Support for Alexa Media Player

[dm7500]

Trying to play music from Spotify to my Alexa devices, which are set as media devices using Alexa Media Player. Alexa gives an error stating that the proper service calls must be made.

If this could be integrated in some way, it would be a game changer for playing music via HA. Happy to test anything as needed.

[marcelveldt]

I've inspected this today and so far I see no easy way to make that work. The Alexa Media Player does not allow to just send a stream URL to play which is what this integration needs. The only way to make this work properly is if somebody creates a custom Alexa skill that communicates with this integration.

I do not own a Alexa device so I can't do that.

A little googleing I just did quickly led me to several 3rd party solutions you could use to turn the Echo device into a unpnp receiver or squeezebox player. For example: https://www.amazon.com/ComputeQ-UG-Haftungsbeschr-Roomskills-Squeezebox/dp/B0983C2377

I'm happy to work with somebody to make this work but without an actual Alexa/Echo device to test with, this is not something I can start with alone

[adocampo]

I would gladly help, I'm not a developer, but I would help by testing it on my echos, unfortunately I'm located in Spain and the skill you pointed can be only installable on US echos (perhaps on DE as well, as per language selection)

[mabrochu-helpox]

I don't know how the SpotCast integration works but I'm able to play music from spotify on my alexa devices from Home Assistant, I don't believe a skill is needed.

[dm7500]

@mabrochu-helpox how do you bring the Alexa's into HA as media players though?

[Creepios]

Please see my comment below (https://github.com/orgs/music-assistant/discussions/431#discussioncomment-8964417)
for a possible solution!

[mabrochu-helpox]

Whith the alexa integration

[bdr99]

To be clear, this is not the official Alexa integration built into HA. This is a custom integration known as Alexa Media Player. It is found here: https://github.com/custom-components/alexa_media_player

[marcelveldt]

eveloper, but I would help by testing it on my echos, unfortunately I'm located in Spain and the skill you pointed can be only installable on US echos (perhaps on DE as well, as per language selection)

For Music Assistant to work it is required that the enddevice (the speaker) supports "play from url".
So basically we just want to send a url to a speaker. Just like a radio stream....

Music Assistant is not about playing Spotify on a speaker. Music Assistant is about playing all your online en offline media to a collection of speakers. The Spotcast implementation (and others like the alexa custom integration) send Spotify commands to the Echo speaker, not plain urls

[janstadt]

Its hacky but you can send urls like this:

service: notify.alexa_media
data:
  message: <audio src='https://url-to-mp3.mp3' />
  target: media_player.the_kitchen
  data:
    type: tts
  title: Happy Halloween

Probably not the intended use but im curious if there is another api we that could be leveraged ?

[flexage]

Can you please test that with a radio url ? If it keeps playing it is indeed an option to use that for Music Assistant

I also have the notify.alexa_media service from the Alexa Media Player Custom Component (https://github.com/custom-components/alexa_media_player/wiki) available, so I gave this a try.

First, I tried with a couple of MP3's:

service: notify.alexa_media
data:
  message: <audio src='https://kt-montage.com/files/smarthomeyourself/mp3/001.mp3'/>
  data:
    type: tts
  target: media_player.my_echo_dot_name

data:
  message: <audio src='https://www.soundhelix.com/examples/mp3/SoundHelix-Song-1.mp3'/>
  data:
    type: tts
  target: media_player.my_echo_dot_name

The first one played, the second one didn't.

For the one that didn't work, Alexa spoke a message:

“Sorry I'm having trouble connecting to your Simon Says EU skill right now”

I then tried with a couple of internet radio urls, I tried an m3u playlist, and a generated stream url from within the m3u playlist:

service: notify.alexa_media
data:
  message: <audio src='http://pulseedm.cdnstream1.com:8124/1373_128'/>
  data:
    type: tts
  target: media_player.my_echo_dot_name

I received the same message from Alexa:

“Sorry I'm having trouble connecting to your Simon Says EU skill right now”

---

I did some sleuthing on the issue, and turned up the following related Amazon Developer Doc:

https://developer.amazon.com/en-GB/docs/alexa/custom-skills/speech-synthesis-markup-language-ssml-reference.html#audio

They say that when sending playback requests using TTS and the inline tag as above, that certain limitations around sample rates, bitrates, and runtime are imposed (copied from docs and bolded the critical blocking requirements):

