After the outage earlier today I finally have everything working and I couldn't be happier (I can play, pause and change volume on my old Play 3s with my voice which is all I wanted for two years now).
But it's a little unfortunate that in a room with (1) a Google home and (2) a sonos speaker, I still have to append "on the kitchen Sonos" to my requests to begin playing music (otherwise the music plays on the answering Google device).
The Google home app lets you configure what the default device is for playing music, and it lists not only my various Google speakers but also my vizio TVs on the network, etc., but it strangely doesn't list my sonos speakers. Is there a way to make this happen?
Answered
Sonos as default speaker for music?
Best answer by melvimbe
My knowledge on all things Google isn't as high as many others, but is the default music device setup for Google using chromecast? If that's the case, then in order for the default music speaker configuration to work, one of two things would need to happen.
1 - Google needs to build out the functionality so that the default music device setup also works for speakers that will receive instructions through their API to stream directly. This is likely what happens now, as it does with Alexa. Google cloud recognizes that the command to play music for a Sonos speaker, passes it to the Sonos cloud, that then passes the command to your home speakers. Google just needs to build in a feature for this.
2 - Sonos needs to support chromecast. I am honestly a littly fuzzy on this as I'm not quite sure chromecast would stream from your phone/table/google home product to the music player, Sonos in this case, or if it only passes on instructions for the music player to stream directly from the source. The first is pretty much what bluetooth and airplay 2 does, the second is how Alexa cast and casting from Spotify, Pandora, etc does with Sonos.
I can see where Sonos may prefer option 1, as it seems easier from a technical point of view, and not all of Sonos speakers have the hardware to support chromecast I'd guess. But Google might lack the motivation to do this. It did take Amazon over a year to get it done.
So while it seems like a pretty simple feature to customers, and absolutely something customers are justified in wanting and expecting, it may not be that simple to get done. But this is just my speculation.
Now, I'm going to go do some research on chromecast.
View original1 - Google needs to build out the functionality so that the default music device setup also works for speakers that will receive instructions through their API to stream directly. This is likely what happens now, as it does with Alexa. Google cloud recognizes that the command to play music for a Sonos speaker, passes it to the Sonos cloud, that then passes the command to your home speakers. Google just needs to build in a feature for this.
2 - Sonos needs to support chromecast. I am honestly a littly fuzzy on this as I'm not quite sure chromecast would stream from your phone/table/google home product to the music player, Sonos in this case, or if it only passes on instructions for the music player to stream directly from the source. The first is pretty much what bluetooth and airplay 2 does, the second is how Alexa cast and casting from Spotify, Pandora, etc does with Sonos.
I can see where Sonos may prefer option 1, as it seems easier from a technical point of view, and not all of Sonos speakers have the hardware to support chromecast I'd guess. But Google might lack the motivation to do this. It did take Amazon over a year to get it done.
So while it seems like a pretty simple feature to customers, and absolutely something customers are justified in wanting and expecting, it may not be that simple to get done. But this is just my speculation.
Now, I'm going to go do some research on chromecast.
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Yeah I found this strange also. In my room I have a Google Home Hub and the Sonos so when I say "Hey Google, play music" they'll both *ding* but the Home Hub will be the one to play music.
I also tried configure the Sonos One to become the default music device but it does not show up under my list of speakers.
I also tried configure the Sonos One to become the default music device but it does not show up under my list of speakers.
I am in a similar situation. In my living room I have a Google Home Hub and a Play:5. It would be great if I could just say to the Hub "Hey Google play XXXXXX" and it automatically just plays on the Play:5 (without having to add the device name or room). In my bedroom I have a One and when I use the same command it works perfectly (without having to say the device name or room).
Does anyone who has done the Alexa integration know if this has been implemented already for Alexa? If so, might be good indication that it might eventually come to Google Assistant.
Does anyone who has done the Alexa integration know if this has been implemented already for Alexa? If so, might be good indication that it might eventually come to Google Assistant.
It is implemented for Alexa.
My knowledge on all things Google isn't as high as many others, but is the default music device setup for Google using chromecast? If that's the case, then in order for the default music speaker configuration to work, one of two things would need to happen.
1 - Google needs to build out the functionality so that the default music device setup also works for speakers that will receive instructions through their API to stream directly. This is likely what happens now, as it does with Alexa. Google cloud recognizes that the command to play music for a Sonos speaker, passes it to the Sonos cloud, that then passes the command to your home speakers. Google just needs to build in a feature for this.
2 - Sonos needs to support chromecast. I am honestly a littly fuzzy on this as I'm not quite sure chromecast would stream from your phone/table/google home product to the music player, Sonos in this case, or if it only passes on instructions for the music player to stream directly from the source. The first is pretty much what bluetooth and airplay 2 does, the second is how Alexa cast and casting from Spotify, Pandora, etc does with Sonos.
I can see where Sonos may prefer option 1, as it seems easier from a technical point of view, and not all of Sonos speakers have the hardware to support chromecast I'd guess. But Google might lack the motivation to do this. It did take Amazon over a year to get it done.
So while it seems like a pretty simple feature to customers, and absolutely something customers are justified in wanting and expecting, it may not be that simple to get done. But this is just my speculation.
