Does Sonos intend to allow Alexa to access my local/itunes library?

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
November 30, 2017
12 replies
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There's a lot of "not currently available" and "this is still a beta release" posted on this subject. But what I want to know is, WILL Alexa ultimately be able to access my LOCAL music library? I mean, is Sonos and Google actively working on this feature?

Please throw us a bone...We're still out there you know -- That is, Sonos' original customers. Not everyone gets all their music from Spotify, Pandora etc. When we all first heard about the Alexa integration, we got excited with the thought of accessing our personal music libraries via voice commands. Understanding the technology challenges at hand, we just want to know if this is ultimately still a goal. Won't even hold you to it if the tech hurdles prove too great to overcome. Thank You!

Music Library

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Best answer by Keith N

Hello there, DVanO. Thanks for reaching out about this. I am happy to clear up any confusion about this. Based on the Alexa support article here, Amazon Alexa by itself cannot access your personal local music library. You would need to upload your music to your library on Amazon and then stream it through Alexa.

When the feature becomes natively available through Alexa, we can then start to take a look at its implementation on Sonos. Until then, I can forward this as a feature request to the team for visibility. Thanks again for the feedback!

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DVanOAuthor

Contributor I

Airgetlam: Yes, landmines galore. Good point. Fortunately as you pointed out there are already myriad other examples of software and services trolling our networks for one reason or another. Crucially, with our permission. Otherwise it's malware.

I don't think this works well if Amazon has to maintain separate "cloud" lists of everyone's song content and locations. That really is a serious landmine. Instead, Sonos will ideally offer local access to Alexa, or vice versa, right on the network.

Alexa also does not need to have access to an entire network. Most people know where their music is stored. Just as one sets a location pointer to Sonos' software, one could do the same for Alexa on their smartphone's Alexa app.

Kumar makes another good point...why do it if only 10% of Sonos users still maintain their own personal music libraries? Will the Spotifies take over the music industry? It's an argument to be made, for sure. But I would argue that capabilities like this drive sales -- similar to how premium features are offered in automobiles even though not all or even most opt for them. The nicer features drive sales.

Anyway, for many of us the music subscription services simply do not carry the music we listen to.

K

Kumar

It is also a question of priorities. It isn't as if voice is working fine for the claimed 90% - there are many things to be done there, and bugs to be fixed. Even mic sensitivity is an issue that now appears to be a complex one. Then there is the keeping up challenge with Amazon as it rolls out voice globally, another area Sonos is struggling to keep pace with. And of course the UI changes that have added to the load. So there are enough fires to be put out for 90% of the market.

There aren't even enough Sonos resources to answer questions posed here; there is a noticeable drop off. So when will Sonos find the time with an Amazon that could not care less about the 10%, to get more than voice control on volume for local NAS? Anyone's guess. I am not holding my breath.

I have over 20,000 tracks of music in my local NAS and much of it is jazz and blues. I haven't found a noticeable lack of the same tracks in my Apple/Google subscriptions so the switch has been, very largely, painless. As to latest pop songs that there is some market for at home, nothing seems to be missing, else I would hear about it.

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