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SONOS ALEXA Integration?



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Userlevel 7
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Echo is good, but not comparable to Sonos in sound quality. Bluetooth to headphones is a plus.. Also, you are tied to Amazon Music or Spotify - no access to your own music library. Voice control is useful but not the Holy Grail some people expect it to be.

Its not been out long. It will integrate with everything. Remember when the Sonos app first came out? It was a nightmare just setting up Sonos never mind trying to link to Spotify. Sonos app doesnt support other music streams yet either. Again without an internet connection sonos is rendered completely useless.


1) Alexa doesn't work without an internet connection
2) The significant majority of music listened to via Sonos is streamed - That doesn't work without internet.
3) Internet radio streams don't work without internet.
Userlevel 6
Badge +14
Echo is good, but not comparable to Sonos in sound quality. Bluetooth to headphones is a plus.. Also, you are tied to Amazon Music or Spotify - no access to your own music library. Voice control is useful but not the Holy Grail some people expect it to be.

Its not been out long. It will integrate with everything. Remember when the Sonos app first came out? It was a nightmare just setting up Sonos never mind trying to link to Spotify. Sonos app doesnt support other music streams yet either. Again without an internet connection sonos is rendered completely useless.


I really think you don't understand how the Echo works. The Echo is rendered pretty useless without an internet connection.


You know alexa works with bluetooth right?

I.think you need to check things before posting


Alexa doesn't work at all without an internet connection. Sonos does, at least for local libraries. The fact Alexa/Echo uses Bluetooth does not mean it does not use the internet. It requires an IP (aka "an internet connection"). It has to connect to WiFi (aka "an internet connection") and finally, all voice control functions are processed in the cloud (aka "an internet connection").

It really seems you are the one who should check things before posting.
Sonos got caught napping. Things moved on. Everyone and their mum offers a wifi speaker now. Sonos wanted to keep it a closed ecosystem to guarantee future sales, but the market has exploded and Sonos have changed track and are now trying to integrate whilst not becoming another casting speaker where they are overpriced.
A fine line to tread, I wish them well, but feel they may have left it too late.......blackberry phone anyone ;O))


*Yawn*

Do you ever play another tune? If Sonos has "left too late" please name the other multi-room music systems that support Alexa voice control.


Its not been out long. It will integrate with everything. Remember when the Sonos app first came out? It was a nightmare just setting up Sonos never mind trying to link to Spotify. Sonos app doesnt support other music streams yet either. Again without an internet connection sonos is rendered completely useless.


The Sonos app predated Spotify support, so yes it was quite difficult to connect to Spotify when the app first came out.

Sonos supports more music services than every other multi-room music system combined.

As stated many times, without an internet connect the whole purpose of an Alexa device is rendered useless. No internet connection equals no cloud connection equals no voice control.
I don't even want voice.
I want bbc iplayer radio, which voice might one day bring to sonos through google home. I can't see any other way it will ever happen. Again this might not add many sales to sonos, but might keep current UK customers from selling up.


So why are you posting about it in the "SONOS ALEXA Integration?" Not only are you a broken record, you are an off-topic one.
Userlevel 4
Badge +13
I can't wait for integration either. We just picked up an Alexa and we have a sonos, but the Alexa is already playing more music in my house just because it's so much easier for my wife to just ask it to play something. It drives me nuts because teh Sonos Play 5 is sitting right next to it, quiet, but she just wants the song to play.

I just don't get this asking it to play something! I have hundreds of albums and thousands of tracks, so how on earth can I recall some music choice I wish to hear by remembering it and therefore asking for it to be played? Surely we'll just finish up lazily asking for a genre to be played or specific albums to artists which happen to spring to mind!
I can't wait for integration either. We just picked up an Alexa and we have a sonos, but the Alexa is already playing more music in my house just because it's so much easier for my wife to just ask it to play something. It drives me nuts because teh Sonos Play 5 is sitting right next to it, quiet, but she just wants the song to play.

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/control-sonos-speakers-with-alexa,news-24892.html
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
Vannypie - if the Play:5 is sitting right next (... if an echo dot just hook it to the Play:5 and it will act as that Dots speaker for you). Instant temporary integration.
Yeah...

I'd bet this isn't anything to do with a technical or development issue (it's not that complicated).

Yeah... I'd bet you know this because you are a technician with many, many years of experience in multi-room audio engineering.
Hey Smija, Stuart_W

I probably shouldn't have started my post with "Yeah..." 🙂.

As I said, I love my amazing 8-zone SONOS system. And I can't wait for Alexa integration.

I am in fact a technician (with many, many years, etc.) and I am somewhat familiar with the Alexa and other APIs -- there's no need for audio engineering skills since, thankfully, SONOS has already implemented that (better than anyone else).

But as far as integration goes, this should be a weekend project. Out of the box, Alexa supports voice control for selecting music, playlists, etc. Where do you think the complexity comes from? (Genuinely interested in your perspective -- let's move out of the flame mode I started).
Go watch this video, which is about just the data gathering piece for analytics, then come back and talk weekend projects. The voice integration is no doubt even more complex.

https://youtu.be/-70wNNrxf6Q
Pretty sure Sonos never said they were going to make outdoor speakers. I don't see how that's a promise broken.

