Been waiting to hear news about when this will happen and am starting to think it never will. I have Sonos and Alexa in every room. I did this with the assurance that Sonos and Alexa are going to work together. There has been next to no news regarding integration for the past 6 months.... When can we expect to hear about Sonos and Alexa integration? Is it still happening? Please any update would be appreciated.
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Too bad for SONOS. It's taking too long. I'm a little bit sad.
With that Sonos presence, why did/do you not pick up a Dot, assuming that at least one of those 20 speakers has a line in? Run a wire from Dot to the line in and that is job done in one zone at least. Or in as many as are played as one group.
A more general question: as I understand it, running a wire from a Dot to the line in of any Sonos speaker allows the said speaker to do all that either Echo or Dot will do, with better sound quality. Will the Sonos/Alexa integration do anything more with Sonos speakers other than removing the need for this little wire?
Too bad for SONOS. It's taking too long. I'm a little bit sad.
With that Sonos presence, why did/do you not pick up a Dot, assuming that at least one of those 20 speakers has a line in? Run a wire from Dot to the line in and that is job done in one zone at least. Or in as many as are played as one group.
A more general question: as I understand it, running a wire from a Dot to the line in of any Sonos speaker allows the said speaker to do all that either Echo or Dot will do, with better sound quality. Will the Sonos/Alexa integration do anything more with Sonos speakers other than removing the need for this little wire?
That wouldn't let you control your music sources available on SONOS... just play Amazon music through Alexa on crappy analogue connection. No different than connecting a speaker to your Echo Dot.
I read this in Trump's voice. If he is a SONOS user... we found him. But seriously, most people in huge houses or early adapters don't have a bunch of plastic homepods or play1s plugged in like 1970s lamps on every end table. Their houses have in-ceiling/wall speakers or speaker towers on powered SONOS AMPs or receivers with CONNECTs. Early adapters aren't really effected by the new homepods/Play1s..
But all of us who bought our family these stupid Echo Dots for Xmas are saying WTF. We were told Q1! IMO, these Dots aren't that great unless you have a specific use for it. For some its ordering Dominos or filling a Amazon order or asking the weather. My kids don't care about it except "Alexa, tell me a joke." I was supposed to be the only one to have dad jokes.
But all of us who bought our family these stupid Echo Dots for Xmas are saying WTF. We were told Q1!
No, you weren't told Q1, at least not by Sonos. The official Sonos/Amazon press release clearly stated "The companies will begin rolling out the experience through an invite-only beta test later this year, with general availability in 2017."
No quarter mentioned whatsoever. Any other reportage was a misinterpretation (as I myself misinterpreted), or something which flies in the face of the official press release.
Interesting ....
http://www.aftvnews.com/sonos-integration-with-amazons-alexa-inches-closer-to-release/
http://www.aftvnews.com/sonos-integration-with-amazons-alexa-inches-closer-to-release/
I've got a few Sonos zones and an Echo Dot, and I'm intrigued to see how the integration will work.
Not least because a month or so ago I bought a Harmony hub, which I hooked to the Echo, to control my home AV system. The functionality was too limited and the Harmony Hub went back. But the combination suffered a fundamental problem: it was pretty much impossible to get Alexa to recognise a voice command with the TV sound on (the Echo Dot and AV system are in the same room).
So everything would power up fine, but switching sources, changing the volume, doing much of anything really was a no go until I had first muted the sound using an old fashioned RC.
Hence my intrigue: how is Alexa going to be able to recognise my voice waking it up alongside some playing music?
Not least because a month or so ago I bought a Harmony hub, which I hooked to the Echo, to control my home AV system. The functionality was too limited and the Harmony Hub went back. But the combination suffered a fundamental problem: it was pretty much impossible to get Alexa to recognise a voice command with the TV sound on (the Echo Dot and AV system are in the same room).
So everything would power up fine, but switching sources, changing the volume, doing much of anything really was a no go until I had first muted the sound using an old fashioned RC.
Hence my intrigue: how is Alexa going to be able to recognise my voice waking it up alongside some playing music?
Good point. None of my Dots hears me when music or the TV are playing.
Both my Echo and my Dot hear me just fine over the TV. I think a lot has to do with placement; both are within 5 feet of me, and more than 12 feet away from the TV.
I'm sure that's true. But one of my Dots is currently hooked up to my Sonos Connect in a small room. For that reason it's difficult to move it far away from the music/TV sound source. I guess I'll just have to experiment with better placement once it no longer needs to tethered. Also, one of mine is near an open veranda (I'm in Brasil, so it's always open), and on windy days it doesn't work nearly as well. I assume wind causes problems for the microphone.
Castalla...interesting find. It could be photoshopped or mean nothing is imminent. However, that is a logical place for the Sonos setup in the Alexa app.
As far the Dots picking up voice while music is playing, I've seen a little bit of this as well. However, it's actually another reason too integrate if you think about it.
