New to Sonos or Alexa? How to set up

i am talking nonsense and cannot be intelligent enough to discern your view.

I can't discern your intelligence online, but your continued peddling of inaccurate or completely unfounded statements is by definition, nonsense.

I have no wish to quash discussion, but it frustrates me when people post misinformation that could cause problems for other people.

In your own words you state nobody outside sonos can say why features did or did not make it into the beta, but then go on to make your own reasoning and justifications for those omissions and dismiss anyone elses opinion as "nonsense".

Unlike you, I've chosen my words carefully for accuracy. I said "definitively". You won't have to look it up, as I'm glad to explain the difference. By using definitively I'm clarifying that no one can say with certainty. I then proceeded to offer a logical theory from the available evidence.

I'm loving having Alexa around the house and I am madly head over heels with Sonos (cant imagine life without it), but the Alexa integration seems a little broken (is it a beta or is it a general release?). For a start I dont care about music services, I want to play music from my own library. Secondly there's no audible feedback from Alerxa when she cant find a track or my commands dont make sense and thirdly the update has mucked up audio levels between alexa and my sonos. Will being able to play music from my own library be added soon?

You are taking cheap shots behind the anonymity of the internet,

This statement in conjunction with the rest of your post making assumptions on my level of experience in bringing applications to market and your opinion that i am "talking out of my nether regions" is somewhat hypocritical dont you think? The anonymity you are being afforded by the internet certainly appears to be facilitating a tone i doubt you would take away from the keyboard.

Fyi I have commissioned apps to be delivered on both android and apple handsets, as well as having had developed bespoke reporting tools used within the uk energy industry.

Whilst not having direct access to amazons own in house developers, i can draw my own conclusions based on my experience in development. I know how much our developers cost, what they are capable of and how much they cost. When i compare our budget to the resources amazon have available, all other things being equal (developer costs and skillset), then the only logical conclusion i can draw is that the functionality omissions are by design.

Maybe im wrong and these functions will arrive. Though whether you choose to accept it or not, there is also the possibility that i am right, and these omissions are down to either commercial design or the fact they just didnt want to bother going to that expense on developers delivering functionality that doesnt provide them (amazon/sonos) with any extra value.

Whether you are right or wrong, your cheap shots at the Sonos developers were cowardly and pure vitriol. Dial it back a bit and maybe people will take you seriously. This is a middle to high priced music system, a leisure activity toy of the upper classes. To be insulting the talent level of people you dont know over not getting your pet features is juvenile nonsense, the stuff of game console and comic book forums. Sorry to be so blunt, but if you actually do have the experience you claim (not that it is even close to qualifying one to comment on this implementation), you would do well to act your frigging age.

And the difference between you attacking them and me attacking you is enormous. You can fight back, Sonos employees have to eat your crap and smile.

You are taking cheap shots behind the anonymity of the internet,

This statement in conjunction with the rest of your post making assumptions on my level of experience in bringing applications to market and your opinion that i am "talking out of my nether regions" is somewhat hypocritical dont you think? The anonymity you are being afforded by the internet certainly appears to be facilitating a tone i doubt you would take away from the keyboard.

Fyi I have commissioned apps to be delivered on both android and apple handsets, as well as having had developed bespoke reporting tools used within the uk energy industry.

Whilst not having direct access to amazons own in house developers, i can draw my own conclusions based on my experience in development. I know how much our developers cost, what they are capable of and how much they cost. When i compare our budget to the resources amazon have available, all other things being equal (developer costs and skillset), then the only logical conclusion i can draw is that the functionality omissions are by design.

Maybe im wrong and these functions will arrive. Though whether you choose to accept it or not, there is also the possibility that i am right, and these omissions are down to either commercial design or the fact they just didnt want to bother going to that expense on developers delivering functionality that doesnt provide them (amazon/sonos) with any extra value.

Whether you are right or wrong, your cheap shots at the Sonos developers were cowardly and pure vitriol. Dial it back a bit and maybe people will take you seriously. This is a middle to high priced music system, a leisure activity toy of the upper classes. To be insulting the talent level of people you dont know over not getting your pet features is juvenile nonsense, the stuff of game console and comic book forums. Sorry to be so blunt, but if you actually do have the experience you claim (not that it is even close to qualifying one to comment on this implementation), you would do well to act your frigging age.

I think you misinterpret my posts.

Far from belittling the developers at sonos/amazon, my conclusion is that they are easily capable of delivering the "missing" functionality, and my personal opinion is that they were never instructed to deliver it in the first place.

In short, the highly skilled developers have delivered exactly what the accountants wanted them to. And those same highly skilled developers will deliver the missing features when the accountants tell them they can.

I really hope it'll support playback from my own music library though ... fingers crossed

There's certainly a lot of interest around that, so I would expect it to be something Sonos delivers if it's possible.

[quote]My logical conclusion is that I then proceeded to offer a logical theory from the available evidence.
evidence available to myself being:
...
My logical conclusion is...
We'll have to agree to disagree because there can be no common ground here. You are not making logical conclusions. You invented, whole cloth, scenarios which you proceeded to "validate" with your misunderstanding of the technology.

It's irrelevant though, as I'm not going to convince you, and we're clogging a thread up that could be used for better discussion.

We'll have to agree to disagree because there can be no common ground here. You are not making logical conclusions. You invented, whole cloth, scenarios which you proceeded to "validate" with your misunderstanding of the technology.

It's irrelevant though, as I'm not going to convince you, and we're clogging a thread up that could be used for better discussion.

Have you, or have you not, got any experience of deploying any form of app using the amazon developer and amazon web services?

If you haven't, please don't assume i am misunderstanding the technology.

There are several apps out there that reference local items in a users home which alexa knows nothing about.

Alexa can for example turn on my hot water system, and while it has the thermostats listed as smart devices, it knows nothing of my hot water install but relays commands to the honeywell system which does.

Alexa does not have a full list of phrases which can be sent to IFTTT but she sends them anyway and hands off the work of interpreting the instruction to another platform.

As you are able to refresh your library content on the sonos system, it is entirely plausible that this local library index file which I believe is stored on the non volatile memory of each player (to a max of 65000 tracks) could be used in a very similar way to the list of triggers stored for an ifttt account. The list is external to the alexa system but addressable non the less.

This appears on the face of it to be technically possible from the amazon and sonos developers.

However if i were in charge of the purse strings at amazon, would i pay for developers to bring forward a solution which allowed customers to use their own storage instead of my $25 a year offering? Not until id reviewed whether the omission of such a feature encouraged the take up of my $25 offering. Once id scooped up enough of the people willing to shell out $25 instead of whinge about it on forums then id consider appeasing the rest of the customer base, and certainly so if the competition (google home) offered this functionality if and when it integrated with sonos.

For simplicity, my opinion is that this is a commercial decision and we will see a change when the competition offers this functionality. Though whats the bets google launches with the ability to address files on your google homedrive first...

So calling something "lazy development" or saying they "didn't have the skills" isn't belittling a developer? Gee, who knew? :8

But hey, glad to see my belittling of you got you to back off on them. Baby steps.

You will note, as you appear to hang on my every word with a desire to disect and analyse each one, that in my post on page 4 I offered my conclusion that this was a commercially driven decision. I was never on the developer.

The scenario of lazy or unskilled development was put forward as the only other alternative. Given that the developers are easily skilled enough to achieve the functionality, it somewhat validates my original conclusion.

When all other possibilities have been discounted, what remains however implausible or ugly, has to be the truth.

The reason we dont have these functions os down to finance.

Either they didnt want to spend more developer time doing the slightly more complicated stuff and had other priorities for them, or they saw these additions as a commercial conflict with their own music services, at least for a period of time.

Nice dodge. If you offered it as an alternative, then you offered it as a possibility. Admit it dude, you were taking cheap shots. You had the gall to say it then, so own it now.

Then again, don't own it. I think we all know what you are all about by now. :8

I think the hold up was Amazon, the recent release of their API for smart speakers is proof of that. I think the lack of local library support is due to the logistics of getting a copy of the local track index into the Amazon cloud and keeping it updated, and Amazon having no current functionality to access such data, so it must be manufactured from scratch. I think the delay in Spotify support is due to the fact that Spotify was also waiting for the Amazon API, and as such, they are delayed a bit compared to Amazon Music, who had the inside lane to the finish line.

I also believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, there is no Loch Ness Monster or Bigfoot, and space aliens have not implanted themselves in Donald Trump's brain (he actually is really that way).

It will be very interesting to see where this goes next and whether Sonos becomes little more than a "physical" add on for the likes of google/amazon and other voice assistants. Sonos are big, but google and amazon are serious heavyweights in comparison who could, if so inclined, launch their own speakers with their own technology built in, or perhaps move to acquire sonos or another speaker manufacturer in order to do so.

I think the additional functionality will depend on who blinks first with the competition and really how much of a priority this is seen as. Though having all options available to consumers, and all the grouping/ungrouping functionality etc before google home announces its colaboration with Sonos (if/when), would certainly be a coup for Amazon, so perhaps we will see these functions ooner than expected, but personally I still think Amazon aren't in a rush to deliver them whilst ever people with sonos speakers are now signing up for amazon prime music trials....

You're right on Oswald, Big Foot and Trump - but not nessie. 😛

I'm really impressed with this. The downside side is I have to remember not to say music otherwise I end with some random amazon playlist (I use deezer)

I was was always dubious of how useful voice would be, but its amazing, good job sonos!!

Ryan,

This forum is great - saw the exchange below and got a new Play One w Alexa today but I'm having trouble getting it to play music on both my Echo and new Play One at the same time. Did I misunderstand the comment - is it not possible to play the same source through both the Echo and Play One at the same time?

So I've hooked up my Echo dot to my Sonos speakers.

I'm having a few teething issues as i have to speak the commands a few times before they take effect and often there is a big lag, but im aware its just a beta.

However, are we sure Alexa doesn't support Spotify (at this time)?
I don't have amazon or apple music, only Spotify. I asked Alexa to play Elvis Presley - Suspicious Minds and she did, and shes previously mentioned she couldn't find a track on spotify when i mispronounced the name. I'm assuming she isnt plucking the music out of the ether sooooo are they linked on some level?

Thanks