Does the new Alexa "Announce" feature work with the Sonos One?

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
May 6, 2018
19 replies
3442 views

I understand what you are saying but I feel you are missing a few points:

- Your first comment referenced the demise of Sonos if they didn't address specific minor complaints from customers not the ability of other organisations to compete with Sonos, hence my comment about Google Assistant;
- I agree that if Amazon decided to target the high end multi room audio market their R&D budget would be much bigger than Sonos could respond to but the strategy of Sonos is to move their product line to include multiple AI's from Amazon & Google and maybe Microsoft - something that I suspect that any of those three organisations would be unable to achieve (hence a good defence against this approach);
- At present, Amazon's strategy appears to be about market saturation with Alexa, and at this time selling hardware at cost, so that it is the 'go to' voice control solution. I see no logic in them focusing upon a (from a Amazon perspective) niche market that Sonos currently occupy;
- A lot of the issues that people are complaining about on the forums are because Amazon don't allow 3rd parties, like Sonos, to provide that functionality, indeed not even all of the Amazon product line offers 100% of the Aleza device functionality.

Sonos One

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melvimbe

If sonos doesnt start fixing issues quickly, then amazon could very easily decide to push their own speakers at prices undercutting sonos and it would very quickly spell the end for sonos.

Amazon's speakers are already cheaper than Sonos. The reason people buy Sonos is because they are higher quality, do whole house speakers better, and can be bonded with other speakers for stereo and home theatre sound. Sure Amazon could up it's game and start making better speakers with similar features to Sonos. However, they have to be careful not to infringe on Sonos patents. It also doesn't appear to be anywhere near Amazon's plans to push Sonos out of the market, since they license their Alexa tech to Sonos and even selling the Sonos One at their mall stores.

Looking at it a different way, if Sonos days were really as numbered as you state, if the lack of Alexa features was as big of a problem as you state (and they can't do much about it), why would they be looking to add Google, have an IPO, and create new products? Instead, why wouldn't they be looking to sell? They have valuable patents and a strong customer base.

Danny

U

upstatemike

Not sure if patents, stereo bonding, or sound quality are an issue since they can all be addressed by using the line out from a Dot or Spot into powered speakers or an amplifier. Sonos will not be hurt by a competitor trying to imitate their wireless speaker model but rather by one with a new approach that replaces it. I just don't think that replacement can be solely based on streaming music because there is a brick wall point among consumers where you can't expand any more without including music collectors and accommodating the playback of music not accessible through those streaming music services. Sonos still let's you play your personal tracks to multi-room groups (even if this is not their primary focus) while Amazon cannot do this. This prevents anyone from cobbling together a simple Amazon replacement for Sonos.

Local music library with carefully constructed playlists - no shuffling!, Integration with Homeseer Automation, No touch screen devices, No streaming services, No Apple products ever

melvimbe

Not sure if patents, stereo bonding, or sound quality are an issue since they can all be addressed by using the line out from a Dot or Spot into powered speakers or an amplifier.

I get what you're saying, but I don't think it's really an equivalent setup. Instead of getting 4 sonos zones (3 with stereo pair, and one HT), for example, you'd have to get 4 dots, the sets of powered speakers, and a wireless HT setup. That route just doesn't feel right and I don't see people heading that direction because of some features missed in the Sonos One.

Sonos will not be hurt by a competitor trying to imitate their wireless speaker model but rather by one with a new approach that replaces it. I just don't think that replacement can be solely based on streaming music because there is a brick wall point among consumers where you can't expand any more without including music collectors and accommodating the playback of music not accessible through those streaming music services. Sonos still let's you play your personal tracks to multi-room groups (even if this is not their primary focus) while Amazon cannot do this. This prevents anyone from cobbling together a simple Amazon replacement for Sonos.

