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Trending Lyricist I
December 27, 2018

Unable to Use Amazon Music - Again!

  • December 27, 2018
  • 29 replies
  • 1215 views
After the farce of getting this setup and the complete lack of help or knowledge from anyone in Sonos, I'm stuck with this crappy kit now.

I live in Mexico. I purchased the Sonos here in Mexico. When I purchased it my Amazon account was UK based. Sonos worked fine with this. I changed my country to Mexico in my Sonos Profile and it stopped working altogether. After spending ages trying to sort it out, with no help whatsoever, from Sonos, I discovered that the country is used to determine what services are available. At this time, Amazon did not have their music service in Mexico. I switched the Sonos profile back to the UK and it worked again.

My Amazon Unlimited Music subscription expired at the end of November. By this time Amazon had launched the service in Mexico, so since I live here, I purchased it here (approx. £50 annually compared to £150 in the UK). To do this, I had to change my Amazon account to be an Amazon.com.mx account. This worked fine with all my Alexa devices. They are still registered to the UK but happily play from the unlimited subscription.

The Sonos, will not work, at all, with Amazon music registered in Mexico. Sonos claim this is an Amazon problem and use this as a standard "get out of jail free" of we can't do anything. Amazon say it is down to Sonos. Amazon are correct as they are simply providing an API to Sonos. Sonos determine how it is consumed with their app, but despite this, they still refuse to do anything.

After a month of speaking to repeated uninformed "support" staff (using the term loosely), I have no choice other that to revert my Amazon account to a UK account, and change my Sonos profile to the UK. This I did, but still Sonos reports that Amazon Music can only be used in the UK, US, France etc.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but this is complete rubbish. The Amazon account is a UK account. Amazon music plays everywhere apart from on Sonos. Harmon Kardon works, Alexa's work, and the Amazon Music app works. Sonos, however does not. This is a Sonos issue, nothing else.

What the heck Sonos???? I've jumped through your hoops, I've solved problems that shouldn't be problems without your help and it still doesn't work.

Your products are not good, and your customer service is worse. Amazon are unable to take the products back as I've had them for 6 months now. Sonos refuse to do so. This implies that you are only interested in my money.

If you stand by your products, you should be willing to take them back when you have let customers down so badly. Instead once you have my money, you no longer give a monkey's. What are you going to do about it Sonos?????
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    29 replies

    timfosterAuthor
    Trending Lyricist I
    December 27, 2018
    Jeff S, Firstly, my Amazon account is UK based. Secondly, it is not determined by the country in which I reside. If anything it's determined by the country setting in the Sonos profile. When I moved here I had an Amazon account from the UK and it was working fine (until I made the mistake of changing my country in the profile) in Mexico, with a Mexico IP address. This is the same as it was before, yet now it doesn't work. Nothing has changed my end. The Amazon account is still Amazon UK, the IP Address is still provided by AT&T Mexico, and the Sonos units are the same ones purchased here in Mexico. If anything has changed it has to be at your end.
    Jeff S
    Retired Sonos Staff
    December 27, 2018
    Jeff S, Firstly, my Amazon account is UK based. Secondly, it is not determined by the country in which I reside. If anything it's determined by the country setting in the Sonos profile. When I moved here I had an Amazon account from the UK and it was working fine (until I made the mistake of changing my country in the profile) in Mexico, with a Mexico IP address. This is the same as it was before, yet now it doesn't work. Nothing has changed my end. The Amazon account is still Amazon UK, the IP Address is still provided by AT&T Mexico, and the Sonos units are the same ones purchased here in Mexico. If anything has changed it has to be at your end.

    When streaming media, the location from which you are streaming determines the licenses. Your IP is in Mexico, that's where the data would be streaming to. That's where the restrictions apply.
    Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question.
    December 27, 2018
    Sorry John B, it is someone's fault. It's Sonos' fault. The implementation is entirely with them. Amazon aren't pushing the service to Sonos, Sonos request it.
    Factually incorrect
    December 27, 2018
    I am bailing out. Simply a waste of time trying to explain the facts.
    timfosterAuthor
    Trending Lyricist I
    December 27, 2018
    John B, This is not the case. Amazon account is UK. Sonos device is purchased in Mexico. This worked when we purchased it in July. Same config.

    Even the message in the Sonos, after going through the process of authorising the Amazon account multiple times, says "Amazon Music is only available for Amazon accounts located within the US, UK …" My Amazon account is located in the UK. If this was geofencing, (a) it would never have worked (which it did in July) and (b) the message would say Amazon music can only be played in the UK. The message clearly states Amazon accounts located in the UK, not Sonos devices.

    This is all without even considering the fact that Amazon works on all my Alexa devices, my Harmon Kardon device, and that Amazon Music is available in Mexico.

    If this no longer works, fine. But this is a change made by Sonos since July/August. As such it's not unreasonable to expect that I can return it
    ratty
    December 27, 2018
    Whatever the reason for an Amazon UK account temporarily continuing to work, the Sonos kit was never sold in Mexico on the pretext that the Amazon service was available on it.
    timfosterAuthor
    Trending Lyricist I
    December 27, 2018
    When streaming media, the location from which you are streaming determines the licenses. Your IP is in Mexico, that's where the data would be streaming to. That's where the restrictions apply.

    Then explain why it worked when I purchased it? If it wasn't working in July/August I would have returned it to Amazon immediately. If Sonos change the software to make it inoperable with the service I have paid for, why would you expect me to foot the bill for this? I didn't buy some sort of test unit. I bought a seasoned product to work with my already paid for service.

    If it isn't going to work with a UK Amazon account in Mexico any longer, fine. That's a business decision, but don't expect me to foot the bill for that. It's not at all unreasonable to expect me to want my £700+ back.
    ratty
    December 27, 2018
    It seems to me that what changed is that the Amazon service launched in Mexico. They may have tightened up georestrictions which until then had turned a blind eye to remote use of a UK account.
    timfosterAuthor
    Trending Lyricist I
    December 27, 2018
    Whatever the reason for an Amazon UK account temporarily continuing to work, the Sonos kit was never sold in Mexico on the pretext that the Amazon service was available on it.

    That is exactly what it was sold as:
    "https://www.amazon.com.mx/SONOS-PLAY-Bocina-compacto-wi-fi/dp/B00EWCUK1Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1545933805&sr=8-1&keywords=sonos"
    Transmite de forma inalámbrica todos tus servicios de música preferidos, como Amazon Music Unlimited, Pandora, Apple Music y Spotify.
    Smilja
    December 27, 2018
    [...] The Sonos, will not work, at all, with Amazon music registered in Mexico. Sonos claim this is an Amazon problem and use this as a standard "get out of jail free" of we can't do anything. Amazon say it is down to Sonos. Amazon are correct as they are simply providing an API to Sonos. Sonos determine how it is consumed with their app, but despite this, they still refuse to do anything. [...]
    Incorrect. It's the other way around.

    https://musicpartners.sonos.com/?q=node/224
    »And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space, Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.« (›Windmills Of Your Mind‹ [1967]. Music by Michel Legrand ; English lyrics written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman)