Google Assistant problem content isn't available


If I ask google home mini located in the kitchen to play a specific song in another room, ie living room, it says that the content isnt available and it cant perform that action. Cant remember the actual words used. But if I go into the sonos app and search the song, it is available and can be played. Is there any way around this?

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49 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Hi batchelormh, in the Google Assistant app, have you set your preferred music service? Is it the same one you're trying to use to play music on Sonos using the Sonos app? If you're using Google Play Music free, the uploaded tracks aren't available to play directly using voice control.

Some more details on what services you're using and what you're trying to play would be helpful to pinpoint what's going on.
HI Ryan,

I have the google subscription paid service. This is set as the preferred music service for both sonos and assistant.
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Great, thanks for the details. Think you can try to recreate this issue and let us know the command you tried? If so, can you also submit a diagnostic under More > Settings > Advanced Settings and let us know the number that comes back?
I will do this, but will have to wait until tomorrow as nit home right now. Thanks
I have a similar problem.
Have Google Play Music subscription, able to use it on all devices, can't use it on Sonos. I get "Sorry I can't find the content you requested".
I have the same problem. I am a paid subscriber to google music. My daughter can request and play content on her google home mini, but the same request on any of our Ones is met with the GA saying “sure playing X,” a pause, and “sorry I can’t find the content you requested.” Ran a diagnostic. The number is: 1935257399.
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
I have the same problem. I am a paid subscriber to google music. My daughter can request and play content on her google home mini, but the same request on any of our Ones is met with the GA saying “sure playing X,” a pause, and “sorry I can’t find the content you requested.” Ran a diagnostic. The number is: 1935257399.

Hi there,

Thanks for sending in the report. I see that your system is connected through a Google Wifi system. Google Wifi systems often run their wireless access points on different wireless channels. This can make it hard for the Sonos system to stay in communication, and may lead to errors like you've described. If possible, try setting all of your access points to the same wireless channel.

Another option is to switch your Sonos system over to the mesh setup by wiring in one of your speakers, or a Boost, to your Google hub using an ethernet cable. This will place your Sonos system on its own wireless network and may help.
"Reconfigure your home network to accommodate our broken integration". Ridiculous response.

I've been able to get this working by using album name and artist. Hopefully that's helpful to others here. Non gpm services don't have the same issue

Is there any progress on fixing the issue? I have the same problem. Google assistant cannot play anything. I've tried with the speaker as well as asking my mobile. There is no problem with the connection. The command is received by the speaker just fine. But the playlist cannot be played on youtube music in my case. It looks maybe as if there isn't 100% match with the music service content and sonos doesn't play anything in this case.

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @astachowiak, I myself use Google WiFi and haven’t experienced any issues stemming from the channel configurations on each node. 

Can you include a diagnostic report from you Sonos app so I can see if there are any adjustments we can make to improve the situation.  

So to my configuration is that I have youtube music as default service and as service for google assistant. I've asked my speaker (one) to "play smooth jazz on youtube music". The speaker replied "ok playing smooth jazz" and then "sorry I can't find what you've asked for". That command works just fine on my mobile and there it find a smooth jazz playlist. The diagnostic is 929026332.

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hello @astachowiak

Thank you for submitting a diagnostic report from your set up. 

It looks like you are running your Sonos system on WiFi where you have multiple networks, is it possible to test your Google Assistant with your Sonos One wired to the main router?

Please submit a follow up diagnostic from your system after testing playback for at least five minutes and then post the number here so we can compare the behavior.   

I have this problem. I asked the Google Assistant in my Sonos one to play lovely day by bill withers. The response says "sure, playing lovely day on Google play music" then after a brief pause, "sorry, I can't find what you asked for

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I have the same problem. Running google nest wifi with sonos kitchen zone player as the output speaker from the Google WiFi point in the kitchen l. The lounge sonos is ethernet wired into the Google wifi router.

I ask for a song. It says "sure playing x track from Google play music, playing on kitchen sonos. Sorry I can't find what you asked for". It's intermittent. I say that, it's probably 90% failure, 10% success…

Interestingly, when you choose the output speaker to be itself (I. E. the nest wifi point in my kitchen in this case) it finds the requested track fine. 

I have a Google play music subscription. It's an authorised service in sonos. I've just reauthorised it. No better.

I have submitted a diagnostic. Number 1578472658. 

