Your browser is out-of-date!

Update your browser to view this website correctly. Update my browser now

×

Amazon’s Alexa Brings Multiroom Audio To Echo — And Soon To Sonos & Bose

Alexa can now deliver multiroom audio.

Amazon announced on Tuesday that its Echo devices can now act as multiroom speakers using Alexa. Consumers can direct the voice assistant to play music to a specific Echo, Dot or Show or to a group of them. The feature is currently compatible with Amazon Music, TuneIn, iHeartRadio and Pandora, with Spotify and SiriusXM support “coming soon.”

The feature is not currently available with the Tap, an Amazon spokesman confirmed.

To activate, consumers create and name groups in the Alexa app for two or more devices, and then direct Alexa to play music to that group.

Multiroom support for third-party speakers is on the horizon. Amazon announced the Connected Speaker APIs for interested developers, noting that it’s already working with Sonos, Bose, Sound United and Samsung. The APIs are currently available in developer preview.

See also: Smart Speakers Are Driving Smart-Home Growth

Amazon will also release the Alexa Voice Services Multi-Room Music SDK early next year.

In a statement, Sonos’ software VP Antoine Leblond said: “Alexa set the standard for voice in smart homes, so working with Amazon to bring voice control to Sonos for the first time was an obvious choice. This has been a close collaboration from the beginning as we’ve worked together to combine the magic of Alexa with the seamless multi-room audio capabilities that Sonos pioneered. We’re proud of the work we’ve done together as Amazon’s first multi-room partner — all you’ll need is an Alexa-enabled device and playing music out loud on Sonos will be as easy as saying ‘Alexa, play music in the living room.’”

Featured

Close