Amazon said Friday that Apple’s music-streaming service will soon be available on its Alexa-powered devices, signaling a further thaw in the relationship between the tech titans.
The announcement also ends a nine-month period of exclusivity in which the music-streaming service was only accessible through Apple’s HomePod smart speaker.
Beginning on Dec. 17, users will be able to ask their Amazon Echo speakers to play songs from Apple Music much the same way they can request a song from SpotifySPOT, -1.86% or Amazon Music.
“Given the size and scope of Apple Music, it’s been one of the most asked for features for the past three or four years, since we’ve had Echo and Alexa out there,” Dave Limp, Amazon senior vice president for devices and services, said in a statement.
Apple Music, which launched in June 2015, previously required subscribers who didn’t own a HomePod to use Bluetooth to connect their phones or computers to Amazon’s home speakers.
Last December, Apple allowed Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service onto its Apple TV platform.
Earlier this month, the companies struck a deal for Apple to sell iPhones and iPads directly on the Amazon website.
With this $25 gadget, Amazon will finally get you to stop scoffing at the idea of a ‘smart home’
- Amazon’s smart plug can help you control lights and other appliances with your voice or from your phone.
- The Amazon smart plug is very easy to set up and doesn’t require a hub or complicated configurations.
- All you need to do is plug it in and open the Alexa app.
Earlier this year, Amazon launched a $25 smart plug that lets you control any outlet in your home by voice with an Amazon Echo. That means you can control any lamp, appliance or anything else that plugs into an outlet by speaking a phrase to Alexa like “turn on the living room lamp,” without having to find a switch. It even lets you add other smarts, like a schedule so the light turns on and off at certain times.
It’s a really easy way to turn a “dumb” home into a smart one that you can control with your phone or by voice. You don’t need to fiddle with complicated hubs or spend too much time trying to get something to connect to your WiFi network.
If you can plug in a lamp, you can get the smart plug working. I’m going to show you how to get the most out of it.
It’s very simple. Think of it as a sort of adapter that adds the brains to anything you want to plug into an outlet. It will let you schedule an appliance to turn on and off at a certain time, enable you to turn it on or off even when you’re away from home and let you activate it by speaking to Alexa.
All you need to do is take the smart plug, plug in the appliance to one end —it makes the most sense with a lamp because it’s a simple on/off appliance, but you can use anything from a humidifier to a fan — and then plug it into the wall.
How to connect the Amazon smart plug to an Echo
- Open the Alexa app on your phone.
- You should see a white box on the home screen that says “Your Smart Plug is ready to use.”
- Tap “Turn on.”
- Now you’ll see a screen that shows the plug is on.
- Open the Alexa app on your phone.
- Tap the devices tab in the far-right bottom corner.
- Tap the + button on the top-right of the page.
- Tap “Add Device.”
- Choose “Plug.”
- Select “Amazon” as the brand.
- Follow the steps to add it. You can find the 2D barcode it asks for on the back of the pamphlet that came with the plug.
Now the plug is recognized by the Alexa app. That means you’re finished with set up. I told you it was easy!
How to control the Amazon smart plug with your phone:
There are two ways to control the Amazon smart plug. You can ask Alexa to turn the appliance on or off, or you can do it right from the Alexa app on your iPhone, Android phone or Amazon Fire tablet.
- Open the Alexa app on your phone.
- Tap the devices tab on the bottom-right.
- Choose “Plugs” on the top of the page.
- Choose the smart plug.
- Tap the big plug icon in the middle of the page to turn it on or off.
You can do that whenever you want, even when you’re not home. It will still recognize the command and control your lights, fan or whatever you have connected to the smart plug.
How to control the Amazon smart plug with your voice:
- Open the Alexa app on your phone.
- Tap the devices tab on the bottom-right.
- Choose “Plugs” on the top of the page.
- Choose the menu button on the top-right (it looks like 3 dots stacked on top of one another.)
- Next to the name “First Plug,” tap “Edit name.”
- Name the appliance something simple, like “living room lamp.”
- Now you can say “Alexa, turn on the living room lamp” or “Alexa turn off the living room lamp.”
How to schedule the Amazon smart plug to turn on or off automatically
- Open the Alexa app on your phone.
- Tap the devices tab on the bottom-right of the page.
- Choose “Plugs” on the top.
- Choose the plug you want to control.
- Tap “Create a routine” on the bottom of the page.
- Tap the + button on the top-right of the page.
- Tap the + button next to “When this happens.”
- Choose “Schedule.”
- Select the time you want to turn the plug on (or off) and then select the days of the week you want this to apply to.
- Tap “Create.”
- Repeat the steps if you want it to automatically turn off at a certain time too.
Play around and create other routines. If you want the lights to turn on and off when you come and go from home, for example, you can go to the routines page and select the option for “arrive or leave.” It uses your phone to recognize when you’re home and when you’re not.
I really like how simple the Amazon smart plug is, and that it doesn’t require me to fiddle with a smart hub .(Though the Amazon Echo Plus has one built-in that doesn’t require much setup either.) The benefit to a smart hub, however, is that you can add other things like Philips Hue lights and other appliances that require more than just an outlet to work.
But, if you want to use your voice or phone to easily on a fan, holiday lights, the coffee maker or any other simple gadget with an on/off switch, then the Amazon smart plug is a really simple way to do that, no matter where you are.
Reference
Alexa will now stream Apple music
Amazon Smart Plug Review and Guide