Mike George, vice president of Amazon Echo, announces the partnership with Sonos
David Carnoy/CNETSonos is adding compatibility with Amazon's Alexa voice control next year as well as Spotify Connect compatibility. The company announced the news at an event today in New York City.
Right now, no new Sonos hardware has been announced. Instead, the initial addition of Alexa support will require Sonos wireless speakers and an Alexa-compatible Amazon device, such as the Echo or Echo Dot, to be on the same network.
The Alexa feature will be a free software upgrade for existing Sonos hardware. A private beta later this year will be expanded to public release early in 2017.
While the Play:5 released last year incorporates a microphone this is used for room calibration only, and the product appears to lack the "far field" voice technology used by the Alexa family.
Sonos also announced compatibility with Spotify Connect, coming in early September, which will allow for control of the company's Wi-Fi speakers directly through the Spotify app. Sonos says its own app and Spotify will be interoperable and changes in one app will appear in the other.
Discuss: Sonos music systems adding Alexa voice support in 2017
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