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Gaz49
Contributor I
October 26, 2017
Question

SONOS ONE : Alexa integration timeline

  • October 26, 2017
  • 17 replies
  • 2414 views
Hi having got my Sonos ONE yesterday I have to say that I am very disappointed with lack of integration with Alexa and Sonos.

I would simply like to know what the time frame is for pretty basic features that I would of expect to be included from day one.

1) Spotify, I know see the website had been updated to make it clear voice commands cant start Spotify and is being worked on, I would have expected this day one but what time frame are we looking at for this feature?

2) being able to group Sonos speakers with the group feature in Alexa app. Again a feature I would expect day one and yes I know I can group and ungroup manually in the Sonos apps, but whats the point when you pat for an integrated voice system?

3) News roundups

These are my top three issues I have found. I love my Sonos in terms of sound quality and playing music in multi-rooms through the app,( the grouping has always been an issue by not allowing you to set pre-planned groups but that's another issue for another topic) I have been very underwhelmed by the ONE so far and just hope that SONOS get updates out very quickly to make the Alexa integration more useful than a chocolate kettle!
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      17 replies

      sarah11354
      Lyricist II
      October 26, 2017
      Exactly. I am hoping it will get up to speed soon. I bought this speaker for the hands free and Alexa component . The echo and dots are cheap but sound quality sucks.So come on Sonos you can get this done multi room grouping and commands like Flash Briefings to name a few.
        jgatie
        jgatie
        October 26, 2017
        Sonos never gives exact timelines or dates. You aren't going to get them, no matter how many times you ask. Frustrating, I know, but they err on the side of caution.

        Now to your specifics:

        1) I've seen an estimate for Spotify as "by the holidays" and "by Christmas", which is as specific as I've ever seen them give (and these were a product of their social media pages, so take it with a grain of salt).

        2) Grouping via Alexa is 100% Amazon. It is currently not supported in the Alexa Connected Speaker API. They do have an AVS Multi-Room Music SDK coming "early next year" that will address grouping and other multi-room aspects, but whether Sonos can or will utilize the SDK remains to be seen. But you can be sure it won't be addressed until Amazon addresses it. See here for details:

        https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/alexa/post/7c9343ce-425b-4baa-ae63-49c36afb5341/giving-device-makers-more-ways-to-bring-voice-forward-music-experiences-to-their-products

        3) Sonos has stated that Flash Briefings, Sports Updates and the like are high on the priorities list and will coming soon.
          Chris
          Chris
          Lead Maestro
          October 26, 2017
          as far as grouping we don't know that we will ever be able to group Sonos speakers with Alexa speakers. But Sonos has said they are working on being able to group sonos speakers via voice. Also there is the linking of Sonos speaker to Alexa which they are supposedly working on as well (where you don't have to say the sonos speaker you want to play to so it operates more like the Sonos one when using an Alexa device and seperate sonos speaker).
          Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)
            Gaz49Author
            Contributor I
            October 26, 2017
            hi Chris, Its not the Alexa speaks I want to group it is two Sonos playbars and one Sonos One, they are all Sonos speaks I would just like to be able to use voice commands with the integrated Alexa to chose a group to play music on.

            I expected a much more polished product from SONOS as they have released this speaker, but in fact what we have is a product that is just two separate items that don't work together at all.
            Chris
            Chris
            Lead Maestro
            October 26, 2017
            yes currently you can't group the sonos speakers via voice you have to use the app for grouping. However, Sonos has said they are working on grouping. They had to release it at some point and couldn't wait for every feature. I think we will see grouping via voice sooner than later.
            Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)
              SonosOneUser
              Lyricist I
              October 26, 2017
              I love the sound quality of Sonos One, but hope other features will come along soon. I'm looking especially for the Drop In function. I use this a lot on Echo Dot and assumed it would work on Sonos One, but I get a reply from Sonos One "This feature is not available, but can be used on the Alexa app."
                Chris
                Chris
                Lead Maestro
                October 26, 2017
                Lack of drop in kept me from pre-ordering one as I currently use drop in a lot where I have Dot and Sonos in same room.
                Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)
                  jgatie
                  jgatie
                  October 26, 2017
                  Some features are available on Echo only, such as Calling and Drop In. Amazon doesn't even have those on the Fire TV or tablets.
                  Ryan S
                  Ryan S
                  Retired Sonos Staff
                  October 26, 2017
                  Some really good answers in here. I can't add any more specific details. But I'll confirm that our current timeline on Spotify via voice is set for Christmas currently and that the Flash Briefing is also slated for as soon as possible.

                  As jgaite said, there are some things that are Echo only features right now, and they may stay that way. We'd love to bring as much as possible to the Sonos One, and everything that we can add is likely to be all software related, so the Sonos One you buy today will keep on getting better as Alexa and voice control gets better.
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                  Gaz49Author
                  Contributor I
                  October 26, 2017
                  Thanks for all the replies as you say very helpful. I just feel that maybe this product should have waited for a xmas release so that the features were ready, it had to be released sometime you say, not really the one already had the small speaker market and releasing this now dampens the fan fair a little with the lack of integration. I mean come on who would not want to be able to say Sonos play downstairs my Spotify playlist from day one.

                  Be more honest with what it will and won't do, the adverts are very cute to deceive a little, the Spotify strapline on the website wasn't there from day one as I read over the site before preordering.
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