No Spotify thru Alexa?

  • 4 October 2017
  • 28 replies
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Userlevel 1
How can you leave out Spotify thru Alexa?

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28 replies

Userlevel 1
This makes so little sense. The Alexa app lets you default to Spotify for music thru the Echo products, but if I ask Alexa to play thru Sonos, Spotify is not an option? What am I missing here?
Sounds like Spotify wasn't ready for this, but will be soon. Patience... Would you rather they waited until Spotify was ready before the big reveal? I wouldn't...
Other than Spotify, will anything else work via Alexa? For example, SiriusXM pandora etc. I tried Sirius today but it didn't work. Unless I did something wrong
Please read the announcements located in the (surprise!) Announcements section. To quote Page and Plant - All will be revealed.
Userlevel 1
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Please read the announcements located in the (surprise!) Announcements section. To quote Page and Plant - All will be revealed.

Ok so they give us a vague "We're working on it", really clears up a lot.

Ok so they give us a vague "We're working on it", really clears up a lot.


Today has really enlightened me to the unheard of levels of entitlement present in society that the cynical folks around me always complain about. I always thought their cynicism was unfounded. Nope they were right, and for that, I am embarrassed.
Jgatie - call it entitlement if you want, but we all paid a lot of money for our Sonos systems and were promised a long time ago that we'd have integration. I'm sure many of us decided on Sonos with the premise that this would work - I know I did.
Then, when it finally comes it's missing really the only thing anyone cares about. Its not as if it was given to us for free and we're complaining it doesn't work.

And I believe that they said Alexa integration was 'coming soon' almost a year ago, so when they say Spotify is coming soon, I'm not sure I have a ton of trust. I think they'd have done themselves a favor and just not released it until it was actually ready and supported spotify.
Userlevel 7
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I'm not sure about 'entitlement' but after all this time in development I don't think the initial release could be any more underwhelming tbh.
The usual will defend any 'missing' (read Spotify) functionality as surely not Sonos' fault but in the UK, where we don't even have Pandora, we're left with the main streaming service not yet supported.
I did predict many users expecting to be able to control local music from Alexa and it not being delivered but I really don't see how the initial rollout could have been any more basic.
As I say, some very limited playback options and not even any ability to group or move music around speakers is about as limited and disappointing as it could have been - and I'm not sure how or why such limited functionality has taken such a long time to develop on the Alexa platform.
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So far so bad as far as I'm concerned. Think I expected too much like for it to actually work maybe. I have Amazon music that is compatible but after asking Alexa about three times to turn down the living room I actually got off my arse and turned it down myself.
Userlevel 6
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This makes so little sense. The Alexa app lets you default to Spotify for music thru the Echo products, but if I ask Alexa to play thru Sonos, Spotify is not an option? What am I missing here?

This is an Amazon issue - using the Alexa feature to pair/group Echos also disables Spotify. Until Amazon fix this then I guess Sonos is stuck with this problem.
Userlevel 5
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Really? I have several echos and alexas around the home, spotify works just fine on any.

The cynic in me thinks this is a lot more to do with Amazon wanting to try and get converts to amazon prime music rather than allowing functionality.

There is an app you can develop yourself for alexa that allows control of sonos through your echos (with lots more functionality than this official release), which works just fine with spotify. I am quite honestly amazed that sonos/amazon, the multi million/billion dollar companies that they are, released this with about half the functionality of some amateur program thats been around for over a year.

Anyone wanting to have proper voice control of sonos, with the ability to group, ungroup, and use spotify, could do worse than checke these out:

https://github.com/rgraciano/echo-sonos
https://community.smartthings.com/t/advanced-sonos-commands-for-alexa-echo-choose-playlists-radio-control-volume-skip-songs-etc/21198
https://github.com/jishi/node-sonos-http-api

Not as easy as just out of the box from sonos and takes some time to set up, but it has MUCH more functionality, works with more services, and allows the grouping and ungrouping of rooms etc.
My suspicion is that Amazon is adding multi-room speakers as core Alexa functionality. It wouldn't make sense for Sonos to implement something like that rgraciano skill if that's the case because their work would soon be obsolete. It seems Sonos is working closely with Amazon to implement their ideal version of voice controlled multi-room audio. In the email about the Alexa beta I received at least, they mention Spotify is coming. They also indicate that Alexa devices will be location aware knowing which speaker an Echo command should be associated with, functionality that is not available with current Alexa skills. Personally, I'm happy they released the beta now rather than waiting until everything is perfect. That way I can get a feel for what is clearly the future.
Userlevel 5
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I tried Sirius today but it didn't work. Unless I did something wrong
SiriusXM should work. It sounds like something worth troubleshooting if it didn't for you.

