Answered

wont skip track


Userlevel 1
I have 2 sonos ones and a beam, when I ask to skip track with alexa on spotify, she just says I cant skip to the next song. Very frustrating.
icon

Best answer by Ryan S 19 May 2020, 01:25

View original

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

106 replies

Userlevel 3
Badge +3

Same here. I’m beyond troubled they simply are not present in any threads on this issue. Either Sonos don’t care about Alexa integration or have been told don’t comment. The absence of any community presence on this topic isn’t oversight or neglect. It’s absolutely intentional. Sonos do not want to acknowledge this and either can’t fix it or don’t have any interest in fixing it.

I have done a bit of experimenting, using an Echo Dot for commands to a Sonos Preferred Speaker, rather than an Alexa-enabled Sonos speaker.  But I think the conclusions are likely to be the same.

I think something may have gone haywire in the interaction between Alexa and the Sonos queue.

Basically,the voice command ‘skip track’ will skip when the play has been initiated from the app, but not if initiated by an Alexa command.  So it works if I use the app to play from my phone or NAS where there is no option to initiate from Alexa.  It also works if I use the app to initiate play of an album, station or playlist from Amazon Music, but not if I start any of those using Alexa.

I wonder if the interaction with the Sonos queue is involved here?  If I start the playing of a specific album using Alexa, i would have expected Sonos to display the tracks of that album in the queue, allowing the ‘skip’ button to work.  In fact, the queue is not active, and not only does the verbal command to ‘skip track’ not work, you cannot skip using the button in the app.

Something here looks amiss to me.

Edit: there are circumstances where I would expect the Sonos queue to be ‘not in use’, and yet ‘skip track’ to work, for example when playing an Amazon Music ‘Station’. But again, what currently determines whether or not ‘skip track’ works is whether play was initiated through the Sonos app or Alexa. 

I am still open to the possibility that this is something specific to a small number of user setups, not a generic problem, so it would be interesting to hear from users not experiencing this issue.

hi

 

Is there no fix to this? i am not technical at all, ive no idea really what im doing, but i do know my echo dot was working well with sonos, i changed my wifi to a new provider and re connected and suddenly it wasnt connecting to my sonos playbar.  i somehow managed to do this but upon asking alexa to play my music through sonos, it wont skip and plays the same song over and over.   it works fine on my alexa, skips any track….   just not my sonosplaybar.  i see its a sonos problem….. like i said im not technical at all, all i can do is reboot everything, which ive done and still not working. very frustrating. 

A further observation.  When playing an album initiated using Alexa, once I have had a failed attempt at a ‘skip track’ command, play ceases at the end of the track on which the failed attempt was made, rather than playing the rest of the album.

Also, various options are unavailable - such as ‘Add to Sonos Playlist’.

It seems that when you launch using Alexa, whatever you play behaves more like it was a ‘radio’ type stream.

Diagnostic 1519105777

Userlevel 7
Badge +26

Hi everyone, 

The team is working on an issue where Alexa becomes unable to skip tracks that are playing. They’re working on a resolution now, but in the meantime, you could try a few steps that might get it working on your system.

Start with removing Alexa entirely from Sonos in the Sonos app. This is in Settings > Voice Services. Then, go to the Alexa App and disable the Sonos skill and leave it disabled. Finally, go back to the Sonos app and set up Alexa again.

If that still doesn’t fix it on your system, another suggestion is to try setting this up use a different Amazon Alexa account in Sonos, if you have one.

While we get this resolved with the Alexa team, as a workaround, tracks that are added to the Sonos queue using the Sonos Controller should be skip-able with Alexa as expected. 

Thanks for your patience and I’ll update this thread when there’s more news to share. 

Userlevel 2
Badge +1

Hi everyone, 

The team is working on an issue where Alexa becomes unable to skip tracks that are playing. They’re working on a resolution now, but in the meantime, you could try a few steps that might get it working on your system.

Start with removing Alexa entirely from Sonos in the Sonos app. This is in Settings > Voice Services. Then, go to the Alexa App and disable the Sonos skill and leave it disabled. Finally, go back to the Sonos app and set up Alexa again.

If that still doesn’t fix it on your system, another suggestion is to try setting this up use a different Amazon Alexa account in Sonos, if you have one.

While we get this resolved with the Alexa team, as a workaround, tracks that are added to the Sonos queue using the Sonos Controller should be skip-able with Alexa as expected. 

Thanks for your patience and I’ll update this thread when there’s more news to share. 

Hi Ryan, thanks for you reply! I have tried your suggestion but don't work for me. I have erase my amazon app on iphone, disable sonos skill on alexa app, signed out on all my amazon account ecc.. but did't work. Always the same problem.

