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Alexa, Play Apple Music on Sonos

  • 17 April 2019
  • 36 replies
  • 14353 views
Ryan S
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  • Ryan S
  • Retired Community Manager
  • 12372 replies
Starting today, April 17th 2019, you can use your voice to control Apple Music with Sonos One or Beam, or by using another Alexa-enabled device linked with your Sonos system.

Ask Alexa for Apple Music’s expertly curated stations and playlists plus the latest music from around the world, from hip hop to K-pop.

Use Alexa to play your favorite playlists, artists, albums, and songs then pause, resume, skip, and change the volume—completely hands free.

Play Beats 1 Radio and playlists from Apple Music's editors. Access playlists from your iCloud Music Library.

To get started, update your Sonos app to the latest version. Then follow the below instructions to link your Apple Music account:
  1. Open the Alexa app
  2. Tap the Settings icon in the top left corner
  3. Select Music
  4. Tap Link New Service at the top
  5. Tap Apple Music and log in to your account

You can also enable the Apple Music skill on alexa.amazon.com.

All set up? Get started with commands like "Alexa, play Today's Hits on Apple Music," or "Alexa, play Beats 1 Radio on Apple Music."

By setting Apple Music as your default music service, you no longer need to end each command with "on Apple Music." Here's how to set it up:
  1. Open the Alexa app
  2. Tap the Settings icon in the top left corner
  3. Select Music
  4. Tap Choose default music services
  5. Select Apple Music for Default music library and Default station service
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36 replies

Smilja
Available only in US and UK and perhaps other English speaking countries, I suppose. 🙂
»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)
Ryan S
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Available only in US and UK and perhaps other English speaking countries, I suppose. :)
That's mostly correct. Currently, Apple Music is only available for Alexa in the US, UK, and Ireland on Sonos and other Alexa-enabled devices.
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L
Should Alexa work in a 5.1 set up with Play One's and playbar. I can ask her to play tracks and she confirm artist from apple music but doesn't play anything.
melvimbe
I am pretty sure I know the answer to this, but perhaps to avoid any confusion....this new functionality doesn't involve siri in anyway, does it? By that I mean that siri can be used to control playback through airplay, but this is not related to that. You would not be able to initate playback on Alexa, for example, and then stop playback by using siri on your phone (you could with Alexa on your phone though)
Danny
Guyincognito76
Userlevel 2
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Great. It works brilliantly. I’m going to use this a lot. Very happy ?
Sonos: Roam; Beam; One x2; One SL x2; Play:1 x2.
melvimbe
From looking at news sources, it doesn't look like this is for all non-Amazon Alexa-enabled devices, just Sonos.
Danny
Ryan S
Userlevel 7
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Should Alexa work in a 5.1 set up with Play One's and playbar. I can ask her to play tracks and she confirm artist from apple music but doesn't play anything.

To be clear, there's the Play:1 which doesn't have microphones or AirPlay 2 and the Sonos One, which has both of those things. If you're using a Playbar with Sonos Ones as surrounds, Alexa (but not AirPlay 2) will be working and can play music in that room using Apple Music with the launch today. As to the Play:1 with Playbar, you could use another Alexa enabled device to play Apple Music on the room using the voice assistant.

If it sounds like it should be playing but isn't, try targeting the room by name first, "Alexa, play Song 2 on Living Room." If that works, you may need to double check your room groups in the Alexa App to make sure all of those players are set up in the same room, all as preferred speakers, ideally with one of those Sonos Ones as the Alexa-enabled device.

I am pretty sure I know the answer to this, but perhaps to avoid any confusion....this new functionality doesn't involve siri in anyway, does it? By that I mean that siri can be used to control playback through airplay, but this is not related to that. You would not be able to initate playback on Alexa, for example, and then stop playback by using siri on your phone (you could with Alexa on your phone though)
Siri isn't a supported voice assistant on Sonos. The functionality as you describe it does work, but that's using Siri to control AirPlay 2 from the iOS device. Music started via AirPlay isn't handled in the same way as music started from a service like Alexa, where it's the player that initiates playback.
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B
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From what I've tried, user-created playlists do NOT work with this. I've seen this reported on Reddit a few times as well since the announcement.

