One of the key features to Amazon's Alexa-powered speakers - such as its Echo or Lenovo's Smart Assistant - is the ability to playback music and control it with your voice. The only problem is that you're limited to the capabilities of the speaker that the music is playing out of.
But that all changes today, as Amazon has announced that you'll now be able to group different Alexa devices together to sync them for music playback. Just group them through the company's Alexa app, and you'll be able to playback music through multiple speakers at once, without having to set up a complicated system.
With the Alexa Voice Service (AVS) Multi-Room Music SDK and Connected Speaker APIs, customers will also be able to connect to multiple external speakers, and Amazon says that it's working with companies like Sonos, Bose, Sound United, and Samsung.
"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," said Antoine Leblond, VP of Software, Sonos. "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.'"
The Connected Speaker APIs are available in the form of a developer preview starting today, and the AVS Multi-Room Music SDK will be available early next year.
2 Comments - Add comment