Best regards 

Nathan 

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hello @nathan.a,

Welcome to the Sonos community and thank you for reaching out with your diagnostic confirmation number. 

I’ve looked over the diagnostic that you’ve sent and in and I can see that the ZP80 is wired in to your network but your other ZP100s are all communicating directly to your Google WiFi/Nest mesh network.

  • How far are the ZP100s from each other and from the ZP80? What happened to the Boost that was operating in your Sonos system before?
  • Is your “Lounge” player wired to a switch or directly to your router?
  • Is this playback failure universal or are there some artists/services that Google Assistant will play? 

 

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Hi Jean, 

Thanks for your quick reply, much appreciated. 

We upgraded to a mesh router system as sonos couldn't cope with a wifi range extender (it was confused between the two separate networks that the extender effectively creates). That was our principle reason for upgrading network. 

The zp80 is wired into a switch which is wired into the Google nest wifi router. 

The other zp100s are all WiFi. They're intermittently spread throughout the house and all discoverable via the sonos app. 

I removed the boost when we upgraded to the mesh WiFi. 

Previously, the wiring was as follows:

Virgin router->ethernet cable->boost, with the zp80 and zp100s all connecting to the boost via WiFi. 

Now:

Google mesh router->ethernet cable->switch->ethernet cable->zp80. We changed the location of the router (to the other side of the room where the broadband cable enters the property), so I figured that with a zp now being wired to the router, we no longer needed the boost. If that's incorrect please let me know what the best config would be with router+switch+sonos boost/zp. 

The playback is intermittent, as you can see below. 

Best regards 

Nathan 

Assistant

Said stop

17:56 • Details • 

Assistant

Said play Jimi

Sorry, I can't find what you asked for.

Alright, The Jimi Hendrix Experience from Google Play Music. Playing on Kitchen Sonos…

17:32 • Details •  • 

Assistant

Said play Jimi Hendrix in the kitchen

Sorry, I can't find what you asked for.

Alright, The Jimi Hendrix Experience from Google Play Music. Playing on Kitchen Sonos…

17:25 • Details •  • 

Assistant

Said play Jimi

Sorry, I can't find what you asked for.

OK, The Jimi Hendrix Experience from Google Play Music. Playing on Kitchen Sonos…

17:24 • Details •  • 

Assistant

Said play Stereophonics

Sure, Stereophonics from Google Play Music. Playing on Kitchen Sonos…

17:05 • Details •  • 

Assistant

Said play Jimi Hendrix

Sorry, I can't find what you asked for.

Sure, The Jimi Hendrix Experience from Google Play Music. Playing on Kitchen Sonos…

17:05 • Details •  • 

Assistant

Said play Oasis

Sure, Oasis from Google Play Music. Playing on Kitchen Sonos…

17:05 • Details •  • 

Assistant

Said play Jimi Hendrix

Sorry, I can't find what you asked for.

OK, The Jimi Hendrix Experience from Google Play Music. Playing on Kitchen Sonos…

16:47 • Details •  • 

Assistant

Said play Jimi Hendrix

Sorry, I can't find what you asked for.

Sure, The Jimi Hendrix Experience from Google Play Music. Playing on Kitchen Sonos…

16:46 • Details •  • 

Assistant

Said play All Along the Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix

Sorry, I can't find what you asked for.

Sure, All Along the Watchtower from Google Play Music. Playing on Kitchen Sonos…

16:41 • Details •  • 

Assistant

Said play Jimi Hendrix live at the BBC

Sorry, I can't find what you asked for.

OK, Hear My Train A Comin' from Google Play Music. Playing on Kitchen Sonos…

16:41 • Details •  • 

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @nathan.a,

Thanks for your detailed response, unfortunately if there are images in your reply post, they seem to be broken.

What I can see is that Google Assistant doesn’t seem to like either Jimi Hendrix or second wave Brit-pop which I personally find rather disappointing.

  • Can you try asking for a more generic music request and specify playback in the Lounge? 
  • For example “Hey Google, Play Music in the Lounge”, then “Hey Google, play Jimi Hendrix in the Lounge”
  • If you could  submit a diagnostic after these two tests, be sure to include the confirmation number so that I can look over the results .
  • Are you able to successfully playback these artists on Sonos using the Sonos app rather than the Google Assistant voice commands?

I am having you test to the Lounge since it is wired directly to your network, It is wired directly to the primary Google node, correct?

