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?

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

49 replies

Badge

I've moved the boost further away, no difference. 

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Thank you @nathan.a

How far away were you able to place the Boost?

Were you able to test it with the ZP 80 wired again and the Boost further out by the Kitchen player?  

Can you submit a follow up diagnostic from your system after those most recent changes?

Badge

Hi Jean, 

I've done as you suggested:

 

1 - boost (ethernet) to switch and router, boost moved 2m away from zp80 (wifi), run same voice command ("play jimi hendrix"). Same issue persists. Diagnostic submitted:

729119474

 

2 - unplugged boost and wired the zp80 via ethernet to switch and router. Moved boost outside of the lounge (midway to the kitchen) and let it connect over WiFi. 

Run same voice command in lounge ("play jimi hendrix"). Same issue persists. Diagnostic submitted:

88579239

 

Given that Google play music can play the request on the home mini successfully, but, when sonos is incorporated as the output speaker for the same home mini, same voice command, and given what we've tried, I think there must be something amiss with the coding between sonos and the Google api.

 

Please let me know anything else you want to try on my end. 

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hello @nathan.a,

Thank you for all the leg-work you have done on this matter and at this point I am inclined to agree with you.

Though your current system is not perfect, we’ve exhaustively ruled out network lag in your case as a likely source of this issue. Its entirely possible that a minor change in either software environment could have disrupted this function.

I hope we can find a solution going forward since this is key to how you use your system. 

For right now, monitor the system for any changes and keep us posted. 

Badge

Hi Jean, 

Thanks for your reply. Does this mean that the sonos developers are looking into the code to solve this? 

Worth noting, on a Google support site there seems to be other users who have issues with playback when sonos is set as the default speaker:

https://support.google.com/googlenest/thread/40728918?hl=en

Many thanks 

Nathan 

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

@nathan.a,

The Sonos development teams do work in mysterious ways but I am inclined to believe so.

Thank you for providing additional information on this playback behavior. 

  

Userlevel 4
Badge +3

I have the same problem 

Usually my wife asks Google home to play radio in the room with SONOS as the default speaker - been working for a long time and only recently stopped working

this has stopped working. I can sometimes play a specific song  - The Beatles, Long and Winding Road.for example

If I change the default player to be the Google Home Hub then the Tunein Radio station plays no problem. Set the default speaker to be the SONOS device and it says “Sorry I can’t find what you asked for”. Clearly a SONOS integration issue

I have Google Play music set as default on Google devices and a paid account ilinked n SONOS. 

my wife has recently taken a radio out of storage - that is how bad it is.

diagnostic number: 496725888

 

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hello @mmca22gr,

Thank you for reaching out with your Google Assistant issue. 

Are you able to start playback manually via the Sonos app and control the volume or pause/restart via Google Assistant?

Is it possible to add a different radio tuner or service to Google and to Sonos to see if the same behavior reoccurs on a different source?

This is an on going issue that we are working to fix although it may be possible to side-step this by using My Tuner or another service rather than Tune-In.   

 

Userlevel 4
Badge +3

It is not limited to radio / tune in

i can do everything from the app

i can say ‘hey google Play The Beatles’ it works !!

then say ‘hey google Play Jimi Hendrix’ it does not

then say ‘Hey google, play Elvis’ it works !!

 

is Google racist?

 

i just did this 15 mins ago in Garden Room

diagnostics 1019396085

 

 

 

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Oh goodness, @mmca22gr, I couldn’t possibly comment but I hope not.

Have you tried asking for Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Al Green or Smoky Robinson?

If you specify the music service you are looking to play from in the voice command, e.g. “Hey Google, play Marvin Gaye on Spotify”, does anything change at all?

Does playback behave differently on the Sonos One than it does on the rest of your system?    

Userlevel 4
Badge +3

I have done some more testing. For clarity I am using SONOS S1 software. I have the family plan for Google Play Music/You Tube Premium

I have multiple rooms with SONOS and each room has a Google Home Hub (or Home Hub Max) that I use for voice control.

Each Home Hub has the SONOS device in that room set as the default speaker. 

The default music provider is set to Google Play Music in the Google Home app/Google Assistant app

Each room gives the same results. 

“Hey Google, Play the Beatles” - it works

“Hey google, Play Jimi Hendrix” - it does not work

When the default speaker for the room is set to the Google Home Hub in that room then It works flawlessly and I can listen to Jimi Hendrix with no problems. That would point to a problem with the integration between SONOS and Google since the search works for some artists but not others. As you might expect I can oplay Jimi Hendrix normally from the SONOS app search and also using the Google Play Music app.

Furthermore, when I change the default music provider (in the Google Home App/ Google Assistant app) to Spotify it works and I can play Jimi Hendrix. When I set it to You Tube Music it also works but it only played 3 Hendrix songs from random compilation albums so not an ideal solution. When the default music provider was set to “No Default (use the accounts preference on the shared devices)” It responds with “playing Jimi Hendrix from Google Play Music on *SONOS room name*, sorry I can’t find what you are looking for” and fails to play. 

In ALL situations I am unable to play BBC radio. It always says ‘playing BBC Radio 4 from Tune In on *SONOS room name*, sorry I can’t find what you are looking for” even when I have removed Tune In as a service in the SONOS app. 