As for the required work to get the integration done, I think you also have to consider that a thought must be put into which design will work best and allow for future enhancements. You also have to consider which parts of the integration will be done on the Sonos or Amazon side, and which design will port over to Google or Apple better. It's not just a matter of doing the work, but figuring out what work to do.

Just look at the "in the kitchen" part of the command. Alexa doesn't know what speakers are in the kitchen. Does it need to? Should Alexa be upgraded so that you can specify what speakers or other devices are located in the kitchen? Or should that part of the command just be passed to Sonos? And what if the zone was labeled just 'kitchen', not 'the kitchen'? Should Alexa strip out 'the' or add 'the' as needed? Should 'the' simply be ignored? Should the command just fail and make the customer get an exact match? Will customers get annoyed with having to say 'in the kitchen' when they are talking to their kitchen echo to play music on their kitchen speakers? Shouldn't that just be assumed?
To continue the theme . . .

Should an Echo be assigned to a particular Sonos Room, something which does not exist in the Echo ecosystem now? Should this be optional or forced? What about portable Alexa devices such as tablets? These shouldn't be assigned to a single Sonos (or should they? Or could they?). What about Grouping? Should the Kitechen Echo know about the Living Room Echo? What about if the Living Room and Kitchen are Grouped? Which "assigned" Echo controls each (or do they both? Can they both, given the limits imposed by the possibly "forced" assignment above?).

It doesn't take long to see that the logistics of a mere thought experiment make for a difficult design path, never mind the actual engineering involved. And for those who say "I don't want it to do all those things!", there are just as many (if not more, probably with a great deal of overlap with the "I don't want it to do all those things!" set, lol) that really do want those things, and would call it a half-assed implementation if it doesn't.

By the way, I've been waiting to use the phrase "Echo ecosystem" for a while. Finally got to slip it in. 😉
Sonos is not going to build their own voice control system. That has already been established. They are going to leverage others like Echo, Google, and Apple.
This was announced over a year ago. In today’s day and age I have no interest in having a relationship with a company that can’t deliver an offering in a calendar year and does not communicate with its customers if that announcement is delayed for whatever reason. Add this type of behavior in with the looming threat from HomePod and I would not be surprised to see Sonos reduced to “BlackBerry-like” status very soon.


All of that could very well be true. Sonos did a lot more, however, than just say "Hey this is something we are thinking about delivering in 2017." They had a joint announcement with Amazon and demo video of how the solution would work. The standard I would hold ALL companies to for something like that would be 6 months. Anytime after that I would expect some sort of communication explaining the timeline for actual delivery.


Sonos staff has chimed in from time to time to say that the project is essentially on schedule. Of course that doesn't tell you a lot, but Sonos certainly can be thought of as smart for trying to avoid setting customer expectations that it can't guarantee. That's a great way to alienate your base.


I am a huge Sonos fan and I want them to succeed. This is really a do-or-die moment for them with the unexpected rise of voice assistants, so It's the lack of transparency and mismanagement of expectations that leads me to believe that they just don't understand what's at stake here.


Today is not the do-or-die moment. That moment will occur sometime in November the Homepod comes out and Christmas shoppers are opening up their wallets.

As far as transparency goes, Sonos is following the communication strategy that has got them where they are today. Whether you like it or not, it's been working. If anything, the lack of transparency, sticking to what has worked, is a sign that they do understand the stakes and don't want to take chances.

If you noticed, Amazon has been busy with integrations this year. They added calling features, integrated with XM (I think that was this year), DishTV, and their own fireTV....with mixed success. I think Sonos wants to try and avoid that mixed success. Again, there is still time on the clock to make sure you got it right.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
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.
It seems increasingly obvious - from what Sonos is not saying - that there will be no capability for legacy speakers without the inbuilt microphone to be voice controlled other than by the silly idea of a line-in cable connection from a proper smart speaker like the Echo or Dot. If you've got Play:1s throughout your house, you don't even have the low-rent cable connection option. So, speaking for myself, if I have to upgrade the speakers to be smart, I'll be buying Apple Home Pods. Very disappointed.

Except for the small fact that Sonos explicitly stated that the voice control implementation will be fully compatible with all Sonos units currently and previously sold. :8
It seems increasingly obvious - from what Sonos is not saying - that there will be no capability for legacy speakers without the inbuilt microphone to be voice controlled other than by the silly idea of a line-in cable connection from a proper smart speaker like the Echo or Dot. If you've got Play:1s throughout your house, you don't even have the low-rent cable connection option. So, speaking for myself, if I have to upgrade the speakers to be smart, I'll be buying Apple Home Pods. Very disappointed.Isn't life too short to be very disappointed by your own evidence-free speculations?
It seems increasingly obvious - from what Sonos is not saying - that there will be no capability for legacy speakers without the inbuilt microphone to be voice controlled other than by the silly idea of a line-in cable connection from a proper smart speaker like the Echo or Dot.

Pretty sure there's an app for that.
Oh wait, there is: https://www.howtogeek.com/253621/how-to-control-your-amazon-echo-from-anywhere/amp/
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
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
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.
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?