Amazon Echo controller

Someone posted the Talk to Sonos app in one of these threads this morning, but the search function on this ridiculous forum software is utterly useless, so can't find it.

Anyway, perhaps a clue to Sonos upcoming voice control. They just need to build a headless android device with microphone array, and this software, which uses Google 's voice recognition. Works well. Even discovered my paired Play:1s as a stereo pair, which no other UPNP software has done. Cheap, fairly effective on a phone or tablet, would be as good as Alexa with a microphone array.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.talk.control.upnp&hl=en

Interesting, thanks Chicks for posting that.

Was playing with the free version of Talk to Sonos last night. Works fairly well. It would be pointless if I needed to launch the app or press a button to activate it, but it does have a continuous mode. So, I installed it on a docked Nexus 7, in continuous mode. Then started trying to control it from about 10 ft. away. Had to shout to be heard, but it was pretty good about understanding what I said. "Paula, radio KPLU", and she did. "Paula, playlist piano Jazz in Office". No problem.

Think I'll order an external mic, and see what happens. Maybe this one.

http://www.amazon.com/Olympus-145037-ME-51S-Stereo-Microphone/dp/B000BTAH62/ref=pd_sim_504_5

It looks like Sonos is going to build its own version of Alexa, not use Alexa Voice Services.. That's really sad.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/10/11191978/sonos-Amazon-echo-alexa

It looks like Sonos is going to build its own version of Alexa, not use Alexa Voice Services.. That's really sad.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/10/11191978/sonos-Amazon-echo-alexa

I'm not sure how you got to that conclusion from the linked article. The author himself (after an admitted "wildest speculation" that Sonos teams up with Siri/Apple) states:

For Sonos, the answer's probably as simple as tightly integrating its speakers with the new Amazon Dot, or baking in the Alexa Voice Service as Invoxia did with the Triby.

At no point in the article does he say Sonos is "going to build its own version of Alexa".

Hi everyone. So I got my dot. Hooked it up to the play 5 with a line in cable, and it generally works well when I ask alexa something. The trouble is, that after Alexa responds, Sonos stays on the "line in" setting, and whatever was previously playing through sonos is no longer playing. Anyone out there have suggestions what to do, or is this a fix we just need to wait for from Sonos?

Another idea, if Sonos had direct integration with Echo, you would be able to set default output settings directly in the Amazon Echo controller. One setting could be, "Send output to selected sonos zone any time you ask Echo to play music." From there, I could select that option and then specify from a list of drop down list of zones already set up in my sonos system, such as Family Room. Once selected, anytime I ask Alexa to play music, it would automatically send the output to my family room zone. Since sonos can stream from a variety of services, I would think it could accept a music stream from the Echo. Of course, any default setting could be overridden with a verbal command to Alexa.

I realize that would require tremendous cooperation between Amazon and Sonos development teams. It sure doesn't sound like there is desire for that to happen, but who knows. One thing I do know . . . I'm not buying any more Sonos hardware until I know where this is headed. In the absence of integration between the two, I see two possibilities:

1. Amazon develops speakers of Sonos Quality, in which case my entire Sonos system goes on eBay and gets replaced.
2. Sonos develops Echo quality voice control with all the features and performance we see today with the current device.

Both options seems like a long way off to me, compared to:

3. Seamless integration between Amazon Echo and Sonos systems, which could be done hopefully through programming and no hardware modifications or adds.

Option 3 could be here relatively fast and both companies would benefit from increased sales. If I have an Echo, I would be tempted to buy Sonos speakers to improve the music playing experience. If I had a Sonos system, I would be tempted to buy an Echo to improve the control and overall experience. If I had neither, an integrated package would be very interesting to me.

Now that Alexa has an API via AVS, doesn't that mean this integration can actually happen?? https://developer.amazon.com/appsandservices/solutions/alexa/alexa-voice-service

Long time Sonos user and fan, first time poster here. We're facing a tough choice right now - we are remodeling our house and have decided that Echo/Alexa is going to the front end for just about everything. So ... Sonos, step it up please! Not sure if we'll sign up to a new multi-zone (8 zone) Sonos system that is not natively controllable by Echo. Our CR200 controllers are on their last legs and the apps just don't compare with the simplicity of Echo voice command. Please keep me as a customer, I beg you...

I really hope Sonos is able to see the big picture here. With Alexa, Cortana, Siri, and Google Now, voice activation is real and coming to a home near you. They need to get on board with these service, not compete with them.