SiriusXM Streaming on Alexa devices

[TheKrell]

OK, now I'm going to try my wife's Echo Show.

Sorry Scott. My Echo Show 5 only adds "The Hottest Hits" subtitle to the name of this channel. It does not say what song is playing. Same deal when I ask Alexa: just the channel name, and not the song playing. This is the exact same behavior I see with my FireTV Sticks. Of course real SiriusXM radios show not only the title, but also the artist and album it comes from, replete with album art. So does the PC player.

If you have a show it displays what is playing. It does not do that on SiriusXM channels.

What Show are you using that works correctly?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Original Show, Show 5 and Show 8. All displaying for me.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Maybe you tried it during one of the commercial breaks. It will do that then. (We have two breaks an hour.)

 

[TheKrell]

Maybe you tried it during one of the commercial breaks. It will do that then. (We have two breaks an hour.)

No, it was playing Say You Will at the time of the no-show on my Show 5. I saw your post above and ran up to play it. I am not seeing what you are seeing on your Show 8 and original, whatever size that was. Can you verify that it "shows" on your Show 5"? If it does, then I can only speculate our accounts are somehow different. I have a Platinum sub (gratis from Chrysler for a year) for my car radio, and I get streaming for "free".

 

[harshness]

You weren't asking questions to get answers.

Apparently Scott saw it for what it was and answered the question for one of the biggest brands.

 

[Foxbat]

At the risk of introducing yet more unhelpful information that has nothing to do with this topic, my HEOS Denon Home 150 speakers can stream SiriusXM and the HEOS App shows me not only Song and Artist, but Cover Art as well. Denon just upgraded their Home product line to support Alexa, but it does not work in my house.

​

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

At the risk of introducing yet more unhelpful information that has nothing to do with this topic, my HEOS Denon Home 150 speakers can stream SiriusXM and the HEOS App shows me not only Song and Artist, but Cover Art as well. Denon just upgraded their Home product line to support Alexa, but it does not work in my house.

View attachment 153957​

Yup I got the update and it shows the covers too.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[Jimbo]

No, it was playing Say You Will at the time of the no-show on my Show 5. I saw your post above and ran up to play it. I am not seeing what you are seeing on your Show 8 and original, whatever size that was. Can you verify that it "shows" on your Show 5"? If it does, then I can only speculate our accounts are somehow different. I have a Platinum sub (gratis from Chrysler for a year) for my car radio, and I get streaming for "free".

My Show also shows like yours with SiriusXm ... haven't tried Scott's channel yet.

As for the SXM, I can use it on my Sony OLED and it will show the info that way (android)

 

[TheKrell]

I spent a half hour or more on the phone with the SiriusXM's streaming team. I got their number from the online chat rep. Of course, that was just the regular customer service number. But the regular rep did eventually get me to their streaming team. They eventually decided they have no ability to enhance the Alexa SiriusXM skill to get it to tell me what music is playing. All it ever did before was tell me the channel name.

But they did give me a phone number for the Amazon digital media team. That number was 877-375-9365. After another half hour, the rep finally figured out what my issue was, and told me I could fix it via the Alexa app. So, they hung on the phone with me until I downloaded and installed the Alexa app again, logged into my Amazon account, and approved that login via the web. What a gnarly mess.

Anyhow, within the Alexa app, there is Settings --> Music and Podcats --> Default Services. If you change Default Services from Amazon Music to SiriusXM, now the Alexa skill will tell you what it's playing. But you have to say "Alexa, play <SiriusXM channel name>". You cannot say "Alexa, play the SiriusXM Spa channel" or she has no idea what she is playing.

Unfortunately, now she not only responds correctly when asked, but also she announces both artist and track before playing each and every one! Argh. I can't win.

 

[TheKrell]

Unfortunately, now she not only responds correctly when asked, but also she announces both artist and track before playing each and every one!

Well, this sucks and I'm not sure what's going on.

When I just say "Alexa, play the Spa channel", she now says "the station Spa on Amazon Music". Is it the Spa channel from SiriusXM (my default service) or rather is it really the Spa channel on Amazon Music? I can switch the Echo back and forth and it isn't synchronized with SiriusXM! And to make this stupidity complete, if I bring up the SiriusXM player to see what it's playing, it's not synchronized with either Spa on Amazon Music or the Spa channel on SiriusXM.

 

[TRG]

It's a poorly written skill. Even the sxm phone app has the ability to do what you are looking for. Alexa should be able to read the Metadata to you.

 

[Jimbo]

I spent a half hour or more on the phone with the SiriusXM's streaming team. I got their number from the online chat rep. Of course, that was just the regular customer service number. But the regular rep did eventually get me to their streaming team. They eventually decided they have no ability to enhance the Alexa SiriusXM skill to get it to tell me what music is playing. All it ever did before was tell me the channel name.