• The MP3 must be hosted at an Internet-accessible HTTPS endpoint. HTTPS is required, and the domain hosting the MP3 file must present a valid, trusted SSL certificate. Self-signed certificates cannot be used.
• The MP3 must not contain any customer-specific or other sensitive information.
• The MP3 must be a valid MP3 file (MPEG version 2).
• For your speech response, the audio file cannot be longer than 240 seconds.
• The combined total time for all audio files in the outputSpeech property of the response cannot be more than 240 seconds.
• The combined total time for all audio files in the reprompt property of the response cannot be more than 90 seconds.
• The bit rate must be 48 kbps. Note that this bit rate gives a good result when used with spoken content, but is generally not a high enough quality for music.
• The sample rate must be 22050Hz, 24000Hz, or 16000Hz.
• You may need to use converter software to convert your MP3 files to the required codec version (MPEG version 2) and bit rate (48 kbps).

[marcelveldt]

ah OK so that is NOT useable ;-)

[marcelveldt]

Thanks for the extensive testing!

[flexage]

No problem, happy I could help!

[Bachigaloupe]

Yes, thanks for this testing as I too have gigs of mp3 files and several echos. Willing to test beta solutions. I don't think I can offer as much help as others but I am in the US and I see that can make a difference to Amazon

[flexage]

Enjoyed the Open Home Audio stream with you all! Very impressive stuff all around!

@marcelveldt Music Assistant seems great, and opens a world of possibilities!

I just wanted to offer up a potential path forward for supporting Echo devices, and that would be using them as a bluetooth audio target.

I regularly pair my Echo with my Macbook via bluetooth, and set it as my output device.

No special hardware of configuration needed, just the Amazon Alexa app:
Devices -> Echo & Alexa -> Select Device -> Bluetooth Connections -> Connect a Device

The simplest solution is to pair your Echo(s) with the host OS, and use them as system output device(s) - of course, that may incur limitations regarding targeting specific connected devices/groups
(or it may not... I can't purport myself to be an expert on linux audio, perhaps @pvizeli [Pascal] is better suited to answer that).

Traditionally, Bluetooth radios have supported a single audio streaming device per chip (except for a few specialist radios) - so 1 dongle = 1 speaker, 2 dongles = 2 speakers, etc....

However, the recent Bluetooth LE specification also adds "multi device audio streaming" from a single radio, I believe using the LC3 codec.

Here's some reference links:

https://embeddedcomputing.com/application/networking-5g/short-range-wireless-pan/le-audio-the-next-generation-of-bluetooth-audio-technology

https://www.bluetooth.com/learn-about-bluetooth/recent-enhancements/le-audio/

Note: It would not be the best solution in terms of making direct use of the PCM stream url you described in the video presentation, and it may not support the speaker latency/sync feature you have planned for the future - however, it is an option that maintains local-control, and I do not believe invokes the cloud once configured.

For that, I believe the only current 'official' option to request Alexa devices to play an url is using their custom skill API- and that of course requires an internet accessible url, so goes against the local-control philosophy, so is less than ideal - However Nabu Casa already provides a Home Assistant custom skill for Alexa, so I'd imagine some of the groundwork is already laid...

The relevant documentation appears to be available here: https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/docs/alexa/custom-skills/audioplayer-interface-reference.html#audio-stream-requirements

[marcelveldt]

Bluetooth could be a possible solution although I have no idea if that is 100% reliable. Just look for a HA integration for a Bluetooth media player. Another option is to use an intermediate ESP32 running the squeezelite firmware that outputs its audio to bluetooth.

1. ESP32 with PSRam
2. Install squeezelite on it: https://github.com/sle118/squeezelite-esp32
3. Activate the SLIMproto integration in HA (it will auto detect the squeezelite player(s))
4. Add the slimproto media_player to MA

[flexage]

Another option is to use an intermediate ESP32 running the squeezelite firmware that outputs its audio to bluetooth.

This is actually very sensible thinking, for a few reasons:

• Probably a smaller barrier to ingress for non-technical users than configuring Home Assistant OS (the HA supported project for flashing ESP firmware makes it a breeze)
• Makes use of the existing HA SLIMProto integration (like you say)
• Requires no code changes to MA?
• Very "on-brand" with the Audio in the Open Home presentation

Sounds like everything code and hardware related is already in place, so all that was needed was the concept and testing?

[marcelveldt]

Correct, in theory that should work and it just needs someone willing to test it.
Just make sure you have an ESP32 Wrover module (with PSRAM)

[OzGav]

@flexage Out of interest did you ever have a go at setting this up? Or any other BT connection?

