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Amazon Music Canada

  • 15 November 2017
  • 56 replies
  • 21525 views
T
Userlevel 2
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Hi

Amazon just enabled Amazon Music streaming for Canada Prime members. Will it need an app update or just a matter of Sonos enabling it for canada?
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Best answer by Ryan S 16 November 2017, 23:55

We’re working with Amazon to bring Amazon Music to Sonos in Canada in 2018. Stay tuned!

We'll be announcing on the community and elsewhere when it's ready to go.
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56 replies

L
Userlevel 1
Yes, I would also like to try Amazon Music now that it's available in Canada.
Ryan S
Userlevel 7
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We’re working with Amazon to bring Amazon Music to Sonos in Canada in 2018. Stay tuned!

We'll be announcing on the community and elsewhere when it's ready to go.
Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
T
Userlevel 2
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thanks for the update.
E
Why exactly will it take so long when you currently support Prime Music in the US already?
D
We’re working with Amazon to bring Amazon Music to Sonos in Canada in early 2018. Stay tuned!

We'll be announcing on the community and elsewhere when it's ready to go.

In Sonos-speak that means 11:59 PM June 30, 2018
T
Userlevel 5
Badge +9
Keep in mind that Amazon Prime Music and Amazon Music (Unlimited) are very different. About 29 million songs different, as far as I can figure. Prime’s selection is disappointing compared to other streaming services.
C
Honestly I dont know why I am still bothering with this company. Audible empty promises for two years now and then this. Bought an amazon echo dot because i thought i could add my prime music. I may as well just throw these paperweights out and buy three echo +. What a waste of a once innovative company. Pathetic.
L
I'm thinking of returning my sonos disappointed that you don't support prime music in Canada. Do you have any dates for support to begin? Thinking about going for the Bose instead
Smilja
[...] Thinking about going for the Bose instead
Good luck ;)

https://community.bose.com/t5/SoundTouch-Speakers/Amazon-Prime-Music-in-Canada/m-p/88188#M53483
»And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space, Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.« (›Windmills Of Your Mind‹ [1967]. Music by Michel Legrand ; English lyrics written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman)
L
You can cast to Bose vis Bluetooth
Smilja
You can cast to Bose vis Bluetooth
Bluetooth with built-in multiroom capabilities?
»And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space, Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.« (›Windmills Of Your Mind‹ [1967]. Music by Michel Legrand ; English lyrics written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman)
S
I'm thinking of returning my sonos disappointed that you don't support prime music in Canada. Do you have any dates for support to begin? Thinking about going for the Bose instead
I'm in the middle of switching from Bose to Sonos. Bose STILL doesn't support Apple Music, or Google Play music. Sonos has supported Apple Music since February, 2016! Very frustrating waiting for them to make any meaningful changes, and I've waited for two years for them to start supporting more streaming services. I think the Bose speakers sound better, but if I'm limited in where I can get my music and the app is not great, then it doesn't matter, and Sonos speakers still sound great. They also have the Connect and Connect:Amp, which Bose does not (huge for me for deck, ceiling, and wall speakers).

The point of this thread is that Amazon JUST released this feature to Canada - I wouldn't expect every company to automatically be integrated with something brand new.
T
Userlevel 5
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Personally, I don't understand why anybody thinks Amazon Prime Music in Canada is a big deal. Sure, it's included in Prime, but it has a selection of about 1/40th the music on regular streaming services. Many people report their favourite artists aren't available and quickly tire of discovering that what they want isn't there. Surely most people with Sonos already have some other streaming service, or am I wrong? There is no Amazon Music Unlimited in Canada, which would be a major deal. Just my two cents' worth.
K
Personally, I don't understand why anybody thinks Amazon Prime Music in Canada is a big deal.

And I don't understand why it is not supported out of the box. After all Sonos is a device not a streaming service. And it currently is supported in these countries.
Prime Music
US, UK, DE

Not all of us want access to more music than we will ever listen too in a thousand years. For me it is noise in the background. And I have 10 Sonos and 10 chrome-cast devices for audio and video. I can cast (services) to my chrome devices anything I want but not Sonos.
J
Honestly I dont know why I am still bothering with this company. Audible empty promises for two years now and then this. Bought an amazon echo dot because i thought i could add my prime music. I may as well just throw these paperweights out and buy three echo +. What a waste of a once innovative company. Pathetic.
J
Oh but you can. Tell your amazon echo to play on a Sonos device and then open the Sonos app.
T
Userlevel 5
Badge +9
I assume this will up the urgency quotient somewhat.

