Barking out a song request at my Amazon Echo smart speaker, then hearing the track magically start playing, makes me feel like I’m living in the future.
Unfortunately, that feeling evaporates when the song isn’t part of the relatively skimpy Amazon Prime Music catalog. If it’s not there, Amazon’s AI assistant Alexa queues up an annoying 30-second sample — and that makes me realize I’m living in the very buggy present.
Luckily, you can fix that. Here’s how to make Amazon Echo default to Spotify so you don’t get stuck with those annoying song and album previews.
First, a couple of caveats. The Amazon Echo will only play Spotify tracks if you a) subscribe to Spotify Premium and b) link your Spotify account to Alexa.
And yes, you can already get Echo to play tracks from Spotify Premium if you remember to add “on Spotify” at the end of your command. But who wants to do that every time they want to hear some music? Not me. This is the future, dammit!
Make Amazon Echo default to Spotify, Pandora or iHeartRadio
Screenshots: Lewis Wallace/Cult of Mac
In addition to switching your default music library from Amazon Music to Spotify, you can change your default internet radio station from Amazon Music to Pandora or iHeartRadio. It just takes a second — here’s how to do it.
- Go to the Alexa app on your iPhone or iPad (there’s an Android version of the Alexa app, too).
- Tap Settings. (If you haven’t already linked your Spotify Premium account to Alexa, do it here by tapping Spotify , then adding your Spotify account information.)
- Scroll down to Account > Music & Media.
- Tap Choose default music services.
- Under Default music library, select Spotify.
- Under Default station service, select Pandora or iHeartRadio.
- Tap Done and you’re good to go.
Still no Apple Music on Alexa
It’s a drag, but you still can’t link your Apple Music account to Alexa. That’s a real shame, because utilizing the friction-free voice interface that’s central to Amazon’s Echo line of smart speakers really is a magical experience.
However, given the ongoing AI arms race between Siri and Alexa, getting Apple Music on Alexa probably is not going to happen anytime soon. (Please prove me wrong, Jeff Bezos.)
In the meantime, you can pair your iPhone or iPad to an Amazon Echo speaker via Bluetooth and listen to whatever you like the traditional wireless way. You can’t request specific tracks from Apple Music, but you can tell Alexa to pause or skip to the next track. That’s better than nothing.
Source: Spotify
Via: The Verge