Diagnostic number: 1635529013

 

 

 

I’ve got the same problem with the BBC radio stations now as well. “Sorry I can’t find what you are looking for.” It works via the Sonos app.

Badge

Hi, can we please get a status update from the sonos developers as to progress and timelines for a fix? 

Still broken. I wonder when the new Google Home speaker is out.

Hey guys, I’m getting the same issue with certain artists (e.g “City and Colour” and “Jimi Hendrix”). I have actually tried GA with Deezer and YouTube Music and have had the same issue others reported.

It looks to me like a music catalogue region mismatch between Google and Sonos.

The reason why I say this is because I noticed that when I had issues with YouTube Music, in the Sonos controller app it attempted to play the song but gave an error about the location of where the music was being played.

PS I am in Australia. It would be interested to note whether this is an issue for users outside of the US.

Maybe somewhere in the integration a US region is hard coded or assumed?

I am having exactly the same problem 
This is on YouTube music 
I have two sonos 1..one SL and one  
They are paired for stereo and unhappy that I can't play the music I want
When I say hey google play latino music on YouTube music it says playing Latin music and then it says sorry can't find what you're looking for.
I am in Australia. And have tried running the one on Ethernet and nothing the same message
Are the developers looking into this? Is there an eta?

Hi,

I’ve noticed similar issue when asking Google Assistant on my Beam to play some specific albums (usually film soundtrack), but it works fine when doing the same query on Google Mini (where playback is done on Google Mini) or when asking playback to be done on Chromecast. I’m located in France and do my request in French but this translate to :

  • on Beam: “ok google, listen to “Reine des neiges” (ie Frozen)” => “ok, I’ll play “Reine des neiges” on Deezer” => “sorry, I can’t play this”
  • on Beam: “ok google, listen to “Reine des neiges” on Chromecast” => “ok, I’ll play “Reine des neiges” on Deezer on Chromecast => it starts the playback properly
  • on Google mini: “ok google, listen to “Reine des neiges” => “ok, I’ll play “Reine des neiges” on Deezer” => playback starts on Google mini
  • on Google mini: “ok google, listen to “Reine des neiges” on Sonos => “ok, I’ll play “Reine des neiges on Deezer on Sonos” => “sorry, I can’t plan this”

Of course, playback from Sonos application works fine. Google Home is properly setup in French (France) as language. This is extremely furstrating because some queries always work (listen to “Queen”) but very often, asking for a specific album fails (it seems to be more often for soundtracks, when we don’t state the exact name of the album, even if the response properly states Google Assistant found the right album to play.

Having the same issue. Sonos One rarely ever works to playback. “Sorry can’t find what you’re looking for”

Userlevel 5
Badge +14

Hi @machx.

Welcome, thank you for reaching out to Sonos Community since you already tried all troubleshooting steps let me help you further.

Can you tell us more about the issue you're having with Google Assistance?

Are there any other Google devices in your house like google home,nest, etc?

How are you controlling google assistance and what are the music services your trying to use?

If you need help with any other information, please be sure to let us know.

Hi @machx.

Welcome, thank you for reaching out to Sonos Community since you already tried all troubleshooting steps let me help you further.

Can you tell us more about the issue you're having with Google Assistance?

Are there any other Google devices in your house like google home,nest, etc?

How are you controlling google assistance and what are the music services your trying to use?

If you need help with any other information, please be sure to let us know.

Ask Sonos one to play Christmas Music. Sonos responds sorry can’t find what you’re looking for. 
 

No other google devices. 
 

using google assistant on Sonos one. Attempting to use YouTube Music Premium. 

Same issue here. Multiple google home speakers with SONOS zones as their default. I can ask them to play anything from Spotify and it generally works. If I ask for a radio station though, it happily responds with “Sure, playing xxxx from TuneIn on Living Room”, and then immediately follows with “Sorry, I can’t find what you’re looking for”. I am always able to start it directly from the SONOS app. This worked until a few months ago. 

Userlevel 5
Badge +14

Hi @BenColo.

Welcome, thank you for reaching out to Sonos Community, We appreciate your time and effort in posting your concern here in our community.

You must link a Google Account to the Google Assistant device. If you have multiple Google Accounts, you can choose which account you want to use.

  1. On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google Home app Google Home.

  2. At the bottom, tap Home Home and then Settings Settings.

  3. Under "Google Assistant services," tap More settings.

  4. Tap Assistant  and then Voice Match and then Add devices.

  5. Follow the steps.

Let us know if it works. If you need help with any other information, please be sure to let us know.

Mark,

 

Thank you for the reply, but your answer isn’t related to my issue. My account is of course linked. Other functionality works fine, but requests for content from TuneIn now fail. This only started occurring a few months ago. 

Userlevel 5
Badge +14

Hi @BenColo.

Thank you for reaching back to Sonos Community.

I would like to recommend calling our customer phone support on this so you can be assisted with more thorough and in-depth troubleshooting steps as well as a remote diagnostics that can be remotely gathered from your Sonos devices with your permission. 

If you need help with any other information, please be sure to let us know.