One of the key frustrations surrounding Amazon's assortment of Echo devices has been their lack of Apple Music integration, at least for us on the Apple Music side of streaming things. As announced Friday, that's all going to change in a matter of weeks.
"We are committed to offering great music providers to our customers and since launching the Music Skill API to developers just last month, we've expanded the music selection on Alexa to include even more top tier services," Amazon Devices senior VP Dave Limp said Friday. "We're thrilled to bring Apple Music—one of the most popular music services in the US—to Echo customers this holiday."
Apple Music will be added to Echo devices starting Dec. 17, meaning subscribers will be able to engage in all their usual Apple Music activities using Echo devices, either with Alexa’s assistance and/or of their volition. To get this latest Echo feature rolling on your device, just turn on the Apple Music skill in the Alexa app and link your Apple Music account.
Since Alexa's music alarm feature launched less than a year ago, per Amazon, tens of millions of hours of streaming radio have been put to use by consumers. Amazon further claimed in a press release Friday that the "most requested" genre to wake up to was, of all things, top country.
Anyway, have you seen the Ghost+Cow Films-produced video for Big Data's "L1ZY"? It’s, um, quite timely considering everything we just discussed. Catch it below via Vimeo, where it previously landed as a Staff Pick:
