Amazon Alexa offers a lot of utility and convenience to your home. From artificial intelligence that can help you manage your schedule, to myriad skills that can make your day easier or more enjoyable, there are so many features to understand that it can get a little overwhelming.
While some people will buy the Amazon Echo for the Alexa capabilities, it also works well as a speaker for your favorite tunes. Below, we’ll take a look at a few easy ways to stream music through Amazon Echo.
There are many ways to access Amazon Alexa settings, but this guide will focus on the process using an iOS device. The next steps should be almost identical on Android and roughly the same when using the alexa.amazon.com web portal.
Follow the instructions below and you will be ready to go in just a few minutes! Also be sure to check out our post on how to listen to Audible audiobooks on your Echo device
Before we start with the musical aspect of your Amazon Echo, you need to make sure you have the Amazon Alexa app installed.
Go to the App Store (iOS) or Play Store (Android) and download the app shown in the picture below.
Stream music via Amazon Prime
If you have an Amazon Prime account, you will automatically have access to millions of different songs. Upgrade to Amazon Music Unlimited upgrades to tens of millions of tracks, covering almost every genre and artist you can think of.
Whether you are using Amazon Prime or Amazon Music Unlimited, the process to install and start the streaming service is pretty much the same. You can also connect services like Spotify, Pandora, or iHeartRadio in much the same way.
Step 1. Open the Amazon Alexa app and open the sidebar using the menu button in the upper left corner of the screen.
Step 2. Select the “Music and Books” option.
Step 3. The next menu consists of two main parts: device selection and service selection. At the top of the screen, you can select the Echo device you want to stream to.
Below is a large list of compatible music services that you can connect to and control through the Alexa app. In this tutorial, we’ll be using Amazon’s own music service.
Step 4. The content of the next screen will depend on which service you have chosen, but for Amazon Prime, you will have the option to choose between radio stations or playlists. Choose the content you like and your music should start streaming to your Echo device!
Once you’ve connected your accounts and synced the Alexa app with your selected Echo speaker, you can bypass these steps and use commands like Alexa, iHeart Radio or Alexa play, Spotify play.
Stream music via bluetooth
Once your Echo is plugged in and connected to the network, you can bypass the Alexa app entirely and use the Bluetooth connection to play music through your phone.
Basically, this lets you stream all of the audio from the phone through the speaker, which opens up the possibility of streaming audio from any service that you can access on that device.
Step 1. Set up Bluetooth pairing by saying “Alexa, pairing†when your mobile device is nearby.
The next part of the process is to go to the Bluetooth menu on your phone. The steps below are for iOS, but Android usually has a specific sequence to open settings and go to the Bluetooth menu.
Step 2. Open the Settings app.
Step 3. Tap on Bluetooth.
Step 4. If your Echo device is in pairing mode, you should see it listed on this screen under Other Devices.
Click on it to add to the menu and make sure your phone is connected to the smart speaker in the Bluetooth list.
Step 5. Find the music you want to play through the speaker and enjoy your favorite tunes on your chosen Echo device!
After you have gone through this initial setup process, you can connect or disconnect your Echo device from your phone using voice commands such as “Alexa, connect to [device name]†or “Alexa, disconnect from [device name].
While there are definitely a few steps to go through to set up your Amazon Echo to stream music, you can usually play tracks and adjust settings using just your voice.
Since the Echo is essentially a Bluetooth smart speaker, you can also connect it to your computer or any other Bluetooth compatible media player to play sound across all your devices. Enjoy!
–