There was good news and bad news for Alexa-loving Apple Music subscribers last week. While the long-awaited integration rolled out slightly ahead of schedule, the ability to summon an Apple Music playlist via Alexa was limited to official Amazon Echo speakers.
That meant owners of equally capable third-party Alexa speakers, such as the Sonos One, were left out in the cold. Thankfully, those devices won’t be on the outside looking in for very long.
An Amazon spokesperson told Mashable that the Apple Music Alexa skill will “will be coming to other Alexa-enabled devices soon.”
The company didn’t go as far to say which devices will be receiving the update, but it would not be surprising if Apple got a little choosy about which speakers and devices had access to this skill.
Released last Friday, the Apple Music Alexa skill enables Echo owners to say “Alexa play Today’s Hits on Apple Music” along with other voice commands pertaining to artists, songs, albums, playlists and stations.
It’s also possible to set Apple Music as the default service, so users won’t have to add “… on Apple Music” to the end of every vocal command.
Related: Which Amazon Echo should you buy?
If you’re an Echo owner and an Apple Music subscriber, you can can head to the Alexa app and browse to Skills. Search for Apple Music, enable the skill and then sign in using your Apple ID. The app will then ask off you want Alexa to access Apple Music. Hit “Allow” and you’re good to go.
In order to set Apple Music as your default music provider, open the Alexa app and browse to Music Settings. Head to the “Default Music Library” section and select Apple Music.
Apple is opening the door to those with Alexa devices as it seeks to grow subscriptions to its music streaming service, in its battle against Spotify. However, it could be at the expense of HomePod sales.
Are you surprised to see Apple allow Alexa to play its tunes? Drop us a line @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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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.
