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SONOS ALEXA Integration?



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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.
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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.
Or the Bose model. Already on their third iteration of their still-flawed multi-room system, lol.
If you read through the new privacy terms they specifically mention voice control devices such as Alexa. The update could indicate this is coming soon
My Echo was just updated last night to latest firmware. Dots were already up to date, not sure when. I wonder whether the Sonos integration is included, just awaiting an Alexa app and Sonos controller update, possibly on Monday?
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Just sharing .....

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/28/sonos-looks-ready-to-launch-amazon-alexa-controlled-smart-speaker.html
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Another interesting development / news on this topic

https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/29/16219474/sonos-voice-assisted-speaker-event
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.
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/
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.

It's so *not* going to work like that. Sorry, no offense RoystonFord, but you're so incredibly wrong that a built in microphone will be necessary, or that a cable connection between an echo and a sonos device will be necessary. (did you know that Amazon makes it basically free for other companies to build alexa/echo-compatible devices? The codenamed S13 device will likely mean that as long as the mikes in S13 can hear you clearly you won't need to own an echo -- it will be built into the S13 future sonos units.) https://www.theverge.com/2015/6/25/8845103/amazon-echo-alexa-voice-control-third-party-hardware

That's not how the alexa architecture is. There will be something like "linking your sonos account" to your alexa account, just like smart home devices or bank accounts, or lyft/uber, as part of enabling the sonos skill.

once that's done the voice capture from any device registered to you (actual echo of any type, or eufy, or sonos far-field microphone enabled, or whatever) is parsed & turned into text by the alexa backend, and that's sent to a sonos rest api endpoint in the cloud which will relay it down to your sonos network via the Sonos SOAP MAPI. http://musicpartners.sonos.com/?q=docs

I don't know if this is *exactly* how it will work, but basically everyone who enables voice will have a pseudo-virutal-zone-player or controller (CR300v anyone?) in sonos's AWS account that's part of your HHID that has all the control plane capabilities of the sonos music api but none of the actual sound processing. And all the ZPs and Play:x devices in your house will push or pull commands from there.

Completely hypothetical (but plausible) example.
So if you say "play b.r.m.c. in the bedroom" alexa will record that and send it to the alexa backend to turn into text, and then the alexa backend will send a precisely formatted text string to sonos and if there's a song or artist or album that matches "b.r.m.c." and a device (or group) that matches "bedroom" it will work. If there's a mismatch/error, alexa might respond "I don't know artist b.r.m.c." and you might respond "black rebel motorcycle club" and alexa would update the text string, send it to sonos, and then you might hear "shuffling songs by black rebel motorcycle club" from alexa and "Red Eyes and Tears" from your Play:3 that you named "bedroom" in the sonos controller.

(And if the next version of the Sonos software/controller lets us define named "groups" in addition to named speakers/players, well, huh, that matches the new alexa capabilities and aligns with how "scenes" work with smart lights and smart plugs. who woulda thunk?)

What's interesting to me is the sheer size of what Sonos is having to deploy at AWS, and what that means for potential future capabilities (all predicated on working broadband between the home and AWS). Like a zone player with *storage*! Figuring out how to make such things work as consistently when a home's internet connection is down is a hard problem!
I have one Echo Dot. Bought it to see if it's really all that. I have a Play:5 and multiple Play:1's throughout my home. Based on what I'm reading today, I still don't see how my one Dot can see my Sonos system and can be controlled via voice commands. I'm also realizing that will never be the case until Sonos releases some new voice controlled bridge that can then sync up with Alexa. If I have to add more hardware just to control my Sonos system then Alexa is useless to me. I already have a smart home security system that can control my door locks, thermostats and lights via an app. Do I really need it voice controlled? No. Honestly, I can control things way faster via the app than voice commands. By the time I tell Alexa which door to lock, which thermostat to change and what temp to change it to or which light in which room to turn on/off, I've already done it via my home security app. If my current Dot will never be able to control my complete Sonos system as is then I'm done with the Dot.
I have one Echo Dot. Bought it to see if it's really all that. I have a Play:5 and multiple Play:1's throughout my home. Based on what I'm reading today, I still don't see how my one Dot can see my Sonos system and can be controlled via voice commands. I'm also realizing that will never be the case until Sonos releases some new voice controlled bridge that can then sync up with Alexa. If I have to add more hardware just to control my Sonos system then Alexa is useless to me. I already have a smart home security system that can control my door locks, thermostats and lights via an app. Do I really need it voice controlled? No. Honestly, I can control things way faster via the app than voice commands. By the time I tell Alexa which door to lock, which thermostat to change and what temp to change it to or which light in which room to turn on/off, I've already done it via my home security app. If my current Dot will never be able to control my complete Sonos system as is then I'm done with the Dot.

It will see your complete Sonos system via Amazon's new API, in the cloud. You will very much be able to control any or all your Sonos devices with a single Dot, just as you can now control any or all of your Echo devices from a single Dot. The Amazon plumbing is now in place. Sonos is busily hooking into it.
Honestly, I can control things way faster via the app than voice commands. By the time I tell Alexa which door to lock, which thermostat to change and what temp to change it to or which light in which room to turn on/off, I've already done it via my home security app. If my current Dot will never be able to control my complete Sonos system as is then I'm done with the Dot.

Nonsense. The time it takes to find or fish out your phone plus login or wake it up plus open the appropriate app is already way longer than using a voice command and you haven't even gone through the menus and selected what you want to control yet. App based control is fine if you are away from home trying to control things remotely but it is a huge PITA compared to a voice commands or dedicated hard button remotes when you are at home. Even detailed tasks that are hard to do via voice like managing a large queue or playlist are better done on a PC than a phone app. Phone apps are the last resort when no better option is available.
I have one Echo Dot. Bought it to see if it's really all that. I have a Play:5 and multiple Play:1's throughout my home.

Well, if you want to control your Sonos via voice from ANY of your house's rooms, you will obviously need one Dot (or other respective Alexa-compatible far-field mic) in every room.

First world problems, really.
It will be fascinating when this is released, won't it? Maybe on October 4?
Staples has the Dot on sale for $35 right now after EZ rebate. Time to get a couple more...
@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!
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.
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?
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.