In this age, I don't think the percentage of customers who depend on personal libraries is all the large. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

I would say that the biggest threat to Sonos is the marketing potential of other brands, particularly Amazon, Google, and Apple. By that I mean that a lot of counsumers may not even consider Sonos a viable option because of name recognition, despite quality and functionality of the actual product. Then there are the customers who don't care, or don't recognize the differences in quality. But these aren't new challenges for Sonos. It's always been that way, and Sonos has done well steadily reaching it's target market.

Danny

jgatie

A few years back, Sonos stated that 93% of all streaming is from the internet, not local files. I imagine it is more than that by now.

UKMediaAuthor

Also, once the Sonos One (And others players!) are AI agnostic, something I don't think Amazon or Google would allow to each other, this is another defence against a push by Amazon to compete head on with Sonos.

Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)

U

upstatemike

All good points but I don't think personal libraries will ever drop to zero because there are too many songs and versions of songs that are not available from any music service and an even larger number that can't be covered by any single service alone. Local collections will still exist for folks who want to hear those otherwise unavailable tracks and as long as Sonos provides a mechanism for playing local libraries and Amazon does not then Sonos will have an advantage. This affects not just people who listen to local tracks today but also folks who think they might want to at some point in the future and aren't comfortable throwing away that option.

Replicating other Sonos features might not be as neat and tidy right now but most can be done to some extent with Echos. That said I really doubt that Amazon is looking to actually compete with Sonos, especially after the Homepod failure. Customers using Alexa via Sonos Ones serves their larger purpose just as well as customers using Alexa via Echos.

Local music library with carefully constructed playlists - no shuffling!, Integration with Homeseer Automation, No touch screen devices, No streaming services, No Apple products ever

melvimbe

All good points but I don't think personal libraries will ever drop to zero because there are too many songs and versions of songs that are not available from any music service and an even larger number that can't be covered by any single service alone. Local collections will still exist for folks who want to hear those otherwise unavailable tracks and as long as Sonos provides a mechanism for playing local libraries and Amazon does not then Sonos will have an advantage. This affects not just people who listen to local tracks today but also folks who think they might want to at some point in the future and aren't comfortable throwing away that option.

It doesn't need to be zero. If the local libraries feature doesn't is significant to enough to move the needle on sales, then it's not a feature that makes a difference. Sort of like the need for a dedicated handheld hard-button controller doesn't move the needle enough. Not the same, since we are talking about hardware and software, but similar.

Replicating other Sonos features might not be as neat and tidy right now but most can be done to some extent with Echos.

I suppose it's a matter of opinion on the value of certain features, but to me, Echos are not close to replace Sonos.

That said I really doubt that Amazon is looking to actually compete with Sonos, especially after the Homepod failure.

Was it a failure. I have researched numbers or anything, but I thought it was selling ok. Not on par with Google or Amazon, but not dead either. Besides, I keep hearing headlines that Apple in general is killing it.

But I agree that Amazon doesn't have a lot of motivation to compete with Sonos. If they wanted to, I think they would be much better off buying Sonos than trying to keep with them. That way they don't have to 'reinvent the wheel' and would be able to utilize the Sonos brand and all that comes with it. I don't think they'll buy though either.

If it's any indication Google isn't wanting to enter the higher end audio area either, since they just announced a JBL soundbar with Google built in.

Danny

sjct

Trending Lyricist I

Now Sonos have added Alexa Announcements my family love using it - maybe a little too much ? my daughter’s have full conversations using it when one is upstairs and the other is downstairs ?‍♂️

Ken_Griffiths

Now Sonos have added Alexa Announcements my family love using it - maybe a little too much ? my daughter’s have full conversations using it when one is upstairs and the other is downstairs ?‍♂️

Not wishing to make your life too much of a misery, but maybe show your daughters they can say/do the following (just as examples) ...and also note the way to make an even longer 40 second announcement. (That’s if they didn’t know about that feature already)..!! ..

Sonos Announcements
Alexa, announce that dinner is ready.
Alexa, broadcast the midnight dance party is beginning.
Alexa, tell everyone that the car is leaving in 5 minutes.

Please note that announcements are limited to 10 seconds. However, saying "Alexa, I want to make an announcement" increases the time to 40 seconds.

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