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I think I've made an expensive mistake.

  • 13 December 2017
  • 93 replies
  • 3359 views
T
Alexa - what a piece of junk. I'm serious. :@

I ask it to play a group (Cream today) and it will either play one, or if I'm lucky two songs then stop. Or if it does move to a third song it plays rap. Rap for God's sake. The last thing I want to listen to is rap crap.

I asked it to play sixties music today. Two songs and silence.

It has become very obvious to me that the people who program this device do not know what they are doing.

A lot of money for a piece of garbage. Merry Christmas to my wife.... not.
icon

Best answer by Tek_Freek 3 January 2018, 02:24

It's early yet, but. A BIG BUT.

I found a reference to firewalls. https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4268

When I went to the little slide out box to open Norton (The one by the calendar - see below) I notice Windows Defender was there. It's never shown up before. I think the recent Windows update may have activated it. So I found how to turn it off. https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_other-security/do-need-to-run-windows-defender-if-i-have-norton/85dd02b7-1722-4dd3-8f09-2c76acd956c7?auth=1

I added Alexa back in, asked her to play the Doors and it's playing the second song. Scratch that - fourth song. I just may have figured this out. Stubbornness and perseverance do pay off sometimes.

So if I have found my solution I can hope it helps others. Fingers crossed.

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93 replies

Airgetlam
Well, you certainly have not provided much information to us to help in rectifying this issue. Are you interested in assistance, or did you just want to vent?
Bruce
B
Because of copyrights and subscriptions etc you need to link an account otherwise it will play songs from your library or public domain type music. I suggest amazon prime music if your a prime member. Go into Alexa app and link it and you will get a lot more than 2 songs.
U
Just tried to reproduce this problem but could not:

I asked Alexa for 60s music and listened to 4 songs before telling her to stop.

I asked Alexa to play songs by Cream and listened to 4 songs before telling her to stop.

I do not subscribe to any special streaming services beyond what is offered by Amazon.

I am testing using straight "Alexa" in the form of a $149.99 Echo Show from Amazon. Is this problem really meant to call out Alexa? Or is it something specific to a Sonos One speaker even though that is never mentioned in the original post?
Local music library with carefully constructed playlists - no shuffling!, Integration with Homeseer Automation, No touch screen devices, No streaming services, No Apple products ever
T
Linked to Amazon Music. Haven't added others because I figure if this one doesn't work others likely won't. I've been through a bunch of "fixes" mentioned in various places most of which have me delete then reconnect the Sonos speakers. 2 Sonos ones. I don't know who to call out. Is this behavior a result of Alexa programming or Sonos programming? Does anyone know?
U
Based on the original premise: "An expensive Alexa problem" I did my test using the most expensive "Alexa" product Amazon offers and I could not duplicate it. This would suggest you are having a problem with your Sonos speakers or the beta Sonos skill so now you know you only have to chase Sonos for the solution. A call to Sonos tech support is probably going to be the quickest way to move this forward.
Local music library with carefully constructed playlists - no shuffling!, Integration with Homeseer Automation, No touch screen devices, No streaming services, No Apple products ever
jgatie
Just asked Alexa to play 60s music, first on Echo and then on Sonos. Both played 4 songs before telling her to stop.

Just asked Alexa to play songs by Cream, first on Echo and then on Sonos. Both played 4 songs before telling her to stop.

Both played from Amazon Music.

Whatever the OP is experiencing, it is not endemic of either Alexa or Sonos.

And people . . . that is how you do a diagnosis. :8
T
My Sonos plays 60's music when I ask it to.

My Sonos plays Cream when I ask it to.

Both played from Amazon Music.

Since mine works perfectly everyone ele's does as well.

And people . . . that is how you recognize a troll.
jgatie
My Sonos plays 60's music when I ask it to.

My Sonos plays Cream when I ask it to.

Both played from Amazon Music.

Since mine works perfectly everyone ele's does as well..

Didn't say that. I simply was correcting the poster who stated that because he was able to play these things on his Echo, it must be Sonos at fault. Your problem is most probably a configuration problem with either Alexa or Sonos, such as 2 or more Alexa devices with the same name, or maybe a networking problem. But it most certainly is not endemic to Sonos as claimed by the other poster.

Since the problem is not endemic, these are things that may be easily fixed. To start, I would duplicate the problem, then submit a diagnostic from the Sonos app and post your reference number here. That will allow a Sonos tech to see what is wrong.
S
The commands can take some getting used to, but once you're familiar with them, you'll certainly find Alexa more impressive and useful. If you're a Spotify user, you'll find this to be a helpful resource: https://alexa.bio/guide/the-spotify-users-guide-to-alexa/
T
Sunday we had it working. That after having the Playbar stop every 20 minutes or so, then work after unplugging and re-plugging. After the fifth or sixth time it settled down. So we had the Playbar and both speakers working.

