To listen to music via Alexa, you need an Alexa-enabled speaker and a suitable music streaming service. Here’s how to connect the two.
You control your music with voice commands via Amazon’s Echo speakers. (Source: netzwelt)
You need this to listen to music with Alexa
These streaming services are compatible with Alexa and this one is not
Link Alexa to compatible service
Get incompatible services to work with Alexa
Play music on Alexa devices from PCs, smartphones and more
Listen to audiobooks and podcasts with Alexa
improve sound
To be able to play music via Alexa, you need two things: an Alexa-enabled speaker and an Alexa-compatible music streaming service. If you pair both of them, you can use voice commands to play music on your speaker without having to turn on your smartphone, PC or tablet as a player. But beware! Various hurdles lurk on the way!
You need this to listen to music with Alexa
Finding an Alexa-enabled speaker isn’t difficult. Not only Amazon’s Echo speakers are Alexa-capable, there are now also corresponding speakers from audio specialists such as Sonos, Bose or Teufel. Below are the Alexa-enabled speakers we’ve tested:
The second condition, on the other hand, is not so easy to fulfill. Because by no means all music streaming services can be controlled with Alexa – as the following table shows.
These streaming services are compatible with Alexa and this one is not
Music streaming services: Alexa compatibility
As you can see, only a few services are compatible with Alexa. But even if your service does not officially provide an Alexa skill, you can use detours to get it to work with Alexa. More on that later. First, let’s look at how to proceed if you have a compatible service.
Link Alexa to compatible service
In order to play or control music on your Alexa-enabled speaker without a smartphone or tablet as a player, you must first enter your account in the Alexa app. The following instructions explain how to do this:
Connecting Amazon Music to Alexa: Here’s how
It goes without saying that Amazon Music can be found on the in-house Alexa devices. But the streaming service is managed differently than with Spotify.
Connecting Deezer to Alexa: Here’s how it works
The streaming service Deezer is a pioneer of high audio quality. You can read here how you can also listen to the playlists from your Deezer subscription via Alexa via Echo speakers.
By default, Alexa always plays music requests via Amazon Music. If you want to use another service, you must add the request to play the song or playlist on Spotify, Deezer or Apple Music at the end of the voice command. If you want to save yourself this trouble, you can define the service you use as the default music service for Alexa.
A notice: Please note that there may be restrictions even with compatible services. Especially if you only have the free basic tariff for the respective service, you may not have all the features available on Alexa-enabled speakers.
Get incompatible services to work with Alexa
If your service isn’t Alexa-compatible, you can still bring music from the provider’s catalog to your Alexa-enabled speaker. All you have to do is pair Echo and Co. via Bluetooth with a playback device for which an app from the respective provider is available. You then have to manually select and start the desired music on the playback device.
But you can use Alexa voice commands during playback. You can choose from the following commands:
- Alexa, next song. (only for playlists)
- Alexa, volume up/down.
- Alexa, break.
- alexa Further.
You can find out about the restrictions and other workarounds for the individual services in the following articles:
Play music on Alexa devices from PCs, smartphones and more
If you want to play music stored locally on a device, you can of course also connect your Alexa-enabled speaker to the player via Bluetooth or, if your speaker has a corresponding connection, also via a jack. An alternative, however, is the skill My Media, with which you can also call up songs from your own music library by voice command.
According to the developer, the skill only works with Echo and Echo Dot speakers. You have to test whether it still works with speakers from third-party providers.
Listen to audiobooks and podcasts with Alexa
Of course, you can not only play music on a compatible speaker with Alexa, but also audio books or podcasts. This works according to the same principle as described above. You have to connect compatible services via the Alexa app, if your provider does not provide an Alexa skill, you have to connect a playback device to the speaker.
improve sound
How good your favorite music called up via Alexa sounds depends of course on the loudspeaker on which you play it. Echo Dot and Echo Pop, for example, are not sound artists. The Amazon Echo and of course the Echo Studio rather. Because you can also pair them with the subwoofer Echo Sub for a richer sound.
You can also connect multiple Echo speakers to form a stereo pair or even a multi-room system. This not only ensures a richer sound, but you can also take your music with you from room to room at home. The following instructions explain how to do this and what you need to consider:
Finally, a tip: With Alexa you can not only listen to music, but also recognize songs – like that cool song you always hear on the radio. We will tell you how to do this in the linked article.
In further tutorials we will show you how to control the smart home with Alexa or make calls with Alexa.