“Amazon is launching three of its Echo devices with Alexa in 80 additional countries starting today — a major international expansion for the company’s smart speakers and voice-based assistant.

The rollout applies to the Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Plus. Other Echo devices, such as the touch-screen Echo Show, are not included as part of the international expansion.

Echo devices were previously only available in the US, UK, Germany, India, Japan, and Canada. Amazon earlier announced plans to bring Echo and Alexa to Australia and New Zealand next year.

In addition, Amazon says its Music Unlimited subscription streaming service is available in 28 additional countries, including many of those where the Echo is now expanding, as well.”
Airgetlam
Given the current situation in India, as eloquently expressed by Kumar, I wonder exactly how much engineering effort is required by Sonos to implement each new region? I'd hope they're working to make it a cut and paste process as much as possible, but I'm worried that it isn't that easy.
Bruce
T
Userlevel 5
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My US purchased Dots are being used in Brasil with my Canadian Amazon account (set up before the Canada announcement). I don’t have any form of Amazon music, Prime or the full version, but the basic command structure is working fine with Sonos. It also worked fine with Sonos when I was in Canada before the Canadian app was released. I had better luck than Kumar, but it could be a matter of timing. So unless there is a giant obstacle with each individual region of Amazon Music it may not be as bad as it could be. But who knows? Honestly, I don’t find the Alexa Sonos integration all that useful. But that’s just me, and my opinion might change once it works better with a range of streaming services.
K
I suspect there is a major challenge in establishing speedy Amazon cloud to Sonos cloud comms for every location for the Sonos Alexa trick to work well everywhere. As a truly global company, Amazon must be in much better shape where server proximity to its markets is concerned. And then there is the thing about accents; Amazon claims to have spent 12 months on getting Indian English accent to be usable in both directions. Even if it is all English, I am sure that some of the countries being added en masse have accented English too. I wonder how Amazon is dealing with that.

As to seeing it at work, as I have pointed out elsewhere, I was able to enable the skills with a hack. It took me all of one hour to turn them off, I was that disenchanted with them. For one, there is the ducking thing where all Sonos players across the home drop volume when any Dot is spoken to. Very distracting for listeners elsewhere in the home. Then there was the delay in response after the command - and I think this must have been the server comms issue where India is concerned. Finally, that the only music I could initiate play for was Tune In radio was a big let down. On the other hand using the Dot wired to a Connect Amp line in jack works a lot better for me. For three reasons: no ducking, better response time, and ability to initiate music play from Amazon Music, even the present preview version in India for Echo buyers. All that it takes is the necessary Sonos line in jacks - that is the con for this route. But for my use, the line in method is far better than the vaunted integration, so I don't see any reason to follow up with Sonos for it. Hopefully by the time it comes, all the associated issues/bugs will have also made it more usable than it is now - a gimmick.

From what I can guess about how Google voice will work based on how GPM on Android casts to Sonos from the native app, I expect the Google Mini experience to be much better and also its delivery to be a quick global roll out to all places where GPM is available.
T
Userlevel 5
Badge +9
I fully understand Kumar’s frustration. I also don’t consider Alexa Sonos integration to be much more than a gimmick at this point. And I’m likely to never subscribe to Amazon Music. I already have three streaming services, which is already two too many. I assume that the new countries are offering services in their native languages, not English. It’s going to be interesting to see how Alexa deals with Spanish in Latin America, which has a wide variety of accents and idioms. I also see Portugal is one of the new countries while Brasil is not. I suspect one of the reasons is the considerable diference in Portuguese between the two countries. I speak Brasilian Portuguese, but sometimes Portuguese in Portugal can be a struggle for me. It’s not just the accent; words often have different meanings. Odd choice, since the population of Brasil is 210 million vs 11 million in Portugal. Brasil could be a much bigger market.
K
I use Amazon Prime because I have a free subscription to it up to 2020! It isn't that limited and serves well for casual listening using the Dot + Connect Amp set ups. Once the formal release is in place, the ability to make personal playlists will make it even more useful.

I also have a Google subscription, that is full service of course, so I am looking forward to Google voice more than Alexa, to be honest.
D
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What's the latest on this topic ? It's 2018 now 😉 I'm excited to try Amazon music in Canada since I just got my first Sonos product for xmas.
D
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I'm now able to stream Amazon Prime music from Sonos App (1 million songs) . Now when can Canadians start using "Unlimited Prime Music via Sonos app"? This service still doesn't seem to be available for Canadians from Amazon yet. Not sure of anyone has heard anything on this topic yet or anyone from Sonos?
G
How are you streaming it through the app? I can access using voice and Alexa, but I cannot add Amazon as a streaming service in the app.

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