@joshuaroth -
Check out
this topic regarding Australia availability of Apple Music via Alexa on Sonos.
Thanks for your patience!
@joshuaroth -
Check out this topic regarding Australia availability of Apple Music via Alexa on Sonos.
Thanks for your patience!
Hi Keith.
Thank you for your answer but it’s not relevant. The link you posted relates to a different problem.
Despite Apple Music, Alexa and Sonos being active in Australia, my particular unit is telling me it’s not available where I live (Australia). It is active on other people’s devices as you can see in the forum posts. It is active on that persons device, in fact.
Bizarrely, the address bar (when attempting to link my Australia Apple Music account with my Australian Amazon/Alexa account on my Australian Sonos, whilst being physically present in Australia on Australian internet... do you see a pattern here?) diverts to TWO separate JAPANESE (.co.jp) addresses.
Look at the video grabs.
Is this normal?
@joshuaroth -
Check out this topic regarding Australia availability of Apple Music via Alexa on Sonos.
Thanks for your patience!Hi Keith.
Thank you for your answer but it’s not relevant. The link you posted relates to a different problem.
Despite Apple Music, Alexa and Sonos being active in Australia, my particular unit is telling me it’s not available where I live (Australia). It is active on other people’s devices as you can see in the forum posts. It is active on that persons device, in fact.
Keith is very good at marking topics ‘answered’ when he hasn’t answered them at all. He did it to me too!
Has there been a fix for this issue as I am also having exactly the same issue. I have had my Sonos one for many months now, but Apple Music has never worked using Alexa. since the skill was made available, I have tried and tried to get it working and eventually tried removing the skill. When i tried to re-link my Apple Music account, I got the exact same issue- "Apple Musin on Alexa is not available in your country or region". As all my accounts and physical location is in Australia, I had assumed that this would work. Any assistance would be appreciated
So I have spent many, many, MANY hours on the phone to Apple, Amazon and Sonos over the last two days - first and foremost, Sonos customer care is ABSOLUTELY DIRE and being a new customer who just invested (wasted!) $3,000+ by buying into their ecosystem, they are a nightmare to deal with.
Customer service agents telling me there is no Apple Music skill in Australia, its wrong, I am misinformed blah blah. When I tell them to check Amazon and Apple's website, as well as press release's they said "we are not aware of this being released so we cannot support it".
They refused to contact Apple and Amazon, and said they have no plans to support it.
See an email conversation from today, in which they state there is NO SUPPORT FOR APPLE MUSIC ON ALEXA IN AUSTRALIA.
If you are thinking of buying a Sonos to use Apple Music and Alexa - SAVE YOUR MONEY! DO NOT BUY A SONOS - THEIR HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE DO NOT MATCH UP AND THEY HAVE NO INTENTION OF SUPPORTING SKILLS WHICH OTHER COMPANIES HAVE CREATED FOR THEIR PLATFORM.
Well, this is certainly a shock, considering there are obviously other people using Apple Music on Alexa in Australia as you can plainly see with other threads on this very forum....
As I posted before, i most certainly have linked Apple Music to my Alexa account in the recent past. It just didnt play any music.
I wonder how this situation has occured, with press releases going out, touting Sonos' compatibility (not just inferred as an Alexa enable device, but named specifically as being compatible.)
All I can say is I hope the impending Google Assistant update is better handled, but as the time elapsed between the announceent of Google Assistant and its integration (in the US, at least), doesnt bode well.
Well, this is certainly a shock, considering there are obviously other people using Apple Music on Alexa in Australia as you can plainly see with other threads on this very forum....
As I posted before, i most certainly have linked Apple Music to my Alexa account in the recent past. It just didnt play any music.
I wonder how this situation has occured, with press releases going out, touting Sonos' compatibility (not just inferred as an Alexa enable device, but named specifically as being compatible.)
All I can say is I hope the impending Google Assistant update is better handled, but as the time elapsed between the announceent of Google Assistant and its integration (in the US, at least), doesnt bode well.
RIGHT?
I pointed two specific people from Sonos customer care - Howard, and his manager Michael - both refused outright to accept that Sonos worked in Australia with Alexa and Apple Music. Exact phrasing "we do not support it, we have not begun supporting it and we are not aware of anyone using it". I quite literally shouted at them "I AM MAKING YOU AWARE!" and again they repeated "it does not work in Australia".
I then tried a different avenue, and said "look at your own forums, people are using it. Look at Amazon Skills, there are reviews on people in Australia using the Skill". Again, they refused and said it does not work.
So I told them, "surely then you have a responsibility to find out how people are side loading software on to your secure AI devices, forcing them to connect to a service you don't support and SURELY you will want to take action against Amazon and Apple for saying your devices do something they clearly don't do" - they could not care less! They refused to contact Apple and Amazon.
