Amazon’s Echo devices are some of the most popular smart speakers available, perfect for catching up on the news, checking the weather, or listening to music. However, if you’re an iOS user and have an extensive iTunes library, you might wonder if you can access your music through your Echo. In this post, we’ll explore if and how you can sync your iTunes library with your Echo devices.
Unfortunately, the easiest way to listen to your iTunes library on your Echo is through Bluetooth, either from your phone or laptop. The Echo doesn’t sync directly with your iTunes library, so connecting to Alexa can be challenging. While the Echo syncs with products like Spotify and Amazon’s own music service, Apple’s Echo competitor, HomePod, means they don’t work together directly.
To pair your smartphone or computer to your Echo, ask Alexa to pair while having your Bluetooth settings open on your device. This will allow your phone or tablet to automatically connect to your Echo. However, it’s not perfect, as you can’t request specific songs from your Alexa when playing back over Bluetooth. Still, it’s the easiest and most straightforward way to listen to iTunes or Apple music through your Echo.
However, we do have two more solutions to offer, though admittedly, they won’t work for everyone. If you listen to music through iTunes locally and not Apple’s streaming music platform, you can use Plex to upload your music to the cloud. By installing the Alexa skill for Plex, you can request songs, artists, and playlists all by using your Plex-based cloud. Plex offers a full support page for their Alexa commands, making it easy to control your Echo.
Unfortunately, for anyone who uses Apple music, you’re more or less out of luck when it comes to getting an Amazon music or Spotify-style experience on your Echo. If you have the money to upgrade your speaker, however, the Sonos One is a smart speaker that gives you the full Alexa experience while also offering full Apple music support.
Of course, if you’re already the owner of an Echo, you’ll likely want to stick to using it on your mobile device unless you’re willing to pay hundreds of dollars to get a new smart speaker. While it’s not perfect, there are still ways to play your iTunes library on your Echo, and hopefully, this guide has given you some helpful solutions.