Now, I'm going to go do some research on chromecast.
1 - Google needs to build out the functionality so that the default music device setup also works for speakers that will receive instructions through their API to stream directly. This is likely what happens now, as it does with Alexa. Google cloud recognizes that the command to play music for a Sonos speaker, passes it to the Sonos cloud, that then passes the command to your home speakers. Google just needs to build in a feature for this.
2 - Sonos needs to support chromecast. I am honestly a littly fuzzy on this as I'm not quite sure chromecast would stream from your phone/table/google home product to the music player, Sonos in this case, or if it only passes on instructions for the music player to stream directly from the source. The first is pretty much what bluetooth and airplay 2 does, the second is how Alexa cast and casting from Spotify, Pandora, etc does with Sonos.
I can see where Sonos may prefer option 1, as it seems easier from a technical point of view, and not all of Sonos speakers have the hardware to support chromecast I'd guess. But Google might lack the motivation to do this. It did take Amazon over a year to get it done.
So while it seems like a pretty simple feature to customers, and absolutely something customers are justified in wanting and expecting, it may not be that simple to get done. But this is just my speculation.
Now, I'm going to go do some research on chromecast.
Do we have any official statesments on this yet? If the speakers are shown why can't we select them as default in rooms?
melvimbe wrote:
My knowledge on all things Google isn't as high as many others, but is the default music device setup for Google using chromecast? If that's the case, then in order for the default music speaker configuration to work, one of two things would need to happen.
1 - Google needs to build out the functionality so that the default music device setup also works for speakers that will receive instructions through their API to stream directly. This is likely what happens now, as it does with Alexa. Google cloud recognizes that the command to play music for a Sonos speaker, passes it to the Sonos cloud, that then passes the command to your home speakers. Google just needs to build in a feature for this.
1 - Google needs to build out the functionality so that the default music device setup also works for speakers that will receive instructions through their API to stream directly. This is likely what happens now, as it does with Alexa. Google cloud recognizes that the command to play music for a Sonos speaker, passes it to the Sonos cloud, that then passes the command to your home speakers. Google just needs to build in a feature for this.
Yes, I believe this is exactly what a Google is doing. Sonos is Google’s first customer for Google’s new cloud casting architecture, which will eventually replace Chromecast. It will be enhanced with features to match Alexa Cast at some point in the future.
+1It would be very nice if a person could select “group everywhere” and all speakers, including Google devices, would stream the same music throughout the house.
Giving us Google and depriving us of that feature is worse than giving a child a toy and not providing the batteries required to operate/play with it.
Giving us Google and depriving us of that feature is worse than giving a child a toy and not providing the batteries required to operate/play with it.
hijimmylin wrote:
I am in a similar situation. In my living room I have a Google Home Hub and a Play:5. It would be great if I could just say to the Hub "Hey Google play XXXXXX" and it automatically just plays on the Play:5 (without having to add the device name or room). In my bedroom I have a One and when I use the same command it works perfectly (without having to say the device name or room).
Does anyone who has done the Alexa integration know if this has been implemented already for Alexa? If so, might be good indication that it might eventually come to Google Assistant.
Does anyone who has done the Alexa integration know if this has been implemented already for Alexa? If so, might be good indication that it might eventually come to Google Assistant.
Yes, I have the same setup and was disappointed this could not be done when google assistant was released for Sonos. Sonos and Google please bring this feature to the community! This would be a great addition, and would persuade me even more to get a nest hub for every room that one of my Sonos’s are in, to both display album art and controls of my music.
Agree
Probably the most disappointing thing missing.
I would also like for a Google home Hub to display the album art of the music playing.
Probably the most disappointing thing missing.
I would also like for a Google home Hub to display the album art of the music playing.
Yes, I gets tired of saying "Hey Google, play XXXX on Sonos" to my Google Home every time. And there seems to be a bug that sometimes it still the Google Home itself that play the music.
hijimmylin wrote:
Does anyone who has done the Alexa integration know if this has been implemented already for Alexa?
Yes, Alexa has a feature called "Preferred Speakers" and your Sonos speakers will show up in there. You can select one or more of your Sonos speakers, and whenever you speak to the Echo Dot, it will playback on the selected Sonos speaker(s).
We have an open concept living room / dining room / kitchen, with an Echo Dot in the middle of the space, and a Playbase in our living room, and an older Play:1 in the dining room. Whenever we say "Alexa, play ____," to the Echo Dot, the music will always start playing back on both the dining room Play:1 and the Playbase connected to the TV. This is great, because whenever we watch TV, the Playbase always becomes ungrouped from the dining room Play:1, and whenever we listen to music / news / podcasts, we always want it to play on both speakers.
Google has a similar feature where you can set the default playback speaker for their Assistant hardware devices, but Sonos speakers don't show up in the list. Personally, I don't care about grouping Sonos speakers with other Google Cast-enabled speakers, I just want to be able to choose one / several / all of my Sonos speakers.
In our home, we really do use this feature all the time with Alexa on the Echo Dot, and I sorely wish the Google Assistant + Sonos integration had it too — I'd much rather use Google's ecosystem for a variety of reasons.
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