The manager told me "we are made aware of software changes 3 weeks before anyone else, and Sonos is not implementing support for Alexa and Apple Music in Australia. We were made a part of the US training but it is not coming to Australia and we have spoken to our engineers who confirms it does not and will not be made to work here".
They sent me that email in the hope it would allow me to claim my money back from Myer for mis-selling me products under the guise that they would work with Apple Music and Alexa.
I am not an engineer, nor am I a developer, but to a laymans perspective, a fix for this issue would seem to have already been worked out. Apple music is not restricted by geographical boundaries (well, mostly) and I can most certainly play Apple Music on my Sonos using the Sonos App. Amazon Alexa, also, not resticted in Australia. The only thing that appears to be limiting the ability (now) to link the accounts is Sonos itself.
I would imagine that the software allowing the linking of accounts would already be written for North American and UK customers and translating that same software to Australia should not be an insurmountable task.
As far as I can see, the issue loes squarely with Sonos. I could understand the position they are taking if it hadnt been for the fact that the update was heralded with Sonos' name front and centre. If Sonos had no idea what was happening and no intention to support the changes, then why allow the prress released to go out.
I would like to think that it wasnt just to fool people into buying their products with features that they dont intend to implement.
I am not an engineer, nor am I a developer, but to a laymans perspective, a fix for this issue would seem to have already been worked out. Apple music is not restricted by geographical boundaries (well, mostly) and I can most certainly play Apple Music on my Sonos using the Sonos App. Amazon Alexa, also, not resticted in Australia. The only thing that appears to be limiting the ability (now) to link the accounts is Sonos itself.
I would imagine that the software allowing the linking of accounts would already be written for North American and UK customers and translating that same software to Australia should not be an insurmountable task.
As far as I can see, the issue loes squarely with Sonos. I could understand the position they are taking if it hadnt been for the fact that the update was heralded with Sonos' name front and centre. If Sonos had no idea what was happening and no intention to support the changes, then why allow the prress released to go out.
I would like to think that it wasnt just to fool people into buying their products with features that they dont intend to implement.
By chance, have you spoken to Sonos about this? I'd maybe give them a call and ask to speak to Howard or Michael... it seems like their AU team is fairly small and they would certainly remember todays call!
They think I am mad and refuse to believe me that its written on their forums, Amazon, Apple, or that there are people online who have installed, and linked the Skill.
I have not spoken to them. I HAVE spoken with Apple and tried to get onto Amazon AU, as I thought it was an issue between them, not thinking that Sonos might have been a fly in the ointment.
I shall try to give them a call on Monday.
I have not spoken to them. I HAVE spoken with Apple and tried to get onto Amazon AU, as I thought it was an issue between them, not thinking that Sonos might have been a fly in the ointment.
I shall try to give them a call on Monday.
I've got $3K of stuff which at the moment is useless to me - so I am going to be a constant thorn in their side. Someone is being reported to Consumer Affairs, I've been sold a product which has support for a service, as stated in sales material and a press release, which the manufacturer now says they have no plans to support - and have said so in writing.
I would call and ask to speak to Howard or Michael and specifically mention my name (in my username), and this thread, and the traction online about this advertised service not working properly.
I have also spoken to Amazon and they are dumbfounded, as are Apple.
Michael - the manager - even told me if they enabled the skill they would be in breach of their contract with Apple, as they don't have the rights to allow Alexa to control Apple Music... even though Apple and Amazon are both advertising the cross-pollination of their platforms.
Did Apple say anything worth while? They couldn't understand why Sonos are allowing them to specifically mention their brand in their Support and marketing material if they are now denying the service works.
I am like a dog with a bone... to be honest I want to hit them over the head with my Beam and throw my numerous Sonos One's at them for good measure!
The Support person i spoke to at Apple (cant remember their name) said that Apple Music on Alexa was most certainly supported in Australia and that there should be no reason why it wasnt working on my Sonos. they did go to pains to state that it was ONLY avaolable on Echo devices, fire TV and Alexa enable Sonos, but there should be no reason why I couldnt link accounts. As the linking failed on the Alexa app, they suggested that my app on my phone miht be corrupted and advised me to reinstall it. But that didnt fix it. They then suggested that i contact Amazon, but i couldnt find an easily locatable number and resorted to sending a text request for support.
The Apple Support person did, hoever, somewhat cheekily, advise me that there was no problem using voice commands for playing Apple Music on a Homepod...
wow, reading about your experience makes me really angry. It sucks that they just don’t care. Even worse than that, they refuse to believe the experience of their customer and other information out there. Ridiculous.
The Support person i spoke to at Apple (cant remember their name) said that Apple Music on Alexa was most certainly supported in Australia and that there should be no reason why it wasnt working on my Sonos. they did go to pains to state that it was ONLY avaolable on Echo devices, fire TV and Alexa enable Sonos, but there should be no reason why I couldnt link accounts. As the linking failed on the Alexa app, they suggested that my app on my phone miht be corrupted and advised me to reinstall it. But that didnt fix it. They then suggested that i contact Amazon, but i couldnt find an easily locatable number and resorted to sending a text request for support.
