I see there are 92 articles on Amazon Echo here in the SONOS community. Has anyone from SONOS responded? Does SONOS have any intent to support Amazon Echo integration?
I can't imagine anyone not wanting that. It feels like that is just how SONOS should work. We love our SONOS system but we keep finding ourselves using the lesser quality Echo just because it's easier. I wish I could use my SONOS system as my speaker and my ECHO as the controller (unless of course my SONOS could just do the same thing). I can't imagine how anyone will beat ECHO for speed and quality of response. Not even SIRI can compete with our Amazon Echo experience.
If I have to I will replace my SONOS system with a bunch of ECHO's but I would never want to do that. Not even because of the investment I have already made with SONOS. I would buy a whole new SONOS system if I could have the AMAZON ECHO controller.
Are there any representatives of the SONOS company in this community? Can I even wish for true Integration between the two companies?
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Why would Amazon want to integrate their wireless streaming speaker with a competing wireless streaming speaker?
We're certainly here Ranjy, though as a general rule we don't speak to future releases or feature enhancements. We don't share a road map or timeline for development, so for specific requests like Amazon Echo integration, there isn't much to share.
We absolutely appreciate feedback and suggestions, and I'll be sure to pass your interest on to our development team. There aren't currently any available plans to share regarding Amazon Echo integration, and as Jgatie suggested, it would certainly require a lot of cooperation from Amazon to accomplish. We'll be sure to let everyone know if there's any news to share as it becomes available.
Thanks for asking and let us know if we can help with any other questions.
We absolutely appreciate feedback and suggestions, and I'll be sure to pass your interest on to our development team. There aren't currently any available plans to share regarding Amazon Echo integration, and as Jgatie suggested, it would certainly require a lot of cooperation from Amazon to accomplish. We'll be sure to let everyone know if there's any news to share as it becomes available.
Thanks for asking and let us know if we can help with any other questions.
jgatie said: "Why would Amazon want to integrate their wireless streaming speaker with a competing wireless streaming speaker?"
My Echo sounds fine, as far as it goes. It's similar to my son's Jambox speaker in quality. Of course, Sonos easily surpasses the Echo in terms of volume and sound quality, etc.
But Echo is much more than a wireless speaker... it's a voice control interface. Its 7 microphone array is excellent at picking up voice commands from just about anywhere in a good sized room. And the processing of voice commands is speedy... no noticeable lag at all.
Amazon recently released the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) for public use and have been urging 3rd party developers to create "skills" (think apps). Amazon has also thrown its support behind existing companies that could add the Alexa entity to current hardware/software solutions independent of the actual "Echo" device.
It seems to me that Sonos would benefit significantly by adding voice control.
That could be accomplished by developing their own voice interface, but that looks to be the longest way to this goal.
Sonos could also implement the Alexa Skills Kit to build a voice interface for the existing Sonos controller app. That would require some sort of microphone to be integrated. Perhaps they'd use the the mic on a smart phone or on a tablet.
Or Sonos could enable their controller app to communicate with the actual Echo device. This seems to be a smart choice because the Echo already excels at "hearing" and interpreting spoken commands and already incorporates a robust implementation of Alexa.
What's not to like?
My Echo sounds fine, as far as it goes. It's similar to my son's Jambox speaker in quality. Of course, Sonos easily surpasses the Echo in terms of volume and sound quality, etc.
But Echo is much more than a wireless speaker... it's a voice control interface. Its 7 microphone array is excellent at picking up voice commands from just about anywhere in a good sized room. And the processing of voice commands is speedy... no noticeable lag at all.
Amazon recently released the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) for public use and have been urging 3rd party developers to create "skills" (think apps). Amazon has also thrown its support behind existing companies that could add the Alexa entity to current hardware/software solutions independent of the actual "Echo" device.
It seems to me that Sonos would benefit significantly by adding voice control.
