Amazon Teaches Echo Smart Speaker To Blast Spotify Tunes On Command
Well here's an interesting development—Amazon today announced that its Echo smart speaker now supports streaming directly from Spotify. That means if you're a subscriber to Spotify's Premium tier, you can bark commands like "Alexa, play ZZ Top from Spotify" and in no time you'll be boogieing out to "Sharp Dressed Man."
It's interesting because the added functionality comes less than a week after reports emerged that Amazon is working on a standalone streaming music service of its own, one that would topple Spotify and other players in the space. Maybe those plans are a long way off or perhaps this is a case of keeping your enemies closer than your friends.
Whatever the case might be, this is a neat addition for Amazon Echo owners who also happen to subscribe to Spotify. It goes beyond just yelling out commands to Alexa, too—Echo also supports Spotify Connect, allowing customers to transfer and control their listening experience from the Spotify app to Echo. The real world benefit to doing that is walking in the door with your headphones on—maybe you're returning from a jog or a walk—and having Alexa rock your jams from Echo.
"Now playing your favorite music from Spotify is as easy as asking Alexa," said Toni Reid, Director, Amazon Alexa. "Music is one of the most popular features on Amazon Echo, and Spotify has been one of the most requested services, so we’re excited to bring it to our customers today."
While Echo is a smart speaker, the ability to play music is a core function. Towards that end, Echo also supports Amazon Music, Prime Music, iHeartRadio, Pandora, and TuneIn. And of course you can sync Echo with your Bluetooth-enabled smartphone or tablet and get the party going with whichever music service you subscribe to.
It's interesting because the added functionality comes less than a week after reports emerged that Amazon is working on a standalone streaming music service of its own, one that would topple Spotify and other players in the space. Maybe those plans are a long way off or perhaps this is a case of keeping your enemies closer than your friends.
Whatever the case might be, this is a neat addition for Amazon Echo owners who also happen to subscribe to Spotify. It goes beyond just yelling out commands to Alexa, too—Echo also supports Spotify Connect, allowing customers to transfer and control their listening experience from the Spotify app to Echo. The real world benefit to doing that is walking in the door with your headphones on—maybe you're returning from a jog or a walk—and having Alexa rock your jams from Echo.
"Now playing your favorite music from Spotify is as easy as asking Alexa," said Toni Reid, Director, Amazon Alexa. "Music is one of the most popular features on Amazon Echo, and Spotify has been one of the most requested services, so we’re excited to bring it to our customers today."
While Echo is a smart speaker, the ability to play music is a core function. Towards that end, Echo also supports Amazon Music, Prime Music, iHeartRadio, Pandora, and TuneIn. And of course you can sync Echo with your Bluetooth-enabled smartphone or tablet and get the party going with whichever music service you subscribe to.
