Amazon Echo / Dot and Sonos Integration

How do we get to be part of the SONOS + Alexa BETA? I am a UK customer and have just pre-ordered both an Echo and a DOT and have a full SONOS 5.1 setup. I have taken part in both public and closed BETA's previously.

I've pre-ordered myself an Echo Spot (2nd Gen), I don't really need the capability of the full Echo speaker as have Sonos speakers, which will be superior in audio quality, for the playback of music. The way I'd love for it to work is that when Sonos implement their integration they look beyond just using Echo as a control device and actually allow the Echo to use their speakers for the voice of Alexa - to me that would be kind of cool. If that were the case then I'd just buy Echo Spots for all the rooms that have Sonos Speakers in - however high chance that's a wish to far so will settle on using the Spot to control Sonos and just have the Spots lesser speaker act as Alexa's voice.

Would also be curious about any Beta Sonos do in testing the Echo / Sonos integration.

I imagine the Beta process will be the same as usual.

If you've been involved in the Private Beta's in the past you know the score

The Sonos video demonstrate how this will work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFJ7O7N5Yok

At the one minute mark, the home shows two zones: a Play1 in the kitchen (next to a Dot) and a Playbar in the living room. A guy says "Alexa play new music", and music starts to play in the kitchen. He doesn't name a zone, he just tell it to play music and the system knows to play on the Play 1. Then he says "Alexa play in the living room", and the music switches to the living room zone.

So, his kitchen Play1 must be the default zone connected to his Dot, but you can move the music to other zones via voice command.

The video gives hints as to whether Sonos replaces the Dot's speaker.
1. Whenever the Dot "talks", a Sonos speaker is also in the frame
2. The Dot's sound quality is quite good, indicating it's coming from Sonos not the tiny speaker in the Dot.
3. Music pauses when Alexa speaks the name of the song, and resumes again once Alexa stops speaking . If the Dot was merely a Sonos controller and used it's own speaker for Alexa's voice, it would talk at the same time music played from the Sonos.

Based on all this I conclude that you will be able to designate a default zone for each Echo, and that zone will always act as Echo's voice. It would not surprise me if there were also an option on the Echo app that let you choose whether to use the Echo or Sonos as Alexa's voice.

Nicely observed Ed Edwards - especially the part about the music pausing. Hopeful that this will indeed be how they implement it.

...or some marketing guy did the video who doesn't even know how it works

...or some marketing guy did the video who doesn't even know how it works

my thinking also. Just some happy family sequence filmed with some sonos and amazon gear in shot with the music and commands added over afterwards.

...or some marketing guy did the video who doesn't even know how it works

Indeed that could be the case, guess it all depends if you're a pint is half empty or half full kind of person;-)

However a company has to be very careful how they represent the functionality of a product even in marketing material - any mis-representation can land them in lots of bother. Also, Amazon will certainly have had sign off on any material released by Sonos and likely be all over any potential miss-representation of their echo product.

My thoughts, Sonos would be missing a trick not giving their speakers this capacity as other multi-room wireless speaker systems, that also have Bluetooth technology, will be able to link up to Echo devices. If Sonos don't implement this then they would be at a dis-advantage compared to competitors - however if they do implement this capability they can do it so much better, built into their firmware, giving them an advantage over other systems.

...or some marketing guy did the video who doesn't even know how it works

my thinking also. Just some happy family sequence filmed with some sonos and amazon gear in shot with the music and commands added over afterwards.

Maybe, but:

1. Let's say the video is wrong and there is no default zone when using voice. That means you'd have to tell the Echo which zone you want every time you use Sonos. That would make using Sonos via voice more complex than it is now. It's certainly in their interest to have a consistent user experience (voice or not) by using a default zone.

2. If the Echo's voice was independent from Sonos, it would make Echo just a controller. But Amazon is hoping that Sonos and other speaker makers will help it sell Dots. It's already compatible via bluetooth and wire. Amazon wants Dot to use other companies' speakers as its voice. Sonos should want that too, since the prospect of Alexa talking over Sonos in the same room makes for a lousy user experience.

If it turns out that Echo integration is not the way it's portrayed in the video, I bet that will be due to tech or drm limitations, rather than lack of desire by either party. I wonder how Apple feels about Sonos using Apple Music to help Amazon sell Echos.

I'm pretty sure that the echo itself has bluetooth capability, so you could connect to the dot via bluetooth, and then through the line out from the Dot to your speakers. I would not expect to see Sonos adding bluetooth to their speakers, though. Nor Airplay, for that matter.

I could be wrong, though. I've been wrong in the past, and expect I can be at any time.