In the case where your listening to sonos and want to talk to Alexa and they aren't connected, Sonos will drown out your voice. If you were only listening to your music through Echo currently, the dot will immediately pause the music when it hears the wake word, 'Alexa'...so that it can hear you better. So in the case where Sonos and Alexa are integrated, Sonos should hopefully automatically pause when the wake word is spoken as well.
Of course, that might not work so well if Alexa is just a source for Sonos. So if you're listening to another source, say the tv, Sonos might not know if should pause. As well, if Alexa is a source, you wouldn't want Sonos to switch the source and kill whatever you were listening to...particularly if it's audio from the tv. Hopefully they get this worked out and everything is truly in sync and you can get a mute/pause without force a source switch on you. Ideally the tv would pause too, but I think that would be a ways down the road.
As far the Dots picking up voice while music is playing, I've seen a little bit of this as well. However, it's actually another reason too integrate if you think about it.
In the case where your listening to sonos and want to talk to Alexa and they aren't connected, Sonos will drown out your voice. If you were only listening to your music through Echo currently, the dot will immediately pause the music when it hears the wake word, 'Alexa'...so that it can hear you better. So in the case where Sonos and Alexa are integrated, Sonos should hopefully automatically pause when the wake word is spoken as well.
Of course, that might not work so well if Alexa is just a source for Sonos. So if you're listening to another source, say the tv, Sonos might not know if should pause. As well, if Alexa is a source, you wouldn't want Sonos to switch the source and kill whatever you were listening to...particularly if it's audio from the tv. Hopefully they get this worked out and everything is truly in sync and you can get a mute/pause without force a source switch on you. Ideally the tv would pause too, but I think that would be a ways down the road.
The SB skill cuts the player volume to 20% for a few seconds. It sort of produces a jerky effect compared with remote or app control. But that's how Alexa is in any case - hardly smooth for fine control.
In my experience Alexa does a pretty awesome job of picking up my voice requests for Sonos when music is already playing. It only fails when volume is seriously loud, or when the TV news is on (as the speech-only from the TV gets mixed in with what I am saying). TV shows fare better as there is often other noises (music/foley) going on. I think Amazon have done a bang-up job of extracting voice data from an audio stream that includes music and background noise. It probably also helps that my Alexa hardware is not adjacent to my Sonos hardware.
Sadly, because your skill is USA only I can't provide any empirical feedback on your assertion! - beats me why USA skills can't be easily converted to UK use - is it a case of 2 countries separated by a single language?
If Apple is the answer, i'd sure like to know the question! Planned obsolescence? Upgrades every two years? Overpriced?
It is because Amazon don't support many features outside of the USA: read this for more info: https://forums.developer.amazon.com/questions/75737/when-is-en-gb-going-to-get-built-in-intent-support.html
This is going to be a big problem for Sonos, as they are a global company. Amazon Alexa is effectively US-only, with a tiny bit of UK and Germany thrown in.
I was aware of the intents issue .... maybe Sonos will just plough on and release the alexa integration for US only. Or maybe Amazon will wake up and release the intents library for UK use.
There seems to be enough noise out there to reasonable assume the private beta is well underway. I've been a Sonos use since 2002, and I still have my trusty CR100 controller, and Sonos, bless them, still provide support (although the hardware replacement program has dried up). The point is, that the parallels with Sonos and Apple are grey, to say the least. I do think Sonos has made the right choice to use Alexa for voice control.
I'm one of those nerds that was messing around with voice recognition back in the late 80's and it sucked, big time. I'd say until Alexa, it still sucked, and that's including high-end systems. The go-forward battle is between Alexa (good head start) and Google (vast amounts of data). Apple have squandered a huge opportunity with Siri, and continue to do so. Even the Homepod is marketed as a music-first device, with Siri tagged on; it's not a competitor to Alexa or Home. By taking the best distributed audio system (Sonos) and meshing it with Alexa, where the entry point is $40, is a smart move. A Play:1 and an Dot is still much less than the HomePod, and more functional, and I'm sure we'll see bundles from Amazon once the integration is fully baked.
Having said all of that, I wish they'd hurry up. Assuming Apple hit their deadline this time, the holiday shipping period could be pivotal for Sonos. Since many people new to Sonos will already have an Alexa device, it becomes a $200 (Play 1) vs. $350 (HomePod), and that's a tough sell for many people. So the sooner Sonos go public with this, the better.
I'm one of those nerds that was messing around with voice recognition back in the late 80's and it sucked, big time. I'd say until Alexa, it still sucked, and that's including high-end systems. The go-forward battle is between Alexa (good head start) and Google (vast amounts of data). Apple have squandered a huge opportunity with Siri, and continue to do so. Even the Homepod is marketed as a music-first device, with Siri tagged on; it's not a competitor to Alexa or Home. By taking the best distributed audio system (Sonos) and meshing it with Alexa, where the entry point is $40, is a smart move. A Play:1 and an Dot is still much less than the HomePod, and more functional, and I'm sure we'll see bundles from Amazon once the integration is fully baked.