Monday no Play One speakers. I've gone through countless "fixes" found here and elsewhere. Quite often get an error connecting the right speaker. Finally got it connected (or so it said) today, but only one speaker is showing up when I try to add Alexa. Alexa "Does not understand...". The Playbar is the only thing working.

Called the 800 number. Wait time is over 1/2 hour. Apparently I'm not the only one with problems. At this point I'm not going to waste 30 plus minutes waiting. I have about 15 days left to find the fix before this all gets returned. No system should be this difficult to troubleshoot.
T
My Sonos plays 60's music when I ask it to.

My Sonos plays Cream when I ask it to.

Both played from Amazon Music.

Since mine works perfectly everyone ele's does as well..

Didn't say that. I simply was correcting the poster who stated that because he was able to play these things on his Echo, it must be Sonos at fault. Your problem is most probably a configuration problem with either Alexa or Sonos, such as 2 or more Alexa devices with the same name, or maybe a networking problem. But it most certainly is not endemic to Sonos as claimed by the other poster.

Since the problem is not endemic, these are things that may be easily fixed. To start, I would duplicate the problem, then submit a diagnostic from the Sonos app and post your reference number here. That will allow a Sonos tech to see what is wrong.

Sorry about the misunderstanding. I was more than a little stressed. Hell, I still am.
T

Since the problem is not endemic, these are things that may be easily fixed. To start, I would duplicate the problem, then submit a diagnostic from the Sonos app and post your reference number here. That will allow a Sonos tech to see what is wrong.

Thanks. Reference #8311033.
B
Sonos with Alexa needs a lot of work. I am sorry I bought 2 new speakers. Waste of money. I went back to the Echo. I will give up a little sound quality for something that actually works.
T
Alexa? Who cares at this point? I can't even get both speakers to work. you would not believe the crap I've been through today following leads all over the Internet. Reconnecting a speaker to the router with a cable, disabling everything I can find that I'm supposed to in order to set up a reconnect, getting instructions that are only a couple of months old that apparently don't jive with what I have, (Nowhere can I find a place to remove voice recognition) finally getting them to work after the connection using a cable to the router only to have them fail within five minutes.

Oh, and i got a message on the PC app telling me that my firewall has to be reconfigured, a button to click to do so, and the app crashing in the middle of it. Apparently the Sonos programmers aren't any more competent than the Sonos engineers.

Right back to square one.

Oh, and the wait time for phone help is over an hour.

Sonos, you are a crap company with crap products, and not enough tech support to handle the avalanche of problems caused by your crap products.

And no response to my diagnostics input. Which does not surprise me at all.
Chris
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
Being your having multiple issues you really should just call the support line and wait. Hopefully now that holidays over it has settled down.
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T
Uh, as I just stated the wait time is over one hour.
A
Badge
Sounds like somebody is experiencing the common playback problem......SONOS, the Saab of the speaker world.
T
LOL! I had a '79 Saab. You are correct.:D
Chris
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
I have no playback problems - a lot of new users needing help getting system going as many people have various issues when it comes to their home networks.
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Chris
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
Do you have any issues playing music with Sonos controller or are all your issues Alexa related (which is beta).
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K
Every wireless audio system has these issues. And while responses may be faster, solutions may not be better. I have a Dot that is stuttering and the quick response from Amazon was to first power cycle and if that does not work, do a reset. Amazon has no way of running a specific fault finding diagnostic in the way Sonos can. In my case, the stuttering completely stopped before I did any of these things, so now I shall do these actions with hope, the next time this happens. But this shows that the solutions are as hit and miss as broad spectrum antibiotics.

But I agree that Sonos needs to look at staffing of help lines as well as this forum to improve response times/levels. It is a service provider and not just a hardware seller, and needs to meet standards on support that service providers set for themselves, 24/7. Including holiday weekends, because that is when the system will both see most use and can least suffer stoppages. Support of unpaid users ought not to be relied on to achieve acceptable levels of support as is done here, but to improve it to the "Exceeds Expectations" level.
T
Amazon will replace all the parts. That just might be the best solution.
Chris
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
I'm not sure what that means Amazon will replace the parts. You mean return. If you don't want to bother correcting issue.
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A
Badge
The concept I have seen in multiple threads, which causes the most concern, is that many of these issues were not experienced with the product when originally purchased. I am not sure how the company can justify the effort to create constant updates that nobody wants or needs, but they cannot seem to fix the problems associated with those updates. Nobody expects perfection, but as Kumar stated above, consumers deserve available support that is effective. I do not need someone to tell me to turn off the router and turn it on again...I got that from AT&T in the 90's
Chris
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
90% of all problems can be corrected by assigning fixed IP addresses to your network devices. IP addresses - problem for routers in the 90s and problem today. Sonos can't fix issues with routers assigning the same number twice.

I update my Sonos and other network devices consistently and have absolutely no troubles. No matter how many times people want to act like its a Sonos issue it almost always is not. Fix your router. Fix your IP addresses. Troubles gone.
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