Sonos and Alexa - My Library

Is it correct that I have to PAY Amazon to listen to the contents of my own Music Library for music that I have already paid for. If so this is a CON. I will continue to use Sonos via the Controller, no incentive to use via Alexa

I read they hadn't provided support to be able to play your music in your own Sonos Music library yet via voice control. Alexa still works well to stop music turn up volume play next track etc. You can also play the tune In radio. I haven't read anywhere yet that says they will definitely provide that either. Interesting thread here https://en.community.sonos.com/amazon-alexa-and-sonos-229102/sonos-alexa-and-local-nas-stored-music-6791479

Alexa cannot access music from your local music library whatsoever, paid or not. You would have to upload your music to Amazon, which you need to pay for (£22/year)

Acutally, not quite true. Alexa cannot initialize playback of local libraries and other sources not available to Amazon. If play is initialized on the Sonos app, Alexa can be used to control pause/stop, resume/play, skip, previous, volume level, and even ask "Alexa, what's playing on (room name)?".

It is strange. I read today that the Yamaha music cast implementation has many more services via voice. Maybe there's an exclusivity agreement with Amazon for x months.

found a non Alexa partner as voice control isn’t exclusive to Amazon and there will be more coming along.

This reads like a joke, but I fear you're serious. Who exactly is Sonos going to run off to? There's only 2 real competitors in the space, and Amazon is the leader. Rather than your crazy idea, Sonos is doing the reasonable thing. They're going to try to work with all the players to provide us with the most options. There's no fault with the plan. You can only question if they'll be able to pull it all off.

I read today that the Yamaha music cast implementation has many more services via voice. Maybe there's an exclusivity agreement with Amazon for x months.

We'll see when they release it. I don't think it's reasonable to believe Amazon would entertain an offer of feature exclusivity on Alexa from one speaker vendor.

When Sonos announces support for voice activation, that’s what I expect/expected. The ability to access with my Sonos all my music services, music library and radio via voice control, otherwise what’s the point?

Your expectations can't really be controlled. Sonos launched support for Alexa, not some nebulous voice control. It's an important distinction because it's the reason Amazon services are up first. There's been some unclear statements, but really the product delivered most of what I expected for its beta launch.

I understand everyone wants their favorite features supported, but this is the same conversation that's been going on since release. Is there any angle that hasn't been covered, or is it just therapy for the upset?

You paid for voice control of your local library?

You paid for voice control of your local library?

Fair point, but Sonos allows me to access my local library. I hoped that Sonos voice control would give me just that, voice control of my all my Sonos.

We all hoped. We hoped wrong (for now). Sonos is in a partnership with a company that doesn't give a fiddler's fig about your local library. Plus, local library access via the Alexa interface is significantly, magnitudes actually, more difficult on the Amazon side than accessing streaming services that Alexa is already able to search and stream very easily even before its attempt to partner up with 3rd party smart speakers. Given these two facts, the math is not that hard to figure out.

Is there any thread immune from you pimping your Sonos skill?

it offers so many of the missing features that people ask for on these forums.

Yeah, not pimping at all (and by pimping, I mean promoting, monetary gain aside). The reason you don't post links is because you know that crosses the line. I'm just saying it gets annoying, and the last thing you want to do when you are "promoting" your stuff is to be annoying (or even coming close to it). User jishi has been developing 3rd party stuff for Sonos for years, but he does it right. You could learn a lot from him.

Oh, and by the way, your skill was obsolete the day it required to run a server on a PC. I thought that stuff went away with the demise of Squeezebox.

This is the first i've heard of another Skill, probably as it doesn't show up for me in the UK. Do you know when it will be available over here?

It will be available a week after Amazon enable a feature known as "built-in Intents" outside the USA. This feature has been available in the USA for nine months or so, but is unavailable in the UK or Germany. And developers are pissed about it: https://forums.developer.amazon.com/questions/50740/there-is-a-growing-gap-between-what-a-us-dev-can-d.html

Oh, and by the way, your skill was obsolete the day it required to run a server on a PC. I thought that stuff went away with the demise of Squeezebox.

Why bring up Squeezebox again?

You do accept that the latest Sonos - Alexa development depends on a hell-of-a-lot of backend infrastructure (all of which can go awol) compared to a 25 usd raspberry pi? And over which the end-user has absolutely no control whatsoever.

Your high-level of 'support' commitment over the last couple of weeks attempting to gloss-over the evident problems with the Sonos-Alexa integration suggests it's no longer the simple 'plug'n'play solution you suggest it is, compared to the 'obsolete' squeezebox .

Not glossing over anything. Voice control for local music was expected by me and others, and regardless of the reasons, it is a disappointment. Spotify is late, Sonos did not meet even the vague promise that they would support at least every music service Amazon supports. That is a fail on release, regardless of how soon it comes. Audible has been a disaster, definitely a fail. The One is buggy, but it is a beta, I will forgive that.

In summary, Sonos is probably too dependent on the APIs and/or SDKs that Amazon is releasing, but in my opinion that is better than a local server or any other home grown stuff. It is pretty early in the development of marrying voice control with 3rd party hardware requiring anything more sophisticated than "Alexa, turn on the dining room lights". I also know the growing pains that result from this type of coordination between two different companies with very different goals. So I am willing to have some patience. As always, your mileage may vary.

One last thing: Support has been terrible since the decision to cut budget and rely instead on websites and social media. It may be the single most apparent cultural change in the history of the company, and it is a glaring one. Support used to be a highlight; attentive, fast, knowledgeable, and available. No offense to the great Sonos techs who labor here, but the formerly great support has suffered lately. I don't blame the staff at all, but there has definitely been some upper level decision to let support languish, and it does not reflect positively.

But even given all that, it is still better than Squeezebox. 😉

We all have our personal preferences.

Better or worse? They are different.

Wow, that's all you have for a reply to my dissing of Sonos after the blasting you gave me? Gee, being an accused Sonos apologist isn't what it used to be. ;)

As to being better, I prefer a company that actually exists to one which does not. I dare say most would.

I think jgatie has been hacked, he said something against Sonos :P

Personally, I preferred my Squeezebox's. The boom was amazing and the Radio had a battery to power it!!! Come on Sonos, have you heard of batteries??

Not hacked at all. If you view my posts, they are often heavy on facts, light on opinion or emotion. I view stuff like this very objectively. I do not consider "promises" or "expectations" from faceless corporations to be the same as from my loved ones or friends, nor do I hold them to the same ideals. I paid Sonos for the hardware and functionality at the date and time of purchase, there was no "till death do us part" in that transaction. So anything else is gravy, and I approach my judgment of any enhanced capabilities as such. Many may see that as making excuses for Sonos, but I truly try to keep emotion out of it. However, when asked or challenged (as in this thread) I am not unwilling to give my unvarnished opinion (not that I ever varnish it, I just never give it). If only those who give opinions more willingly would admit to the facts as easily. ;)

Also, the day I rant at a company for "letting me down" or "not fulfilling promises" like I would if a significant other divorced me or my kids lied to me is the day I seek heavy therapy. Sad to say, I've seen more hyperbolic emotions out of posters here over a silly UI change than I recently heard from a close friend over their spouse cheating on them. My opinion is if a company lets me down to the point I get that worked up, I sell them on e-bay and never look back. Life is too short and full of actual let-downs to lament more than a couple seconds over the performance of your luxury multi-room music system. Maybe the fact I have so little emotional investment is the reason I can actually sit back and enjoy the music. As always, YMMV.