Question

Sonos One problems

  • 23 October 2017
  • 66 replies
  • 8777 views

Userlevel 6
Badge +11
My Sonos One arrived this morning, I've unplugged my Echo and setup the One in it's place ready for use. I've upgraded to 8.1

Problems....

- You cannot change the wake word from Alexa.

- Music does not play. I say "Alexa, Play some UB40", Alexa confirms and says it is playing but no sound comes out.

- Other non Sonos skills don't work e.g. Hue. If I say "Alexa, turn on the Hall lights", Alexa says that the hall is not responding. This works fine from the Echo when plugged back in.

- The white light on the unit does not turn off when you disable it in the settings

- With the Echo plugged back in I say, "Play UB40 in the Kitchen" I either get "Shuffling songs by UB40 in the kitchen, something went wrong" or "Cannot find songs by 'UB40 in the kitchen' " :)

Anyone else have issues like this?

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66 replies

Our dog's name is Alexo. The wake word MUST be changed. I'll need that feature in an update very soon (like this week or next would be good), or the Sonos One is going back to the store. It's pretty ridiculous to leave out this setting feature from just the Sonos version of the platform. Hurry up and give us this update. Fix all of the other stuff later, but give us this update now please! I love all of my other Sonos equipment, but this is a huge disappointment.
Are they going to fix the Sonos One to allow a wake word other than Alexa? When someone in your house in named Alexis, having the system use that word only is unworkable.
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
Ah ok, this is starting to work. But is there a way to turn off the Amazon Music catalog? If Alexa doesn't understand the word I'm saying I really don't want it to play some random song that happens to have a similar title. I just want my music.

Not that I'm aware of as they are both added from your Amazon account.
Ah ok, this is starting to work. But is there a way to turn off the Amazon Music catalog? If Alexa doesn't understand the word I'm saying I really don't want it to play some random song that happens to have a similar title. I just want my music.
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
Yes, I've selected "Amazon Music" as default (and only). But I guess I have confusion over whether Amazon Music is "things I've bought with them" or the newer subscription service.

You should also see 'Amazon My Music Library' as a source under 'Music, Video & Books>My Music Library' - Can you see your music? If not, can you check that you don't have ANY other app signed in to another Amazon Account on any device used by your email.

The priority is 'If a song, album, artist, genre, or playlist is not in My Music, Alexa searches the Amazon Music catalog or samples from the Digital Music Store when available.'

Is there some secret word I have to say to unlock the music I have literally given Amazon itself music to be able to play?

The syntax for the command is Play an album "Play the album, '[title].'"

EDIT: Sorry, just read your previous posts again and you've already confirmed some of this.
Yes, I've selected "Amazon Music" as default (and only). But I guess I have confusion over whether Amazon Music is "things I've bought with them" or the newer subscription service.
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
Have you setting your music library as your default music source in the alexa app settings》music, video & books?
So the weird part is, yes it is, but I don't really understand what that screen in the app does. I can find all the albums and songs but tapping on them doesn't seem to do anything obvious?

I wonder if part of the issue is that I'm always trying to play albums but it seems to usually want to search for songs. Do I have to speak in some special way to specify a full album? Do I have to say some special words to get My Music instead of Unlimited/Prime?
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
I'm confused too. I just got a Sonos One (also have a Play:1). I've been buying music through Amazon's MP3 store for many years and it works fine on my Play:1, but I don't use the Amazon Unlimited thing. So I figured that my Amazon music would work great with Alexa on Sonos One (and the logos of what's supported seem to agree with that) but I'll ask for it to play albums that I've bought through Amazon Music and it will respond saying that the music isn't available through Prime Streaming. Is there some secret word I have to say to unlock the music I have literally given Amazon itself music to be able to play? (Works fine through the app of course, but if Alexa can't even play Amazon's own music I'm not sure why I bought this gimmicky speaker that doesn't even have a mounting screw.)

