Best answer by Ryan S
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SONOS ALEXA Integration?
Userlevel 3
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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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.
Userlevel 7
+23
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.
If Apple is the answer, i'd sure like to know the question! Planned obsolescence? Upgrades every two years? Overpriced?
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?
Userlevel 7
+23
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Good point. None of my Dots hears me when music or the TV are playing.
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?
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/
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.
+3
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.
+3
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.
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?
Sonos is Sonos - good in itself, but you are essentially stuck with whatever Sonos gives you. So, you wait in prolonged suspense for whatever Alexa integration you get ... be prepared for a WOW-SHITE! moment (as my brother-in-law described most technological 'advances'). You have an internet connected speaker - how you use it is up to you - Sonos driven or ' open source'. Or both?
Whatever ... I have a spectrum of sound devices ... including Sonos, Libratone Zipp. Pure Speakers, squeezebox devices (both original or soft) all of which work as players with the squeexebox system including full access to BBC iplayer (including Listen Again). Tunein, Spotify, Deezer, Google Music, local music collection,live radio streams, etc.
Pretty comprehensive access. Control available via web, remote, smartphone, alexa, Sadly the only missing feature is Amazon Music - but then I can switch easiiy to my Echo or Dot for Amazon
Pretty comprehensive access. Control available via web, remote, smartphone, alexa, Sadly the only missing feature is Amazon Music - but then I can switch easiiy to my Echo or Dot for Amazon
To tell the truth, I have a soft spot for people who cling to failed products like Squeezebox. It's quite quaint, really. Like the folks who drive Yugos or still use HD-DVD.
If you have a multi-device setup, the most useful feature is to get the status of all devices - which are connected, which are playing/stopped and what they are playing. Beyond that, it just becomes a bit laborious compared with remote or web-control ....
Actually, having used it for the Squeezebox, it's a bit of an anti-climax ... nice to have but not really as useful as you might imagine!
More than the 22 moaning about Sonos-Alexa integration?
For all 23 people still using Squeezebox? 😃
Well, meanwhile the Alexa-Squeezebox integration continues apace. ....
The Sonos staement was referencing the press release from last year, seen at this link:
http://press-us.sonos.com/134980-sonos-with-partners-and-industry-leaders-ushers-in-new-era-of-connected-home-listening
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