The Apple Support person did, hoever, somewhat cheekily, advise me that there was no problem using voice commands for playing Apple Music on a Homepod...
I got rid of HomePods for this... because I was told at every point and turn, even by their sales team, that it worked for the purposes of what I wanted/needed.
Apple and Amazon even updated their pages since announcing support in AU to include - specifically - Sonos devices, and not just "Echo and Alexa enabled devices" - they name-drop Sonos on purpose.
I am very, very interested to hear about how you get along on Monday with Sonos.
As for Amazon, I found reaching them super easy. Open the Alexa app, go to Help and Feedback, Call Customer Service, select a device, a category (SKILLS), followed by "Apple Music" then enter your number and they will call you right back.
On the off chance you speak to someone who I spoke to, his name is Vikram.
wow, reading about your experience makes me really angry. It sucks that they just don’t care. Even worse than that, they refuse to believe the experience of their customer and other information out there. Ridiculous.
Mate I am beyond livid. They were unbelievable on the phone today. I spent HOURS talking to them and they refused point blank to believe anything I had to say, or fact check Amazon or Apple's website. They couldn't have cared less if they tried that Apple and Amazon were specifically quoting their devices as doing something which they say they do not do, and do not plan to implement functionality for them to do so at any point in time.
I hope you don't mind but I actually quoted your posts - given that your name states you're Aussie - and your posts around Apple Music and they told me you must be using a VPN, with your location set to US, with a US Apple Music account. When I told them to read your posts, and look up the forums, they kept repeating "we are not aware of anything relating to this" (Howard did) over and over and over.
I honestly ended up screaming at him and then he put me through to Michael.
You should also give them a call and ask specifically for those staff members and maybe we can get something going...
Hello everyone, I have a quick update on this -
Apple Music via Alexa is in the process of going live on Sonos in Australia and New Zealand, as such you may find it working already. Since it's still rolling out, the teams aren't allowed to talk about it as it's an unannounced feature. However, you definitely didn't get the right messages from our support team here, I'll make sure the team is able to look into what went wrong.
That said, when it's confirmed to be up and running at 100% I'll make sure to leave an update on this thread.
Thanks for your patience.
Strangely enough, This happened today...
The Sonos still wont play any music usin Apple Music on Alexa though, so.... progress, i guess?
So just like
@ithuliel ithuliel I have been able to link Apple Music and Alexa, but when I try to play music ("Alexa play Music") with Apple Music set to the default service, I receive the audio reply: "Hmm, to do that first enable the Skill for your Sonos One in the Alexa app, then ask me to discover devices".
The Sonos App is enabled - is this what you're getting too
@ithuliel?
CC
@AussieSonosUserXCX @Keith N
PS: quite the change of tune from Sonos!
Thats pretty much where I am, although Ive had the Sonos skill enable since I bought my Sonos One. So, to recap, I am back to where I started from with the skill being enabled, linked to my Apple Music account, but with Alexa saying it will play my music, but never actually doing it...
Thats pretty much where I am, although Ive had the Sonos skill enable since I bought my Sonos One. So, to recap, I am back to where I started from with the skill being enabled, linked to my Apple Music account, but with Alexa saying it will play my music, but never actually doing it...
at least on Monday us 3 can call them, state that a Sonos member of staff has written an email saying its supported as well as confirming so on the forum and we want to know why Music won’t play.
I am determined to get this b#stard thing working.
OKAY - I'VE GOT IT WORKING.
I am brand new to Sonos so forgive me if a few of these steps weren't necessary, but all I can tell you is it is working.
I removed my device (unlinked) from within the Alexa iOS app
On the Sonos App, I turned off Alex voice control
I deleted the Alexa iOS app
I re-downloaded the Alexa app
Via the Sonos App, I initiated the Alexa set up
I signed in as normal
Once the device was set up, I was able to command Alexa by saying "Alexa, play Tina Turner in the Lounge" or "Alexa play Energy by Burns, ASAP Rocky in the Lounge"
I got a bit sick of having to say "... in the Lounge" and I found that if under the iOS Alexa app, you create a group (I created one called Lounge), I now just say "Alexa, play music" or "Alexa play music by Adele" and she goes off and does it ("Adele from Apple Music").
It seems to work, so now I may set up my other Sonos devices and hope for the best....
When you say you inlinked your device within the Alexa IOS app, do you mean deregister?, cause i cant seem to find a way on inlinking
When you say you inlinked your device within the Alexa IOS app, do you mean deregister?, cause i cant seem to find a way on inlinking
Yes, I de-registered. It took me a few attempts before it unlinked/deregistered. I also went in to the Sonos App, and under the Voice Control section I removed Amazon Alexa.
Everything for me - so far - is working flawlessly on the One that I have set up.
I have a Beam and another 3 x One's to set up yet so will let you know how I go tomorrow...
