Amazon Echo controller | Sonos Community

Steve_199 · 2015-01-17T16:50:00+00:00

I know it's a pipe dream but if you took the new Amazon Echo and used it to control Sonos, that would be unbelievable awesome.

I agree. Amazon has the jump on the voice interface and is improving it regularly.

Sonos has the high-end sound experience and works extremely well.

No need for Sonos to develop their own voice controller if they allow Amazon to access the Sonos controller app hooks.

And there's definitely no good reason for Amazon to try to catch up with respect to speaker variety and quality.

An existing Sonos system would only be that much more valuable with the addition of an Echo voice interface layer.

Echo will be more valuable, likewise, with the ability to control Sonos and play Amazon Prime Music and Amazon Prime Playlists via Sonos.

This is the perfect argument, it's a win for everyone. I've got a feeling if the two parties got together they could knock this out in an afternoon. I already bought a Belkin WeMo outlet just because it's cool and works with Echo, imagine all the new business. Sonos fans would need an Echo, and Echo fans would all buy Sonos systems.. What are they waiting for.?

Now that the Echo is in general release and will be shipping in a week or so I got a feeling this thread might get busy.

My Echo got delivered today. Took no time to set up. I have a bunch of Hue lights and it works well. It is really fast to respond and pretty impressed by how quickly it will find and play a song from Amazon Prime. I have 13 Zones (plus 2 wireless Subs and 1 of the zones is a Playbar). Echo cannot touch the sound quality of Sonos, but I will tell you after just a few hours with the Echo, not having it or something comparable for Sonos would be a sin......Sonos will loose some biz here to folks who want the simplicity and not as concerned over the sound quality. My wife is already listening to the Echo rather than the 2 Play 3's in the Kitchen....

Sonos....you should listen to the people. I agree that this forum may get really busy...now that Echo is shipping....

Like many in this post I am more than impressed with the new Amazon Echo. Living in Australia took some work around to get Echo working and needed to contend with no local traffic or weather connect - but the device more than compensates for its short comings., Now to have it control Sonos? Yes please!! When?

It seems mattwelch attempted this already, haven't tried it though. http://github.com/mattwelch/alexa-sonos

Dave... thanks for posting the link to Matt's site. It's good to see folks are working on this. However, his work, and the work of others like him aiming for the same thing, is more of a tinkerer's project--for those that want to get into the guts of the Echo and Sonos and make mashups. I was a developer, myself, a long time ago (seems forever ago!), but I'm not looking to play around with the software so much as I'm looking for a link between Echo and Sonos that is as polished as both the Echo and the existing Sonos controller app. It's the same reason I'm not jumping into using IFTTT to link my echo with other apps; it seems like a workaround rather than a true, elegant solution. I posted my enhancement suggestion here, on the Sonos forum, because I want Sonos to understand that there are existing customers who want a voice-controlled solution that is sanctioned and supported by Sonos and is not a DIY project.

Sonos definitely needs a voice controller, call it the "Sonos Vox" and charge $149.95. Design it so you can set it on a coffee table and the user can change volume, play favorites, and change tracks with their voice

There, I did the tough part, now go make the product so I can buy it!

No, what they really need, is an API like any other modern platform.

It seems mattwelch attempted this already, haven't tried it though. http://github.com/mattwelch/alexa-sonos

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If the Sonos would work with the Amazon Echo, that would be awesome. I don't need another Sonos box just for voice control. I already have over 20 Sonos'. Even to just pause all zones as I'm leaving the house instead of having to pull out the app.

Awesome. I sent an email to the Sonos team and they just responded telling me to check out this very forum discussion. I'm glad everyone thinks this could be cool. Echo is soooooo Awesome!!!! But as a speaker it sucks. Having the Echo control our sonos gear would be off the charts Legit. And Amazon wants these things to happen with releasing the Echo SDK for developers. Your Echo is on your wifi. Sonos is on the wifi (or at least network), this should happen!!! "Alexa, play NPR in the kitchen." "Alexa, play Sketches of Spain in the Bedroom" "Alexa, play Pearl Jam in the Garage." I mean, come on, that would be freakin awesome!

