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If you subscribe to Apple Music and you have an Amazon Echo with Alexa enabled, you can get the smart speaker to play songs, artists, playlists, and more from Apple Music or playlists from your Library.

The following steps show you how to set up Apple Music on your Echo device. Keep reading to learn how it's done. (Note that, as of writing, this feature is only available in the U.S., the U.K., Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.)

echo-apple-music-800x552.jpg

How to Set Up Apple Music on Amazon Echo

  1. Launch the Amazon Alexa app on your iPhone or iPad.
    use-Apple-Music-on-Amazon-Alexa-0-800x772.jpg

    Tap the menu icon in the upper left corner of the screen.
  2. Tap Settings.
  3. Tap Music under Alexa Preferences.
  4. Tap Link New Service.
    use-Apple-Music-on-Amazon-Alexa-1-800x772.jpg

    Tap Apple Music.
  5. Tap Enable to Use.
  6. Follow the onscreen instructions to sign in with your Apple ID.
Now you've linked the service to your Echo device, say something like "Alexa, play Reggae on Apple Music," or "Alexa, play Lana Del Ray on Apple Music."

Make Apple Music Alexa's Default Music Service

To avoid having to say "...on Apple Music" each time you ask Alexa to play something, make Apple Music Alexa's default music service by following these steps.
  1. Launch the Amazon Alexa app on your iPhone or iPad.
  2. Tap the menu icon in the upper left corner of the screen.
    use-Apple-Music-on-Amazon-Alexa-0-800x772.jpg

    Tap Settings.
  3. Tap Music under Alexa Preferences.
    use-apple-music-on-amazon-alexa-2-800x772.jpg

    Tap Default Services under Account Settings.
  4. Tap Apple Music.
While Apple Music can be controlled via Alexa, the feature is limited to Amazon's own Echo devices at the current time. In the future, Amazon does plan to expand Apple Music availability to other Alexa-enabled third-party devices.

Article Link: How to Listen to Apple Music on Amazon Echo
 
have apple ever explained why this is US only?
no as I don't think they have any reason tbh as its available on Sonos and HomePod here in the UK. it has made me switch back to Spotify and its very unlike Ill switch back to Apple Music soon
 
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Is there a way to access your Apple Music playlists on the Echo as well? Any time I've tried it just ends up playing a song with a similar name.
 
Unfortunately it works horribly. Doesn’t recognize songs half the time. Stops in the middle of playing stuff. No playlists.

It needs a lot of work. I wish it did work well so I could ditch Amazon Music and just use Apple (since I have an Apple Watch).

Or if Amazon Music would add offline music on the Watch since Pandora recently added the capability.
 
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Unfortunately it works horribly. Doesn’t recognize songs half the time. Stops in the middle of playing stuff. No playlists.

It needs a lot of work. I wish it did work well so I could ditch Amazon Music and just use Apple (since I have an Apple Watch).

Or if Amazon Music would add offline music on the Watch since Pandora recently added the capability.
I can’t figure out if this is Apple or Amazon. But it is half baked. Some features work, some still don’t.
 
This works decently.

2 problems I have:

1. Media is sometimes different volumes. I ask Alexa to play George Carlin comedy and some tracks are whispering and others sound like he is SHOUTING. There’s no sound check option to make it all the same volume. I asked Amazon about it and they said it’s up to the media provider & when I asked Apple for a yes or no answer on if it was possible to do it took 5 different tries before they finally said it wasn’t available but I could put in a feedback request for that option.

2. Sometimes the music just stops for no reason. I’ve asked Alexa to play 80’s music and for that radio station I’ve seen it play for like 45 minutes or a couple days from the exact same source. Sometimes it just randomly stops playing for no reason.

If anyone knows anything about fixing either problem I’ll be grateful for advice.
 
It’s an absolute joke this is only available in the US.

if I want to listen on my Apple Watch, I need Apple Music, if I want to listen on my Alexa Speaker I need Spotify.

Apple Music has now lost, thought. I have just cancelled it (along with my extra iCloud Storage) and will be switching back to Spotify.

The more locked in Apple becomes with its (imho) mediocre services, the more I want to switch. With android and android watch, Spotify just works, and everything is compatible. Spotify also works on my TV while Apple Music does not.
 