I hope a solution in few days or will I have to return my sonos one to the dealer :( 

Someone needs to learn about a little something called the “Software Development Cycle”.  :rolling_eyes:

Userlevel 2
Badge +1

and someone should understand that the wait has lasted for months

and someone should understand that the wait has lasted for months

 

I think the point was that even if a solution is found in the next day or two, it’s unlikely Sonos will push an update to customers since they just had an update a short time ago.  You may be eager for the change, but others will be annoyed that there is yet another update. 

and someone should understand that the wait has lasted for months

 

Doesn’t matter how long you’ve been waiting.  It matters how long it takes to debug, fix, test, and release.  All without disrupting upcoming releases that have been in the works for many months and are far more important to Sonos’ bottom line (because by all indications, the next release most probably coincides with new hardware being launched).    

Userlevel 2
Badge +1

and someone should understand that the wait has lasted for months

 

I think the point was that even if a solution is found in the next day or two, it’s unlikely Sonos will push an update to customers since they just had an update a short time ago.  You may be eager for the change, but others will be annoyed that there is yet another update. 

Yes it is, but I still have a few weeks to return the sonos for free. For me this option is primary and if my sonos doesn't work fine with Alexa I will be forced to return it and buy an Amazon Studio…

 

@jgatie more important? the Sonos one is sold with the specification "work with Alexa" not “work almost, sometimes, with alexa”.Easy 😉 

Yes it is, but I still have a few weeks to return the sonos for free. For me this option is primary and if my sonos doesn't work fine with Alexa I will be forced to return it and buy an Amazon Studio…

 

@jgatie more important? the Sonos one is sold with the specification "work with Alexa" not “work almost, sometimes, with alexa”.Easy 😉 

 

Yes.  Much more important.  Maybe not more important to you, but certainly more important to Sonos’ business plan.  But don’t let that stop you from threatening to shoot the bunny.  I always love those threats. 

I am not convinced that this is the same issue - or at least, not precisely the same cause - as was affecting Sonos 7 months ago. Some of the behaviours are slightly different, and I know that within the last few weeks I have used 'skip track' OK on Amazon Music having started play using Alexa.

It is only about 3 weeks ago that the problem resurfaced.

So let's see if Sonos can sort this out fairly soon.

Sonos is a great system overall. Bugs do occasionally crop up - it's software for goodness sake, what do you expect?  It will be fixed. So to those of you threatening to take your business elsewhere I say, go ahead, you will be the real losers.

Userlevel 2
Badge +1

I don't think so.  I hope Sonos will solve the problem because the audio is excellent and I want other products from this company (I have 2 Sonos now), but for a month now we have said that there is a problem here and only now have they admitted it.

I want to wait, I have faith, but as I said, this function for me is primary.

could joining the beta test phase be useful? 🤔 

for a month now we have said that there is a problem here and only now have they admitted it.

 

Perhaps that was on another thread? Your own first post on this thread was less than two weeks ago, and until three weeks ago there had been only one post in 5 months on this thread. 

Let's give Sonos a bit more time. If it doesn't get fixed it will be because Sonos has higher priorities. (Or it is harder than expected or cooperation with Amazon is needed and they have other priorities.)

i think i got the answer worked for me at least on 2 sonos moves 

  1. activate you speakers like you would normally thru the sonos app. name them differently with room names , do not screw with the names of them in the alexa app yet.
  2. dissable and and re enable the sonos skill in the alexa app.
  3. tap the power button once for a second while on the dock to get to turn off the speakers, just a tap not the 5 second push to totally power off the speakers
  4. close out of both apps running in the background on your devices. 
  5. wait over night , allow time for 2 companies apps to sync with other a little bit . when you wake up the speakers should be powered on and named correctly in alexa app to the room names you gave them in the sonos app. i don’t recommend changing the names of them at all in the alexa app might have to do the whole process again.

I have the 'skip'/'next' track issue with Alexa too. I am resident in the U.K. Some users here however are apparently still working okay in regard to this feature. 

 

I’ve tried everything I can think of to try to fix this at the user end, including removing the Alexa Assistant from all Sonos devices, deleting the Sonos Skill in the Alexa App, deregistering every Sonos device in my online Amazon account and removing the sharing agreements at ‘logon with Amazon’ .. even destroying and recreating my 'Amazon Alexa Enabled Groups’.

 

Despite restoring all from a 'blank canvas' and ensuring all Sonos device names remained 'unique' and did not clash with other smart-home devices etc; I still had no joy getting this issue to work correctly.

 

‘Skipping tracks' is currently working fine on my echo devices.

 

I have spoken, albeit briefly, with Sonos Staff and they were extremely helpful (as always) and have stated they are liaising with Amazon over this issue and hope to get the matter resolved soon. It clearly is only affecting some user accounts. It appears to just be case of some users waiting for a fix on the 'account' side.

 

Meanwhile as a bit of a workaround, Sonos Staff stated that if I initiate a playlist, or album, etc; direct/manually via the Sonos App, that the 'skipping’ of tracks using a voice instruction should then work… which it does.