If you access the Alexa app and select 'Music, Video & Books is your music library listed?
I'm confused too. I just got a Sonos One (also have a Play:1). I've been buying music through Amazon's MP3 store for many years and it works fine on my Play:1, but I don't use the Amazon Unlimited thing. So I figured that my Amazon music would work great with Alexa on Sonos One (and the logos of what's supported seem to agree with that) but I'll ask for it to play albums that I've bought through Amazon Music and it will respond saying that the music isn't available through Prime Streaming. Is there some secret word I have to say to unlock the music I have literally given Amazon itself music to be able to play? (Works fine through the app of course, but if Alexa can't even play Amazon's own music I'm not sure why I bought this gimmicky speaker that doesn't even have a mounting screw.)
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
If you have a song playing from any other source but Amazon, Alexa will not work to stop, skip track or pause...
I find if I have songs in queue and Ask Alexa to play a new song, it will say playing new song and then it won’t play.. If I clear my queue it will work again.

The speakers themselves sound great but the software and Alexa are buggy.


This should be resolved as of yesterday. The Sonos One targeting for Stop shouldn't be needed anymore.
It will but at the moment you need to specify the room name in the voice command, if audio was started from the app.[/quote]
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
If you have a song playing from any other source but Amazon, Alexa will not work to stop, skip track or pause...
I find if I have songs in queue and Ask Alexa to play a new song, it will say playing new song and then it won’t play.. If I clear my queue it will work again.

The speakers themselves sound great but the software and Alexa are buggy.


It will but at the moment you need to specify the room name in the voice command, if audio was started from the app.
If you have a song playing from any other source but Amazon, Alexa will not work to stop, skip track or pause...
I find if I have songs in queue and Ask Alexa to play a new song, it will say playing new song and then it won’t play.. If I clear my queue it will work again.

The speakers themselves sound great but the software and Alexa are buggy.
I had these issues after 2 days whereby Alexa stopped playing music. I posted it to this forum along with my fix if you search for posts by me. It involves a few steps of removing the skills and doing the same on the Alexa web app to fully get rid and then setting up again. It’s been working fine since

James
You can of course use the wake word Blake’s 7 😳
Userlevel 4
Badge +3
Yeah, Amazon is afraid of losing sales to Spotify so they don't allow Alexa to initiate play from Spotify on Sonos, but they don't care at all about supporting Spotify on the devices they themselves manufacture, and outsell Sonos devices by 100 to 1?I suspect that the most likely (and boring) scenario is that it's easier for Amazon and Sonos to get things working initially on a service that is completely within the two companies control. As we've seen already there's a lot to fix and literally adding a third party will slow that down even further. I'm sure some at Amazon will have seen that as a double bonus with their own service being 'exclusive' for a while.

It's clear Sonos have missed several ways already that lots of users want to use the new function and currently isn't supported. It's also clear (to me anyway) that Amazon themselves really need to sort out room support as the current approach is unworkable with Sonos in more than one room.

As for Sonos having launched when it appears to be too early, my guess would be that since Amazon have added new function to play music across multiple Echo devices, Sonos are in danger of losing what has become a core part of their market. Google are also getting involved. Music is the key use of these voice enabled devices right now and Sonos con't compete with Amazon or Google here. No, the Echo's won't be as good as Sonos, but at £89 each in the UK, and if you buy three you get £50 off, you can have voice enabled multi-room music for not much money...

Sonos will want to be seen as a higher end version of that, the trouble is that it doesn't work as well as the cheaper option probably will, and also doesn't work in the way existing Sonos owners expect, so at the moment it's in danger of disappointing new and existing owners which is not good. The reviews are all positive, but I suspect that they are banking on many of the issues being sorted quickly so that when people hit their sites in a few months time they're more accurate. In the mean time there's a bit of a gap between the hype and reality, the pressure is on Sonos to fix issues and respond to owners needs quickly. Amazon I suspect are more focused on their own new devices which launch officially in the next few days. I'm sure someone is going to compare the new Echo against a Sonos One, I'm not sure it's going to go too well at present.


Launching too early? It was in beta for over 18 months
Userlevel 4
Badge +3
Sure, if by "only if you investigate" you mean prominently displayed in the Announcement section article for Alexa on Sonos, the FAQ on how to use Alexa on Sonos, and the Sonos Blog entry on the introductions of Alexa on Sonos and the new Sonos One, not to mention a giant splash page on the main website stating:

Ask Alexa to play music from these featured music services. Or pause, resume, skip or change the volume with all services available.



Look out for improvements—like fully supported voice control for Spotify, coming later this year.