[flexage]

Additional: I came across an article from last year on Mark Lewis's Blog, in which he configures audio with a bluetooth dongle on Home Assistant OS, seemed fairly simple: https://marklewis.blog/2021/02/25/home-assistant-bluetooth-speaker/

Mark was using a "Local VLC" community addon as a player, but I'm sure there's other things that can be done

[gromgsxr]

would we possibly be able to use something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoCPUypkimc&ab_channel=DabbleLab as a base for a custom skill to be able to play media from a url on amazon devices?

[marcelveldt]

Correct, that is what Amazon invented to do this.

[gromgsxr]

Is there a specific output URL from music assistant or homeassistant that I could point that skill kit at to see if it works? My ha is accessable via https so I would have thought the skill could play from a URL then.

Edit I pulled a generic web radio stream off the internet and built that template pointing at the URL for the radio station called it 'music assistant' I was able to get it to play the stream all good. I am also able to use the custom component 'alexa media player' to run a custom command 'open music assistant' and the stream started playing. so if I had a URL from music assistant that streams the music out of my home assistant that I could point the skill kit at I would assume I could them play music on my Alexa devices possibly.

[marcelveldt]

Music Assistant generates unique stream URL's on the fly for each playback session but if you can actually play some URL the foundation is there to make it work. Now you can go a few steps further and listen to the audio quality, is it good (enough) ? And perhaps test a few different file formats like mp3 and flac. If all that works it passed the test and there's only one issue left:

The streamservice in MA is only available on the local network on a dedicated network port. So you will need some sort of proxy that temporary opens up for the external stream request. My advice would be to fork the existing Alexa Media Player integration and override the method "play_media" in the media_player implementation. that will receive the stream URL from MA and you can add your own logic there.

[gromgsxr]

Above my skill level. Shame oh well

[erkr]

Moved to discussions, raise your votes!

[gromgsxr]

Gets my vote I'm happy to try and help if I can with testing ect.

[imduffy15]

I think we would need to create a music provider following https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/docs/alexa/music-skills/understand-the-music-skill-api.html and then hook into that via alexa_media_player through alexapys play_music function https://alexapy.readthedocs.io/en/latest/alexapy/alexapy.html#alexapy.AlexaAPI.play_music

[realroywalker]

No further update to the above, just waiting on the service call to be added into the Music Assistant code at the moment. I spoke with @marcelveldt on discord recently and he's understandably busy with work, life and other MA updates at the moment. But it's on his radar to do when he has time 😁
Once that change is in we should hopefully be most of the way there (assuming it works as intended)

[kingunlim]

thx for your update on this topic, that sounds very promissing 😬
if you guys manage this, that would be a milestone in terms of missing features!
i hope everything will work how you guys intend it! thx for all of your works!

[proffalken]

Also willing to volunteer my echos to test this - I've got the following:

• Original Echo
• Echo Dot
• Echo Flex
• Echo Dot Kids

Let me know if I can help!

[janstadt]

Curious if there has been any progress on this or if there is a targeted release that might provide this functionality? TIA!

[OzGav]

I haven’t heard any talk about this for a while so I assume little to no progress at this time. Maybe someone will,pick it up after the next release (due this month)

[zepheris]

Not a coder, just a dabler.
I found this which may help with creating a custom skill
https://github.com/dabblelab/3-alexa-audio-streaming-example-skill
This is the video that helps add the skill to your Alexa development console
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoCPUypkimc

From what I understand. Activating this skill will have the backend load up an audio stream. The URL in this stream could be changed to point to your home assistant instance (or I believe nabu casa URL) for the .m3u file. If it's possible to code an audio stream, then we could use this skill.

The scenario would be to have the audio stream process start when opening the media player
Person says the invocation phrase (which you can set to whatever you want) "Alexa, open home streaming"
Alexa connects to your home assistant instance
You play some music and it's streamed to Alexa.

If this is achievable, then we could adapt the stream URL to other players. Using a m3u app on your phone to stream is one example that comes to mind.

Edit:
I just noticed that this scenario appears to have already been suggested :)

[phirestalker]

Any more progress on using the Alexa Media Player integration in conjunction with this?

[Rob1983dev]

I wonder why it doesn't work.
Today I installed the HA Spotify integration (https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/spotify/) and.... it works with Alexa speakers.
I haven't checked in detail, but maybe this helps.

Anyway, my plan is to get rid of all Alexa speakers :)

[marcelveldt]

Because we are not a spotify control application but a full fledged music streamer application.
The Echo speakers are not suitable for local media contgrol, period. All attempts to do so are just hacks. It is not going to work now and not ever. Unless Amazon deciced to add some sort of local control to it, like Airplay for Apple speakers and Cast for Google speakers.
Sorry if this may sounds harsh but its just how it is now.

