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Asking Sonos One to play different music on Play:1

K
Hello everyone

I have a Sonos One and two Play:1s. Can I ask the Alexa on the Sonos One to play one kind of music on there and ask it to play different music on the Play:1, which is in another room?

So far, all I've managed to do is get the Sonos One to play the same music across all the speakers by making a 'Group' within the Sonos app. But how about playing different music?

If this is not possible, might a software update make this possible at some point?
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Best answer by UKMedia 9 July 2018, 09:59

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13 replies

joey62
You have answered one of my questions. I have 3 Play:1s and want to get a Sonos One. And wanted to know if I could ask Alexa to play on all the speakers. I've been searching you tube for that. Thanks. But have you tried to ask to play certain music in a certain room?
K
Yes I have asked and she can't do it seemingly but I don't know if I've got something set up wrong. Hope someone can help.
UKMedia
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Hello everyone

I have a Sonos One and two Play:1s. Can I ask the Alexa on the Sonos One to play one kind of music on there and ask it to play different music on the Play:1, which is in another room?

So far, all I've managed to do is get the Sonos One to play the same music across all the speakers by making a 'Group' within the Sonos app. But how about playing different music?

If this is not possible, might a software update make this possible at some point?

Hi

This isn't a Sonos limitation, it depends upon what the source of the music is. i.e. Spotify will only allow a single steam of audio via voice control. If you try to initiate another different song on another Sonos device, the first stream will terminate.

The only way to do what you want currently is to initiate the second song choice via the App and then control via voice control
Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)
UKMedia
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
You have answered one of my questions. I have 3 Play:1s and want to get a Sonos One. And wanted to know if I could ask Alexa to play on all the speakers. I've been searching you tube for that. Thanks. But have you tried to ask to play certain music in a certain room?

Yes this works just use the command 'Alexa, Play soft Jazz on Kitchen Sonos' - where Kitchen Sonos is the Sonos Room Name. Note: I use the naming convention Room Name + Device Type to avoid duplicate names across devices e.g. Kitchen Sonos, Kitchen Echo, Lounge Sonos, etc. Just change the name of the Room in the Sonos App and then ask Alexa to Discover
Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)
K
Thanks for your replies. It's working now. Except, as someone said, Spotify will only play one stream of audio under voice control.
So another question - does Amazon Music allow more than one audio stream under voice control? If so, I suppose I'll need to get Amazon Prime.
UKMedia
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
Thanks for your replies. It's working now. Except, as someone said, Spotify will only play one stream of audio under voice control.
So another question - does Amazon Music allow more than one audio stream under voice control? If so, I suppose I'll need to get Amazon Prime.

I have Amazon Prime and it has the same restriction, not sure if this applies to a family account.
Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)
S
Userlevel 7
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The Spotify limitation of only allowing one stream when controlled by Voice needs to be looked at and resolved (by Spotify - but with some Sonos 'intervention' possibly too).
The Sonos dispensation of allowing multiple streams across all devices in the same household should apply equally - no matter how the Playback is controlled.
K
Yes, exactly. Spotify and Sonos need to work together to remove this limitation.
UKMedia
Userlevel 7
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Yes, exactly. Spotify and Sonos need to work together to remove this limitation.

The challenge from a Spotify perspective is to differentiate from two streams to different devices within the same house and someone sharing their Spotify details with someone else to get free access.
Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)
S
Userlevel 7
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The challenge from a Spotify perspective is to differentiate from two streams to different devices within the same house and someone sharing their Spotify details with someone else to get free access.They seem to differentiate it just fine now with Sonos?
UKMedia
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Do they? I suspect that a single Sonos System is treated as a single logical device from a Spotify perspective. Whereas, different Alexa devices are identified differently both at a physical and logical level.
Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)
S
Userlevel 7
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You can play a different Spotify stream to each of your Sonos speakers concurrently when you play/start/select them through the App. The limitation only comes in when you control it by voice.
UKMedia
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
You can play a different Spotify stream to each of your Sonos speakers concurrently when you play/start/select them through the App. The limitation only comes in when you control it by voice.

Agreed but using the app there is a single connection between the Sonos system and Spotify, so Spotify can ensure that music is streamed to only a single Sonos system. As soon as you use Alexa devices that security limitation and a 1:1 connect between Sonos and Spotify is lost. e.g. You could ask Spotify to play on an Alexa device from your Sonos One and then Spotify lose the control of streaming to a single system.

Also, if you think of the Amazon push into Hotels and other hospitality events, Spotify could end up streaming to 100 rooms in a hotel with a single instance of Spotify. Whereas using the App, you would need to give all 100 rooms access to play music in any room - not a good idea at 3am. 🙂 and so as this isn't really viable, it self polices to a great extent.
Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)
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