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Audible ?

  • 19 November 2017
  • 66 replies
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Userlevel 2
I have just bought a Sonos One. The sound is great. The Alexa integration doesn't seem to work well. A lot of the skills just don't work. Audible is really important for me and I thought it would be possible to play through Alexa. It tells me it is about to play my book..but nothing happens.

Audible is 80% of my use case. I might have to take it back
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Best answer by Ryan S 20 March 2018, 20:50

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66 replies

Userlevel 7
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I'm taking it from Sonos hints, marketing, expectation of a firmware update this month for multiple things (Audible included). I have actually been saying I would expect an update tomorrow (Tuesday) - sonos tends to like Tuesdays. But if not this Tuesday then I would expect next Tuesday so we get update in January.
Userlevel 1
Ooh, fingers crossed, then. January will still be solidly within my return window.
I was sad that the update yesterday didn't bring the Audible functionality. I really expected this to be in the Sonos One, as the link with Amazon services is so engrained that for it not to have it is so counter-intuitive.
Userlevel 7
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Yea bummer it hasn't made it yet. It's been a long time coming. I think there is still hope for early February and I hope my predictions come true.
Userlevel 2
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I still have a Sonos One I bought to test out the system a back around Thanksgiving - and my one-star review is still on Amazon. I was hoping the issue would be fixed by now, as it is about time to upgrade (nine more speakers). Speakers that will not play content I have paid for are unacceptable and useless to me.
I still have a Sonos One I bought to test out the system a back around Thanksgiving - and my one-star review is still on Amazon. I was hoping the issue would be fixed by now, as it is about time to upgrade (nine more speakers). Speakers that will not play content I have paid for are unacceptable and useless to me.

That is up to Amazon. As of right now, the Alexa interface can only play what is configured in Alexa, and you cannot configure your local library in Alexa. You should lobby over on the Alexa forum as well as here.
Userlevel 2
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I still have a Sonos One I bought to test out the system a back around Thanksgiving - and my one-star review is still on Amazon. I was hoping the issue would be fixed by now, as it is about time to upgrade (nine more speakers). Speakers that will not play content I have paid for are unacceptable and useless to me.

That is up to Amazon. As of right now, the Alexa interface can only play what is configured in Alexa, and you cannot configure your local library in Alexa. You should lobby over on the Alexa forum as well as here.


A simple input jack would solve this problem. I’m using/testing Bose soundlink and echo dot - a less elegant, and less expensive solution on a per-room basis, but the end result is the same: voice controlled books and music. I am just about to purchase an entirely new home theater setup to accompany a new 4K television and I am still considering Sonos. I’ve come to appreciate the ability to put down my kindle, and just say “Hey Alexa, play my audible,” and it picks up where I stopped. Although I last tested it in early December, there were other Alexa apps that wouldn’t work n Sonos One as well - nature sounds and whatnot.

(I’d love to update my review, Team Sonos - the mic isn’t all that great compared to other voice-con devices I use, but if I could play my books with this speaker, my review would jump from one to four stars.)
I only can say it is sad ? that it is still not supported when I promise something to my customers I try to held my promise nearly one year to late is very sad
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
I would say that Sonos I'm sure completely agrees with you. They know that getting Audible back on Sonos has been a complete disaster. I don't know why but they obviously had a lot of issues working with Amazon on re-introducing the intergration. It's not 1 year late it is 2 years late. I'm not excusing Sonos on the issue I'm just providing information that it is in fact really coming finally.
Sounds good ??
Userlevel 1
Well, here we are into February, and my return window will close soon. Voice-enabled Audible still hasn't shown up on my Sonos One, and I'm expecting that it would ultimately be a good 40% of what I'd use the speaker for, so, no willing to gamble on it now showing up, I just initiated a return.

If I haven't bought another solution for my usage by the time it comes back, maybe I'll consider buying the Sonos One again.