I'm glad they're paying attention, it's been a true grassroots effort. Now they need to get it done!

Ditto to all of the above. I just got an echo and would love it to connect to my Sonos.

Sonos and the Echo is a must have combination. Would love to use speach for controlling The Sonos music.

It seems mattwelch attempted this already, haven't tried it though. http://github.com/mattwelch/alexa-sonos

Would Sonos please chip in and at least confirm they are working on something? Then the next question would be ETA?

I have been running an integration for about a week. You need to set up a file with presets (play this playlist in these rooms at this volume) but it works great... "Alexa Ask SONOS To Play Rock" and this will play a playlist named Rock from the SONOS favorites. You can add playlists with different names by adding them to the preset file.

Volume UP/Down and PAUSE are implemented, though not resume as of yet...

Setup is a little technical for those unfamiliar with it, but it worked perfectly for me.

NOTE: This requires a program called node.js to be running on a PC/MAC/Linux machine on your network (SONOS will not listen directly to the internet nor the Echo device, so you need to run this java program to listen for the commands from Amazon, answer the Echo and then control SONOS). That part is implied in the instructions, but everything else is walked through.

https://github.com/rgraciano/echo-sonos

Also: To have that script start on boot on Windows as a service, I used the "qckwinsvc" package from this page:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/20...

NOTE: Plain English playlist names work well, and DO NOT capitalize the name of the playlist, the JAVA program will not match a capitalized playlist name with the parsed name it receives from the Echo (which will be lower-case).

Great info! Thanks.

I have been running an integration for about a week. You need to set up a file with presets (play this playlist in these rooms at this volume) but it works great... "Alexa Ask SONOS To Play Rock" and this will play a playlist named Rock from the SONOS favorites. You can add playlists with different names by adding them to the preset file.

Volume UP/Down and PAUSE are implemented, though not resume as of yet...

Setup is a little technical for those unfamiliar with it, but it worked perfectly for me.

NOTE: This requires a program called node.js to be running on a PC/MAC/Linux machine on your network (SONOS will not listen directly to the internet nor the Echo device, so you need to run this java program to listen for the commands from Amazon, answer the Echo and then control SONOS). That part is implied in the instructions, but everything else is walked through.

https://github.com/rgraciano/echo-sonos

Also: To have that script start on boot on Windows as a service, I used the "qckwinsvc" package from this page:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/20...

NOTE: Plain English playlist names work well, and DO NOT capitalize the name of the playlist, the JAVA program will not match a capitalized playlist name with the parsed name it receives from the Echo (which will be lower-case).

Thanks so much Jed! I may try to attempt this!

I would buy Sonus if it supported Echo. Im looking to do whole home audio but want it to integrate with Echo.

SONOS would need a fundamental change; It's currently "self-contained" in that the only information flowing into it from the internet are the music streams. Those are "pulled" down. In order for the Echo to command SONOS, it needs to be able to "push" commands. This requires either some advanced technical know-how on the part of the user (something SONOS clearly shies away from) or for them to run a trusted cloud service that can accept the commands from Echo and relay them to your home. Needless to say, that second option is a big headache and clearly something that SONOS has tried to avoid. If you look at another comment I made on this thread, I am running a SONOS integration with Echo. However, it requires that you run a third party piece of SW on the same network as your SONOS and open your network up to receive the Echo commands. So it's possible, it's just not simple. FYI, the echo sounds great- for a little speaker sitting on your desk.

I would sell my SONOS and ECHO if someone came out with the features of both connected. I think most would. Hopefully someone will figure this out soon. I also think Sonos should integrate a Intercom Feature that allows me to speak to another room.

I believe it's relatively easy to integrate Amazon Echo with Sonos.

With the solution described in my idea, you can use the Amazon Echo native play capabilities to control the music played on your Sonos speakers.

You can play, pause, or stop music, and you can control the volume.

Also you can ask what song is currently being played.

