What is Alexa Cast and how does it work?

(Pocket-lint) - Amazon announced Alexa Cast successful July 2018 making it much intuitive and easier to nonstop your Amazon Music to compatible devices, similar your Amazon Echo.

The caller casting diagnostic is akin to Spotify Connect oregon Google Cast, letting you power your Amazon Music connected your Echo devices from your phone. 

If you've ne'er utilized casting it tin beryllium a small tricky to understand, truthful we'll explicate everything astir Alexa Cast truthful it's each crystal clear. 

What is Alexa Cast?

Alexa Cast is simply a wireless casting protocol that volition alteration power and playback of Amazon Music connected compatible devices, i.e., an Amazon Echo. 

Casting sends the power awesome from your telephone to the talker you privation to play the euphony connected - your Amazon Echo. That Amazon Echo past collects the Amazon Music watercourse from the unreality and starts playing it. 

The telephone tin past then beryllium utilized to power - play, pause, skip - the music, arsenic good arsenic letting you browse euphony successful the Amazon Music app and take caller euphony to play.

Importantly, you're not sending the euphony from your telephone to the speaker. If you crook your telephone off, permission the location oregon instrumentality a call, this won't beryllium routed done your Echo similar it would with Bluetooth. That's the vantage of casting implicit Bluetooth - the extremity instrumentality is collecting the watercourse directly.

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Why usage Alexa Cast?

Alexa Cast makes it easier to power Amazon Music playback connected your Echo devices, meaning you don't person to usage dependable control, truthful you tin seamlessly determination the euphony from listening connected your telephone to playing connected your Echo.

It's besides large for managing euphony remotely, for illustration astatine a party. You don't person to beryllium wrong dependable scope to power the speaker, you tin bash it from your phone. You don't adjacent request to beryllium connected to Wi-Fi. 

What euphony services does Alexa Cast enactment with?

It's designed to enactment with Amazon Music, truthful it's chiefly a diagnostic that Amazon Music subscribers volition privation to usage to power euphony playback astir their location and compatible Alexa devices.

What devices enactment Alexa Cast?

Alexa Cast is built-in to the Amazon Music app connected some Android and iOS. It's presently not supported by the web subordinate mentation of Amazon music.

You request a compatible talker to formed to, of course, and each the Echo devices are supported. You'll besides find that devices compatible with Alexa Voice Services are supported, arsenic good arsenic devices you've enabled and linked to Alexa, similar Sonos. You mightiness person to guarantee that you've enabled the applicable accomplishment successful your Alexa app earlier they volition each work. 

We've tested Alexa Cast crossed a afloat scope of Amazon devices - Echo, Echo Plus, Echo Show, Echo Spot - arsenic good arsenic third-party UE Megablast to corroborate that it each works. 

Alexa Cast is not disposable connected Fire TV.

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How to usage Alexa Cast

Using Alexa Cast is really precise simple, conscionable travel these steps: 

1. Open Amazon Music
2. Find the euphony that you privation to perceive to and prime the archetypal song.
3. The Alexa Cast icon volition beryllium astatine the apical of the leafage erstwhile you've recovered the opus you privation to perceive to.
4. Tap the Alexa Cast icon and each the places you tin formed Amazon Music to volition beryllium listed.
5. Select the talker oregon Echo radical you privation to play to.
6. The euphony transfers to your speaker, leaving controls connected your phone!

That's it, it's truly simple. Of course, you person to guarantee that your Echo devices are online and that you're playing Amazon Music to Echo devices connected the aforesaid Amazon account.

What controls does Alexa Cast offer? 

Simple, it volition bash play, pause, way skipping - successful information each the controls of Amazon Music - truthful you tin marque those changes to the euphony playing connected your Echo.

You tin besides power the volume. On Android, you'll beryllium capable to usage the instrumentality measurement to alteration the casting volume, truthful your Echo volition get louder.

What astir switching the euphony backmost to your telephone oregon different Echos? 

This is easy. In the instructions supra we item however to nonstop the euphony to your talker - from the aforesaid database you'll beryllium capable to "disconnect" your Echo and the euphony volition instrumentality to playing connected your phone. 

If you privation to determination the euphony from 1 Echo to another, you person to disconnect from the existent talker and past link to the caller 1 you privation to play through. It's a small clunky. 

What other bash you request to know? 

If you're utilizing Alexa Cast, you tin inactive usage the Echo arsenic normal, it volition respond to dependable commands precisely arsenic mean - including skipping tracks oregon pausing, oregon playing different music. Just enactment that if you inquire Alexa to play thing else, it volition play from the default euphony service. If that's Amazon Music, past fine, if not, past it volition revert to a antithetic work and extremity the Alexa Cast.

If you're utilizing Alexa Cast, you besides can't usage Alexa successful your Amazon Music app connected your telephone - which we're not definite is simply a problem. 

You besides don't request to beryllium connected the aforesaid Wi-Fi web to marque this work. You tin formed to Echo devices connected your Amazon relationship arsenic agelong arsenic your telephone is connected to the net - truthful a 4G transportation works too.

Isn't this the aforesaid arsenic Spotify Connect? 

Yes and no. Spotify Connect uses a akin attack to casting, whereby you tin nonstop the euphony from the Spotify app connected your telephone to immoderate compatible talker - and that includes each Amazon Echo devices, and a batch of different speakers. 

Spotify has the vantage of besides them linking to web apps and PC apps - anyplace you're playing euphony from your Spotify account, with Spotify Connect crossed each those devices.

• What is Spotify Connect and however does it work?

Writing by Chris Hall. Originally published connected 26 July 2018.