In the coming months, Spotify users will finally be able to connect and play music on their Sonos speakers directly from the standard Spotify app, and every Sonos speaker will basically become an Amazon Echo, complete with the Alexa voice assistant.
Spotify support plugs Sonos’ major hole
For years, Sonos has had the best system for stringing together and connecting multiple speakers in different rooms, and playing unique music in each. Instead of relying on Bluetooth,
But that app was also its weakness. Though it supports 80-plus music and audio services inside it, the Sonos app just can’t keep up with all the features and usability improvements that each music service makes inside its own app. For instance, on Tuesday morning we tried to listen to the new Release Radar playlist on Spotify using the
The new ability to play Spotify directly from the app using “Spotify Connect” is a great step forward, and we hope more apps will be directly compatible in the future. Sonos says that 50 percent of its speaker owners already use Spotify.
Spotify Connect is coming to Sonos beta users (owners, you can sign up in your
Alexa support adds key features
Adding Alexa is another bold move for Sonos, and removes one of the big reasons
Connecting to Alexa also gives Sonos owners the possibility of connecting to other devices that are compatible with Amazon’s service.
Sonos owners who are a part of the beta program will be able to try out Alexa “by the end of the year.”
Promising step forward
We haven’t yet tried out the new Spotify or Alexa services with Sonos, and don’t have a complete list of which older
Hopefully, Sonos will continue to move in the direction of openness and connectivity. As soon as we’re able, we will test the new functionality. The services were not on display at the NYC event.
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