That said, the Matter specification is going to bring a universal Media Player support so high hopes that will be added to Amazon speakers.

[Jessel723]

2 years later this still hasn't been able to be fixed? I downloaded Music Assitant because I have a house full of Alexa and even Alexa Amplifiers so I can have whole house audio. It's very disappointing that my Alexa devices can't be used as players.

[proffalken]

@Jessel723 we don't have access to the Amazon Alexa roadmap unfortunately, and they are the only ones who can add the functionality required for this to work as it needs to be added on their side.

It's a real pain, but not something we can fix as part of the project 😞

[Jessel723]

Now that I see all the Alexa stream devices in my HA assistance I still can't do anything with them I don't know what I can do with them. Like can I use my regular apps or just see what's playing on them. I added the hacs Alexa Media Player. I thought I would be able to stream from Plex amp or something. I don't see any functionality.

[OzGav]

I wouldn't go selling anything yet. If the devices work in HA then it is on the roadmap to expose HA entities to MA so that may be a pathway. Exactly what functionality is available in that eventuallity I can't yet say

[Jessel723]

I'm into the best-quality audio but I have a Bluetooth mesh network is there a way for me to play these devices through Bluetooth? I saw another thread talking about that. But my actual device is pretty far I have an ESP32 Bluetooth network though. If this isn't possible is there anyway? Even if I borrowed the cheapo amps I have on eBay. How could I make a local player that works with HA possibly in groups? I know there's a VLC addon I've never used it but would that work? I'm googling VLC on HA now. If not anything with ESP has to be something. Two of the zones I'm just trying to plug into a receiver the other two I have the Alexa amps I don't mind moving when temporarily. I have like 10 cheap amps I've sold a few but could keep two for now. 😆

[OzGav]

I would look into picoreplayer. You are supposed to be able to connect Bluetooth speakers to that but I haven’t tried it.

[OzGav]

Looking for any success stories with Alexa and either a Bluetooth connection or via the HA plugin exposing HA media players. Interested to understand if we have a workable solution already to support these devices.

[reryro]

Good luck for your lucking.

[OzGav]

Yeah no one seems keen to share!

[Pitsaer]

I've tried several things, but haven't found anything conclusive yet.

[OzGav]

Can you detail what you have tried and why it didn’t work?

[Creepios]

Please see my comment below (https://github.com/orgs/music-assistant/discussions/431#discussioncomment-8964417)
for a possible solution!

[Creepios]

I think the solution is relatively simple (at least that's what my Alexa said). So a normal service call to play music from Alexa is the following:

 'id': 52,
 'service': 'play_media',
 'service_data': {'enqueue': 'replace',
                  'media_content_id': 'http://192.168.20.10:8097/single/media_player.xxxx_alexa/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.flac?ts=xxxxxx',
                  'media_content_type': 'music'},
 'target': {'entity_id': 'media_player.xxxx_alexa'},
 'type': 'call_service'}

But since Alexa says "to play TTS, please set announce equals true. Music cannot be played this way"
the service call should look like this:

 'id': 52,
 'service': 'play_media',
 'service_data': {'enqueue': 'replace',
                  'media_content_id': 'http://192.168.20.10:8097/single/media_player.xxxx_alexa/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.flac?ts=xxxxxx',
                  'media_content_type': 'music',
                  'announce': true },               #<---------------- This here!
 'target': {'entity_id': 'media_player.xxxx_alexa'},
 'type': 'call_service'}

This service call option is also documented on the official Home Assistant Docs https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/media_player/
Therefore you would have to introduce a configuration option for the players that you can turn on this "announce: true" flag for specific players.

[OzGav]

If you think you have a fix then please submit a tested PR

[NorthernMunkey]

This will be a game changer if this works Creepios, so many people ( unwisely, and i include myself in that statement) invested in the Amazon speaker ecosystem, i have one in almost every room, in theory there's nothing wrong with the devices to warrant replacement of these so getting them working with this amazing app will be great..

[collateral87]

@Creepios can you do this?

[Creepios]

I am currently in the middle of my exams. I'm sorry, but I don't really have the time to get to work on it in the near future.
A few more hints on what I have found out (as there is an even deeper problem):
The basic principle of Alexa Media Players works as follows:
Before audio tracks are played on Alexa, they are converted by the extension (assuming an audio file is on the HomeAssistant server) through FFMPEG and then sent / made available to Alexa to ensure compatibility (Alexa only allows very specific formats, see source code for conversion command). Because the audio file is apparently only available as a link through Music Assistant, the conversion fails and Alexa is not provided with any audio.