I think they'd have done themselves a favor and just not released it until it was actually ready and supported spotify.

To translate - This isn't everything I wanted, screw everybody else.

It's ridiculous to suggest that because you didn't get what you wanted Sonos shouldn't deliver functionality that others can use.

I did predict many users expecting to be able to control local music from Alexa and it not being delivered but I really don't see how the initial rollout could have been any more basic.

Yeah, the initial rollout includes only the "standard" Alexa functions. It doesn't do any good to debate how long things took to prepare, but it's clear that Sonos and their competition have been in a holding pattern with Amazon.

So the question becomes, would you guys really prefer Sonos to hold off on releasing some features until they could've prepared more? That's basically the posited position.


The cynic in me thinks this is a lot more to do with Amazon wanting to try and get converts to amazon prime music rather than allowing functionality.

You spelled conspiracy theorist wrong.
Userlevel 1
I'd have preferred them after, what has it been, a year, 9 months, to release something worthy of Sonos. After all this time, the release is underwhelming. And, as someone else said, the promise of Spotify in the future is great. but we've been promised Alexa integration for over a year/9months now, so don't hold your breath. For a few months I did not have Spotify synced to my Alexa and relied on Amazon Prime Music and the two do not compare. Further, no Spotify or Sonos playlists. It does feel like this is an effort to get Amazon Music subscriptions, and so is probably an Amazon-driven problem. But, Sonos should've stood its ground for its user base. If github can figure out how to do it, Sonos could've figure out how to do this without Amazon's sign off.
Userlevel 4
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I think the whole Sonos/Alexa thing has so far been a huge let-down. Personal opinion I concede. As well as the whole voice control system being buggy, my biggest disappointment is the absence of Spotify. Apple Music is not available with the Echo, but Spotify is. Now we have the ridiculous situation whereby two of the worlds biggest streaming services aren’t available on Alexa with Sonos. And yes I appreciate it probably isn’t Sonos’s fault, but surely that doesn’t address the issue or excuse the situation. This should have been sorted out before launch.
Very disappointed.
Don't know if this is a me being cynical but Amazon music works perfectly
Userlevel 2
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I got this response from the sonos Twitter account last night. I’m hoping this means it will be resolved by end December.

Hi,we’re working to get Spotify support on Sonos with Amazon Alexa before the holidays. (1/2)

(2/2) You can start playback from Spotify via their app or the Sonos app and then use voice for basic playback control.
Userlevel 3
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What a shambles. Got it all working but its saying spotify is not supported on any of the sonos speakers.
Userlevel 2
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Hoping sonos /amazon will include spotify soon, maybe by oct 24, my guess , when sonos one is available , so is spotify will be with sonos/ alexa
Also really disappointed with this, it feels like amazon allowed sonos integration to plug Amazon Music streaming ahead of the more capable and innovative music streaming service - Spotify. To be fair, it’s still easy to go on the Sonos app and hit play so we should probabaly all chill out a little bit - myself included 🙂
Userlevel 2
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Hoping spotify will be integrated soon on Sonos/Alexa.......especially where countries where amazon music is not available... in the meantime, we just use the spotify to start the playlist, and can only control sonos (next/ previous/volume/pause)
Userlevel 6
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I doubt Spotify will be available ahead of the same issue on real Echos being fixed (where grouped echos also lack Spotify).
Possibly after the release of the echo2 on October 31, 2017 ???.
How can you leave out Spotify thru Alexa? I’ve added my speaker to a group called Sonos, then say “Alexa play Spotify on Sonos” and it works fine.
Userlevel 7
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There is a bit of a workaround. If you set Spotify as your default music source within the Alexa App, you can select an artist from Spotify with an Echo dot and control with the Sonos 1 afterwards. Not ideal but a step closer until Spotify is fully supported.

My last post here, explains how:

https://en.community.sonos.com/amazon-alexa-and-sonos-229102/playing-spotify-with-alexa-on-sonos-one-6792705/index1.html#post16161170
Userlevel 7
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21 December
https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4343?_ga=2.100805575.710780148.1509470687-2126392721.1503934149