Patiently waiting for Alexa Integration

I'm still wondering what speaker system people are jumping off Sonos (who is in active development implementing) to ..... what competitor that has Echo support (other than your basic Bluetooth speaker which isn't a jumping off point).

I guess you could try Denon - who as far as I know hasn't said a peep about Echo integration since they said "me too" last year when Sonos announced their active development.

There is a very active skill development underway for Logitech Media Server - working for Logitech players and other soft LMS players, even including Sonos devices as upnp players.

Between the new server version released in February plus active Echo development, Squeezebox players are suddenly getting a lot of attention again.

Hopefully it's much more stable then when I ditched it for Sonos. Always been pretty powerful software with the user base developing about anything and everything for it. Just catch 22 when it came to stability.

It will be available this year. And the team isn't going to rush it out the door just so we can say we have it. They'll be taking the time to do it right.
Good. But you do realise that with this statement you have raised expectations of what the integration will mean; that it will be more than just "start music/stop music" commands, for example.
It's no win job, Ryan!

I really don't understand why people are getting themselves so wound up about not being 'informed' or that it's slow to come out. Sonos have said it's coming. It's going to happen. It could be worse. They could be saying sorry not gonna integrate it, or our systems aren't compatible, or like some product manufacturers they just don't update their systems. Guys; your going to get new functionality for free. Relax, put some music on the old fashioned way (by using your app), sit back and enjoy it.

I agree with the previous post from Preveo...just use the dang app. I have an Echo Dot and don't really use it that often in the first place. It was fun at first but that "new toy" feeling has passed. It'll be a nice option to have Alexa control Sonos but it's not a must have. What I would love to see is an improved interface with Amazon Music. I personally think that should be a higher priority!

Hawk_1, interesting you say that about it being 'new toy'. I've got alexa and it's great to start off playing some music by walking into the room and speaking to it, but if there's any-one in the room you can't really use it after that. If you're with friends or family it's far less intrusive to use a remote or app to change volume or tracks than keep talking to Alexa. It's a fun gimmick and maybe a bit of fun if you are all choosing tracks, but it's not a game changer by any stretch of the imagination.

Hawk_1, interesting you say that about it being 'new toy'. I've got alexa and it's great to start off playing some music by walking into the room and speaking to it, but if there's any-one in the room you can't really use it after that. If you're with friends or family it's far less intrusive to use a remote or app to change volume or tracks than keep talking to Alexa. It's a fun gimmick and maybe a bit of fun if you are all choosing tracks, but it's not a game changer by any stretch of the imagination.

Amazon is aware of this. That is why an Echo can also be controlled with a dedicated hard button remote or the Alexa app. They are even putting a touchscreen on their next Alexa based product. I'm sure Sonos is also aware of this and will maintain hard button and app based control options in addition to voice control for Sonos players.

The key is what is going to provide the "minimum time to music" when you decide you want to listen to something. In most cases you will be able to speak a command and have the music start in less time than it takes to fish a phone out of your pocket and wake up the Sonos app let alone actually browse to something and get it started playing. After that the best option for accomplishing additional tasks will vary according to the task and situation. Nothing beats hard buttons for quick muting or volume changes. Nothing beats a screen for editing a playlist or just browsing your music collection.

I don't think many people will end up using a single control strategy exclusively and I don't think products that don't offer all 3 options are likely to do well in the future.

Totally agree upstatemike. Alexa is awesome for starting the music and it just depends on the mood/situation. If you're on your own Alexa's great. If it's a chilled evening with friends around dinner then the last thing you want to keep doing is saying "Alexa, Volume 3" "Alexa, next track". If it's a party then using Alexa is fun. Great to have both alternatives but if you gave me a choice between voice integration and app, then it's app all the way. However in the future we'll have both!