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SONOS ALEXA Integration?



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You're supposed to tell us when that news will go out.... :)

October 4th...
You're supposed to tell us when that news will go out.... 🙂
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Huh, hadn't thought of that. I'd assume he means all areas where Amazon has Echo/Alexa supported, as opposed to locations where it isn't. But then again, I'd also assume he's not Amazon, and can't speak officially about where Amazon is active, except by what he's told by them (by some circuitous route).

That's something we haven't officially announced yet, as far as I'm aware, but Bruce said it well. Figure you'll be safe as long as Alexa is listening in your location, it should be able to control Sonos. You'll find out more when the news goes out.

Glad you're excited too!
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Is this a bad news

http://gizmodo.com/amazon-s-echoes-can-finally-sync-together-to-play-music-1798535130/amp


Not really, if you love ❤️ the sound of "Echoes", if you want better sound, go get an Echo Dot and buy "Sonoes"
Huh, hadn't thought of that. I'd assume he means all areas where Amazon has Echo/Alexa supported, as opposed to locations where it isn't. But then again, I'd also assume he's not Amazon, and can't speak officially about where Amazon is active, except by what he's told by them (by some circuitous route).
Ryan S - thanks for the update. Looking forward to the voice control big reveal

Can I clarify your point on all existing sonos devices being controllable by Alexa at launch - can you confirm that this won't be affected by geography - i.e. It will work outside the US?

Us Alexa users in the UK have been hurt before and I want to set my expectations accordingly.
Is this a bad news

http://gizmodo.com/amazon-s-echoes-can-finally-sync-together-to-play-music-1798535130/amp
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That's all for now. More to come later, so stay tuned!

Thank you, Ryan, for your post. I am excited and anxiously awaiting an announcement.
Challenge launched. Challenge accepted.

Not that it will stop the silly speculation, but that's a definitive answer if I ever heard one. Now back to our normal programming. Next up, "Will Sonos Be Recording My Bedroon Antics and Play Sade on Queue?" - and is that a bad thing?
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Hi everyone, there's a lot of interesting discussion going on here and I love the energy you all have around voice control and Alexa. My message from way earlier in this thread is still very much still the case, so I'll quote it here:

Thanks for jumping in everyone. Great answers already. As suggested, I can't really provide any extra details today, but I assure you, we're as excited about this as you are. It is coming. We'll let the world know as soon as there's more to say, and we'll announce here on the community (and elsewhere) if there are any opportunities to help us beta test.

On top of that, I just want to take a moment to make sure everything is clear about a few things. First off, to use voice control with Sonos, you will need to have a device with Alexa built in. We're largely talking about Amazon Echos and Dots here, but you never know what other fun gadgets may work as well, at launch or after it.

Second, once the software is live, it will work with every updated Sonos component. As long as you already have an Alexa-enabled device, you aren't going to need to buy any new hardware to use Alexa with Sonos. Just make sure your players are updated to the latest version of the Sonos software (when Alexa control comes out for Sonos), you will be able to take advantage of the voice commands sent by your Alexa-enabled devices. We're not going to go into the magic right now, but there have been some pretty good ideas here in the thread already.

That's all for now. More to come later, so stay tuned!
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170831005372/en/DTS-Play-Fi-Onkyo-Pioneer-Announce-Support-Amazon

This will allow voice-enabled selection of music and control via an Alexa-enabled device, including the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Show, Amazon Tap, Amazon Fire TV, or any of the three new DTS Play-Fi wireless speakers featuring far-field Alexa Voice Service – the Phorus PS10 wireless speaker, Onkyo Smart Speaker P3 and Pioneer Elite Smart Speaker F4 – that will begin shipping in late Q3/early Q4.
You can be certain that Sonos, Bose, Denon, Samsung at the very least, were all involved with Amazon. Small wonder it took a year.
I think they'll avail of the opportunity.

All of them are announcing Alexa-enabled products Q4 2017.


They're all announcing Alexa-enabled products, but very pointedly they are not all guaranteeing reverse compatibility for legacy speakers to be controlled by Amazon echo or dot or Apple & SIRI. I challenged Sonos on this on Alexa integration to have Echo or Dot control legacy speakers and got this reply:

We have not received information from our development team regarding how the implementation will work, however we are looking to have the third party devices work with the entire Sonos range, if possible.

Which is far from the confident assurance that seemed to be out there last year and that other still carry. As I said in my first post, it SEEMS increasingly obvious we're in for a let-down here. It doesn't take a year to sort out an Alexa skill. I still hope I'm wrong and unduly pessimistic.


Sigh. It's not an Alexa skill, it's using a brand new API that took Amazon and its partners a year to develop. All the press releases I've read today specifically mention the use of Dot or Echo. Sonos has demonstrated the capability using Dot. Methinks you're a bit paranoid.
You can be certain that Sonos, Bose, Denon, Samsung at the very least, were all involved with Amazon. Small wonder it took a year.
I think they'll avail of the opportunity.

All of them are announcing Alexa-enabled products Q4 2017.


They're all announcing Alexa-enabled products, but very pointedly they are not all guaranteeing reverse compatibility for legacy speakers to be controlled by Amazon echo or dot or Apple & SIRI. I challenged Sonos on this on Alexa integration to have Echo or Dot control legacy speakers and got this reply:

We have not received information from our development team regarding how the implementation will work, however we are looking to have the third party devices work with the entire Sonos range, if possible.