A brief description of how the audio is processed:

[altheus]

Just replying here to let you know this is still something we're eager for!

[kcam01]

I tried the changes suggested and only ended up with error

2024-05-02 02:22:08.255 DEBUG (MainThread) [music_assistant.streams] Start serving audio stream for QueueItem library://track/494 to Office Dot
2024-05-02 02:22:08.255 DEBUG (MainThread) [music_assistant.audio.ffmpeg] starting ffmpeg with args: -hide_banner -loglevel info -nostats -ignore_unknown -protocol_whitelist file,hls,http,https,tcp,tls,crypto,pipe,data,fd,rtp,udp -ac 2 -channel_layout stereo -ar 44100 -acodec pcm_s16le -f s16le -i - -f mp3 -ar 44100 -ac 2 -
2024-05-02 02:22:08.261 ERROR (MainThread) [music_assistant.webserver] Error handling message: CommandMessage(message_id=13, command='players/queue/play', args={'queue_id': 'media_player.office_dot'})
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/music_assistant/server/controllers/webserver.py", line 366, in _run_handler
    result = await result
             ^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/music_assistant/server/controllers/player_queues.py", line 550, in play
    await self.resume(queue_id)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/music_assistant/server/controllers/player_queues.py", line 670, in resume
    await self.play_index(queue_id, resume_item.queue_item_id, resume_pos, fade_in)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/music_assistant/server/controllers/player_queues.py", line 705, in play_index
    await self.mass.players.play_media(
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/music_assistant/server/controllers/players.py", line 714, in play_media
    await player_prov.play_media(
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/music_assistant/server/providers/hass_players/__init__.py", line 229, in play_media
    await self.hass_prov.hass.call_service(
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/hass_client/client.py", line 173, in call_service
    return await self.send_command("call_service", **params)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/hass_client/client.py", line 214, in send_command
    return await future
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^
hass_client.exceptions.FailedCommand: Command failed: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/config/www/alexa_ttshttp://xxxxxxxxx/single/media_player.office_dot/24408d37f11148d6a0e0dd0f831dd1ee.mp3?ts=1714634528_input.mp3'

I guess the only problem now is to figure out how to get rid of the /config/www/alexa_tts

[marcelveldt]

someone just needs to write a player provider for MA for the Alexa player and do all this logic in there, do not hack around all over the place.

[kingunlim]

am i right that you guys are near a possible solution? 😎

[kcam01]

it would have to be in this type of format with https

{
    "message": "<audio src='https://your_url/local/media/koekoeksklok-conv.mp3'/>",
    "data": {
        "type": "tts"
    },
    "target": "media_player.your_echo_dot"
}

[kingunlim]

soooo,does someone know if anbody tries to make it work right know?
best regards

[jacquesdupontd]

Hello,

So i've been working on this also. I have managed to make the Atom Echo work with my Echo Dot and Open AI Extended Conversation. And what it does is send an mp3 via TTS methode with annouce set to true. It was buggy because the retrived url was not good. I patched it a little bit so that it works and speak the answer's mp3. SO, i guess we can do the same with either local mp3s or even plex ones ? if they can be played through TTS ? I need to find a way in Music Assistant to "set annouce to true". If someone has any idea !

Here's a little video of my setup https://youtu.be/06mKmWbyOuA

[iceman73]

I have used this to stream from my local shoutcast Server to play on Alexa
Just add the music assistant stream as the fist slot and you can say "Alexa play radio browser" and it will play what ever is being streamed from the cast server

https://esp8266-server.de/alexa/RadioBrowser/en/

[ohuc]

where do i get the music assistant stream?

[iceman73]

I just used this for my local Snapcast from Music Assistant and I can get all my Alexas to play the same stream and they are in sync pretty well

https://github.com/alexa-samples/skill-sample-nodejs-audio-player

in Lambda index.js just change this line to your local pserver

const podcastUrl = 'https://audio1.maxi80.com';

[josfelipe]

what url did you use? because snapcast needs to start broadcasting manually when accessing the default url

[mattdenboer]

I have snapcast server add on setup in Home Assistant and working in Music assistant. I can listen via 'local url home assistant:1780' to what is playing. I have tried the radio browser route however get an error in Alexa that it cannot play the channel when adding the 'local url home assistant:1780' to https://esp8266-server.de/alexa/RadioBrowser/en/. Taking the skills route which I can get to work up to the reaction from the skill "Welcome, you can say "play audio" to start listening to music. What would you like to do?" If I respond with play audio also here an error. I have changed line 41 in the code with 'local url home assistant:1780' , also tried my duckdns address and only the local url without the port however no result. Would appreciate if you could elaborate a little more on your setup.