Ah, well!
After years of waiting for Sonos to bring Audible back, my Sonos speakers are being thrown in the trash today as I will not be gifting these to anyone as I will tell them to get an Apple HomePod! I bought two Apple Homepods today and guess what? I can play Audible through my speakers directly from my phone! I also no longer have to play my podcasts through the Sonos app that removed the scrub bar that prevented me from rewinding my podcasts! In order to rewind podcasts on Sonos I had to go back to the beginning!! Not anymore!
I always laugh at people who threaten to throw their Sonos in the trash, when they could very easily sell them for a great return. They are either fools, or they are full of it, and either way, it is quite a silly tantrum to throw.
Badge +3
This is the response from Audible.

Thank you for contacting Audible!

We completely understand your point regarding playing the audiobooks through Sonos.

We would like to inform you that our Audible development team is working with Sonos Team on it as we received many of our customer's feedback on this issue. As we are working with Sonos team this feature will be available very soon.

Although we are sorry to hear you are unhappy regarding Sonos, we do appreciate your feedback. Constructive criticism in these situations allows us to make changes where there is room for improvement. Comments such as yours provide valuable insight into these matters, so we greatly appreciate that you have taken the time to reach out to us.

As soon as your request becomes available, we will definitely let you know about this through our website.

Once again we apologize for the inconvenience that this may have caused to you. The company is actively working to improve service levels and your feedback has proved to be valuable since you are a valuable customer for us.

Your patience and understanding is highly appreciated in this matter.
Userlevel 2
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SONOS is all about music - it is one of the best music platforms out there. They not only bring new technology to the market but also continue to support their old technology. Just because there is a new Play:5 for example, does not mean they don’t support the old play:5 - See if BOSE does that - nope they don’t. I have old Bose wireless speakers which are now obsolete- no more firmware updates $250+ wasted. AUDIBLE is great. I listen to books too - SONOS has Audiobooks.com. Unfortunately DRM prevents moving audible books to other platforms and vise versa ECT etc - I love music - I have a lot of $$ in my SONOS system. The SONOS One is a great platform. I have four ONES I use them to play music - control my IoT devices and other services - not all work with the One - don’t care - it’s all about the music. The point was also made - This isn’t a SONOS issue - it’s a Amazon issue. If Amazon would allow SONOS to stream Audiobooks than SONOS would do it. You buy SONOS for the music not for books.
Userlevel 6
Badge +8
You buy SONOS for the music not for books.

Actually, one of the reasons I bought Sonos (which at the time worked with Audible) was to listen to Audible books about music. Many of these audio books contain extensive music excerpts.
If Amazon would allow SONOS to stream Audiobooks than SONOS would do it. You buy SONOS for the music not for books.

I assume, it's not a technical issue at all, it's a legal/money issue, pure and simple. Sonos obvioulsy does not want to pay the licence fees for streaming audible contents to amazon, which amazon demands. I just cannot believe, that it takes 2 years to solve al technichal issue. They seem to just not reach an agreement on the terms or on the extend of fees.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
100% incorrect and based on no facts whatsoever.
Found an acceptable alternative for now: AUDIOBOOKS.COM. It works with Sonos! 😃
100% incorrect and based on no facts whatsoever.
So Chris, what are the facts that back your theory, then? Even though I hoped different, Your predictions were wrong, I'm afraid
...2018. March. Still waiting...
"At first flash of Eden, we race down to the sea.
Standing there on Freedom's Shore..."
You'd think someone asking for Audible would quote from a book, not a song. 😉
Userlevel 3
Badge +1
Audible will probably be available when it isn't important anymore and way after you would expect that it will be delivered. So disappointing. I bought an echo as a work around and disable Alexa on the Sonos One.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
I was expecting by 2/27 but looks like its not making it in February as expected. I can't believe it will take long into March. Audible support continues to drag on.
Userlevel 3
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I don’t think we’re going to see the end of this story for a while.