SEATTLE�Echo, Amazon�s $170 wireless speaker and digital assistant, is getting a new music service:�Spotify Premium.
The subscription service, requested by Echo users, joins other cloud-based music services accessed by the tube-shaped speaker via Wi-Fi. They are Amazon Music, Prime Music, iHeartRadio, Pandora, and TuneIn.
The development follows yesterday�s�announcement�that Domino�s became the first quick-service restaurant to bring ordering capability to the Echo, which responds to voice commands.
With Echo now supporting Spotify, users can ask Alexa, Amazon�s cloud-based personal assistant, to play any playlist, artist, or genre from Spotify’s catalog. Echo also supports Spotify Connect, which lets consumers use their mobile device�s Spotify app to select songs for playback but have Echo stream the music from the cloud. Spotify Connect preserves mobile-device battery life and prevents musical interruptions when a call comes into a smartphone.
Echo also features Bluetooth so it can play back music streamed from any Bluetooth-equipped device.
Echo also lets users ask Alexa to search for information from Wikipedia and the web, including news, weather reports, sports updates and scores. It also controls smart-home devices, sets timers and alarms, retrieves shopping and to-do lists, play back Audible books, access calendar entries, and more.
�TWICE