Which is far from the confident assurance that seemed to be out there last year and that other still carry. As I said in my first post, it SEEMS increasingly obvious we're in for a let-down here. It doesn't take a year to sort out an Alexa skill. I still hope I'm wrong and unduly pessimistic.
You can be certain that Sonos, Bose, Denon, Samsung at the very least, were all involved with Amazon. Small wonder it took a year.
I think they'll avail of the opportunity.

All of them are announcing Alexa-enabled products Q4 2017.
I'm hoping that they will be following through with their initial communication regarding the full integration with Alexa. I have a significant investment in Sonos and have 2 Echo's and 4 Dots in anticipation of the integration. Fortunately I have been able to use my Sonos with Alexa for a couple years via my INSTEON smart home integration. I'm able to turn on and off my Sonos system and identify up to 10 'preset' stations with music services. It allowed me to set up 'scenes' called Jazz, Pop, Classical, etc. and I can say 'Alexa, turn on Jazz' or 'Alexa, turn off Sonos' or 'Alexa, turn on volume up'
You can be certain that Sonos, Bose, Denon, Samsung at the very least, were all involved with Amazon. Small wonder it took a year.
I think they'll avail of the opportunity.
An interesting apology from Bose, who apparently promised to deliver Alexa integration by a specific date, rather than Sonos' broad "some time in 2017" announcement. Sonos hasn't needed to apologize for Amazon holding up delivery of this API.
I don't think that Amazon developed this single-handedly. Announcing an allegedly joint venture a year ago and then waiting in idleness for Amazon to deliver the API would have been strange; to say the least – remember this promotion video?


You can be certain that Sonos, Bose, Denon, Samsung at the very least, were all involved with Amazon. Small wonder it took a year.
An interesting apology from Bose, who apparently promised to deliver Alexa integration by a specific date, rather than Sonos' broad "some time in 2017" announcement. Sonos hasn't needed to apologize for Amazon holding up delivery of this API.
I don't think that Amazon has developed this single-handedly. Announcing an allegedly joint venture a year ago and then waiting in idleness for Amazon to deliver the API would have been strange, to say the least – remember this promotion video?
An interesting apology from Bose, who apparently promised to deliver Alexa integration by a specific date, rather than Sonos' broad "some time in 2017" announcement. Sonos hasn't needed to apologize for Amazon holding up delivery of this API.

https://community.bose.com/t5/SoundTouch-Speakers/Amazon-Alexa-Skill-Update-and-a-Note-About-Feature-Timing/td-p/59632

The floodgates have now opened, with nearly all manufacturers involved now saying Alexa enabled speakers will start shipping Q4 2017.


A great, concise, and no punches pulled explanation on why stating exact dates is impossible. Should be required reading for any consumer asking “when will new feature X be available?”

Interesting little tidbit at the bottom:

By speaking to an Amazon Echo, Dot, or Tap with the Skill, SoundTouch users can:

Play your favorite music from your SoundTouch Presets.
Play a Preset in a specific room.
Play/pause/resume and skip tracks.
Adjust volume.
Play the same music everywhere.
Find out what’s playing.
Turn on/off.


Alexa control of favorites and presets only? Seems a little lacking compared to what Sonos has proposed. Basically, that is what the 3rd party skills are doing for Sonos now.
An interesting apology from Bose, who apparently promised to deliver Alexa integration by a specific date, rather than Sonos' broad "some time in 2017" announcement. Sonos hasn't needed to apologize for Amazon holding up delivery of this API.

https://community.bose.com/t5/SoundTouch-Speakers/Amazon-Alexa-Skill-Update-and-a-Note-About-Feature-Timing/td-p/59632

The floodgates have now opened, with nearly all manufacturers involved now saying Alexa enabled speakers will start shipping Q4 2017.
Sonos want to avoid the Sir Clive Sinclair brand of self defeating early releasing of flawed product.

And I for one won't blame them. I'd rather they canned voice if it doesn't live up to expectation.


Amazon just released their Connected Speaker API for AVS two days ago, after a year in development. Sonos can now use the developer preview version, which should finally be stable enough to develop against. Amazon has been the holdup on this, not Sonos. You can be sure that Sonos was heavily involved with Amazon in the development of this new API. Imagine the conference calls Sonos had over the past year with Amazon, Bose, Denon, etc, all with competing interests, developing this API together.

https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/alexa/post/7c9343ce-425b-4baa-ae63-49c36afb5341/giving-device-makers-more-ways-to-bring-voice-forward-music-experiences-to-their-products
Panasonic is introducing a new Google Assistant voice enabled speaker this winter. Google, like Amazon, has opened its API for 3rd party hardware integration.

Look for Sonos to very possibly announce Google Assistant support, along with Alexa support, on Oct 4th.

http://www.techradar.com/news/panasonic-announces-new-smart-speaker-the-google-assistant-powered-ga10
@upstatemike...My home security system is Alexa friendly. I can control the door locks, thermostats, lights, etc. However, I have to tell Alexa which door, which thermostat, which light in which room. Half the time, it wouldn't work or I found myself repeating myself just to get Alexa to work. My phone is always nearby. It takes about 2 seconds to open my phone and get to the Sonos app or home security app. By the time I say "Alexa, ask Alarm.com to change the temperature in the house" followed by another command to specify which specific thermostat followed by another command to set the correct temperature I already have the temp set via the app on my phone. I hope the Sonos integration will be much easier..."Alexa, play Top Hits in the living room" boom it's done. I'm afraid it won't be that easy though...my alarm.com integration sure the heck isn't!
Staples has the Dot on sale for $35 right now after EZ rebate. Time to get a couple more...
It will be fascinating when this is released, won't it? Maybe on October 4?