[pdenboer]

I just used this for my local Snapcast from Music Assistant and I can get all my Alexas to play the same stream and they are in sync pretty well

https://github.com/alexa-samples/skill-sample-nodejs-audio-player

in Lambda index.js just change this line to your local pserver

const podcastUrl = 'https://audio1.maxi80.com';

I have the skill working however the url to be included in the index.js file still puzzles me. Tried a duckdns.org address that forwards it via nginx proxy manager to local url home assistant port 1780. No error on Alexa but no sound. What is your setup?

[josfelipe]

Acabei de usar isso para meu Snapcast local do Music Assistant e consigo fazer com que todas as minhas Alexas reproduzam o mesmo stream e elas estão muito bem sincronizadas
https://github.com/alexa-samples/skill-sample-nodejs-audio-player
no Lambda index.js basta alterar esta linha para o seu pserver local
const podcastUrl = ' https://audio1.maxi80.com ';

Tenho a habilidade de trabalhar, mas a URL a ser incluída no arquivo index.js ainda me intriga. Tentei um endereço duckdns.org que o encaminha via gerenciador de proxy nginx para a porta 1780 do assistente local da URL. Nenhum erro no Alexa, mas nenhum som. Qual é sua configuração?

same problem here

[iceman73]

I have snapcast server add on setup in Home Assistant and working in Music assistant. I can listen via 'local url home assistant:1780' to what is playing. I have tried the radio browser route however get an error in Alexa that it cannot play the channel when adding the 'local url home assistant:1780' to https://esp8266-server.de/alexa/RadioBrowser/en/. Taking the skills route which I can get to work up to the reaction from the skill "Welcome, you can say "play audio" to start listening to music. What would you like to do?" If I respond with play audio also here an error. I have changed line 41 in the code with 'local url home assistant:1780' , also tried my duckdns address and only the local url without the port however no result. Would appreciate if you could elaborate a little more on your setup.

You need a public accessible url for Alexa to access

[iceman73]

good tutorial for this: https://giuliomagnifico.medium.com/build-a-custom-audio-stream-from-a-video-url-for-echo-devices-1ba8a7cd34bb

[Benniepie]

I've tried various tricks to get my Alexas to play from 3rd party players - mp3 and Bluetooth is a waste of time - the only viable way is via a stream - either the method described above (thank you @iceman73 ) or by developing a custom radio station skill for music assistant. I would love to use Music Assistant, if only it had Alexa support!

[wambs]

I have a solution that works using snapcast.
I side loaded snapcast-signed.apk onto my Amazon Cube which is of course connected to my TV.
Once I loaded it, did minor configuration.
However, it plays music only when the TV is on.
https://github.com/badaix/snapdroid/releases/tag/v0.28.0.2

[mattdenboer]

@iceman73 `Could you please elaborate on your setup. As mentioned the skill works however no music is playing. I assume the url is not correct. How did you manage it?

[GraemeDBlue]

@iceman73 `Could you please elaborate on your setup. As mentioned the skill works however no music is playing. I assume the url is not correct. How did you manage it?

Please can you share your solution I've tried setting the skill up and it is near useless

[iceman73]

Easiest way would be setup a mopidy instance and connect to the snapcast server and then send the mopidy output to a icecast stream to use.

https://icecast.org/docs/icecast-trunk/basic_setup/

https://docs.mopidy.com/latest/icecast/

https://github.com/RoggerFabri/mopidy-icesnap (easy Docker install)

[GraemeDBlue]

You have enable the snapcast server on your music server instance and use your hostname with port, but it must be world accessable.

does it work with the Nabu Casa domain.

But the main thing is how to i trigger this, I cant get the Alexa to start the skil.

[daknightuk]

I worked around this problem by using the alexa media player integration and using an automation to send a command to alexa.

Note that media_player.entry is the alexa where I send all my commands to just in case she ever decides to respond but the media_content_id I am specifying everything I want to do.

If I can code this so that the media content id is dynamic then I can create a dashboard with station buttons just using the voice commands.

