Question

Amazon Alexa Support for Sonos announced!!!!!

  • 31 August 2016
  • 40 replies
  • 5373 views

Userlevel 1
According to the article I read....
"The Alexa feature will be a free software upgrade for existing Sonos hardware. A private beta later this year will be expanded to public release early in 2017."

My question... HOW DO I GET ON THE BETA?
I have four Play 1 and a Play 3 setup thru my house (living room and two betdrooms).
I'd love to be able to control the music for my Sonos system thru my Alexa (and DOT) system.

Anyone know how to get on these betas?

TIA

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40 replies

> (except it happened way back when before you think they started being left behind)?

you are hilarious, now you presuppose to know how I think?

:o)

alright, I'm outtie :)


Well, you said Sonos' partnership with Amazon was a signal of them being left behind. I assume that since you said "being" left behind that it is a recent thing. So I pointed out that Sonos has been partnered with Amazon for many years, and they weren't being "left behind" then.
Im ready to test ...Yesterday I purchased the Amazon Echo Dot ...
Pick me , pick me.....
Does anyone know if the Alexa support will extend to the old Connect, Connect Amp and Bridge devises?
Userlevel 7
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Well bridge isn't a player so that wouldn't apply. But it should work same for amp and connect just as stand alone speakers.
Userlevel 7
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Does anyone know if the Alexa support will extend to the old Connect, Connect Amp and Bridge devises?

We don't know how the whole Sonos/Alexa integration is going to work or look.

We would assume that it is very unlikely that Sonos would render any hardware obsolete for those who want to use Alexa as that would be completely contrary to how they operate.
The Press Conference stated that both new and previously purchased Sonos devices will work with the Alexa/Echo integration.

These new voice capabilities will be delivered in a software update that will work with new and previously purchased Sonos and Alexa-enabled devices such as Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, Amazon Tap, and Amazon Fire TV. The companies will begin rolling out the experience through an invite-only beta test later this year, with general availability in 2017.
I guess this is our best bet on what it will be like: http://venturebeat.com/2016/08/31/amazon-alexa-sonos-guide/

I've been hacking along to get the Alexa/HomeSeer to do what I want with my Sonos devices, but it's tedious, so I'm looking forward to this direct integration. The HomeSeer/Alexa integration itself is rather straight-forward - update the HomeSeer server to the latest SW level and then enable the HomeSeer (development) Skill for Alexa.

Looking forward to the beta -

Yours
Per Hertz
Even with direct integration between Sonos and Alexa you will still need Homeseer to control non-voice triggers in your setup like muting the music when the phone rings and things like that. Also it is not clear how much support there will be in the direct integration for playing things from your local library. It still might require something like Homeseer to do what you want with that.
Despite the "expert friendliness" of HomeSeer, I wouldn't want to leave it out for a split second - it's simply an excellent way to get things done exactly the way you want.

One thing I hope the direct integration will do is to enable substitution of the Echo Dot loudspeaker, much the way you can do via BlueTooth.

Also, I would be looking forward to a Skill set enabling a command like "Alexa! Play [music] from Spotify on Sonos!" or "Alexa! Play [radio station] from TuneIn on Sonos!" (or the equivalent, "Alexa! Ask Sonos to play [xxx] from [yyy]!"

With the current setup, I'm limited to stuff like "Alexa! Turn Sonos on!" and "Alexa! Turn Sonos off!" Or, at least that's where I am right now... 🙂
Echo Dot works very well with Play 5 ...you can tell play ???? on Spotify ...it works great . This guys just need to implement so it works on your local network so you dont have to hookup Echo to speaker with audio cable.
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This guy doesn't need to do it ... Sonos and Amazon are working on it directly. He's just a little ahead on his implementation
So this is my current scenario: 3 x Sonos 5 (normally in separate rooms except for special occasions), and a number of Dot Echos (currently 2 set up, idea was one for each room in the house, but I'm thinking of selling off some of them, which would be a good deed, since they don't trade in Denmark (yet)).

With HomeSeer I can move the devices freely around (WiFi connected), but, currently, HomeSeer is limited to the following commands for Sonos: Play, Stop, Pause, Prev*), Next*), Shuffle*), Repeat*), Volume Down, Volume Up, Mute, Loudness, Balance Left**), Balance Right**).
😉 = works only when Sonos is playing a playlist, which has to be initiated through the Sonos Controller App
**) = works only when stereo paired

So at the moment I cannot select "Play [playlist | tune | artist] from Spotify", nor "Play [radio station] from TuneIn", only through the Sonos Controller App. Bosnia is right - seems only doable when using an audio cable (bypassing HomeSeer), hence calling for a Echo Dot per Sonos device - plus you can only operate the Sonos via Alexa, if you are in the same room, i.e., using that specific Echo Dot.

Ideally, each Sonos device should have a name recognized by Alexa to enable Alexa commands from any Echo Dot device.

upstatemike is right, too - to trigger the Sonos from elsewhere (other than Echo Dot), you need some kind of controller like HomeSeer. Since I need that for a lot of other purposes, that's fine. The HomeSeer Skill set for Echo Dot/Alexa works just fine - it is actually because of a limitation in the HomeSeer control plug-in for Sonos that I can't do more.

Definitely exiting times to live in!

/Per
I was notified that the beta was available and set it up immediately. Set up is quite easy.

It works. I wish Alexa supported Spotify, too...
I was notified that the beta was available and set it up immediately. Set up is quite easy.

It works. I wish Alexa supported Spotify, too...


Soon...
Yes , it works I love the idea of controling 40% of apliances via Alexa ....after Sonos , nest , hue ...next is washer and dryer ......