Yeah I don’t want to rent music, id like Alexa and solos to work with my local library not Amazon’s library
Userlevel 4
Badge +3
Yes , I agree with the general sentiment, very disappointing product.... not as feature rich as an Echo. The killer for me is that spotify doesnt work at all, and any request for music get routed to amazon music....am I the only one that thinks that is a bit too much of a coincidence.

Nope.

A lot of us months ago thought the same when we found out Alexa couldn’t access our local libraries even though we thought this would be an obvious feature.

Only use for this is if you want to rent,sorry stream, music form amazon. I don’t.
Yep, for me it is the performance of the mic array that is the most disappointing - very touch and go and I find I have to shout to have any chance of getting a response. I'm disappointed but I believe that this along with the other niggles that people are reporting will get fixed with a software upgrade - probably fairly urgently. Also,.. I thought voice control for Spotify was coming next year, not later this.
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
@VoiceOfSoftware, as far as I know, there aren't any legal reasons for using just Alexa as the wake word. The reasons are almost certainly technical, not legal. We're currently only using Alexa on the Sonos One, but I'd happy to pass on the interest in others to the team.
Is it true that Amazon won't legally allow third parties to use other wake words than "Alexa"? If so, then sadly, this gorgeous thing has to go back...so close, and yet so far.
Sure, if by "only if you investigate" you mean prominently displayed in the Announcement section article for Alexa on Sonos, the FAQ on how to use Alexa on Sonos, and the Sonos Blog entry on the introductions of Alexa on Sonos and the new Sonos One, not to mention a giant splash page on the main website stating:

Ask Alexa to play music from these featured music services. Or pause, resume, skip or change the volume with all services available.



Look out for improvements—like fully supported voice control for Spotify, coming later this year.
I purchased a Sonos One, thinking the Alexa Software would work with my current Sonos library; Be aware, IT DOES NOT! I spoke with 2 customer Reps who confirmed "it's being worked" on. The Sonos One works as a Play 1 with your current library, and will control the Music Services that are offered. This information isn't can be found on their site only if you investigate. I love Sonos, but this is not their finest product release.
Sadly, I will have to return it if there's no clear roadmap for changing the wake work to "Echo". It was not clearly communicated that this device is not feature-parity with other Amazon devices.

I, like many others, just assumed all the software would work identically to a regular Amazon-branded Echo. Didn't Sonos collaborate with Amazon on this? Aren't they sharing the same base code?
Userlevel 4
Badge +1
Yeah, Amazon is afraid of losing sales to Spotify so they don't allow Alexa to initiate play from Spotify on Sonos, but they don't care at all about supporting Spotify on the devices they themselves manufacture, and outsell Sonos devices by 100 to 1?I suspect that the most likely (and boring) scenario is that it's easier for Amazon and Sonos to get things working initially on a service that is completely within the two companies control. As we've seen already there's a lot to fix and literally adding a third party will slow that down even further. I'm sure some at Amazon will have seen that as a double bonus with their own service being 'exclusive' for a while.

It's clear Sonos have missed several ways already that lots of users want to use the new function and currently isn't supported. It's also clear (to me anyway) that Amazon themselves really need to sort out room support as the current approach is unworkable with Sonos in more than one room.

As for Sonos having launched when it appears to be too early, my guess would be that since Amazon have added new function to play music across multiple Echo devices, Sonos are in danger of losing what has become a core part of their market. Google are also getting involved. Music is the key use of these voice enabled devices right now and Sonos con't compete with Amazon or Google here. No, the Echo's won't be as good as Sonos, but at £89 each in the UK, and if you buy three you get £50 off, you can have voice enabled multi-room music for not much money...

Sonos will want to be seen as a higher end version of that, the trouble is that it doesn't work as well as the cheaper option probably will, and also doesn't work in the way existing Sonos owners expect, so at the moment it's in danger of disappointing new and existing owners which is not good. The reviews are all positive, but I suspect that they are banking on many of the issues being sorted quickly so that when people hit their sites in a few months time they're more accurate. In the mean time there's a bit of a gap between the hype and reality, the pressure is on Sonos to fix issues and respond to owners needs quickly. Amazon I suspect are more focused on their own new devices which launch officially in the next few days. I'm sure someone is going to compare the new Echo against a Sonos One, I'm not sure it's going to go too well at present.