[Electronics-Talk] Warning the new Sonos with Alexa has touch pad!

Thu Oct 25 01:30:50 UTC 2018

OK, so, a few things here:

1. The touchpad: This is really like neither a phone, nor a microwave. I 
say this in that it's not an actual screen, but it doesn't take any 
pushing pressure either to get the buttons to work. What I have done is 
this. The buttons are not completely flushed with the front grill of the 
speaker. They're alined along the top of the unit. With the Sonos Beam, 
this is probably the most tricky as they're not totally flushed. For 
these, what we did was, I had someone help me put a small piece of 
scotch tape right below each of the 3 buttons. From left to right they 
are, volume down, play/pause and volume up. Note, if you touch and hold 
your finger on the play/pause icon, you'll hear a tone indicating the 
speaker is listening, at which point you can use... I'll just call her 
Lady A, as I don't wanna set off any of yall's devices accidentally.

Immediately above the play/paue icon, on the Beam is an icon for 
toggling the microphone on or off. I agree Sonos made a poor choice by 
making these things touch capassive controls. I tried to see if they 
could redesign the prototype speaker for the Sonos 1, not to be confused 
with the Play1, as it, too, has the touch panel on the top of the 
speaker. I wanted them to put, if not braille, at least little dot 
indentations in the plastic housing of the speaker right beside each of 
the buttons. One thing I forgot to mention was, on all these speakers, 
if you swype left to right from volume down past play/pause over to 
volume up, then lift your finger, so basically, just a swype to the 
right on the pad, it doesn't have to be a total straight line. If you're 
on a bit a curve, that isn't going to be an issue. As long as you stay 
on the pad, which is very difficult to not do, you'll move to the next 
track. Obviously, you probably can guess, if you go the other way, from 
right to left, that will give you the previous track, yes.

The Play5 second generation speakers are very very easy with the 
touchpad. They are flush alined right on top of the speaker in the smack 
dab center. What I suggest is feel the front speaker grill. You will 
find a logo which is incredibly raised which says Sonos. The letters 
virtically go down the center of the grill of the speaker. If you find 
that logo, then move your finger straight up toward the ceiling until 
your finger moves off of the grill and front the front, on to the top of 
the speaker you'll land right on play pause. So, what I suggest is, if 
you want volume down, find the logo, then move your finger up from the 
front of the speaker to the top, and maybe about an inch also to your 
left. This would be about the length of the rounded tip of your finger 
to the very first nuckle joint. Same with volume up. Only difference 
will be, instead of slightly moving your finger to the left, you'd move 
it to the right. But to center yourself where the pad actually is, just 
remember. Use your Sonos logo on the speaker grill as your reference guide.

As for grouping speakers and controlling them with Lady A, regardless an 
echo or similar device, or a capable Sonos speaker like the 1, or the 
Beam, first make sure you have created an account on Amazon.com

Also be sure you have a Sonos account on Sonos.com

One word of warning. Regardless how many speakers are in your home, they 
all, listen to me here very very carefully, this is crutial! If you 
don't follow this, you'll be in for a nightmare! Trust me, I know first 
hand! They all! must! must must must must! be signed in all speakers, to 
the exact! key word exact! same Amazon account.

So, if you have an Amazon account and little Johnny has his own account 
as well, you cannot put both his bedroom speaker and your downstairs 
kitchen speaker on the same network and sign into Amazon on his speaker 
with his account, and your kitchen speaker with your account.

If you have little children, and you're concerned that they could buy 
things on your Amazon account with lady A, and therefore you don't want 
them signing into your account on their speakers, there actually is a 
sollution. On your account, under Lady A settings online, you can set a 
4 digit pin, so any time you try buying something with Lady A from any 
device, she'll say, to continue your purpose, please tell me your 4 
digit pin. If your kid gets it wrong, then guess what: Sorry, no angry 
birds movie for little Johnny. LOL! Just kidding. This by the way also 
would apply for subscriptions, Audible content, Kindle content, music, 
etc. Free content would be fine.

Also, if you're concerned about kids enabling skills that may not be age 
appropriate, there are ways to filter that as well, but that's for 
another post. My point is, don't worry about having to only be signed 
into one account across the entire network. If you configure things 
correctly, it won't be an issue. I'd be more than happy to help anyone 
over the phone get this set up if needed. You'd just need to send me 
your number off list, and the best time to reach you. If you don't feel 
the vest with your screen reader, and use JAWS, we could even tandom. 
I'm fully JAWS certified, and you can verify this through the VFO website.

First of all, make sure you have your rooms labeled the way you need 
them to be. Open the controller on any platform, and go to Settings, 
then Room Settings. Make sure that you see all the speakers, and that 
their room names are how you like them. If not, activate any of them, 
and in their settings screen specifically there will be an option to 
rename the speaker to anything you'd like.

