By Dan Moren

February 4, 2016 7:06 AM PT

Stream Spotify via your Amazon Echo

Note: This story has not been updated for several years.

The Amazon Echo integrates with Amazon’s own Prime Music service, which has a pretty solid music selection, but if you happen to be a Spotify subscriber, you can now stream directly from that service to your Echo as well.

Now, since the Echo can act as a Bluetooth speaker, you could always hook it up to your phone–via voice command, such a nice touch–and play Spotify from there. The integration allows you to access your playlists, request songs via voice command, and more.

All very nice, but there is a catch: you’ll have to be a paid Spotify user in order to use it; the free tier doesn’t work with the Echo. That’s not really a surprise, but it does put another tick in the Spotify column for me. Apple Music, meanwhile, will continue to rely on pairing your Apple device with the Echo, and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon.

For the moment, though, I’m content with Amazon’s own music offering, which is included free with my Prime subscription, and my own iTunes library. Because apparently I’m cheap.

[Dan Moren is the East Coast Bureau Chief of Six Colors. You can find him on Twitter at @dmoren or reach him by email at dan@sixcolors.com. The latest novel in his Galactic Cold War series of sci-fi space adventures, The Nova Incident, is available now.]

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