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Amazon Echo Now Plays Nice With Spotify

Angela Moscaritolo
 & Angela Moscaritolo Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

Our team tests, rates, and reviews more than 1,500 products each year to help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.

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Good news for Spotify Premium subscribers in the U.S. who happen to own (or are thinking of buying) an Amazon Echo.

Amazon on Thursday announced that its Wi-Fi connected speaker now plays nice with Spotify, letting you control your music with voice commands. To activate this new feature, just link your Spotify account in the Alexa app. Then you'll be able to say "Alexa [the Echo's wake word], play Blink 182 from Spotify," or "Alexa, play Today's Top Hits from Spotify," and the speaker will start bumping the jams.

Previously, you could only access Spotify by connecting Echo to your phone via Bluetooth and streaming the music from your handset. Now, Spotify is officially part of Alexa's vocabulary.

Once you set it up, you can ask Alexa to play any playlist (including ones you have created), artist, or genre from Spotify's catalog. Once the music is playing, you can use voice commands to pause and skip tracks.

Spotify Connect also works on the Echo, which lets you seamlessly switch between playing music on your phone to the speaker when you walk in the house. So, if you're listening to something on your headphones, Alexa will automatically start rocking the tunes from your Echo when you get home. To set up this feature, just select Echo from the list of available devices within the Spotify app.

"Music is one of the most popular features on Amazon Echo, and Spotify has been one of the most requested services, so we're excited to bring it to our customers today," Amazon Alexa Director Toni Reid said in a statement.

Echo also offers similar integrations with Amazon Music, Prime Music, iHeartRadio, Pandora, and TuneIn.

This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.

About Our Expert

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

My Experience

I'm PCMag's managing editor for consumer electronics, overseeing an experienced team of analysts covering smart home, home entertainment, wearables, fitness and health tech, and various other product categories. I have been with PCMag for more than 10 years, and in that time have written more than 6,000 articles and reviews for the site. I previously served as an analyst focused on smart home and wearable devices, and before that I was a reporter covering consumer tech news. I'm also a yoga instructor, and have been actively teaching group and private classes for nearly a decade. 

Prior to joining PCMag, I was a reporter for SC Magazine, focusing on hackers and computer security. I earned a BS in journalism from West Virginia University, and started my career writing for newspapers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

The Technology I Use

My little Florida beach bungalow is brimming with smart home tech. I have a smart speaker or display in every room, allowing me to control other connected devices by voice. The Nest Hub on my bedside table lets me set wake-up alarms, control my smart light bulbs, and set the temperature on my smart thermostat. I use the Amazon Echo Show 8 on my kitchen counter to browse recipes, reorder protein powder, check the weather, and watch the news while I do dishes. 

Because I suffer from allergies, air purifiers are essential. My favorite model is the Dyson Purifier Cool TP07, which doubles as a fan and continuously sends indoor pollution data to its companion mobile app. 

My pitbull Bradley sheds, so a good robot vacuum is a must. I currently use a premium Ecovacs Deebot that can both vacuum and mop, empty its own dustbin, and wash its own mop cloth. 

For fitness, I like to mix up my routine with cycling, indoor rowing, running, and strength training in addition to yoga. I take classes on the Tonal 2 smart strength training machine, I row indoors on an Aviron machine, and track my beach runs with an Apple Watch while listening to music on my Apple AirPods Pro. On the weekends, I love riding e-bikes like the rugged, beach-friendly Aventon Aventure for fun and fitness.

My job involves a lot of virtual meetings, so a quality webcam, microphone, and ring light are important. I use the Jabra PanaCast 20 webcam, the Elgato Wave: 3 microphone, and a Yesker tripod ring light. 

As for my preferred phone platform, I'm an iPhone person, but I've also extensively used Android for product testing.

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