Amazon Alexa - The Complete User Manual - Tips, Tricks & Skills for Every Amazon Alexa Device

Songs by the Millions — Music

For any voice command you read in this chapter be sure to use your wake word (“Alexa”, “Amazon”, etc.) first.

It’s difficult to beat Alexa for ease and convenience for playing music from a diverse range of sources. But working out how to find and set up these different sources is not always that obvious! For a start, from the Alexa App on a tablet or mobile phone, accessing the different Music services is quite different compared to what you see on a PC or Mac.

On a tablet or a mobile phone, you can either select Menu > Music & Books, or at the bottom of the Alexa App — no matter what page you’re on — there is a round icon with a triangle inside which also takes you to the Music & Books page.

At the top of the landing page you will see any Amazon Music, Audible and Kindle eBooks that you already own (usually listed in order of the most recently played/ viewed). This area will be blank if you do not have any of those media yet. For example, when I first started my Alexa App on my tablet, I’d already downloaded some Kindle eBooks to that tablet, so that’s what I saw on the landing page; when I then set up an Audible and Amazon Prime Music account, I subsequently found my music and audio books listed here too.

As you scroll down the page you will then see a number of suggestions of things you might like to do, for example, “Link to your favorite streaming services”, click on those suggestions to explore the option further.

Alternatively, near the top of the Music & Books landing page you will see the word Browse — tap on this to see the different sources of Music that can be connected to your Alexa, such as Amazon My Music, Amazon Prime Music, Spotify, Tunein and so on.

From the Alexa App on a PC or Mac, when you select Menu > Music, Video & Books, you will simply see the list of streaming options available in each category: My Music Library, Amazon Prime Music, Spotify, Tunein etc.

So now let’s look at the Music services you can connect to via Alexa in more detail:

On a PC or Mac, you will clearly see My Music Library labelled on the first page of the Music, Books & Videos.

On a tablet or mobile phone, after selecting Music & Books > Browse you will see the label Amazon My Music. Tap on this to see My Music Library.

To be clear, this section of the App is where you access YOUR personal music collection; the next section, Amazon Prime Music, is where you can access ALL music available from Amazon.

The order seemed logically backwards to me when My Music Library was sparse, but now that I have a large Library of music, it makes sense. I access what I already have more often than I want to browse what else is available.

Your account’s My Music Library will be populated with music which has been:

•    Purchased from Amazon.

•    Selected in the form of a Playlist from Amazon Prime and Amazon Music Unlimited subscriptions.

CJ’s Tips: The Amazon Music app for your desktop computer is Amazon’s equivalent of the iTunes app. Once you have it installed you can play all the music in you Amazon Music account on your PC or Mac just like you probably do on iTunes already.

So, now let’s explore the My Music Library further.

Firstly, right under the words My Music Library, you may be asked to select the device you want to play music on (only relevant if you have more than one Alexa-enabled device.)

You may also have the option to select the music Library you want to access. If you have set up an Amazon Household, you can access Libraries of household members too. An Amazon Household can include up to two adults, though each must have an Amazon account, and up to four children. Creating and managing an Amazon Household is done through your Amazon account. Here are brief instructions and options for Amazon Households:

•    Hover over Accounts & Lists near the top of the page on Amazon.com.

•    Select Your Account.

•    In the Shopping programs and rentals box, select Amazon Households to go to the Manage Your Household / Your Amazon Household Benefits page.

•    Select Add an Adult, and follow the instructions including providing their login information, so they will have to give it to you or be there with you to type it in.

•    And/or select Add a Child, Create and Save their Profile, and follow the link to Manage Your Content and Devices to determine the content they can access.

Here is a direct link: www.amazon.com/myh/manage.

Search your Music Library/ Amazon My Music

Use the search box to find songs or albums more quickly in your Library. As you type the search word, a list of results will begin to populate and gradually narrow the more of the term you complete.

The next row is a menu of tabs: Playlists/ Artists/ Albums/ Songs/ Genres. Using them is a very straightforward process, so just a few comments will suffice for each.

Playlists: There are three sections here:

Auto Playlists: Purchased — a list of all the songs you’ve purchased from Amazon, which in time might become a very long and eclectic list; and Recently Added — which includes recently imported playlists and a list of songs purchased in the last month or so.

Your Playlists: These are playlists that you can create within the Amazon Prime Music service.

Prime Playlists: These are preselected playlists that are available on Amazon Prime Music. If you don’t have an Amazon Prime membership, then you won’t see anything here. If you do, then it’s time to add some of these Prime Playlists to your Music Library (see instructions below)!

Artists/ Albums/ Songs/ Genres: These tabs all function the same, and you can find the music you want in two ways: scroll down through the alphabetical list at the left or jump down to its location using the #ABCDEFG, etc., list. Of course, you can also just ask Alexa to play the music you want.

CJ Tips: In my experience, it helps to be as specific as possible when asking for music, such as, “Play Bruce Springsteen Born to Run from My Music Library,” or “Play Bruce Springsteen Born to Run from Amazon Prime Music.” Once you have a few different music services set up it helps Alexa if you let her know exactly which service you want the music to come from. I will talk about setting Default Music Services later to make this process even easier.

For this section to be relevant, you’ll need a subscription to Amazon Prime and/or Amazon Music Unlimited.

Prime Music: This option is available as part of Amazon’s standard monthly Prime membership deal, to be clear, you need to have the Prime membership deal to benefit.

•    Benefits: stream 2 million songs in Prime Music and a long list of shipping, shopping and media benefits that can be viewed on Amazon.

•    Standard annual: $119/year, after 30-day free trial.

•    Standard monthly: $12.99/month, after a 30-day free trial.

There is also a student plan for $6.49/month or $59/year; and a plan for those who qualify for an EBT or Medicaid card, $5.99/ month.

Amazon Music Unlimited: If you do not wish to have a full Prime membership, then you can still access Amazon Music with this offer.

•    “Unlimited access to tens of millions of songs” according to Amazon.

•    New members get the first month free and then switch to a paid-for plan; Individual plans are currently $7.99/ month, whilst a family plan is $14.99/month which can be used by up to 6 members. Annual memberships both for individuals and families are also available.

•    There is also a specific single device plan for use with an Amazon Echo or a Fire TV device for $3.99/ month. And a student plan for just $4.99/ month.

CJ’s Tips: For what it’s worth, my recommendation is getting a Prime membership since it offers so many other benefits, and if you then don’t find enough of the kind of music you enjoy, consider adding a Music Unlimited subscription. Again, you can manage all music subscriptions from this here: www.amazon.com/music/settings.

Search your Amazon Prime Music: Once you have your Prime music subscription you can return to the Alexa App and explore. The options are labelled in two categories, Stations and Playlists.

Stations: Amazon’s Stations are music streams based on either a particular artist, era of music, or genre of music. Theoretically, if you choose a Station — just like the radio in the olden days — you will get that type of music on an endless stream. This is a good way to search for music in line with your preferences.

•    All Stations: This section has two categories to browse, and when you make a selection, the Station begins to play. Popular Genres & Artists stations include Classical Focus, Top Pop, Smooth Jazz, Lullabies and other broad categories. Each of the All Artists (A-Z) stations brings together the very best music from...