Skip to main content
tiptronic
Contributor I
January 22, 2021

Show currently playing music on Echo Show

  • January 22, 2021
  • 25 replies
  • 7014 views

I have a bunch of Sonos speakers (obviously) and just bought an Echo Show.

While I can control the Sonos system in all rooms, there seems to be no way to show what’s playing on the Echo Show.

What I’d expect is, that:

  • if the Echo Show is in the same room as my speakers - it shows what’s playing on these
  • there is a setting, where I can show what’s playing on <any> room on the Echo Show (like it does on the iOS or Android app).

But I can’t seem to find any setting for this… Can this be true? (I somewhat feel like back in the 90s)

Any hint?

    This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

    25 replies

    Show previous replies
    elee532
    Contributor III
    February 2, 2021

    Thanks @Kumar. The Five is probably overkill for my kitchen. Guess I’ll see if I can get comfortable with commanding the Show to play to the One.  

    Why not a command direct to the One? Then you do not have to specify the location with every command?

    Is there a way to set that up?

    Kumar
    February 2, 2021

    I don’t have a One, and in any case Alexa on Sonos isn’t available in India, but this link should guide you:

    https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3517?language=en_US

    Kumar
    February 3, 2021

    And for anyone interested, here is something perhaps more interesting that Echo can do that Sonos still cannot - play music from a local NAS via full voice control that then includes starting music play. The NAS can be as simple/cheap as a USB stick plugged into a Raspberry PI that runs a My Media for Alexa application, that has a USD 5 per year license fee. And of course, play this music with album art as well where the Echo is a Show version.

    JamesDan
    JamesDan
    Prominent Collaborator I
    February 4, 2021

    I briefly read this thread, and even though Alexa (and Google Assistant) on Sonos are subpar, even with an Echo device instead of a Sonos One, the Echo Show does not display what’s currently playing on any other devices, whether that’s a Sonos speaker or an Amazon Echo.

    When I first found out about this, I couldn’t believe it, it’s so darn stupid.

    Turns out, song information can only be displayed when the Echo Show is grouped with another Echo device. This doesn’t work with Sonos, as their speakers cannot be grouped with Echoes.

    The entire thing is extremely dumb, since I found the Echo Show to be pretty much pointless due to the screen being unter utilized and the UI not being optimized for such a device. But not being able to display song info from other devices is even more pathetic, but there you go.

      Kumar
      February 4, 2021

      Not so dumb; I use the Echo Show 5 as a line in interface for Sonos far more than I do the Sonos app, and it works very well on all counts for me. And if I group Sonos speakers with the one that the 5 is wired to, music plays on all with album art to be seen on the 5.

      And of course, I can also voice command owned music on the NAS with album art. Try doing either of that with Sonos.

      Anyone that does not possess at least one Sonos line in jack is denied this use.

      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement