemented the Alexa AudioPlayer interface: https://developer.amazon.com/docs/custom-skills/audioplayer-interface-reference.html
It’s apparently at the top of their Alexa to-do list, but annoying that it’s been six months and still not available.
It still an issue!
I want to play Swedish Radio and Podcasts from the BBC but Alexa on Sonos can't. On my Echo dots she can.
Annoyingly there is a Skill that works to Play the Swedish and BBC Flash news briefings - surely it can't be that hard to fix it for the Radio stations and podcasts too.
It's extra annoying for me as the Sonos App cannot be used on my phone as once installed and started the battery drain is horrendous! - no amount of closing / stopping the App in Developer options helps.
I love the Sonos one sound but these little things are making it very hard to use and I'm looking at returning all 4 Sonos Ones I got and to get Echo's instead, just to be able to actually get the content we want to listen to. Sad situation.
I want to play Swedish Radio and Podcasts from the BBC but Alexa on Sonos can't. On my Echo dots she can.
Annoyingly there is a Skill that works to Play the Swedish and BBC Flash news briefings - surely it can't be that hard to fix it for the Radio stations and podcasts too.
It's extra annoying for me as the Sonos App cannot be used on my phone as once installed and started the battery drain is horrendous! - no amount of closing / stopping the App in Developer options helps.
I love the Sonos one sound but these little things are making it very hard to use and I'm looking at returning all 4 Sonos Ones I got and to get Echo's instead, just to be able to actually get the content we want to listen to. Sad situation.
Just tried this morning and now anypod is working for me!
Funnily enough I had a go at this yesterday Great that it is working!
It's pretty good too. You can go to previous ones on command and it just keeps playing older ones ad infinitum until it runs out of Podcasts or you command her to stop.
Battery drain issue is also looking up for me. More on that later. Things are looking up!
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