For years, it has been possible to control Sonos by voice, using voice assistants from Google, Apple and Amazon. But soon you’ll be able to talk to your Sonos on its own home turf.
On June 1, Sonos will introduce its own voice assistant, aptly named Sonos Voice. So writes technology magazine The Verge.
That there’s more to the story than just rumours is supported by the fact that Sonos has recently been looking for people to work on Sonos Voice. The aim should be “to make communication with the Sonos system more natural. And also more private” – to reassure those worried that Google is listening in on every word spoken in the room.
Whether what’s spoken is understood is another matter. As anyone who has tried unsuccessfully to get Google Assistant to play a particular song on a particular speaker will be able to testify.
The launch of the Sonos Voice service on June 1 has not yet been officially confirmed by Sonos. But we’ve reached out for comment. For the same reason, we cannot say when the service might be launched in Scandinavia. Or whether the Nordic languages will be supported. Since Sonos is a dwarf next to mighty Google, we venture to guess that you will have to speak English with your speakers.
One of Sonos’ strongest cards as a multi-room system is the number of music services it supports. At launch, Sonos Voice will be able to work with Apple Music, Deezer, Amazon Music, Pandora and, of course, Sonos Radio. So far, Tidal, Spotify and YouTube Music, among others, are missing from the list.
The magic words that bring Sonos Voice to life will be – not surprisingly – “Hey Sonos!“