Contributor I

Answered

2 Issues with Alexa and Sonos, Can you help?

Forum|Forum|9 years ago
October 4, 2017
32 replies
16537 views

Hi,
I was able to set up my connection with Alexa and Sonos, and I can use Alexa to start playing music without any issues.
However, once the music starts, I have two issues: 1. I cannot stop the music. 2. the music stops playing after a single song.

For example, if I say "Alexa, play the Beatles in the living room", music will start up on the Sonos system. However, if I ask her to stop the music ("Alexa, stop the music in the living room," "Alexa, pause the music in the living room"), she dims the sound of the Sonos speakers, responds with "I can change the playback mode only when music is playing" and then raises the volume of the living room again.

When first requested to play music, Alexa responds with something like, "Shuffling popular songs by the Beatles in the Living Room." However, she stops playing after a single song, every time, no matter what the playlist. If I play the same playlist through the sonos app, it keeps playing.

I'm not sure what the issue is, since clearly she is connected (she can start playing music) but then she seems to forget that she is playing music, thus disabling the ability to stop music playback or continue listening past a single song.

In case it is helpful, here is a bit about the setup:
Alexa device is an Echo Dot, connected to Wifi
Sonos Living Room speakers include: Playbar, Sub, and 2 Play 1 speakers, connected to the Sonos Bridge wireless network.
No Echo devices are linked via line in to any Sonos devices.

I would appreciate some help in getting these two issues resolved. After waiting so long for Alexa integration, it's sad to see it launched but not really working. Thanks in advance for any constructive help you may have to offer.

music keeps playing

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Best answer by MusicListenerSonos

Here is an update on how I was able to find a work-around:
1. forget all Sonos devices in the Alexa App.
2. Disable the Sonos Skill in the Alexa App.
3. Re-enable the Sonos Skill in the Alexa App.
4. Power Off then on Echo Dot
5. Power Off then on the Sonos speakers

Now I can both start and stop music in the living room, as well as advance tracks. The music does not stop after a single song.

Hopefully these steps will help someone else. The key here is that simply disabling and re-enabling the skill is not sufficient. Devices must actually be powered off to solve the issue.

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Wakeywarrior

Contributor I

Unfortunately it is laughably bad. At first it would not play anything, then seemed to start working. But when I say play Queen in Living Room, it just plays the last song open on the Sonos App. It says it does not recognise the kitchen (even though it is working in Sonos App and showing in Alexa). Alexa generally I have found to be buggy useless crap, which half the time does not recognise your command. Sonos should go with Google instead.

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WishboneNYC

Lyricist I

Silver/Wakey,

Did you happen to notice the word “beta” when you activated the Alexa Sonos skill?

S

silverstyms

Lyricist II

Sure did notice the word "beta" but it's really an "alpha" at this point. If people are having so many issues, it should be a "closed beta." And, with a major software release like this, one where they are actually promoting a new product to the broad community with this integrated technology (Sonos Play 1), the app should mostly work.

S

somethingsomething

Lyricist I

I'm having all sorts of trouble with this as well and agree it doesn't seem to be public beta quality.

N

nickbull

Lyricist III

Same issue for me. I've tried the 'fix' suggested. When I ask Alexa to 'Play some Pink Floyd in the living room', the Sonos speakers kick in just fine, but only plays one song then stops. If I ask to skip track/next song or whatever I just get 'I am only able to change the playback mode when music is playing' - it IS playing - I can hear it!

This happens on all the speakers in my house (one player and six Play 1). I'm using Amazon Music Unlimited as the

Diagnostic submitted under reference 7918595.

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blulite

Lyricist I

I had the same problem. It turns out both the "Echo Device" and the "Sonos Device" were both named the same thing. I've got 3 Echos in the house, and I renamed all of them with "Echo" appended to the front of the name, ("Echo Living Room"). Then forget all devices, and rediscover. Works like a champ now.

T

Tom Phan

Avid Contributor I

My experience has improved after renaming everything [Echo, Sonos, and other devices] so there's no conflicts and every name is a single word. I've also found that Alexa is more reliable with Sonos if you add "music" to some of the commands - "Alexa pause music on Basement"

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nickbull

Lyricist III

I've tried this. I've renamed all the Echo Dot devices so there is no conflict with the Sonos speakers or Hue lights. Now the only device I have called 'Kitchen' is my Sonos Play 1, but the issue still persists. I did forget all the devices and rediscover after renaming them.

Ryan S

Retired Sonos Staff

I have some suggestions as well. If you're having trouble where Alexa can play one song, then it stops playing after that track is finished. These are some great steps to start with:

Power off all Sonos Players (you may only need to power off the Player that was targeted for playback, so if you have a bunch of players, maybe just start with the one.)
Disable and then re-enable the Sonos Skill in the Alexa App.
Power on the Player(s).
After the Player(s) are powered back on they MAY need to be re-discovered in the Alexa app if they do not show up.
Attempt to playback the tracks and see if it continues to play after the first track.

Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.

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silverstyms

Lyricist II

Thanks for the post Ryan S. but I have twelve devices in my home, some of them paired together to make surround sound systems. Powering them off, then back on again is not only time consuming but I run the risk of having to re-pair them again (I've spent hours on the phone with Sonos tech support on this very topic). Basically it's not worth it with a hit-or-miss result. Hopefully it works for others though.

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