In my setup, I have a set of speakers called upstairs loft. I say a set, 
as I have that room totally configured with Sonos for surround sound. 
But, even ihad I not so, this still would be accurate. So, with the 
Sonos skill enabled on my Amazon account, which my whole family is using 
with lady A, all we now from any echo or like device, or any Sonos 
enabled speaker have to do is say her name to activate her. I'm saying: 
A L E X A, then once she's listening, say anything like normal, but at 
the end of your utterance, add the room name. So, here are a few 
examples excluding her name.

Play The Beatles Radio in upstairs Loft

Play Willy's Roadhouse from Sirius XM in Upstairs Loft

Crank it up in Upstairs Loft

Mute Upstairs Loft

Unmute Upstairs Loft

Stop Upstairs Loft: Note, if any speakers are grouped with upstairs 
loft, they'll still keep playing. This only stops Upstairs Loft

Play The Beach Boys everywhere

Set the volume in Upstairs loft to 5.

You get the point.

I've not yet found a reliable way to shift media with lady A from one 
room off to another without stopping the one room, then restarting on 
the other. We did discuss this during part of the beta cycle with the 
Sonos1. I can at least tell you that much, and that nothing really ever 
came of it. We tried, but it was never released to do so, as it wound up 
just being too buggy. That's all I can say though. I can't be more 
specific. Same goes if you want to add another speaker into the group. I 
found that the only way really reliably to do that is to use the 
controller app itself, not lady A.

At the end of the day, I love using lady A with Sonos equipment, don't 
get me wrong, but I really think they could a done a bit more than what 
they did, honestly. Being I'm a pro certified audio engineer 
though/producer/musician, I'm incredibly picky about my sound quality, 
and I've by far found Sonos to hands down, beat practically every other 
thing I've tried, and trust me, I've tried a ton. So really, that is the 
main thing with Sonos that has really really won me over.

As I said, if I can help any of you all further with Sonos related 
stuff, just ask.

clgilland07 at gmail.com

Chris.

On 10/24/2018 11:52 AM, Jim McCarthy via Electronics-Talk wrote:
> I have older Sonos speakers and use Alexa, the app, to access or use the
> sonos controller on the iPhone. The older Alexa interface often is not the
> reliable or I do not know how to get it to do what perhaps it can. For
> example, we have sonos in three rooms, master bedroom, kitchen and living
> room. The controller allows one to play in one, two or all three rooms. I
> have not figured out through the original Alexa interface, how to make such
> adjustments. What I will say also is that Sonos has a great reputation
> working with blind users. I know several people who have called them
> including me, and they have provided good service. It seems to me that a
> call to seek help labeling the touch pad may work. There is also the app
> that can be run very well by a smart phone. I am not sure if the new
> touchpad is like the screens on smart phones or like the touch pad of a
> microwave. If the latter, one could probably label with assistance.
> Jim
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Electronics-Talk [mailto:electronics-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of James Aldrich via Electronics-Talk
> Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2018 9:14 PM
> To: Discussion of accessible home electronics and appliances
> Cc: James Aldrich
> Subject: Re: [Electronics-Talk] Warning the new Sonos with Alexa has touch
> pad!
>
> Hi all,
>
> I have a pair of Sonos1 speakers.  These are the Low end of the Sonos line.
> They run almost $200 each.  They  have deals at times when one can get two
> speakers for fifty dollars off.  It is true that the controls on the top are
> a touch panel but sounds can be heard when controls are touched.  I think I
> can master these controls with practice.  The Sonos1 has the alexa voice
> built in which simplifizes the operation of these speakers.  The sonos app
> works well with voiceover.  They are simple yet versatile with Alexa and the
> Sonos app.  They sound wonderful!  They hope to add the google voice by the
> end of the year.  This will be the first speaker with multiple voice engines
> should this come about! They must be plugged in no battery.  They work with
> wifi not bluetooth.
>
> Go to
> http://www.sonos.com to read about their products.
>
> Jim
>
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Oct 13, 2018, at 5:05 AM, Mike Bow via Electronics-Talk
> <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
> Warning the new Sonos with Alexa has touch pad that is a smooth surface that
> you cannot feel the buttons!
> Mike
> _______________________________________________
> Electronics-Talk mailing list
> Electronics-Talk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Electronics-Talk:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org/jajkaldrich%40
> gmail.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> Electronics-Talk mailing list
> Electronics-Talk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Electronics-Talk:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org/jmccarthy%40md
> tap.org
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Electronics-Talk mailing list
> Electronics-Talk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Electronics-Talk:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org/clgilland07%40gmail.com