 

So this only appears to be an issue where audio playback is started by using an Alexa voice instruction. I will now just wait patiently for this matter to be resolved and I hope the info. here may help other users who encounter this issue and perhaps saves them a little time trying to seek their own fix for the issue.

I have the 'skip'/'next' track issue with Alexa too. I am resident in the U.K. Some users here however are apparently still working okay in regard to this feature. 

 

I’ve tried everything I can think of to try to fix this at the user end, including removing the Alexa Assistant from all Sonos devices, deleting the Sonos Skill in the Alexa App, deregistering every Sonos device in my online Amazon account and removing the sharing agreements at ‘logon with Amazon’ .. even destroying and recreating my 'Amazon Alexa Enabled Groups’.

 

Despite restoring all from a 'blank canvas' and ensuring all Sonos device names remained 'unique' and did not clash with other smart-home devices etc; I still had no joy getting this issue to work correctly.

 

‘Skipping tracks' is currently working fine on my echo devices.

 

I have spoken, albeit briefly, with Sonos Staff and they were extremely helpful (as always) and have stated they are liaising with Amazon over this issue and hope to get the matter resolved soon. It clearly is only affecting some user accounts. It appears to just be case of some users waiting for a fix on the 'account' side.

 

Meanwhile as a bit of a workaround, Sonos Staff stated that if I initiate a playlist, or album, etc; direct/manually via the Sonos App, that the 'skipping’ of tracks using a voice instruction should then work… which it does.

 

So this only appears to be an issue where audio playback is started by using an Alexa voice instruction. I will now just wait patiently for this matter to be resolved and I hope the info. here may help other users who encounter this issue and perhaps saves them a little time trying to seek their own fix for the issue.

I had a similar interaction with Sonos support with the same conclusion. The technical team contacted a couple of days later to confirm that they are working on a fix. From a customer’s perspective it does reduce the usability of the device for me and am tempted to escalate it as a complaint where possible.

Userlevel 2
Badge

Hi everyone, 

The team is working on an issue where Alexa becomes unable to skip tracks that are playing. They’re working on a resolution now, but in the meantime, you could try a few steps that might get it working on your system.

Start with removing Alexa entirely from Sonos in the Sonos app. This is in Settings > Voice Services. Then, go to the Alexa App and disable the Sonos skill and leave it disabled. Finally, go back to the Sonos app and set up Alexa again.

If that still doesn’t fix it on your system, another suggestion is to try setting this up use a different Amazon Alexa account in Sonos, if you have one.

While we get this resolved with the Alexa team, as a workaround, tracks that are added to the Sonos queue using the Sonos Controller should be skip-able with Alexa as expected. 

Thanks for your patience and I’ll update this thread when there’s more news to share. 

I removed , de-registered accounts, factory reset all my Sonos. And the problem is still there. 
please fix Sonos. 

I can confirm that starting music from Pandora via the app vs via Alexa allows me to skip songs… But the thumbs up/thumbs down feature does not work in either scenario...

I can skip Pandora just fine with Alexa if I start from the Sonos app. However Alexa won't skip if I start playing using her. Sonos Move. 

Userlevel 2
Badge

I got it to work again. Here are the process.

1. Contact Sonos and Submit a diagnostic.

2. Remove Alexa voice service on Sonos app.

3. Disable Sonos skill on Amazon Alexa app.

4. Go to Amazon account, and remove Sonos from your list of devices.

5. Sign out from your Amazon Alexa app.

6. Sign out from your Amazon shopping app.

7. Sign out from your Amazon on your default web browser.

8. Go back to Sonos app, add Alexa voice service again. It will ask you to authorize by putting in your Amazon account id and password. You have to make sure your Sonos ask you to type in these info manually (thats the reason you have to sign out your Amazon accounts on your Alexa app, Amazon shopping app, and on your browser). 

9. Try "shuffle songs" and "play next song" on Sonos and it should work. At lease it works for me.

Notice the important step is step 1. I did all the steps 2 to 9 before and the issue was not resolved. I contacted Sonos and submit a system diagnosis. Then I did steps 2 to 9, and now it works. 

Good luck guys & gals!

After step 1. You can read all the steps i listed above in the below link

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3516?language=en_US

Userlevel 7
Badge +26

Hi everyone, as of some cloud updates that have gone out, this should be fully resolved now. You shouldn’t need to take any steps other than making sure you’ve got Alexa configured properly (if you happened to remove it or anything of the sort during troubleshooting).

Thanks for the reply/update Ryan S.

Just to confirm the ‘next/skip’ issues, using Alexa, are now all sorted with my system and everything is working fine again here.👍

 

 

Badge

This is great news, I’ll check it first thing in the morning as it’s now late here in the UK. I had lots of communication from support but just wasn’t prepared to go through the steps requested, such a long process. Sorry I just don’t have the time for that.

I do hope this fix is the one