Spotify has announced that the ability to play music over smart speakers is no longer limited to paid subscribers. Starting today, anyone with a free ad-supported Spotify account can stream music over smart speakers from Amazon, Sonos, Bose, and others.
Part of the announcement is limited to free Spotify users who live in the US, Australia, and New Zealand. These folks can now link their Spotify account to an Alexa-enabled device and ask the smart assistant to play music from the streaming service. Spotify can also be set as the device’s default music player.
Looking more broadly, Spotify’s announcement says that free users around the world can set up Spotify Connect with their Sonos speakers straight from the Spotify app, and the company notes that Spotify Connect is compatible with all Sonos speakers, including the new Sonos Move.
Spotify Connect support also exists for the SYMFONISK IKEA WiFi Speaker, which has Sonos baked in, as well as smart speakers and soundbars made by Bose. Once configured, you can use Spotify on your smartphone or desktop to control music playback on your smart speakers.
Spotify offers these steps to get started with Spotify Connect:
- Grab the latest firmware for your Connect-enabled device and the latest Spotify app.
- Open Spotify > play any song > tap the Now Playing bar and then Devices Available.
- This should show a list of devices that you can choose from to begin streaming music.
Here’s a separate page of instructions for getting started with an Alexa device:
- First, download the Amazon Alexa app from the Google Play or App store, and follow the prompts to set up your new Amazon Echo or Echo Dot.
- Once connected, go to “Settings,” select “Music,” click “Link New Service,” and then tap “Spotify” to input your Spotify username and password.
- Select “Default Services” to set Spotify as your default music service—et voilà .
Today’s news from Spotify comes one day after Amazon announced that it would begin offering ad-supported listening on its music streaming service, which was previously limited to people with a subscription to Amazon Prime or Music Unlimited itself. The free tier is only for people living in the US, UK, and Germany, and if you decide that you want to upgrade, Amazon is currently offering four months of Music Unlimited for only 99 cents.
Source: Spotify via TechCrunch
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