That could be accomplished by developing their own voice interface, but that looks to be the longest way to this goal.
Sonos could also implement the Alexa Skills Kit to build a voice interface for the existing Sonos controller app. That would require some sort of microphone to be integrated. Perhaps they'd use the the mic on a smart phone or on a tablet.
Or Sonos could enable their controller app to communicate with the actual Echo device. This seems to be a smart choice because the Echo already excels at "hearing" and interpreting spoken commands and already incorporates a robust implementation of Alexa.
What's not to like?
Looks like they have at least played with it for fun : http://mattwel.ch/voice-control-for-the-sonos-with-an-echo/
What do you mean by "they"? That link is to a independent programmer's page, not anything to do with Sonos, nor Amazon.
Matt actually works for Sonos now. 😉 Guess they liked all his Sonos mashups.
Seriously? I didn't know.
Seriously? I didn't know.
Seriously: http://mattwel.ch/im-joining-the-band-at-sonos/
Should be interesting to see where Sonos takes this connected home stuff.
I hope Sonos andf Amazon seriously consider this; a partnering with Amazon (they are different products with an area of overlap in streaming music/radio stations) would be awesome. Sonos could continue to own the higher end sound, while leveraging Amazon for voice control, gain access to Prime music, and probably find other ways to partner. Amazon could develop an Echo mini (my thought for a new product) that is basically a wireless device with microphone to extend Echo's voice recognition to other areas of my house (I really don't need to buy another Echo with the Sonos devices I already have - just extend its range for voice recognition).
Has anyone had any luck doing this? Just got an echo and trying to get it to control Sonos is a must, I used the speaker itself over my Sonos this evening because it was so convenient, I would consider selling all my devices if I wasn't so attached to the ecosystem...
pleeeeeease do this. If I could control it with my echo I'd go out and buy a Sonos system today!
I actually got it to work with this: https://github.com/rgraciano/echo-sonos
Pretty freakin amazing every time!!!
Pretty freakin amazing every time!!!
I have 5 Sonos speakers and 1 Echo. As much as I love my Sonos system, the convenience of the Echo is unbeatable. Over the last few months the Echo's become the family's go-to speaker for music. If we could easily integrate the two so that we had Echo's ease of use (voice commands) combined with Sonos sound quality, it would be the best of both worlds and I'd be ecstatic!! I'd also willingly replace my entire Sonos set-up with new Sonos speakers (and probably buy more for the remaining rooms of the house) if they all had voice integration.
Pretty freakin amazing every time!!!
I've been hammering away at this for several days now and can't get past this head scratching point. All commands work via the API (browser) and certain voice commands like favorites, pause, what's playing. Unfortunately volume control and play commands don't work. Then things like next/skip are strange - next doesn't work but skip does. Again, API works great but voice commands is weird.
Really want to get this to work because the wife would use Sonos if it meant telling Alexa what to do, otherwise, forget it (go figure).
I worked things through and got it working, then dug in and got it to do even more. The key is understanding the connection between the syntax in the intent schema section, the utterances section (both on alexa skills), and the code in the index.js file that gets loaded to Lambda.
If you want to do something new, you will need to define a new intent, new utterances, and make sure the code in the intents.js file does what you need. I've added:
custom slot type for "play " - favorite needs to be all lower case and one word in sonos faves and in the custom slot type value
whats playing (similar to original author)
what's next (same as above, but next song)
play favorite - see above
list favorites - reads off what valid favorites there are
shuffle on/off
repeat on/off
If you want to do something new, you will need to define a new intent, new utterances, and make sure the code in the intents.js file does what you need. I've added:
custom slot type for "play " - favorite needs to be all lower case and one word in sonos faves and in the custom slot type value
whats playing (similar to original author)
what's next (same as above, but next song)
play favorite - see above
list favorites - reads off what valid favorites there are
shuffle on/off
repeat on/off
To the folks hacking on it, if you have something that works could you set up a new GitHub repo for it?
boykster: "The key is understanding the connection between the syntax in the intent schema section, the utterances section (both on alexa skills), and the code in the index.js file that gets loaded to Lambda."
