Amazon Alexa can presently play podcasts from Apple, giving Amazon’s line of Echo devices the first third-party customers to support the Apple Podcasts service without utilizing AirPlay.
Previously, this level of assistance was restricted to Apple’s HomePod.
What’s New?
According to Amazon, the extension brings to Alexa devices Apple’s library of more than 800,000 podcasts.
It further enables customers to set Apple Podcasts as their selected podcast service.
The move is the newest in a series of partnerships between the two opponents, which also involved the launch of the Apple T.V.T.V. app on Amazon’s Fire T.V.T.V. platform and the launch of Apple Music on Echo devices and Fire T.VT.V.
Amazon, in reply, has extended its collection of Apple inventory to add Apple T.V.T.V., iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch, and more.
To get started, Apple users who require to stream from Apple Podcasts will first need to connect their Apple ID in the Alexa app.
Consumers can then request Alexa to play or continue the podcasts they need to hear.
The additional player commands, like “next” or “fast forward,” operate, too.
And as you jump between devices, your progress within every episode will also sync, which implies that you can begin listening on Alexa, then pick up where you dropped off on your iPhone.
In the Alexa app’s settings, users will further be ready to specify Apple Podcasts as their default player, which indicates that any time they request Alexa for a podcast without showing a source, it will stream from the Apple Podcasts service.
Not to be defeated, Spotify also has announced its support for streaming podcasts on Alexa in the U.S.
Who Can Access This New Extension?
Certainly, Spotify Premium users have been capable of using Spotify Connect to stream to Echo before today.
But presently, Spotify states that both Free and Premium U.S. customers will be equipped to ask Alexa for podcasts as well as fix Spotify as their default player.
Alexa’s assistance for Spotify podcasts was announced in September along with other news at Amazon’s yearly Alexa event in Seattle; therefore, it is less of a surprise than the Apple addition.
At the moment, Amazon said it was including assistance for Spotify’s podcast library in the U.S.U.S., which will bring “hundreds of thousands” of podcasts to Alexa devices.
That also involves Spotify’s various exclusive podcasts — something that will provide Echo users a purpose to set Spotify as their default, perhaps.
Shortly after that statement, Spotify announced its free service would also currently stream to Alexa devices, instead of only its paid service for Premium subscribers
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