It’s generally not a good idea to have players split between a wired and wireless-set up. You may want to disable the WIFi interface on your ZP-80 in this instance, but hold off until we can resolve this playback issue. We may yet need to return to a Boost set-up as a whole. 

  

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Thanks Jean. I've just done this and submitted the diagnostic for the tests in the lounge. Number is 1466204355. 

With sonos lounge as the defined output speaker for the Google home device in the lounge, I asked sonos to music in the lounge. It played some random stuff from Google play music over the sonos lounge output fine. I then asked it to play jimi hendrix in the lounge. No joy. I then went into the Google home device and changed the output speaker to itself, and it played back fine. See the Google assistant activity below. Happy to try adding the bridge again (I had no idea you should not mix wired and WiFi sonos zones) - let me know what's best once you've had a chance to review.

 

Google assistant output:

Logo for Assistant
Assistant
Said stop
19:28 • Details • 
Logo for Assistant
Assistant
Said play Jimi Hendrix
Playing The Jimi Hendrix Experience on Google Play Music…
19:25 • Details • 
Logo for Assistant
Assistant
Said play Jimi Hendrix on Sonos Lounge
Sorry, I can't find what you asked for.
Sure, The Jimi Hendrix Experience from Google Play Music. Playing on Sonos Lounge…
19:24 • Details •  • 
Logo for Assistant
Assistant
Said play Jimi Hendrix in the lounge
Sorry, I can't find what you asked for.
Sure, The Jimi Hendrix Experience from Google Play Music. Playing on Sonos Lounge…
19:24 • Details •  • 
Logo for Assistant
Assistant
Said play music in the lounge
OK, in the lounge from Google Play Music. Playing on Sonos Lounge…


 

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @nathan.a,

Here’s a thought, do you have Google Home or other smart devices who’s name overlap with Sonos devices?

I do see that you have your Sonos ZPs designated as “Sonos Lounge” rather than “Lounge”, I apologize for offering inaccurate command syntax. Are both the Sonos room and the Google Home device in the same “Google Room”?

If you give them completely separate identities in Google Assistant and change the command syntax accordingly, does the behavior change? For instance, name the Google Home device “Den” and the Sonos ZP “Sonos Lounge” and ask Google to play Jimi Hendrix in Sonos Lounge.

What is the source that you are attempting to play Jimi Hendrix from, Google Play Music or Napser?

Regarding your Sonos Boost, if you have not reset this device, it should just be a matter of plugging it back in to power and to your network and the Boost should find your system and update itself. It may be necessary to reboot your other Sonos products to bring them back into Sonosnet.  If your Boost has been reset, you can follow the “add a product” prompt under settings and it should guide you through setting it back up. If you no longer have your Boost but instead have the old Sonos Bridge, I would recommend not using it at all as they are becoming functionally obsolete. 

As an aside, I’m noticing quite a lot of “physical interference” in your network, are you living in a home with plaster or concrete walls?  

 

 

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Hi there, 

Please note, when we give voice commands, we never wish to add the room location (of sonos) to the command. We simply have sonos selected as the output speaker. So, we want to say "hey Google, play jimi hendrix", not "hey Google, play jimi hendrix in the lounge". It's too unwieldy. That said, even trying the command with the sonos suffix failed (see logs). 

We never use napster. That was a legacy subscription I had when we first invested in sonos. I've just removed it. Makes no difference to the problem. 

Our home was built in 1907, so a lot of brick walls and plaster. Sonos is spread over two floors. 

I've tried renaming the Google lounge speaker to den and then asking it to play jimi hendrix on sonos lounge. Makes no difference. Diagnostic submitted: 1854545001. 

 

Other things I've noticed:

In the sonos app > services and voice:

Whilst I have added Google voice assistant, it still shows as "+ add a service". I've obviously added it, and when I read it it says your assistant is ready to use. 

 

Sonos runs on channel 11.

Nest 5ghz channel 36

2.5ghz channel 6

 

The sonos and Google homes are named as follows, per room:

Lounge (aka living room) :

Sonos: Sonos Lounge 

Google Home: Living room speaker

 

Kitchen:

Sonos: Kitchen Sonos

Google Home: Kitchen wifi

 

Master bedroom:

Sonos: Bedroom

Google Home: Google bedroom speaker

 

Bathroom:

Sonos: Bathroom Sonos

Google Home: none

 

Study:

Sonos: Study

Google Home: study speaker

 

Is there any other recommendation before re-adding the boost? I'd rather not have to re add the boost, as it will sit literally right next to the zp80 and will take up another plug socket, but will do if that is the only answer. 

