Amazon Echo: control iTunes - how it works
Amazon's Echo is an increasingly popular smart speaker. In this practical tip we explain how you can control with this iTunes.
Amazon Echo: Control iTunes - Variant 1
Unfortunately, to date, neither Apple Music nor iTunes music is officially supported for direct transmission to Amazon's Echo (Dot). This means that you have to take a certain detour to still be able to control iTunes via Alexa. If there is only a limited number of a maximum of 250 songs, Amazon offers a successful alternative with its music app:
- Open "Amazon Music" to use it. Log in with your Amazon account, which is also linked to the Echo (Dot), and click on "Import music into music library" at the bottom left.
- You can then download up to 250 songs from iTunes using the download button and then add them to your Amazon music library. To do this, simply select the "Import music into music library" entry on the left of the screen.
- After uploading, you simply have to say: "Alexa, play music". Alexa will then automatically access the Amazon music library, so you can start playing the songs you just uploaded right away. It is now also possible to ask for the songs of a certain artist, an album or a certain title.
- You can also create playlists in the Amazon Music Library to help you sort your songs.
- If you only want to upload and listen to up to 250 tracks, this is the most convenient solution.
Amazon Echo: Control iTunes - Variant 2
If you want to stream more than 250 songs from iTunes to the Amazon Echo, the only way to help you is via Bluetooth:
- Simply connect Echo (Dot) and the desired player on which your iTunes music is located via Bluetooth. The echo (dot) is displayed and listed as a regular Bluetooth device.
- You can then play any song directly from your iTunes library. You can also use voice control to skip the current track or return to the previous one.
- However, it is not possible to search for certain artists by voice command and play music from them via iTunes. Fast forwarding within a song also doesn't work.
- For larger music collections, this is probably the easiest way to control iTunes with Amazon's Echo (Dot).
- It is currently not possible to predict whether and if so when Amazon will officially add music services to the Alexa app. However, this seems rather unlikely, after all, there is no compatibility for the direct competition from Google.
Another practical tip shows you how to import music from Amazon Music on iTunes.