I've used this method quite a few times particulary when I can't get devices working with home assistant but they work fine with alexa voice commands. You just have to remember to write "how it sounds"

[ColtonYYZ]

So they're definitely seems to be a way for this to work because there's a third party program called MyMedia Alexa (mymediaalexa.com) that allows you to play any mp3 that you may have locally stored on your computer and there is no 4 minute limit (I've played a 3hr DJ set on my Echos).

Then consider the fact that I can play Sirius XM on my speakers, so it must play URLs. It's just a matter of figuring out how Sirius XM is able to work and combine that with MyMedia and how it's able to play audio that doesn't confirm to the 4 min limit and bitrate requirements. That is of course, if it converts everything on the fly.

[ColtonYYZ]

I wrote to the owner and asked if he would join our discussion and see if he could provide some insight. He said he will add it to the list of things he's working on and he'll take a look when he can. I'm hoping he will be able to help us out. No obligation on his part of course, but I am hopeful!

I pay for it, but I wouldn't know the first thing to do to try and help out here. If someone wants to give me a few steps on how to gather some info, I'd be happy to!

PS: I also Chime_TTS integration in HACS and a requirement for it to be able to use AMP is that the temporary chime it generates, has to be played from a public folder that you setup during configuration of the integration. But it's limited to the 4 min max and it also formats the audio to comply with the requirements AMP needs in order to play the mp3.

[SirRufo]

How do you enable My Media to work with your alexa devices?

Use the Alexa companion app on your tablet or the web app at https://alexa.amazon.com/ to add the My Media skill to your Amazon account. You will be asked to link the skill to your Amazon account

That way is already known as @marcelveldt wrote in 2022

The only way to make this work properly is if somebody creates a custom Alexa skill that communicates with this integration.

[ColtonYYZ]

How do you enable My Media to work with your alexa devices?

Use the Alexa companion app on your tablet or the web app at https://alexa.amazon.com/ to add the My Media skill to your Amazon account. You will be asked to link the skill to your Amazon account

That way is already known as @marcelveldt wrote in 2022

The only way to make this work properly is if somebody creates a custom Alexa skill that communicates with this integration.

You need to install it first, on a dedicated system. You can install it on the following systems:

• Download for Windows (v1.3.148.998)
  Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server Essentials 2012, Windows Server Essentials 2016
• Download for macOS / Mac OS X (v1.3.148.998)
  macOS Monterey, Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra
• Download for Linux (v1.3.147.994) BETA
  Deb / RPM Package for amd64/i386
• Download for Raspberry Pi / ARM Linux (v1.3.147.994) BETA
  Raspberry Pi v2/v3/v4 or Pi Zero (armhf/arm64)
• Download the Docker Image (v1.3.147.994) BETA
  All docker runtimes for x64 / amd64 / arm64 / armhf
• Download the QNAP NAS QPKG Package (v1.3.134.0) BETA
• Support for QNAP NAS's with packages for x86_64 / arm-x41

Install it, configure it, and then you go to Alexa Skills and enable the AlexaMyMedia skill.

But any further questions about this should really be taken offline or to another forum as it's not related MA.

[SirRufo]

@ColtonYYZ You cited me and posted a description how to install My Media - but I have no clue why

I only wanted to point out the fact that the solution (write a skill) is already known since 2022 and reading the docs from My Media shows that they are using a skill (I cited that too from their docs).

Mine was a reply to your statement

So they're definitely seems to be a way for this to work because there's a third party program called MyMedia Alexa […]

and yes, they use a skill (as stated in their docs) as we already know since 2022 that we need such a skill to solve it

[ColtonYYZ]

@SirRufo, my apologizes. It was confusing to me and I wanted to clarify because the one comment was a little misleading. Sorry for responding to you instead of the person who posted their comment. :(

[alams154]

I was able to get a preliminary version working but this is a very hacky workaround and requires several other services.

1. Install mpd Home Assistant addon
2. Configure the mpd addon to enable httpd-output
   
3. Expose the httpd-output via a port (may need to select "Show disabled ports")
   
4. Add mpd integration in Home Assistant (Host is localhost)
5. Add an Alexa Skill to your Amazon account linked to your Echo devices (Following this guide and using this repo) [I don't remember if that's the exact link I used]
6. Provide and host a public domain for the port you specified in httpd-output (non-public domain will probably not work but I haven't tested a local domain)
7. In the Alexa skill, on the Alexa developer console, in build section, update invocation name to something memorable and take note of it
8. In the Alexa skill, on the Alexa developer console, navigate to the code section in the top header and update all instances of podcastUrl to your domain
9. Click deploy to deploy the skill to your Amazon account
10. Go to your Alexa app and make sure to enable your skill
11. Use Music Assistant to stream your media to the mpd media player created by the Home Assistant integration (make sure to add the corresponding media player to Music Assistant)
12. Ask your Echo device "ask [invocation name] to play audio"

If everything is working, you should now be able to hear your stream on your Echo device.

