One of the earliest uses for all the best smart speakers, like the Amazon Echo, is as a music device. The Echo is so much more than just a fancy speaker for blasting out your favorite tunes, but it’s definitely one of the most used features. And for music, you need a service to supply the Echo. You could always send music wirelessly from your smartphone. But when you have an AI voice assistant like Alexa built into the Amazon Echo alongside the ability to connect to the internet, you’re really going to want to take advantage of that. So, which music services can you use?
Which music services are supported on the Amazon Echo?
The good news is that for many, there will be some free music you can listen to through the Amazon Echo if you don’t subscribe to a premium streaming service. The Amazon Echo is serviced by both Amazon’s own platform as well as almost all of the top third-party choices.
Amazon Music Unlimited and Prime Music
It’s worth highlighting Amazon separately because the Echo has two possibilities for Amazon-delivered music. The first is a catalog of about 2 million songs included at no extra charge if you’re a Prime subscriber. And if you’re not a Prime subscriber, remember that you can always get a 30-day free trial to take it for a spin.
The other available on the Echo is Amazon Music Unlimited which is a paid subscription and unlocks the entire 60 million-plus song catalog to listen to on your Echo. But even this has two tiers, and Prime members will enjoy a discount.
If you only want to listen to music through your Amazon Echo you can sign up using Alexa and enjoy the entire catalog at a much reduced monthly fee. Everyone pays the same, you don’t need Prime and there’s a 30-day free trial to make sure you’re happy with it. If you want to use Amazon Music Unlimited on other devices, too, you can sign up on the web or on your mobile device for a solo or family plan. Prime members will get a discount on this tier and again, you get 30-days to take it for a test spin before you’re charged.
Spotify
Spotify is available on the Amazon Echo for both free and paid subscribers, though if you’re on the free tier your experience is significantly more limited.
Free members can listen to their Discover Weekly, the Top Hits, or a custom playlist and that’s about it. Paid subscribers will have full access to the Spotify library. In supported markets, this also includes Spotify’s podcast library.
New subscribers who haven’t had Spotify Premium before can currently sign up and enjoy a three-month free trial before paying.
Apple Music
Apple Music subscribers can link their accounts to Alexa to listen on the Amazon Echo, but it isn’t as widely supported as some of the other services.
Currently, Apple Music can be used on the Amazon Echo 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 month’s free trial to take it for a test listen.
Deezer
Deezer’s 73 million-strong song library is available to use on the Amazon Echo for paid subscribers, though it’s worth highlighting that high fidelity audio (FLAC) is not supported.
Deezer is also region-restricted on Alexa devices to 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 United States (currently the only market for the service) can link their free, plus, or premium accounts to Alexa and enjoy music through the Amazon Echo.
This includes podcasts and tier-specific perks such as unlimited skips on the plus and premium subscriptions.
iHeartRadio
iHeartRadio is one of the free music services available on the Amazon Echo, albeit only to users in North America, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand.
Radio stations, music, and podcasts are all available through iHeartRadio on the Amazon Echo and if you have an account you can link it up and keep your activity in sync across all your devices.
Tidal
Tidal subscribers can access the service’s entire music library through the Amazon Echo with the official skill but there are some fairly sizeable limitations to using it.
The first is that currently, only Tidal subscribers in the United States can access the 80 million song catalog using an Amazon Echo. The second is that the Tidal skill doesn’t allow access to user-curated custom playlists.
If you haven’t tried Tidal yet you can get a 30-day free trial to see if it’s for you before parting with any cash.
Sirius XM
Sirius XM users in North America have full access to the service through the Amazon Echo with one key limitation. The service can only be used to stream to one Echo device at a time.
If you start listening on a second device it will cause the first one to pause playback.
TuneIn Radio
The basic tier of TuneIn Radio comes preloaded inside Alexa for use on the 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 content and music.
YouTube Music – Not supported
It’s worth highlighting YouTube Music mainly because it is not currently supported on the Amazon Echo. There is an unofficial skill with some limited access to YouTube, but nothing official.
The only way to listen to YouTube Music right now on an Amazon Echo is to send the music from your phone, tablet, or computer via Bluetooth. For hands-free, voice access, you’re better off grabbing a Google Nest Audio.
That covers all the main music services supported on the 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 to have a premium subscription to a music streaming service.
Free tiers are naturally more limited, but they’re there to use, as are free trials of all the top premium plans if you’re not sure which one is best for you.
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