And this is where I'm struggling. I found a helpful 38 min video on the AWS website but being new to this, I think I'm going to have to watch it several times before I really grasp the concepts. Since the Echo/Sonos thing seems to be so cutting edge, there isn't a whole lot out there so searching for real world intent schemas, sample utterances, and index.js files is a challenge (reference material).
Thank you for the input and I'll keep grinding away.
And this is where I'm struggling. I found a helpful 38 min video on the AWS website but being new to this, I think I'm going to have to watch it several times before I really grasp the concepts. Since the Echo/Sonos thing seems to be so cutting edge, there isn't a whole lot out there so searching for real world intent schemas, sample utterances, and index.js files is a challenge (reference material).
Thank you for the input and I'll keep grinding away.
I don't have a github setup for my modifications, but I'm happy to share my code.
Would really like to get this solution working, but I'm totally at a loss when trying to follow the directions. Any chance someone could come up with a tutorial or help a newbie out?
I worked things through and got it working, then dug in and got it to do even more. The key is understanding the connection between the syntax in the intent schema section, the utterances section (both on alexa skills), and the code in the index.js file that gets loaded to Lambda.
If you want to do something new, you will need to define a new intent, new utterances, and make sure the code in the intents.js file does what you need. I've added:
custom slot type for "play " - favorite needs to be all lower case and one word in sonos faves and in the custom slot type value
whats playing (similar to original author)
what's next (same as above, but next song)
play favorite - see above
list favorites - reads off what valid favorites there are
shuffle on/off
repeat on/off
If you want to do something new, you will need to define a new intent, new utterances, and make sure the code in the intents.js file does what you need. I've added:
custom slot type for "play " - favorite needs to be all lower case and one word in sonos faves and in the custom slot type value
whats playing (similar to original author)
what's next (same as above, but next song)
play favorite - see above
list favorites - reads off what valid favorites there are
shuffle on/off
repeat on/off
I've created a new GitHub repo that expands on the previous work done by rgraciano at https://github.com/rgraciano/echo-sonos
The repo I created allows for most Sonos functions to be controlled via the Echo. Check it out here: https://github.com/jeffchampagne/echo-sonos
The repo I created allows for most Sonos functions to be controlled via the Echo. Check it out here: https://github.com/jeffchampagne/echo-sonos
Jwctech,
I've followed your instructions and seem to have most of it working. I can control my sonos from inside my network as well as from outside using the http commands, but when I test in Lambda I get the following error. I don't have the Sonos controller app running on the machine that is hosting internally and as I've said everything works from the outside. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Dave
START RequestId: 00d65d9e-a422-11e5-92c1-6b12cc78cc9e Version: $LATEST
2015-12-16T18:22:45.541Z 00d65d9e-a422-11e5-92c1-6b12cc78cc9e session applicationId: amzn1.echo-sdk-ams.app.xxxxxxxxxxx
2015-12-16T18:22:45.541Z 00d65d9e-a422-11e5-92c1-6b12cc78cc9e dispatch intent = playIntent
2015-12-16T18:22:45.541Z 00d65d9e-a422-11e5-92c1-6b12cc78cc9e playIntent: checking zone
2015-12-16T18:22:45.541Z 00d65d9e-a422-11e5-92c1-6b12cc78cc9e checkZones: zoneSlot set to:kitchen
2015-12-16T18:22:45.541Z 00d65d9e-a422-11e5-92c1-6b12cc78cc9e checkZones: calling Sonos at: myFQDN:5005/zones
