There are loads of great things about the Amazon Echo range of smart speakers, but Apple Music support hasn’t been one of them – until now.
Amazon has just announced that it’ll be adding Apple Music to its streaming service arsenal in time for the holidays, with provisional rollout scheduled for December 17.
Previously, the only smart speaker to offer Apple Music was the Cupertino-based company’s own Apple HomePod.
Announcing the news on its blog, Amazon explained how Apple Music would integrate into its Echo speaker lineup:
“Customers will be able to ask Alexa to play their favorite songs, artists, and albums—or any of the playlists made by Apple Music’s editors from around the world, covering many activities and moods. Customers will also be able to ask Alexa to stream expert-made radio stations centered on popular genres like Hip-Hop, decades like the 80s, and even music from around the world, like K-Pop. Just ask Alexa to play Beats 1 to hear Apple Music’s global livestream including in-depth artist interviews— all completely ad-free,” Amazon said.
Given that Amazon’s Echo speakers don’t offer apps per se, Apple Music support will be offered as a new Alexa skill for owners to add to their speaker, the same way you can use an Echo to hail an Uber or order a Just Eat takeaway.
As with nearly all Alexa skills, activating Apple Music on your Echo speaker sounds pretty easy: you’ll just need to summon your Amazon smart assistant by saying, “Alexa, ask Apple Music to play…” and in theory you’ll be away.
Amazon’s Echo speakers already support Spotify as an Alexa skill, so the news means that Apple Music will be on more of a level-footing with its biggest rival.
What remains to be seen is if Apple Music will now also be supported by other Alexa-enabled speakers – they’re all over the place these days, with Sonos and Bose just some of the big name manufacturers to offer smart speakers featuring Amazon’s digital helper.
All will be revealed on December 19, it seems – and you can be sure we’ll be testing Apple Music on the Amazon Echo range for ourselves as soon as the time comes.
Let us know your thoughts on Apple Music on Twitter @TrustedReviews.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
