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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Thankyou for that correction. It means a lot to me, and has added to everyone's understanding. I shall endeavour to be more careful in the future. Many thanks.
Hey Smija, Stuart_W, jgatie,
I agree that full management of every aspect of SONOS isn't trivial, but I don't see why you'd want to do all of that via Alexa.
I already use Alexa with Spotify -- what's so complicated about doing the same and just adding the room name?
https://www.spotify.com/us/amazonalexa
Alex, play The Beatles in The Kitchen.
RB
I agree that full management of every aspect of SONOS isn't trivial, but I don't see why you'd want to do all of that via Alexa.
I already use Alexa with Spotify -- what's so complicated about doing the same and just adding the room name?
https://www.spotify.com/us/amazonalexa
Alex, play The Beatles in The Kitchen.
RB
I agree that full management of every aspect of SONOS isn't trivial, but I don't see why you'd want to do all of that via Alexa.
I already use Alexa with Spotify -- what's so complicated about doing the same and just adding the room name?
https://www.spotify.com/us/amazonalexa
Alex, play The Beatles in The Kitchen.
RB
Because that functionality doesn't exist yet, that's why. Whatever you can currently do for an Echo to play means nothing to a 3rd party device's API. Do you think going from playing on itself, to controlling many 3rd party devices from a single Echo is trivial? It's like the difference between two tin cans and a string, and a telephone switchboard., or playing a solo instrument and conducting an orchestra.
I "ECHO" your sentiments!!!!
Sonos is notorious with their inability to follow through with their promises and to give what their consumers want, or need. I have 12 Sonos speakers and six echoes split between two houses. We have been requesting an outdoor Sonos speaker for over seven years. (Que the Sonos crickets) Chromecast is looking better and better as a more practical option for my next home.
I "ECHO" your sentiments!!!!
Sonos is notorious with their inability to follow through with their promises and to give what their consumers want, or need. I have 12 Sonos speakers and six echoes split between two houses. We have been requesting an outdoor Sonos speaker for over seven years. (Que the Sonos crickets) Chromecast is looking better and better as a more practical option for my next home.
Could you name one promise Sonos has made to consumers and failed to follow through?
And just because I like talking about it, all of these questions need to be decided by both Sonos and Amazon management, who like don't agree on all the questions. So you have negotiations and use of leverage everywhere.
Should an Echo be assigned to a particular Sonos Room, something which does not exist in the Echo ecosystem now?
And this is an even bigger question than you think. Because if you can tie a sonos zone to a particular issues, the question suddenly applies to other smart stuff in your home. They've open up a new box of issues. If you don't have to say 'in the kitchen' for a speaker, why do I have to say 'kitchen light' and not just 'light'? Perhaps Amazon sees the desire to move in that direction for all things, but isn't ready at this time. Therefore the design for Sonos has to be flexible so that it can adapt to that functionality when the time comes.
Should an Echo be assigned to a particular Sonos Room, something which does not exist in the Echo ecosystem now?
And this is an even bigger question than you think. Because if you can tie a sonos zone to a particular issues, the question suddenly applies to other smart stuff in your home. They've open up a new box of issues. If you don't have to say 'in the kitchen' for a speaker, why do I have to say 'kitchen light' and not just 'light'? Perhaps Amazon sees the desire to move in that direction for all things, but isn't ready at this time. Therefore the design for Sonos has to be flexible so that it can adapt to that functionality when the time comes.
I don't know but based on the way Alexa handles smart home devices I would speculate that there will not be any assignment of a given echo to a particular Sonos speaker. Room names, speaker names, and Echo names are likely to remain simple labels as far as the logic goes. Any Echo will be able to operate any Sonos speaker by name and will not know or care if it is in the same room or not.
I am curious to see how this will apply to grouped speakers. I'm guessing a command to any speaker in the group will apply to the whole group unless it is a volume command? Or maybe the integration will allow defined groups with unique names so a group volume command can be distinguished from an individual speaker volume command?
I am curious to see how this will apply to grouped speakers. I'm guessing a command to any speaker in the group will apply to the whole group unless it is a volume command? Or maybe the integration will allow defined groups with unique names so a group volume command can be distinguished from an individual speaker volume command?
Agreed. That does mean that echo can't mute or pause sonos when it's listen for a command, since it doesn't know which speaker to pause. And, this little detail would likely go over very well with Echo's customers. I personally have 5 echos and about 20 or so smart lights. It would be darn nice if Echo had some location awareness. This also would be a big plus to their calling/intercom feature. If I want to speak to my daughter on the echo in her room, I don't want my son picking it up in his room.
I am curious to see how this will apply to grouped speakers. I'm guessing a command to any speaker in the group will apply to the whole group unless it is a volume command? Or maybe the integration will allow defined groups with unique names so a group volume command can be distinguished from an individual speaker volume command?
I would guess, yes to the first and no to the 2nd. Although there should be an option to turn down the volume of the whole group as well.
I can say "Alexa, turn off hallway" and the Hue lights in the group Hallway will turn off. So I could see a similar functionally for Sonos being "Alexa, pause livingroom" to pause whatever is playing on the Sonos devices I've grouped together as Livingroom.