 

Thanks 

 

Nathan 

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Hi Jean, 

 

Any update here? 

To let you know, I've re-added the boost via ethernet to the router via switch and removed ethernet from the zp80. The same result occurs.

 

Best regards 

 

Nathan 

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @nathan.a 

Thank you for your response and I apologize for the delay in responding as I have days off as well. 

The reason why I would suggest using the Boost is that it has a more powerful WiFi antenna than the ZP-80 and is easier to locate to a position not hemmed in by other pieces of audio/electronic gear. 

If that’s not feasible at this time, it is possible to plug it back in sans Ethernet cable and allow it to act as a wireless mesh node in Sonosnet, this should be able to keep all of your players on the same page. 

Unfortunately the details of the Google Assistant Logs aren’t posting so I am unable to glean anything useful there. I’m trying to gauge if this is a network communications issue or something lurking in the Google:Sonos interface that needs expert attention. I’m leaning towards both at the moment. 

It sounds simple, but it doesn’t look like your Sonos ZPs have been rebooted recently, can you give them a good power-cycling before we try anything else? 

 

 

 

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Hi Jean,

Thanks for your perseverance. 

I've just power cycled all five sonos zones. They were all switched off at the same time. 

I've powered them back on and retried, using the Google home mini in the lounge, outputting to the sonos lounge (itself on wifi, just 30cm away from the boost which is ethernet-wired to the switch (wired to the router)).

The same problems persists. When I deselect the sonos lounge as the output, so that the Google home mini device is the output, it plays jimi hendrix absolutely fine.

 

Google home activity - apologies for the copy paste - (it's in reverse chronological order) and is as follows, showing the above description. In reverse order below, the command is "play jimi hendrix" . It responds with, "OK, The Jimi Hendrix Experience from Google Play Music. Playing on Sonos Lounge…" then immediately "Sorry, I can't find what you asked for." 

1 minute later, at 2017, once I've changed the speaker from sonos lounge to the Google home mini, I use the very same voice command "play jimi hendrix", which is acknowledged, "OK, playing The Jimi Hendrix Experience on Google Play Music…" and which then plays fine. So, something is going on between the Google home api and sonos api I assume? 

​​​

Said play Jimi Hendrix

OK, playing The Jimi Hendrix Experience on Google Play Music…

20:17 • Details •  • 

Logo for Assistant

Assistant

Said play Jimi Hendrix

Sorry, I can't find what you asked for.

OK, The Jimi Hendrix Experience from Google Play Music. Playing on Sonos Lounge…

 

If it at all helps, I have just run a diagnostic, number is 1166550202. 

Please let me know if there is anything else I should be doing on my side. 

 

Separately, which zone player did it look like had weaker signal? I'm intrigued that I don't need the boost (or any zp for that matter) ethernet connected to my router. I could therefore place the boost somewhere equidistant between the weakest zp and other zps. Would be good to know if that boosts connectivity to the weakest zp (which might be the kitchen, being furthest from the other zps). 

 

Best regards 

 

Nathan 

 

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hello again @nathan.a.

Thank you for the updated diagnostic. If you have the Boost wired to your router, is it possible ton move it further than 30cm from your ZP80 and your main router? 1 meter would be sufficient for testing purposes. 

I can see that your Play: 5 came back in with your Boost connection though your system is still in what we call a “mixed-mode” which can cause communications issues. Moving the Boost further away from the ZP-80 may resolve this issue

While you don’t need to have any player wired to your network, a wired connection is generally going to be more reliable. The Boost can help carry information to other Sonos players even if it is not wired in but there must be a wired connection to some other Sonos product in your system, like your ZP-80.

You can learn about the difference between a wired and a wireless set up here.

If you would like to return this to a wireless set up, the Boost won’t help you but the connection would be uniform.

I think the interference in your home isn’t helping but I do not at this point have a reason to believe that it is the root cause of this behavior. This is something we may want to keep an eye on and test the limits of.

Do you use any other music streaming services that could be added to Sonos like Spotify or Youtube Music?

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Sure, I'll move the boost a little further away. 

The play 5 came online because I turned it on.

No we don't use Spotify etc. We just have a subscription to Google play music.