One of the oldest uses of all the best smart speakers, like the Amazon Echo, is as a music device. The Echo is much more than just a fancy speaker for bringing out your favorite tunes, but it’s definitely one of the most used features. And for music, you need a service to provide Echo. You can always send music wirelessly from your smartphone. But when you have an AI voice assistant like Alexa built into your Amazon Echo along with the ability to get online, you really want to take advantage of that. So, what music services can you use?
What music services are supported on Amazon Echo?
The good news is that for many, there will be some free music you can listen to through your Amazon Echo if you don’t subscribe to a premium streaming service. Amazon Echo is serviced by Amazon’s own platform as well as nearly all third-party options.
Amazon Music Unlimited and Prime Music
It’s worth highlighting Amazon separately because the Echo has two possibilities for Amazon’s music. The first is a catalog of about 2 million songs included at no additional cost if you’re a Prime subscriber. And if you’re not a Prime subscriber, remember you can always get an extension 30 day free trial to take her on tour.
The other available on Echo is Amazon Music Unlimited which is a paid subscription and unlocks the catalog of over 60 million songs to listen to on your Echo. But even this is two-tiered, and Prime members will enjoy a discount.
If you just want to listen to music through your Amazon Echo, you can sign up with Alexa and enjoy the entire catalog for a very low monthly fee. Everyone pays the same, you don’t need Prime and there’s a 30-day free trial to make sure you’re satisfied with it. If you want to use Amazon Music Unlimited on other devices as well, you can sign up on the web or on your mobile device for an individual or family plan. Prime members will get a discount on this tier and again, you’ll get 30 days to try it out before you’ll be charged.
spotify
Spotify on Amazon Echo is available to both free and paid subscribers, although if you’re using the free tier your experience will be more limited.
Free members can listen to Discover Weekly, Top Hits or a personalized playlist and that’s it. Paid subscribers will have full access to the Spotify library. at Supported MarketsThis also includes Spotify’s podcast library.
New subscribers who did not have Spotify Premium before can sign up now and enjoy a three-month free trial before paying.
Apple Music
Apple Music subscribers can link their accounts to Alexa to listen to Amazon Echo, but it’s not as widely supported as some other services.
Currently, Apple Music on Amazon Echo can be used in Austria, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
If you haven’t tried Apple Music yet, or in some cases even if you’re a returning user, you can get a one-month free trial to test listening to it.
Deezer
Deezer’s 73 million song library is available for use on Amazon Echo for paid subscribers, although it’s worth highlighting that High-Resolution Audio (FLAC) is not supported.
Deezer is also region restricted to Alexa devices in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. As with other popular services, you can try it first for free with a one-month trial.
Pandora
Pandora users in the US (currently the only marketplace for the service) can link their free, add-on, or premium accounts to an Alexa account and enjoy music through Amazon Echo.
This includes podcasts and category-specific perks such as unlimited skips for additional and premium subscriptions.
i heart radio
iHeartRadio is one of the free music services available on Amazon Echo, albeit only for users in North America, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand.
Radio stations, music, and podcasts are available with iHeartRadio on Amazon Echo and if you have an account you can link it and keep your activity in sync across all your devices.
Tides
Tidal subscribers can access the service’s entire music library through Amazon Echo with the official skill but there are some fairly significant restrictions to their use.
The first is that right now, only US Tidal subscribers can access the catalog of 80 million songs using the Amazon Echo. The second is that the Tidal skill does not allow access to custom playlists sponsored by the user.
If you haven’t tried Tidal yet, you can grab a free 30-day trial to see if it’s right for you before parting for any money.
Sirius XM
Sirius XM users in North America have full access to the service through the Amazon Echo with a single key restriction. The service can only be used to stream to one Echo device at a time.
If you start listening on another device, this will pause the playback of the first device.
Radio TuneIn
TuneIn Radio’s base tier comes preloaded with Alexa for use on your Amazon Echo to listen to radio stations from around the world. A more recent addition is support for the premium tier, TuneIn Live, through the same devices.
This unlocks additional content including MLB and NHL as well as commercial-free news and music content.
YouTube Music – Not Supported
It is worth highlighting YouTube Music mainly because it is not currently supported on Amazon Echo. There is an unofficial skill with limited access to YouTube, but nothing official.
The only way to listen to YouTube Music right now on Amazon Echo is to send music from your phone, tablet, or computer via Bluetooth. For hands-free audio access, you’d better get Google Nest Audio.
This covers all the major music services supported on Amazon Echo right now and where you can get them. The best part is that you don’t need to be an Amazon Prime subscriber to get started, nor do you need a premium subscription to the music streaming service.
The free levels are naturally limited, but they are there to use, as are the free trials of all the higher premium plans if you’re not sure which one is best for you.
[ad_2]
