Has anyone got an official answer from SONOS about AMAZON ECHO Integration?

Why would Amazon want to integrate their wireless streaming speaker with a competing wireless streaming speaker?

this is why:

I have a Sonos Play3 in my kitchen and the Sonos Connect in my living room hooked up to my main stereo/speaker system. I also have an Echo in each room. The two Echos are linked to my one Amazon Prime account, but I can't control the two to play music together like you can with Sonos. Of if you're streaming Amazon music from one, you can't stream from both at the same time.

If Echo could output to Sonos, I could then have better sound for Echo but then ALSO have my Amazon Prime music pumped through my home stereo and no just through the smaller Echo speakers.

Evenf Echo simply had an output jack, I could plug that into the Connect's 'audio input' and that would get me halfway there (I could only control it from the living room Echo, not the kitchen Echo). But ideally, Sonos and Echo should connect via wifi and talk to each other, that would be awesome.

You've answered why you would like it, but that wasn't the question. Amazon wants to sell Echoes. Why would it waste all the intellectual property it has invested in Echo by allowing it to be used to sell Sonos speakers instead of Echoes?

You've answered why you would like it, but that wasn't the question. Amazon wants to sell Echoes. Why would it waste all the intellectual property it has invested in Echo by allowing it to be used to sell Sonos speakers instead of Echoes?

Oh, that's easy...because Echo doesn't compete with Sonos...Sure, they're both 'speaker systems', but they compliment each others' strengths and weaknesses.

1) already have Sonos? Great...buy Echo and add voice commands to your Sonos, also, link your Amazon Prime music account to your Sonos.

2) Already have Echo? Great....make it sound even better by adding higher quality Sonos speakers. Link rooms together, which Echo can't do. (this is also an incentive to buy more echo's for other rooms)


Now, maybe Amazon has plans to expand their Echo product to include better speakers, but I don't think Amazon wants to be in the wireless speaker business. They want to be in the 'do all your shopping on Amazon' business, and Echo is the trojan horse to do that. (I haven't set it up yet, but will eventually getting around to buying basic stuff through Echo...mission accomplished, Amazon)

My personal example...I thought Echo was cool, but didn't have Prime and already had Sonos so it didn't appeal that much too me. BUT, I DO have INSTEON home automation. When INSTEON announced integration with ECHO, I bought one that day. Control all the lights in my house with my voice? Hell yes.

And it suddenly made sense for me to get an Amazon Prime account. Worked so well I bought the 2nd one a month later. I wouldn't have bought any of it w/o the INSTEON integration.

But that's just me.

I personally don't think there is that much of a difference between the two and too much overlap in functionality; both are internet streamers, both sell self-contained speakers, both do alarms, radio, etc., for there to be this type of partnership. But I could be wrong.

Cross-posting from another thread as I see this one has Sonos staff listening:

I created an account simply to upvote and comment here: this is a huge miss on Sonos' part that a full year after Echo is GA and has dozens of other partnerships that Sonos remains out of the ecosystem. It's great someone has done some creative hackery on github to link the two, but this needs to be officially supported by Sonos.

I own an Echo. I don't own Sonos today, but I'd very much like to own Sonos. It looks like a great system and leaps and bounds ahead of your competition in this space (for now). However, a Sonos that doesn't communicate with my Echo is useless to me. Smartphone apps are nice and all - but I just TALK to my Echo and it plays music I like. Investing in a pricey Sonos system that can't tie into this feature is a step backwards.

Short story: Integrate with Echo, earn an eager customer. Don't integrate with Echo, or come out instead with some standalone lock-in Sonos-only Echo competitor, and my money will go to your first competitor that offers Echo integration.

--
and ps. to rmgraci: nice work! Tempted to buy a Sonos based on your awesome work, but they really need to integrate this into the core product. I'd be fine if they paid you some money and officially supported your work, but I won't invest an an expensive Sonos system where they might make a change that breaks your "user-supported customization" and breaks Echo support. Been burned by that too many times by other companies.

Sonos, here's your chance to partner with Amazon and add the ever-growing Echo customer base as your loyal customers too. If you don't do it, someone else will. Let's see what you can do!

There are similar dramas running with APPLE, GOOGLE, SPOTIFY, etc. Each of these major platforms has a following that demands an instant response to any developments by the major. The smaller companies must be careful not to attach their wagons too tightly to a major, else the minor will spend all of its development effort responding to a major, not innovating their own product. This is a method used by the majors to control minor competition, but it also minimizes the major's development costs. (otherwise the major would need to respond to all of the minors' developments)

SONOS publishes an API that any music service is free to support. While this API does not support every little exclusive feature (an obvious "must have" for some users) for every service, it gives SONOS users easy and consistent access to dozens of services. In my opinion this is a win for everyone.

---

Overall, there are there are too many 'silos' vying to become the data format, the database protocol, the communication protocol, and the user interface standard in the consumer electronics/automation arena. Some are newer and more capable than others, some are attempting to be "lightweight" (cheaper to implement), while most are trying to become the intellectual property standard so that its owner can charge everyone else royalties. Unfortunately, I think that the consumer is too low on the priority list.

Echo integration is...
As Echo not available outside of the US why would any company waste a large sum of money trying to integrate with anything that is not a global seller?

Until Echo becomes a global success, unlike a certain phone, there is no need to do anything.
The market is subject to a number of competing "standards" for automation. Which one will win?

Sorting out that Sonos refer to home cinema which is full of holes as to accepted data streams would seem to be of a greater priority in the shorter term. But then...more and more TVs output DD5.1...so what is the correct course.

As Echo not available outside of the US why would any company waste a large sum of money trying to integrate with anything that is not a global seller?

I suspect that there are a lot of Sonos customers in America who would like Echo integration. I also suspect there are more Sonos owners who use Android instead of iPhone and Sonos has made TruePlay to only work with iPhone...

They may want it, but it makes zero commercial sense for a now global company. How long will Echo be around. Still here and still fully supported in 5 years - nothing Amazon have yet produced is.
Trueplay has been explained ad nauseum - Apple microphones are consistent across the range of devices. Android microphones are not.
Which automation system(s) will come out on top? What should you throw lots of money at?

I'm not against progress but the completely unrealistic expectations of a noisy few who are in thrall of the new "look at this gizmo" does not make a company that people will support. I spent lots on Sonos gear simply because they have been around a long time and continue to support and develop their product - it has its compromises, but so does everything.
If people want to get stroppy and abandon a product that fulfills what it says it does and is fully fit for purpose then so be it. In five years time I bet they won't be so chirpy about their stupid decision when it breaks, is no longer supported, no longer produced. Amazon is a global company and can't afford to produce a product soley for the US market - they are in the business of selling you media and not hardware (witness their stand down in the tablet market to media consumption devices) Sonos sell hardware and their hardware must be good and fully supported to sell. A very, very different market.

So far, nothing comes close to what Sonos does in terms of quality product, functionality, support. Sonos's big hurdle is the playbar and optical input and no DTS.

Great hack! But what about the 99% of people who can't or don't want to do this? I understand that Sonos and Echo MIGHT be considered competitive products but I agree with UP2MTNS and others on that subject. How/why would Sonos providing an IFTTT channel make people buy an Echo instead of Sonos? Doesn't make sense. In fact the reverse is true. The fact that Sonos does not have an IFTTT channel is inexcusable and is hurting their reputation. I was impressed with Sonos until this. Now I will switch from recommending them to warning against them. Come on Sonos, you should have provided an IFTTT channel long ago. Shame on you!