But they did give me a phone number for the Amazon digital media team. That number was 877-375-9365. After another half hour, the rep finally figured out what my issue was, and told me I could fix it via the Alexa app. So, they hung on the phone with me until I downloaded and installed the Alexa app again, logged into my Amazon account, and approved that login via the web. What a gnarly mess.

Anyhow, within the Alexa app, there is Settings --> Music and Podcats --> Default Services. If you change Default Services from Amazon Music to SiriusXM, now the Alexa skill will tell you what it's playing. But you have to say "Alexa, play <SiriusXM channel name>". You cannot say "Alexa, play the SiriusXM Spa channel" or she has no idea what she is playing.

Unfortunately, now she not only responds correctly when asked, but also she announces both artist and track before playing each and every one! Argh. I can't win.

The last part of what you were talking about, I turned on awhile ago ... not sure how to turn it back off.
If I ask alexa to play some music, it tells me what its playing ahead of time. But thats Not Sirius.

 

[TheKrell]

The last part of what you were talking about, I turned on awhile ago ... not sure how to turn it back off.
If I ask alexa to play some music, it tells me what its playing ahead of time. But thats Not Sirius.

Yup. Like me, you are stuck with Amazon Music as the default. If mine ever switched to SiriusXM, I cannot tell it. If you also subscribe to Amazon Music, you will not get the ads. I don't subscribe, so I get those in addition to the announcement of artist/track.

 

[TheKrell]

A miracle has occurred. Somebody (SiriusXM? Amazon?) has improved the Alexa skill on Echo devices and now I can ask Alexa and she will actually tell me what's playing. It's about time!

 

[TheKrell]

A miracle has occurred. Somebody (SiriusXM? Amazon?) has improved the Alexa skill on Echo devices and now I can ask Alexa and she will actually tell me what's playing. It's about time!

Two steps forward, and one step back.

Now, not only did SiriusXM (Amazon?) fix the SiriusXM skill so that it can tell you what it's playing, but also SiriusXM split the Spa Channel in two! There is now also a "Spa Instrumental" channel. Of course these are two distinct channels play different tracks. Spa Instrumental has a decided tilt toward Ambient, which frankly I can do without.

So, if I say, "Alexa, play the SiriusXM Spa Channel", either she plays Spa Instrumental or Hits 1! There no longer appears to be any way to select the old/better Spa channel on my Echos.

 

[TRG]

Two steps forward, and one step back.

Now, not only did SiriusXM (Amazon?) fix the SiriusXM skill so that it can tell you what it's playing, but also SiriusXM split the Spa Channel in two! There is now also a "Spa Instrumental" channel. Of course these are two distinct channels play different tracks. Spa Instrumental has a decided tilt toward Ambient, which frankly I can do without.

So, if I say, "Alexa, play the SiriusXM Spa Channel", either she plays Spa Instrumental or Hits 1! There no longer appears to be any way to select the old/better Spa channel on my Echos.

Alexa can be finicky about how she responds sometimes. I've found that the "less is more" approach is best. I say, "Alexa, play Spa SiriusXM" and the correct channel plays every time. Note that I call the channel name first. I do the same with TuneIn such as. "Alexa, play WRTI Jazz on TuneIn."

 

[TheKrell]

I've found that the "less is more" approach is best. I say, "Alexa, play Spa SiriusXM" and the correct channel plays every time.

What a great idea! The first time I said that, she said, "I am having trouble playing that right now". But trying the same exact command again, and voila; she plays the right channel.

The only trouble with playing the Spa channel is I no longer can get her to tell me what song she's playing.

 

[KAB]

Fortunately, you can still buy individual tracks from Google Play Music and download them. Any others? They seem to have better quality than Amazon anyhow.

iTunes

 

[TRG]

What a great idea! The first time I said that, she said, "I am having trouble playing that right now". But trying the same exact command again, and voila; she plays the right channel.

The only trouble with playing the Spa channel is I no longer can get her to tell me what song she's playing.

Did you know that Alexa will remember the last station you played as well? Just say, "Alexa, play SiriusXM" and the most recent channel you played will start.

 

[TheKrell]

Did you know that Alexa will remember the last station you played as well? Just say, "Alexa, play SiriusXM" and the most recent channel you played will start.

Yes; thanks. I bumbled on that one as well last year.

Unfortunately it seems to be broken these days with the Spa channel. Sometimes, when I just say the above, she goes to Hits 1! Sometimes when I ask "Alexa, play the SiriusXM Spa channel, she usually gives me Spa Instrumental instead, or her ever-favorite Hits 1. I have never requested Hits 1, ever, in all my life.