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I don’t know why everyone is moaning. It is after all the United States of ALL-the-world (USA). And don’t forget, they are “Leaders of the Free World” too. Have some respect and listen to your leaders....
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It’s an absolute joke this is only available in the US.

if I want to listen on my Apple Watch, I need Apple Music, if I want to listen on my Alexa Speaker I need Spotify.

Apple Music has now lost, thought. I have just cancelled it (along with my extra iCloud Storage) and will be switching back to Spotify.

The more locked in Apple becomes with its (imho) mediocre services, the more I want to switch. With android and android watch, Spotify just works, and everything is compatible. Spotify also works on my TV while Apple Music does not.

Funnily enough, I’ve just done the same albeit just reduce my iCloud storage to have just enough for my iPhone back ups.

For cloud storage I use Google Drive and music is Spotify....
 
With android and android watch, Spotify just works, and everything is compatible. Spotify also works on my TV while Apple Music does not.

It's the same with Apple Music and Apple devices, just not Alexa (yet). My issue with Spotify is the service is horrendous. Their song library and download limits are an absolute joke, their solution for uploading missing content (like albums from Tool) is half-baked, and their lack of smart playlist support (at least for liked/loved content) is laughable especially considering the PC software I used in 1998 to manage my Rio 600 portable mp3 player supported those. I would like to switch to Spotify due to working on absolutely everything and it's a good service for music discovery and for people who want to be spoon-fed their content but it's a non-solution for people with large libraries and for content not available on the service. Spotify has shown zero intentions of fixing any of this and are now focused on expanding their reach into podcasts instead of actually making their service better.

I can’t figure out if this is Apple or Amazon. But it is half baked. Some features work, some still don’t.

It's both. Apple Music support was contacted by someone on Reddit and, after going back and forth for a week, someone working on the project said that they (Apple) were working closely with Amazon to make it better but don't have a timeframe for when that will happen. I've been using Amazon Music, the "free" tier for Amazon Prime members, to hold me over until Apple Music really gets integrated.

have apple ever explained why this is US only?

Apple hasn't but Amazon has, in a roundabout way. Amazon released their Amazon Music API to developers in the U.S. only. That's the API that allows them to develop their service with Alexa compatiblity instead of having to only go through Amazon. Apple (and others) can't really do anything until Amazon opens the API to more territories.
 
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It’s unfortunate the users can’t disable listening history on Alexa devices. For that reason, I do not have my Apple Music set as my default streaming service.
 
Is there a way to access your Apple Music playlists on the Echo as well? Any time I've tried it just ends up playing a song with a similar name.

Works fine for me. "Play the playlist [name]" - I do this every almost every day for my son's playlist :).
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I can’t figure out if this is Apple or Amazon. But it is half baked. Some features work, some still don’t.

Playlists work for me.
 
It's the same with Apple Music and Apple devices, just not Alexa (yet). My issue with Spotify is the service is horrendous. Their song library and download limits are an absolute joke, their solution for uploading missing content (like albums from Tool) is half-baked, and their lack of smart playlist support (at least for liked/loved content) is laughable especially considering the PC software I used in 1998 to manage my Rio 600 portable mp3 player supported those. I would like to switch to Spotify due to working on absolutely everything and it's a good service for music discovery and for people who want to be spoon-fed their content but it's a non-solution for people with large libraries and for content not available on the service. Spotify has shown zero intentions of fixing any of this and are now focused on expanding their reach into podcasts instead of actually making their service better.



It's both. Apple Music support was contacted by someone on Reddit and, after going back and forth for a week, someone working on the project said that they (Apple) were working closely with Amazon to make it better but don't have a timeframe for when that will happen. I've been using Amazon Music, the "free" tier for Amazon Prime members, to hold me over until Apple Music really gets integrated.



Apple hasn't but Amazon has, in a roundabout way. Amazon released their Amazon Music API to developers in the U.S. only. That's the API that allows them to develop their service with Alexa compatiblity instead of having to only go through Amazon. Apple (and others) can't really do anything until Amazon opens the API to more territories.

Do you have a link to that reddit thread? Would love to keep up with any improvements to it because right now it just does not work well enough to make it my primary on Alexa.

As someone else mentioned, it wil just randomly stop playing and also has issues sometimes recognizing even the simplest search terms for music.

But I want it to work!
 
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