Oddly enough I'm able to play the curated playlists (New Music, Favorites, Chill) just fine. Just none of the playlists I add to my library.
S
Badge +1
Thanks for this update. So I have two Echo Dots but no latest gen Sonos kit, just Play Bar, Play 1s 3s and 5s
Can I ask the Dots to play Apple Music on my Sonos kit?
Guyincognito76
Userlevel 2
Badge +4
Thanks for this update. So I have two Echo Dots but no latest gen Sonos kit, just Play Bar, Play 1s 3s and 5s
Can I ask the Dots to play Apple Music on my Sonos kit?

Yeah, you can group your dots with your Sonos speakers, or target each speaker in the old way.

https://en.community.sonos.com/announcements-228985/sonos-now-playing-with-alexa-groups-6817588
Sonos: Roam; Beam; One x2; One SL x2; Play:1 x2.
BMF
Userlevel 5
Badge +10
Great news! Been waiting for this.... very happy

Thanks guys!
C
Userlevel 2
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Awesome. This works perfectly !
N
Userlevel 1
Of course Canada is not supported.
S
And no Australia, any idea on timings for us?
Dom1da
Userlevel 3
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Thank you works great
Beam plus two One(Gen 1)'s 5.0 in surround
S
Badge +1
Have followed the set up and Alexa says playing from Apple Music, but then nothing plays? Have tried various commands and re linking my account but no luck
S
Badge +1
Have followed the set up and Alexa says playing from Apple Music, but then nothing plays? Have tried various commands and re linking my account but no luck sorted with a reboot and closing the app down
S
Awesome! This is worthy of an emailed announcement to your user community. I only realized after Alexa told me it was playing a request off of Apple Music. And I said “whaaaaaaaat?!”. Glad you guys got this in.
L
Mine was all set up fine. Turned everything off at the plug and back on and then Alexa worked on the 5.1 set up.
M
Have followed the set up and Alexa says playing from Apple Music, but then nothing plays? Have tried various commands and re linking my account but no luck sorted with a reboot and closing the app down

How did you reboot? Simply unplug/plug? Mine is exhibiting this same behavior -- acknowledges the request to play "X" from Apple Music, but then never plays. I've updated the system, unplugged, and still no luck.
G
Badge +1
Any idea if this will come to Canada in the next weeks or months? I am trying to decide whether I should change to Spotify, but I really don't want to do it if Apple Music will be available with Alexa soon(ish).
L
Have followed the set up and Alexa says playing from Apple Music, but then nothing plays? Have tried various commands and re linking my account but no luck sorted with a reboot and closing the app down

How did you reboot? Simply unplug/plug? Mine is exhibiting this same behavior -- acknowledges the request to play "X" from Apple Music, but then never plays. I've updated the system, unplugged, and still no luck.

I pulled all my speaker plugs out and closed the app down. Turned the speakers back on and then opened the app and it worked fine.
M
Have followed the set up and Alexa says playing from Apple Music, but then nothing plays? Have tried various commands and re linking my account but no luck sorted with a reboot and closing the app down

How did you reboot? Simply unplug/plug? Mine is exhibiting this same behavior -- acknowledges the request to play "X" from Apple Music, but then never plays. I've updated the system, unplugged, and still no luck.

I pulled all my speaker plugs out and closed the app down. Turned the speakers back on and then opened the app and it worked fine.

I'm having the same issue. I try with the phrase "Alexa, play Beats 1 form Apple Music". It seems that Alexa understands the command and responds with "Beats 1 from Michael's Apple Music" but nothing ever plays.

I have tried quitting every Sonos App and Alexa on my Mac or on my iPhone, I pulled the plug from all of my Sonos speakers, but it never wants to play.
M
Ok so I have linked my Apple Music account with Alexa on my Sonos One. Every time I ask Alexa to play any song, artist or playlist I get '' I could not find that on Apple Music '' . I have tried to unlink my apple music account , reboot my sonos, deleting amazon alexa app and nothing !!! Is anyone else experiencing the same issue?
Ken_Griffiths
Ok so I have linked my Apple Music account with Alexa on my Sonos One. Every time I ask Alexa to play any song, artist or playlist I get '' I could not find that on Apple Music '' . I have tried to unlink my apple music account , reboot my sonos, deleting amazon alexa app and nothing !!! Is anyone else experiencing the same issue?Did you set Apple Music as the default MSP in your Alexa App “Settings/Music” and also install the service in the Sonos App within “Settings/My Music Services”?

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