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Robert parks
Contributor II
October 4, 2017
Answered

Playing Local Music Library on Sonos through Alexa

  • October 4, 2017
  • 87 replies
  • 25251 views
Will alexa skill be able to play from my music library?
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    Best answer by Ryan S
    You can use Alexa to start playing from Amazon Music, Amazon Music Unlimited, Pandora, iHeartRadio, SiriusXM, TuneIn Radio, and we’re working to bring Spotify controls in the future too. Alexa doesn't have access to your local music library.

    Also, any Alexa device on your account can use basic controls, such as play, pause, volume, and skip, on your Sonos players. This works for all services and music on Sonos, started through the Sonos app.

    We don't have any specifics on what's up next, or if local library will be working for the future, but the skill will be improving over time, so you never know what might get added next.

    87 replies

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    Surfer
    Trending Lyricist I
    October 28, 2017
    As soon as i can use voice control for my local library im cancelling my Amazon Music supscription, bring it on Sonos!
    jgatie
    jgatie
    October 28, 2017
    As soon as i can use voice control for my local library im cancelling my Amazon Music supscription, bring it on Sonos!

    Uhhh, not the best way to encourage Amazon to work with Sonos to bring this feature to Alexa. 😉
    Adam_44
    Contributor I
    November 4, 2017
    Look, I bought Sonos years ago to handle my local library. I spent weeks ripping and tagging my CD collection and housing it on redundant systems so Sonos could play it. Then I find out that Sonos can't handle tags with multiple genres ("Rock; Pop" does not go into the Rock genre and the Pop genre; instead it's in its own "Rock; Pop" genre, which is useless. I prove to tech support that this is not working, and then I wait, and wait, and wait for years, for them to fix the software so that local music is tagged correctly, like every other music player works. It still hasn't happened.

    So, not only has the local music library been totally de-prioritized; but the defect would carry through to Alexa if Sonos ever moved the index into the cloud. The advertised "Alexa, play some chill music" would have to be done as "Alexa, play some chill semi-colon jazz music".

    I had decided I wasn't buying another Sonos product until they fixed the music genre indexing. Then, they announced the Alexa integration, and how I could just tell it to play my music. I guess I missed the fine print that the local library was ignored again. Consider me fooled twice.
    12529
    Contributor I
    December 2, 2017
    This is a quote from the last latest Sonos instructions on how to use Alexa with Sonos: "You can initiate playback from any music source, such as local music library...". That's from Sonos! Is it possible or not?
    jgatie
    jgatie
    December 2, 2017
    This is a quote from the last latest Sonos instructions on how to use Alexa with Sonos: "You can initiate playback from any music source, such as local music library...". That's from Sonos! Is it possible or not?

    Finish the quote. Context is very important:

    "You can initiate playback from any music source, such as local music library, using the Sonos app, and basic playback commands, such as play/pause, volume and skip, will continue to work."
    slaw1981
    Lyricist I
    December 6, 2017
    I am commenting merely to place my vote that Sonos work on developing the functionality to be able to control my music library via Alexa. At the very least, to be able to start playlists, although full control is ideal. If there is somewhere to vote on new features, I would do that, but I am unaware of that place so I am just adding this comment to the thread.
    Jens Francis
    Jens Francis
    December 7, 2017
    So... an interesting - but as yet unfulfilling - development for members of this thread. I found an Amazon skill called My Media that supports the indexing and playing of a local music library. The voice pattern of the skill is "Alexa, tell My Media to play My Top Rated."

    So far it works really well - supports playlists, etc. all tested in a Mac - iTunes environment. So those of you wringing your hands about technical difficulties, rest assured, it can and has been done. However... here's the rub: It cannot play through to a Sonos device.

    So here's the plan. Sonos should buy the company (wish I owned it) and integrate the server-side code into Sonos Controller (with an option to launch at startup and run in the background as a service), then merge the My Media skill into the Sonos skill for a "Alexa, tell Sonos to play My Top Rated in the Living Room." Another option might be just to support the My Media service in the Sonos skill just like any other streaming service.

    Easy for me to say, huh? Oh, and do it before Christmas so all of those little kiddies who get Sonos One from Santa aren't disappointed...
    Jens Francis
    Jens Francis
    December 7, 2017
    P.S. Someone should merge all of these "Alexa local music library" threads into one to rule them all... Seems like a popular topic.
    jgatie
    jgatie
    December 7, 2017
    I would never want to have to run a local server, and I despise the "Tell XXXX to do YYYY" phrasing. No thank you. Sonos should do it right or not do it at all.
    Jens Francis
    Jens Francis
    December 7, 2017
    I would never want to have to run a local server, and I despise the "Tell XXXX to do YYYY" phrasing. No thank you. Sonos should do it right or not do it at all.

    Leaving merely 6766 other viewers of this forum who might....
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