A lot of people don't realize what they are doing and as a result why it is taking so long... Sonos and Amazon are defining a new way to connect speakers to players. Instead of the player going direct to the speakers via cable, bluetooth, or wireless, they are now adding it at the OS level to communicate with all available speakers allowing us to be able to switch locations seamlessly for all apps on its platform, making it easier for all to play on Sonos by making it a platform feature instead of something app devs have to build themselves.
Short version: When this is done, all Alexa and Google home apps will be able to play to Sonos. No more selecting music sources off a list of 5.
That said, CAN WE PLEASE HURRY?! And how can I get on the beta? I just equipped my entire house thinking it was done, and not in beta still.... whoops...
Short version: When this is done, all Alexa and Google home apps will be able to play to Sonos. No more selecting music sources off a list of 5.
That said, CAN WE PLEASE HURRY?! And how can I get on the beta? I just equipped my entire house thinking it was done, and not in beta still.... whoops...
Agreed. That does mean that echo can't mute or pause sonos when it's listen for a command, since it doesn't know which speaker to pause. And, this little detail would likely go over very well with Echo's customers. I personally have 5 echos and about 20 or so smart lights. It would be darn nice if Echo had some location awareness. This also would be a big plus to their calling/intercom feature. If I want to speak to my daughter on the echo in her room, I don't want my son picking it up in his room.
I would think mute and pause would work in conjunction with the Sonos speaker name... "Alexa, Mute Kitchen" etc.
You can call directly to a specific room using an Echo... "Alexa, call the Living Room" etc. Not sure what more you are looking for there. I assume you will need your Echo names to be unique from your Sonos names when the integration is released.
Perhaps we are getting carried away with the Alexa buzz, and we should, they have their adverts coming on aggressively everywhere. From most of the posts I have read here, I suspect it might just be more beneficial for SONOS to build in their own voice recognition system on top of their existing development framework. Easier to scale and richer functionalities for us users in the long term. As many have pointed out, integration with ECHO will require decision to be made by both managements. This in itself may take longer to conclude than the actual integration work itself. If I were SONOS, I will prefer to exercise some patience in order to have autonomy in design and implementation and support, ensuring an ECHO integration to cater for SONOS customers that wish to buy ECHO for other uses that are not music based, such as calling and messaging. In my view, this is likely to deliver a tightly integrated voice recognition system unto SONOS for optimum quality of service and better user friendliness.
[quote=yemiad1]Perhaps we are getting carried away with the Alexa buzz, and we should, they have their adverts coming on aggressively everywhere. From most of the posts I have read here, I suspect it might just be more beneficial for SONOS to build in their own voice recognition system...
Well yes there is a lot of buzz around Alexa just like there was a lot of buzz around the IPhone and other Apple products when they were the first with the most in any given product category. Echo has around 70% of the market for voice-controlled speakers. Yeah, that share may go down with the relatively recent introduction of products by Apple and Google but for at least the next couple of years Alexa is the market. The Alexa buzz should be a key market driver for Sonos and I'm sure it is, but they don't seem to see any need to keep their customer base updated on progress with integration and updating us on the ETA for it. Could it be that arrival in 2017 is slipping into 2018? It doesn't indicate respect for their customers; have they reincarnated Steve Jobs or just his attitude towards the people who keep them in business?
Well yes there is a lot of buzz around Alexa just like there was a lot of buzz around the IPhone and other Apple products when they were the first with the most in any given product category. Echo has around 70% of the market for voice-controlled speakers. Yeah, that share may go down with the relatively recent introduction of products by Apple and Google but for at least the next couple of years Alexa is the market. The Alexa buzz should be a key market driver for Sonos and I'm sure it is, but they don't seem to see any need to keep their customer base updated on progress with integration and updating us on the ETA for it. Could it be that arrival in 2017 is slipping into 2018? It doesn't indicate respect for their customers; have they reincarnated Steve Jobs or just his attitude towards the people who keep them in business?
I really wish the integration was here as well. However, I don't think that means we can assume all the relevant facts of the situation, putting higher expectations on Sonos than other companies, and just claim they're being lazy. As well, if you want high quality sound and voice control, there really is no other choice but to wait. Come Christmas there will be choices.
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. 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.
I really wish the integration was here as well. However, I don't think that means we can assume all the relevant facts of the situation, putting higher expectations on Sonos than other companies, and just claim they're being lazy. As well, if you want high quality sound and voice control, there really is no other choice but to wait. Come Christmas there will be choices.
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. 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.
Sonos won't release it until it works as they envisage. You'd be the first to complain if it didn't achieve at least a minimum level of functionality.
Don't you think Sonos would rather have it available now?
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."
In March 2016 then Sonos CEO said the company would be focusing on voice control and streaming. So they've been working on this much longer than a year. That Sonos CEO is gone and the new one said they would move faster than in the past. I'm not sure this is what he had in mind. ?
Personally I give them the benefit of the doubt in that they are moving as fast as they can. But I'm not using any Echo devices now so easy for me to wait.
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?
Just sharing .....
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/28/sonos-looks-ready-to-launch-amazon-alexa-controlled-smart-speaker.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/28/sonos-looks-ready-to-launch-amazon-alexa-controlled-smart-speaker.html
Another interesting development / news on this topic
https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/29/16219474/sonos-voice-assisted-speaker-event
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'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.
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.
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