Having said all of that, I wish they'd hurry up. Assuming Apple hit their deadline this time, the holiday shipping period could be pivotal for Sonos. Since many people new to Sonos will already have an Alexa device, it becomes a $200 (Play 1) vs. $350 (HomePod), and that's a tough sell for many people. So the sooner Sonos go public with this, the better.
@Pete, I think your underestimating the HomePod a bit. I imagine there are plenty of people out there who will buy Apple just because it's Apple. They may already have an Echo but wish to upgrade to what they believe will be better.
As far as the cost comparison, Apple is saying the sound is comparable to the PLAY:3, so really the pricing is around the same. But yes, you could opt for the PLAY:1 to greatly reduce cost, or you could already have Sonos or Amazon products, like much of the people on this board.
The question I keep asking myself is, what would I recommend to someone who loves their ipod, only cares about music in a small space like an apartment, and has no interest in tv integration. A part of me wants to recommend Sonos/Alexa for future proofing, but I can't say Apple isn't a bad choice for them.
As far as the cost comparison, Apple is saying the sound is comparable to the PLAY:3, so really the pricing is around the same. But yes, you could opt for the PLAY:1 to greatly reduce cost, or you could already have Sonos or Amazon products, like much of the people on this board.
The question I keep asking myself is, what would I recommend to someone who loves their ipod, only cares about music in a small space like an apartment, and has no interest in tv integration. A part of me wants to recommend Sonos/Alexa for future proofing, but I can't say Apple isn't a bad choice for them.
Oh, I agree. I work in a company where I fully expect a HomePod on most of the Exec desks the day it's released, even more so if it's conference-call capable. And generally I recommend iPhone and iPads to family members because they just work, and I don't have constant support issues 🙂 But, most of my family don't use Apple Music, so unless they announce other integrations, that'll be a big roadblock for many people. Most of my family do have an Alexa of some sort though, so they're already on the ladder.
It's certainly a marketplace that been waiting for a decent competitor, and if nothing else, HomePod will hopefully light more of a fire under Sonos. Apple's weakness, potentially, will be its obsession with keeping people in their ecosystem. They've already precluded Android users, and potentially Pandora, Spotify, Slacker etc etc, although I'm fairly sure they'll support the other services if not from launch, very soon after.
The question I keep asking myself is, what would I recommend to someone who loves their ipod, only cares about music in a small space like an apartment, and has no interest in tv integration.
You kind of need a whole house to get full value from a "whole house" music system like Sonos.
You can use a single Echo in an apartment but you really get more value if you have room enough for multiple Echos for intercom and "whole house" automation.
Maybe you have identified the niche use case where Homepod really would be a better choice. On the other hand an ipod loving apartment dweller can use Bluetooth with an Echo Look or Echo Dot connected to some nice powered speakers and save some money by ignoring the Homepod vs Sonos battle completely. It will be interesting to see what ends up appealing to this group.
I do see one major benefit of Sonos over homepod. There are no walled gardens. You can build a playlist from any number of sources. Mixing amazon, NAS, Spotify. Even the Micro SD card in my Blackberry.
Maybe you have identified the niche use case where Homepod really would be a better choice. On the other hand an ipod loving apartment dweller can use Bluetooth with an Echo Look or Echo Dot connected to some nice powered speakers and save some money by ignoring the Homepod vs Sonos battle completely. It will be interesting to see what ends up appealing to this group.
Yes, it will be interesting though I can't help thinking that in addition to the above, if the Alexa integration is done well, that will be one more effective barrier to adoption of Homepods.
How can i get on the Beta tester for Sonos and Alexa?
I have two Sonos Connect:AMPS will be adding 4 more shortly, i also just got my hands on a Amazon Dot. would really love to test this out...
I have two Sonos Connect:AMPS will be adding 4 more shortly, i also just got my hands on a Amazon Dot. would really love to test this out...
I think Sonos might have been too ambitious on this idea. They seem to want to be everything to everyone which will usually leave everyone disappointed.
All I want is to say "Alexa, play my 80's rock station on my living room Sonos" and hear her say "ok". If they could have rolled out a few simple skills while they were working on their plan for world domination, they could have avoided a lot of the bad blood.
For those concerned about not being heard over the music, just say "ALEXA, STOP" in a loud voice. She will usually respond to that and stop the music. Then you can give your next request. Just don't scream it too loud or your neighbors might think someone named Alexa is trying to kill you.
All I want is to say "Alexa, play my 80's rock station on my living room Sonos" and hear her say "ok". If they could have rolled out a few simple skills while they were working on their plan for world domination, they could have avoided a lot of the bad blood.
For those concerned about not being heard over the music, just say "ALEXA, STOP" in a loud voice. She will usually respond to that and stop the music. Then you can give your next request. Just don't scream it too loud or your neighbors might think someone named Alexa is trying to kill you.
The only bad blood I see is from a couple indignant posters. Most are waiting patiently for what was promised to be delivered 6 months from now, as should be expected.
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