Read the whole description of my idea here:

http://www.echotalk.org/index.php/topic,155.0.html

You're trying too hard! Look at my post above, someone has already written an echo integration. The 3 parts: 1) an Alexa skill that defines the structure of a voice command 2) an Amazon Web Service to receive the data from the Skill and call a URL running on your home (sonos) network 3) a simple program running on your network that receives the calls from AWS and translates them to a sonos command on your network. I have this working. It could use some more fine control, but it works fine.

I believe it's relatively easy to integrate Amazon Echo with Sonos.

With the solution described in my idea, you can use the Amazon Echo native play capabilities to control the music played on your Sonos speakers.

You can play, pause, or stop music, and you can control the volume.

Also you can ask what song is currently being played.

Read the whole description of my idea here:

http://www.echotalk.org/index.php/topic,155.0.html

I've seen your post, but I believe the solution I'm describing offers a lot more functionality:

- Now you can just say: "Alexa, play Madonna"

- Or: Alexa, next"

- Or: "Alexa, volume up"

- Or: "Alexa, what is the name of this song?"

To sum up, you cannot use any of the native play capabilities.

To set it up initially, your solution might be easier, but it does not provide the same user experience.

In the end it's all about user experience, otherwise we could just play music on the Amazon Echo and forget about Sonos.

I have been running an integration for about a week. You need to set up a file with presets (play this playlist in these rooms at this volume) but it works great... "Alexa Ask SONOS To Play Rock" and this will play a playlist named Rock from the SONOS favorites. You can add playlists with different names by adding them to the preset file.

Volume UP/Down and PAUSE are implemented, though not resume as of yet...

Setup is a little technical for those unfamiliar with it, but it worked perfectly for me.

NOTE: This requires a program called node.js to be running on a PC/MAC/Linux machine on your network (SONOS will not listen directly to the internet nor the Echo device, so you need to run this java program to listen for the commands from Amazon, answer the Echo and then control SONOS). That part is implied in the instructions, but everything else is walked through.

https://github.com/rgraciano/echo-sonos

Also: To have that script start on boot on Windows as a service, I used the "qckwinsvc" package from this page:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/20...

NOTE: Plain English playlist names work well, and DO NOT capitalize the name of the playlist, the JAVA program will not match a capitalized playlist name with the parsed name it receives from the Echo (which will be lower-case).

Bravo! Thank you -- I I will work on getting this going... Really though, your effort shows that it can be (relatively easily) done as a proof of concept. It sounds like there is room for improvement by Sonos (eg having the bridge act as an intermediary with Amazon, ability to define location name of the speaker, ability to play things other than playlists -- eg Pandora -- , not worrying about the case sensitivity of the playlists etc) but they should all be relatively low hanging fruit. The fact that consumers are getting it going on a rudimentary basis should underscore the appetite in Sonos' customer base for this solution. I hope someone from Sonos is reading this thread and at least posts that it's on the roadmap.

I believe it's relatively easy to integrate Amazon Echo with Sonos.

With the solution described in my idea, you can use the Amazon Echo native play capabilities to control the music played on your Sonos speakers.

You can play, pause, or stop music, and you can control the volume.

Also you can ask what song is currently being played.

Read the whole description of my idea here:

http://www.echotalk.org/index.php/topic,155.0.html

With the system I posted you say "Alexa ask sonos to play..." or "ask sonos to volume up" or "ask sonos to next". All the functionality you are suggesting is available or easily coded. You could even code it to request the name of the song/band/album/Playlist. It's really not that hard, certainly on par with what you have suggested. Furthermore, you gain all of the other services beyond local files (Pandora, Spotify, songza, stitcher). Also, I have been delving into the Echo, and I'm not sure that there is an api available to figure out what the Echo is doing. Did you find one? The hiccup with sonos is the configuration. Ultimately we want "sonos play this from this service on these speakers" ; that's a lot of possibilities to handle without error. Lastly, though I am impressed with the Echo sound, I have 5 zones in my house, and one of them uses the sonos TV bar + surround. Echo is a long way off from that functionality even if you discount sound quality.

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