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Renowned Enthusiast II
October 4, 2017
Answered

Amazon music is on streaming on another device ...

  • October 4, 2017
  • 21 replies
  • 27415 views
Starting to get tee hang of this.

4 Sonos devices and 1 echo dot here.

Cancelled Deezer and have Amazon unlimited 30 day trial (not the limited echo music service).

I can start multiple Amazon streams via the app without issue, and I can start one Amazon stream by voice ok. However if I start a second Amazon stream in another room by voice, Echo says that Amazon music is streaming on another device, would I like to stream on {room name} instead?’. Is this expected behaviour?

Thanks
Andrew
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Best answer by Ryan S
Hi Andrew, that is expected behavior at this time. Many music services have a limit to the number of concurrent streams that can be going. Amazon Music is limited to one. However, you can group multiple Sonos players together and have Amazon Music playing to all of them at the same time.

21 replies

andrewmkAuthor
Renowned Enthusiast II
November 14, 2017
Ahh, I think I understand it now ---- so theoretically I should only need the personal plan --- except it doesn't work via voice to have more than one stream but it does work via the app.

So has anyone been able to confirm either Amazon's or Sonos's official position on this ?? Where does the fault lie ? Is this going to be fixed ? It's a bit annoying to find I've been paying for a dearer streaming service just to resolve an anomaly with voice control !!

Andrew
Avid Contributor I
November 14, 2017
Can somebody clear this up please. v confused with this thread. If I have the amazon unlimited family plan, can I have 6 different dots or sonos ones playing at the same time?
Ryan S
Retired Sonos Staff
November 15, 2017
Can somebody clear this up please. v confused with this thread. If I have the amazon unlimited family plan, can I have 6 different dots or sonos ones playing at the same time?
The Alexa skill for Sonos is only linked with one of the accounts from the Family Plan. Which means you can only have the one stream active.

You can add multiple Amazon Music Family Users to Sonos, and within the Sonos app pick and choose which accounts to play to which players, however this won't get carried over to the Alexa controller. Alexa would be able to change to the next track or adjust standard playback, but if you try to play to play something new, it'll revert to using the original Amazon Music account that is added within Alexa.

This is a good place for some improvement in the future, but I don't have any specific details to share on if or when. I'll make sure to pass it on to the team though.

Also, when using the Sonos app, you can play Amazon Music to multiple Sonos players and they all count as "one stream", it's when you leave the Sonos system to control what's on via Alexa that the one active stream rule comes into play.
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andrewmkAuthor
Renowned Enthusiast II
November 15, 2017
Can somebody clear this up please. v confused with this thread. If I have the amazon unlimited family plan, can I have 6 different dots or sonos ones playing at the same time?
The Alexa skill for Sonos is only linked with one of the accounts from the Family Plan. Which means you can only have the one stream active.

You can add multiple Amazon Music Family Users to Sonos, and within the Sonos app pick and choose which accounts to play to which players, however this won't get carried over to the Alexa controller. Alexa would be able to change to the next track or adjust standard playback, but if you try to play to play something new, it'll revert to using the original Amazon Music account that is added within Alexa.

This is a good place for some improvement in the future, but I don't have any specific details to share on if or when. I'll make sure to pass it on to the team though.

Also, when using the Sonos app, you can play Amazon Music to multiple Sonos players and they all count as "one stream", it's when you leave the Sonos system to control what's on via Alexa that the one active stream rule comes into play.


Hi Ryan

Thanks for the clarification — and I think I get what your saying.

But just to par it down to the very basics — taking out different Amazon family member accounts and taking out the Sonos App — using voice only, am I correct in thinking the only way to request (by voice) different Sonos players to play different music at the same time is with the unlimited Family plan?

Thanks
Andrew
Avid Contributor I
November 15, 2017
No, i think he means regardless of family account or personal, if you use alexa then streaming is limited to one - until the enhancement comes in, so it just wont play if you do it on another at the same time.

If you take alexa out of the equation, then i think you are ok to have multiple streams (upto 6) on all your sonos at the same time, but not sure if having the skill enabled stops this.

Ryan, please can you write a simple sentence to verify then we can answer this.
Prominent Collaborator I
November 15, 2017
Interesting thread.....Based on Ryan's comment's I'm guessing the Spotify integration will be the same ie multiple streams allowed by app, only single allowed by voice?
andrewmkAuthor
Renowned Enthusiast II
November 15, 2017
This is a bit naughty of me, as I'm trying to get clarification of what SHOULD be happening.

However, I can tell you of what IS happening on my system.

When Alexa + Sonos went live I signed up to the Amazon Unlimited Personal trial. It was then that I started this topic on here as I was getting the 'Amazon is playing on another device' (or whatever it is) message. So I upgraded to Amazon Unlimited Family, and now I don't have that limitation. I can start music (by voice) on multiple zones / speakers without issue. Which is great. Except that this contradicts what Ryan is saying. Which has left me even more confused...... 🙂 And yeah, some clarification of what will happen with Spotify would be nice, as I'm not liking Amazon unlimited very much !!!!

Andrew
Avid Contributor I
November 15, 2017
And this is what i want to clarify as i want to upgrade to family from personal to stop that limitation, however amazon music keeps stopping so i want to fix this before forking out more money
Ryan S
Retired Sonos Staff
November 16, 2017
Sorry for any confusion.

No, i think he means regardless of family account or personal, if you use alexa then streaming is limited to one - until the enhancement comes in, so it just wont play if you do it on another at the same time.

This is correct.

If you are using the Sonos app, you can pick and choose accounts to play from and tell different players to use them, but again, that'll only be when using the Sonos app. Once a stream is started using the Sonos app (no matter what account or service you use), Alexa can use the basic pause, skip, volume commands as normal.
Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
andrewmkAuthor
Renowned Enthusiast II
November 16, 2017
Well this is very strange — this is not my experience at all.

With Amazon family plan I am able to use Alexa to start different music in different rooms at the same time. Currently I have 4 zones and can have music playing on each, all started by Alexa, not the app. I can’t be the only one!!

Andrew