2015-12-16T18:22:47.044Z 00d65d9e-a422-11e5-92c1-6b12cc78cc9e checkZones: Error connecting to Sonos API: socket hang up
2015-12-16T18:22:47.044Z 00d65d9e-a422-11e5-92c1-6b12cc78cc9e getZonesCallback: Error received
END RequestId: 00d65d9e-a422-11e5-92c1-6b12cc78cc9e
REPORT RequestId: 00d65d9e-a422-11e5-92c1-6b12cc78cc9e Duration: 1521.62 ms Billed Duration: 1600 ms Memory Size: 128 MB Max Memory Used: 10 MB
I've followed your instructions and seem to have most of it working. I can control my sonos from inside my network as well as from outside using the http commands, but when I test in Lambda I get the following error. I don't have the Sonos controller app running on the machine that is hosting internally and as I've said everything works from the outside. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Dave
START RequestId: 00d65d9e-a422-11e5-92c1-6b12cc78cc9e Version: $LATEST
2015-12-16T18:22:45.541Z 00d65d9e-a422-11e5-92c1-6b12cc78cc9e session applicationId: amzn1.echo-sdk-ams.app.xxxxxxxxxxx
2015-12-16T18:22:45.541Z 00d65d9e-a422-11e5-92c1-6b12cc78cc9e dispatch intent = playIntent
2015-12-16T18:22:45.541Z 00d65d9e-a422-11e5-92c1-6b12cc78cc9e playIntent: checking zone
2015-12-16T18:22:45.541Z 00d65d9e-a422-11e5-92c1-6b12cc78cc9e checkZones: zoneSlot set to:kitchen
2015-12-16T18:22:45.541Z 00d65d9e-a422-11e5-92c1-6b12cc78cc9e checkZones: calling Sonos at: myFQDN:5005/zones
2015-12-16T18:22:47.044Z 00d65d9e-a422-11e5-92c1-6b12cc78cc9e checkZones: Error connecting to Sonos API: socket hang up
2015-12-16T18:22:47.044Z 00d65d9e-a422-11e5-92c1-6b12cc78cc9e getZonesCallback: Error received
END RequestId: 00d65d9e-a422-11e5-92c1-6b12cc78cc9e
REPORT RequestId: 00d65d9e-a422-11e5-92c1-6b12cc78cc9e Duration: 1521.62 ms Billed Duration: 1600 ms Memory Size: 128 MB Max Memory Used: 10 MB
Hi all,
I have read through this and unfortunately if the system does not work flawlessly my wife will despise it. It took me enough just to talk her into getting the system to begin with, I was about to dive into Sonos further and add to the ecosystem but as mentioned above I think the Echo is so good that if Sonos is not planning an elegant solution I will need to look at a new home system....
Sonos, either work with Amazon or develop your own interface that is as strong as Amazon's (but that is a tall order)
I have read through this and unfortunately if the system does not work flawlessly my wife will despise it. It took me enough just to talk her into getting the system to begin with, I was about to dive into Sonos further and add to the ecosystem but as mentioned above I think the Echo is so good that if Sonos is not planning an elegant solution I will need to look at a new home system....
Sonos, either work with Amazon or develop your own interface that is as strong as Amazon's (but that is a tall order)
Hi everyone,
I'm the guy who wrote the echo-sonos code at https://github.com/rgraciano/echo-sonos
This past weekend, I fixed some bugs and made it smarter - features like next, previously, & what's playing now all work reliably. I also added a bunch of features like playlists and favorites, and many new phrasings to make voice control feel more natural.
Hope it helps!
Ryan
I'm the guy who wrote the echo-sonos code at https://github.com/rgraciano/echo-sonos
This past weekend, I fixed some bugs and made it smarter - features like next, previously, & what's playing now all work reliably. I also added a bunch of features like playlists and favorites, and many new phrasings to make voice control feel more natural.
Hope it helps!
Ryan
Very cool - I have added a listFavorites function and added error checking to the playFavorite function to ensure that the fave is valid. I'm happy to share my code
Would this eventually be released as an app?
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