So far, any of the media controls once the stream is started on the Echo device will end the stream on your Echo device and requires you to start the skill again.

Another useful invocation is to use Alexa Media Player's custom command similar to this:

data:
  media_content_type: custom
  media_content_id: ask <invocation name> to play audio
action: media_player.play_media
target:
  device_id: <target device>

Hopefully more experienced developers can use some of these components and make a more robust solution.

Also if you are having trouble with the Alexa skill, this guide may help. The test tab in the Alexa developer console is also very useful for debugging and can be used to see if the proxied mpd url is working.

[ColtonYYZ]

Hey @alams154, you're basically doing the same thing MyMediaAlexa does, only in way more steps necessary.

• Install MyMediaAlexa on a dedicated machine, for those using HAOS, you will need another machine to install it on, everyone else can simply install it on the Hass machine outside of Hass.
• Scan your library/configure MyMediaAlexa
• Go to the Alexa App, Click on Skills, Link MyMediaAlexa to Alexa
• Using the same YAML you posted above, you can create a script and in Music Assistant, have a button to call the script

The button basically asks MyMediaAlexa to play whatever song/playlist/artist you have put in your yaml. My suggestion would be to create several playlists in MyMediaAlexa and then create corresponding scripts in Hass, and buttons in Music Assistant for the same playlists you created in MMA.

I've posted the question in MMA forum to see if they could add a Play Now button that runs a script telling Alexa to play the song/artist/album/playlist it's next to. Currently you cannot initate a song/playlist in MMA by pressing any button. You have to tell Alexa to play it verbally. But that's a whole different issue, and not related to MA.

I've been tinkering with MA using the nice card YAML that was recently posted. See below.

I have it now displaying the previous song played, and a few buttons that will grow as I create them. Ignore what you see where the albums are. I changed my URLs to point to MyMediaAlexa since it's an iFrame but there's no functionality to initiate playing any songs. I have to decide what I want to do with that part of the card because it won't work for me since I use Alexa devices. But the 4 grey see through buttons in the top left are fully functional.

[alams154]

I don't think that using My Media would work (also I don't want to pay the small subscription fee either) for me. The main reason I am using Music Assistant is to unify all the providers similar to how Home Assistant unifies most smart home devices for me.

I think using My Media centralizes the interface and source of music to be from My Media which kind of defeats the purpose of Music Assistant. Also, it doesn't look like My Media supports streaming providers like YouTube Music based on their website. The mpd method also doesn't require any playlist creation.

But if you are only interested in playing your local music using My Media is definitely easier but I wouldn't want to pay a subscription just to listen to my own music, no matter how small the fee is.

[ColtonYYZ]

To each their own man. When you say you don't think MyMedia would work, did you leave out the words, "for you"? Because as I showed you in my screen print, it does work. So I am able to merge MA and MyMedia together in MA. So not only can I play YouTube, Spotify, SiriusXM, I'm able to play my local music as well. My last hurdle, which is possible, is to learn how to code the search function so I can search my local media. I'm sure there's a way to use MA's search function and tie it to a script. I'm not that great with coding but am a fast learning and will succeed in doing so.

Also, there are 3 of your steps are not that easy to do for the average person:

• Provide and host a public domain for the port you specified in httpd-output (non-public domain will probably not work but I haven't tested a local domain)
• In the Alexa skill, on the Alexa developer console, in build section, update invocation name to something memorable and take note of it
• In the Alexa skill, on the Alexa developer console, navigate to the code section in the top header and update all instances of podcastUrl to your domain

First, how much money are you paying to host a public domain? Or is this free? Domain names are usually around $10-$15 a year. So the cost of that is at or more than the cost of MyMedia ($9.50 per year). Then you have to configure/setup your domain. Again, not that easy for the average person.

Then the next twoo steps are quite complicated. I've attempted myself and gave up. It's very overwhelming on creating your own Alexa Skill. It's not intuitive and there are a ton of steps to take to get it going.

But, you do what you are confortable with. As will I. That's the great thing about Home Assistant. We can all do our own variations of setup.

[ColtonYYZ]

I'm not sure if you knew about this or not, but I found a skill already that allows Alexa to control MPD:

https://github.com/stengland/alexa-mpd-skill